Helck

[Kraco]

https://i.imgur.com/GvqJvQe.jpg

"The Demon King has been defeated and now the Demon World is running a competition to choose a successor. A muscular, high-level human named Helck has joined the competition claiming that he wishes to destroy all humans. Is he serious?
Red Vamirio, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the entire Demon Empire, is monitoring the competition and cannot trust him. What's the secret behind Helck, and the Human World?" -Manga-Updates


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One of the top fantasy manga of the more recent years. I didn't expect it to get an anime because it features no harems, doesn't rely on fanservice (unless male muscles are your thing), nor an isekaied teenage hero from Japan. Instead it relies on quite a heavy story. That's not a key for an anime adaptation these days. Maybe it's the comedy that convinced a studio boss.

After the first episode, I have no complaints whatsoever. The production values aren't terrible. The characters match my image of them, the VAs are doing good work. This is a must watch for me, along with Mushoku Tensei. Totally different series, those two.

[Ryllharu]

My most anticipated series of the season.

Thoroughly enjoyed the first episode. I've been deliberately holding off a re-read of the manga once I found out it was getting an anime.

[MFauli]

Very disappoiting first episode, unfortunately. Cheap animation and another gimmick meme-story. I'll watch 1-2 more episodes, but this isn't what I expected.

[Ryllharu]

The animation is supposed to be cheap. Its art is pretty faithful to the manga's.

[Kraco]

Very disappoiting first episode, unfortunately. Cheap animation and another gimmick meme-story. I'll watch 1-2 more episodes, but this isn't what I expected.

Anyone who read the manga would recognise this story wouldn't be an easy piece to animate due to the beginning being kind of misleading. In fact I believe quite a few people dropped the manga as well after a few chapters. Manga is cheap to make, however, unlike an anime, which is why that's a nightmare for an anime studio. One big reason why I thought this would never get animated, despite how good it is. So, yeah, your reaction isn't surprising. This work isn't really compatible with the current instant gratification culture.

[MFauli]

Anyone who read the manga would recognise this story wouldn't be an easy piece to animate due to the beginning being kind of misleading. In fact I believe quite a few people dropped the manga as well after a few chapters. Manga is cheap to make, however, unlike an anime, which is why that's a nightmare for an anime studio. One big reason why I thought this would never get animated, despite how good it is. So, yeah, your reaction isn't surprising. This work isn't really compatible with the current instant gratification culture.

I don't get it. What is so hard to animate? Does the animation change to a different style later on?

[Kraco]

I don't get it. What is so hard to animate? Does the animation change to a different style later on?

I didn't mean that. Maybe I could have used a better word, like produce as an anime. Like I said, even the manga doesn't really have a good catch right in the beginning. It doesn't very effectively hook the audience. Lots of people were also annoyed by the 80's action figure looking MC. This is a weakness, objectively speaking. When there are hundreds of other manga to read, or dozens of other anime to watch, if the first chapter/episode doesn't get you hooked, it's no good.

[neflight86]

It was interesting by the end, so I'm in for the ride. Glad they added in some story hooks by the end instead of going full comedy for the whole episode. Learning he killed his own hero brother is a great hook for now.

[Buffalobiian]

I mean, it's decently interesting. If I can get through an entire season of Higurashi based on someone telling me S2 is worth it, this should be fine.

[Kraco]

Episode 2


- - - - - - -


"Vermikins", or whatever it was, makes me miss the times long gone when we had fansubs. Maybe this one actually looks sensible to an American, but in my eyes it looks like nothing, which makes it annoying because it's a running joke.

I continue to be pleased by this, keeping in mind I didn't expect Helck to get animated at all, which means I never was expecting a show with UBW level of production values or anything. I love the manga, so this works for me, especially since Vamirio's VA is doing good work.

Too bad I can't talk about the story, to avoid writing spoilers inadvertently.

[DarthEnderX]

"Vermikins", or whatever it was, makes me miss the times long gone when we had fansubs. Maybe this one actually looks sensible to an American, but in my eyes it looks like nothing, which makes it annoying because it's a running joke.Seems like an sensible localization of Vermillion-chan. Just not sure why you'd bother in subs. Anyone watching on Crunchyroll knows what the hell -chan is.

[Buffalobiian]

I'm not familiar with "-kins" either. I get that it's to make the name sound cute and chummy, but that's mainly because I know what Vermillion-chan was supposed to mean. I'd have no idea how to interpret someone coming up to me and calling me Bill-kins.

[DarthEnderX]

I'd have no idea how to interpret someone coming up to me and calling me Bill-kins.It would probably be Billykins. Since the point is to be cute. You'd use it for a child or pet.

Like if your cat was named Furball, you'd say "Awww, who's my little Furrykins? You are! Yes you are!"

[Kraco]

It would probably be Billykins. Since the point is to be cute. You'd use it for a child or pet.

Like if your cat was named Furball, you'd say "Awww, who's my little Furrykins? You are! Yes you are!"

Yeah, speaking English as a second language in a non-natively English speaking country, I wasn't aware of this at all. Maybe if I had watched more drama TV shows from the USA, I'd know it. Or watch lots of cat videos on Youtube. Alas, I'm not really doing either, so it was an alien structure to me. Seeing how Bill, a person from an English speaking country, isn't familiar with it either, it seems to be a not so perfect localisation. But then again, if more or less everyone in the USA recognises it, it's probably enough for Hidive, the streamer, since it's a Texan company.

[MFauli]

Kraco, since you keep wording yourself as if some unexpected, awesome twist will happen: Can you put in spoiler-tags a hint? Just some vague hint like "an unexpected death is about to happen", "this world is fake" or whatever.

It just feels like the most generic, low-budget isekai-anime so far ...

[Buffalobiian]

Is "-kins" actually something that is commonly used in the USA?

Like... "-chan" is the defacto modifier to make something cute in Japanese.
In Australia, I guess we add "-o" to everything.. like Jacko.. or just "bro"..
I guess I've heard of munchkins..

[DarthEnderX]

Is "-kins" actually something that is commonly used in the USA?Commonly? Fuck no. But I HAVE seen it happen. It's like something a grandma would say.

[Kraco]

Kraco, since you keep wording yourself as if some unexpected, awesome twist will happen: Can you put in spoiler-tags a hint? Just some vague hint like "an unexpected death is about to happen", "this world is fake" or whatever.

It just feels like the most generic, low-budget isekai-anime so far ...

I feel like no matter what I'd write about it, it would ruin things I'd have personally hated to be told about before the story revealed them. If you check the Manga-Updates reviews, you will see a bunch of people hating the manga, a bunch of people loving it, and a few being meh about it. This doesn't reveal its true nature right off the bat and it's not exactly what it seems to be, which annoys many. I'm not claiming it wouldn't have its problems either. Still a really good one, nonetheless.

Sorry, if you want spoilers, you need to google them. I couldn't decide how much or little to tell.

[MFauli]

I feel like no matter what I'd write about it, it would ruin things I'd have personally hated to be told about before the story revealed them. If you check the Manga-Updates reviews, you will see a bunch of people hating the manga, a bunch of people loving it, and a few being meh about it. This doesn't reveal its true nature right off the bat and it's not exactly what it seems to be, which annoys many. I'm not claiming it wouldn't have its problems either. Still a really good one, nonetheless.

Sorry, if you want spoilers, you need to google them. I couldn't decide how much or little to tell.

Based on the 2 episodes so far, how much longer before whatever twist you're insinuating materializes? If I need to watch 5-6 episodes of a 12 episode-anime before it gets good, I'm out.

[Kraco]

Based on the 2 episodes so far, how much longer before whatever twist you're insinuating materializes? If I need to watch 5-6 episodes of a 12 episode-anime before it gets good, I'm out.

Since anime is always faster than manga, except for the long running shounen shows of old full of filler arcs, it shouldn't take that long for the story to start to reveal itself, bit by bit. Everything that has happened so far is there for a reason.

If you don't enjoy the episodes, just drop the show. Maybe when it's all out, if in doubt, you can download the whole season and have a quicker look, without needing to wait a week for every ep. There are people who dislike this series, so this isn't any must watch series. I was honestly surprised when the anime was announced, as much I like the manga.

[Ryllharu]

Seeing how Bill, a person from an English speaking country, isn't familiar with it either, it seems to be a not so perfect localisation. But then again, if more or less everyone in the USA recognises it, it's probably enough for Hidive, the streamer, since it's a Texan company.
It's not because it is a Texas localizer. The fact that this is HIDIVE and Sentai Filmworks is exactly why the localization is kinda crappy, weirdly dated, and oddly specific for poorly integrated regional quirks of English.

Sentai Filmworks/HIDIVE is the reanimated corpse of ADV.

They broke apart ADV to get themselves out of some funding and breach of contract issues, then bought all the pieces back into their new vertical monopoly.

It's the same shitty people who did awful translations and cast themselves in the dubbing roles in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They lowballed dubbing bids for decades to maintain a stranglehold on English anime distribution and are a nightmare for the voice acting profession as a whole.

[Ryllharu]

Eps 03

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I love that everyone is some degree of dumb, oblivious, aloof, or super perceptive that any attempts at subterfuge or deception just immediately fail, but weren't needed or don't matter. On the other hand, when someone isn't being deceptive, others assume they are. The humor somehow manages to catch you off-guard frequently. It reminds me of the more classic serious/gag shonen series.

But the best gag this episode is, "I'm very skilled at restoration magic" [smashes the two things back together with brute force]. That and Helck's naked apron gratin dinner.
The gags are wonderful because they are quite often background visual gags that they don't focus on and are not explained.

The demon realm is quite hostile in nearly all aspects. It makes you wonder why the humans wanted to invade at all.

Lastly, Hyura is hot.

[DarthEnderX]

The demon realm is quite hostile in nearly all aspects. It makes you wonder why the humans wanted to invade at all.To wipe out the demons, obviously.

[Ryllharu]

But lines like the existence of New-World Lifeforms and Vermilio's line about how the demons spend a lot of effort to keep the toxin from spreading make it seem like the humans don't really understand what's going on the way that the demons do.

Asta remarked how good the human region was compared to their own, so one of the groups certainly doesn't know something the other side does. Either the humans have been protected by the demons all this time, or the humans already solved the problem long ago.

[Buffalobiian]

The gags are indeed good, and Hyura is indeed hot.

But don't let this distract you from Vermillion's hood that accommodates long ears! Her short hair design is awesome.

As for human invasions, I gather that humans kill demons because they see them as a threat, not because they want their real estate. I'm going with this assumption for now.

[shinta|hikari]

What the fuck is Helck's motive

[DarthEnderX]

I'm sure that's related to the TWEEST!

[Ryllharu]

What the fuck is Helck's motive

Well, he killed his own brother, a hero of humanity.

We have to assume Helck betrayed humanity. We just don't know why yet.

[neflight86]

I wish I were more into this. The mystery is keeping me here, but the humor is so understated that it barely registers as jokes and wind up amusing more than entertaining. The world building helps, assuming they plan to do something with it.

Also, this episode completed Helck's transformation into anime Kronk.

Maybe my expectations are setting me up to clash with the tone of the show (so far)? Because I'm expecting a twist into a more serious story, my 'lookout mode' for that is dampening my enjoyment of what's on display... which hasn't impressed me so far. Not bad, but I'm struggling to start up each episode (a common problem for me this season).

[Buffalobiian]

I wish I were more into this. The mystery is keeping me here, but the humor is so understated that it barely registers as jokes and wind up amusing more than entertaining. The world building helps, assuming they plan to do something with it.

Also, this episode completed Helck's transformation into anime Kronk.

Maybe my expectations are setting me up to clash with the tone of the show (so far)? Because I'm expecting a twist into a more serious story, my 'lookout mode' for that is dampening my enjoyment of what's on display... which hasn't impressed me so far. Not bad, but I'm struggling to start up each episode (a common problem for me this season).

Overall I'd say I'm getting Slayer vibes when I watch this. It's the mix of artstyle, fantasy and gags.

[Kraco]

Yeah, this has pretty old-school adventurer vibes. A diverse cast, each with their own quirks, and quite subtle humour, with a big mission in the background. Star Wars, for example, was like that as well.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 04

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Hoh, so this is the setup that you guys were mentioning? I was afraid of them getting isekai-ed into our world for a second, until I saw the two moons.

And yes Azudra, that short hair is mighty fine indeed.

The humour was on point again (though there's less of it since it's serious world-building time). Hyura choosing to go with "This is just someone from management" was the most well played this ep, but for sheer gag value it still has to be the "Let's just cheer them on" bit just before it.

edit: actually, the "be quiet" bit was funny too. I can't choose.

[Ryllharu]

Hyura choosing to go with "This is just someone from management" was the most well played this ep, but for sheer gag value it still has to be the "Let's just cheer them on" bit just before it.
Hyura wasn't completely lying.

Aside from being racists for no reason (Vermilio stated that humanity has betrayed the demons multiple times), the average human apparently also has a very poor understanding of the Demon Empire.

The way Edil was talking, they thought they defeated THE Demon Lord, but were concerned there may be similarly strong demons remaining in the Empire.

Except the Demon Empire doesn't function that way. The winged and awakened humans killed a Demon Lord. There are many demon lords, and the sports competition was going to replace the one that they killed.

Vermilio and Azudra are both substantially stronger than a Demon Lord...and they're also middle management. There are stronger demons fighting the unnamed threat similar to the New World Beings in the North that humanity has absolutely no idea about.


In other topics, the gags of this series being supremely petty is a feature of the series' charm.

[Buffalobiian]

Vermilio and Azudra are both substantially stronger than a Demon Lord...and they're also middle management. There are stronger demons fighting the unnamed threat similar to the New World Beings in the North that humanity has absolutely no idea about.

Where was this information shown?

One thing that was surprising was that the humans knew enough about the crystals driving away toxins to use it as a power source for their portal.

Also, Helck was out doing something. He arrived late to the party here, and he has a cut to his right cheek that wasn't there pre-fall. He could have been fighting off the winged knights, but he also warned us against killing them.

[Ryllharu]

Where was this information shown?

Mostly episode 1. Vermilio is Combat Level Level 78 (Helck is 99). Azudra is Level 73 and another of the Elite four. The catgirl sisters and Vermilio's secretary Hon are Level 48 (so that's the average level of many experienced demons). Kenros the speedy guy is 38 and vying for a demon lord seat. Hyura is Level 50.

Demon Lord Urum, who died sacrificing himself to the hundreds of winged soldiers so all the others could flee, was Level 60.

The thing about the northern threat is a single line somewhere, but I couldn't find it again when skipping through all the episodes while typing this up. I think it is in eps 1 or 2. But I do remember it being said, probably related to how they had forces committed there. Keep in mind that episode 1, one of the catgirls indicated that the humans had no idea that the demons even had a capital city.

They cut the context that pieces it all together in a cute little map though.

[Buffalobiian]

I remember the power level stuff. What I don't recall is that there are known beings stronger than the Elite four and sit higher than them in demon hierarchy.

[Kraco]

I didn't, honestly, remember just how sparingly the story revealed the major facts along the way. I quite liked it, though. Most fantasy these days is extremely rudimentary, the isekai genre being the worst offender, so the stories don't keep any secrets whatsoever and everything is explained in excruciating detail, as if the audience was composed of mollusks.

Hyura is so superficial. She just couldn't ignore Edil having some bishounen characteristics, even though both swore to slay the other.

Vamirio, who always highly suspected Helck and deemed him an enemy when he told them not to kill the winged knights, ending up together with him is quite traditional story telling, for sure.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 05

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I still enjoy Vermilion's outbursts, but I was disappointed at her lack of leadership this episode for an Elite 4 who smells like an old lady.

[Kraco]

Bulding a basic log cabin is a lot of simpler than building a decent boat, after all.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 06

--------------





I can't believe I didn't notice this last week, but despite Helck awakening as a hero, he actually doesn't have wings like the others. So he must have gone through a different process, or didn't actually awaken as a hero at all, or managed to cast it aside somehow (eg chop his wings off?)

Azudra's "condition" would be a wide open ground to erupt trees from I gather, with the airspace to swing them wildly. I liked the idea of the mask. Too bad it's a little pointless if he takes it off before beating the shit out of everyone.

The narrating at the beginning of the eps also give me HxH vibes.




EDIT: hmm, so based on information from this episode I reckon:
-Human King has an agenda to wipe out demons.
-Human King has a way to forcefully awaken humans.
-Human King did this to Helck's brother.
-Helck had to kill his brother to prevent further badness.
-Helck wants to kill the king and end this.

[DarthEnderX]

I can't believe I didn't notice this last week, but despite Helck awakening as a hero, he actually doesn't have wings like the others. So he must have gone through a different process, or didn't actually awaken as a hero at all, or managed to cast it aside somehow (eg chop his wings off?)I assume he became a Hero the same way as his brother. As DQ heroes don't usually have wings.


-Human King did this to Helck's brother. I don't think so. I think Helck's brother was just the usual "Hero destined to defeat the Demon King"-type of hero. The whole angel thing seems to be a new and separate thing, because the Demons didn't know wtf it was.

[neflight86]

4-6 just caught up. At last, something to latch into and look forward to. Good theories about the organization of Demons and how humanity is currently seeing the world as a fraction of its scope.

I also assume the king and other human authorities are in the wrong, or at least needlessly warmongering, but to what extent is the population being 'awakened' into mindless puppets?

[Kraco]

Episode 7


- - - -


Azudora couldn't have expected Vamirio to end up in the land of idiots and thus having slim chances of receiving the letter and tool. But then again, it's not like they would really need help between people like Helck and Vamirio. If those two don't have the strength and willpower to get back, who would?

Quite an information heavy episode.

[DarthEnderX]

The humans be respawning like DQ Heroes.

Was that the big twist?

[Kraco]

The humans be respawning like DQ Heroes.

Was that the big twist?

If you ask me, that's just a technical detail, but I suppose it's something of a twist as well. It shows how the attacking winged soldiers are nothing but disposable tools. There's no need for medics or rescue, just have a second wave kill the first wave if they somehow became... inoperative. Not to mention most of them are like silent clones.

[David75]

And that explains why they were able to defeat those castle demon lords.
Very weak and easy to kill at first, but getting better and stronger each wave.

[Buffalobiian]

So a freezing spell is what they need to deal with the humans. Forever imprisonment.

Besides killing the King that since, since that's the other solution.

[DarthEnderX]

I think it's fun that they're inverting the trope.

Instead of the Hero going on a quest to slay the Demon King, the Demons have to go on a quest to slay the Human King.

[Ryllharu]

It also explains why there are basically all of twelve people dealing with this otherwise unprecedented crisis with a generally low level of tension.

Demons typically have much bigger things to worry about, and human crusades into their empire barely register beyond the daily issues they encounter.

The biggest crisis is "Anne" is missing. Only with this big reveal do the humans outrank New World monster hunting.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 08

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I forgot today's Helck Wednesday.

Nice adventuring vibe again.

The witch looks like she could be Anne's mother, I wouldn't be able to tell their age since I'm expecting demons to live long lives and age slowly.

The other thought I had was whether she could be a future Anne. Her demeanor seems way different, but if she is, then the bigger fuzzball could also be future Piwi.

[DarthEnderX]

Mom seems like a safer bet.

[Buffalobiian]

True. And it did seem like it's her first time meeting Helck.

[Kraco]

The witch had a bigger talking bird with her, Vamirio now has a smaller one. Maybe the bird actually is useful for a magician.

[Buffalobiian]

Or belly rubs.

Yeah, probably the belly rubs.

[Ryllharu]

The witch looks like she could be Anne's mother, I wouldn't be able to tell their age since I'm expecting demons to live long lives and age slowly.

The other thought I had was whether she could be a future Anne. Her demeanor seems way different, but if she is, then the bigger fuzzball could also be future Piwi.
The witch could also be an alternative Vamirio from a future where they failed in some way or another. Maybe they never got off the island, maybe Helck turned on them, or the humans simply got too powerful to stop and steamrolled the planet. The look she gave Helck when they met wasn't a particularly kind one. Felt more like wary assessment.

If we have massive teleportation magic and god-tier resurrection and awakening magic, who's to say we don't have time magic? Vamiro is the most powerful of the four, and she's expected to only get stronger.

Then she just parked herself on the island to make sure they wouldn't fail on a second go-around.

The resemblance is far too close to easily dismiss a "future Vamiro" theory.

[David75]

The time leap argument is valid as teleportation is a specific kind of spacetime movement where time is invariant (or changes by a very small amount)
But it's totally possible to think of a spacetime translation with another time coordinate.
Funny how I just wrote similar ideas here and in Mushkou's thread. All coming from watching SteinsGate and too much PBS space time videos :p

[Kraco]

Episode 9


---- - -



Animation budget limits were quite painful in this episode. At least it didn't hamper the joke of finally reaching the land.

I've begun to think, by now, that it probably wasn't a wise decision from the producer/studio to make this series at all. Studios are struggling financially as it is, and this clearly isn't, structurally, the kind of story that suit an anime that well. At least nowadays. If the manga was old and it thus would have been possible to make this in the golden days of 90's, when Slayers and such were produced, maybe things would have been different. Things are different today. Perhaps because everybody's more busy/stressed than ever and the Internet and instant messaging have shortened people's attention spans. The endless supply of isekai trash fantasy must be quite a clear sign of that. I'd be interesting to know how Helck is doing in Japan.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 10

-------------------





-I thought the lute was weird having the pegbox angled backwards, but turns out it's an actual thing presumably to stop them from going out of tune.
-This was overall a fairly unsatisfying episode. Like a random sidequest.

[Kraco]

I expected the director to cut away the cooking contest, but I don't mind as it's quite funny and not any longer than this. This is a pretty goofy series, after all. A weird mix of comedy and tragedy.

[DarthEnderX]

I like how this episode was just a completely different shounen series, complete with it's own protagonist, that Helck just walked in and stomped all over.


It is glaringly obvious though that this show has absolutely no budget.

Like, I don't think they even think they animated the attacks that wounded the Barbarian King hitting him.

[Kraco]

Yeah. With such a pittance of a budget, it would have been better not to produce this whole thing. Maybe in the future AI assistance would have allowed this kind of pocket change to make a better show. Now I'm watching for old times sake, but this anime on its own is hardly impressive.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 11

--------------------








Piwi is indeed a good addition. There was one scene where he had a headband on, but then it disappeared during the next without any obvious reason.

We didn't really learn anything more about Helck's power besides the fact that whatever powerup he got might consume him, if it's at all similar to the Hex that was introduced in this week.

[Kraco]

No surprise, but I liked better the manga fan transation's version of Helck's healing technique: "Super regeneration conditioning", instead of this anime translator's "super recovery mode". Since there's the concept of muscle conditioning, it just sounds funnier when Helck looks like a bodybuilder. You can imagine healing a deep wound is nothing but a little bit of extra muscle training for him.

[DarthEnderX]

I could see flexing to close a wound in order to stop the bleeding. But that doesn't really "heal" the wound.

Of course, Helck can probably just maintain the flex indefinitely until the wound heals on it's own.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 12

------------


Haha, this episode took me on a roller coaster man.

"Oh, that' the ED playing. That felt so short."
"Wait, it's only 16mins in. It IS short. But there's 6mins left so the reveal must be after the ED. Good."
/6mins of Piwi's adventures.
... "Well, it wasn't what I was expecting, but it wasn't bad."

The demonkind are also growing from experience, but that's only the elites that were measured. And they're one death away from losing all that xp, while the humans don't risk that at all.

[Kraco]

Haha, yeah. I didn't expect the last third of the episode to be like that. The manga actually had plenty of short x.5 chapters, which were usually comedy or just some extra, unnecessary details. It pissed off quite a few readers.

[DarthEnderX]

13

---

Oh baby...scrambled eggs on toast.

[Buffalobiian]

I don't like OP2, but ED2 is nice.

[Kraco]

Episode 14


- - - - - -



It's actually quite interesting the story is telling this all in retrospect when normally in fantasy stories this would have been told as it progresses, thus creating the twist out of the demon king getting defeated being useless. Or actually worse than useless, since the demons are also fighting the monsters. With the demon king closest to the human kingdom gone, the monster numbers in that part of the world would only go up. Now there's no twist here since we already know what it all meant, considering Helck is telling this whole story to someone from the demon side.

Despite being no fan of flashbacks, I liked this approach because it made the very beginning of the story much more interesting. There were quite a few manga readers who didn't appreciate not knowing what's going on for so long.

[shinta|hikari]

I am okay with waiting as long as it delivers in the end, and this was a good one. I really felt for Helck and his bro's plight. If these humans betray Helck just like they turned on his brother, they truly deserve to be eradicated.

I wonder how sword girl will die. Wasn't her sword the one Helck is carrying around?

[Buffalobiian]

I wonder how sword girl will die. Wasn't her sword the one Helck is carrying around?

I think so.

I'm going to guess that the Kingdom got desperate and modified Cless (or resurrected him, either way), turning him into the King's puppet. All the current Winged Knights seem oddly blood-thirsty as well, and I don't know if that's just a side effect of awakening, or whether it's the projected will (or personality modification) by the King.

Helck and the girl probably discovered that the Demons aren't the root of all evil and decided not not to hunt them. Meanwhile Cless won't listen and continues to do what the King wants. He ends up killing the girl because she got in his way, and that prompts Helck to kill Cless. I think it would have to take at least that much for Helck to rule Cless as a lost cause.

Helck realises that all humans have the potential to be under the King's influence, and decides that their/his self-serving nature isn't good for the world (and lead to his brother's death), and thus he decides to joint forces with the Demons to kill the King instead.

Cless was depicted in a bandaged/resurrected manner in the OP, so that might he what happened before, or even what might be to come if he didn't truly die during the upcoming flashback.


That's what I'm guessing.

[DarthEnderX]

I'm going to guess that the Kingdom got desperate and modified Cless (or resurrected him, either way), turning him into the King's puppet.I think Cless IS the King.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 16

--------------


Alicia must be the awakened girl we've seen. There's no other girl, and they all seem to be ex-buddies with Cless/Helck.

Interestingly the subs mention that Cless had powers from "another world", and we've already seen the Witch, who could be an alternate version of Vermillion, so that checks out.

Why powers from another world grant immortality though is another issue.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 18

---------------------







I'm kind of glad we're going back to Vermillion again. I didn't realise how much I'd miss the random gag/humour of this show. The last two episodes being so serious actually made it less enjoyable overall despite my being invested in the Alicia/Helck ship.

The negative emotion thing seems much less sinister now. It's just "Level 99 Hero gets hateful at times".

[shinta|hikari]

Until he blows and kills all humans himself.

[Buffalobiian]

He's going for that right now anyway.

[DarthEnderX]

So all this flashback stuff is the big "twist"/"this series goes places" people were talking about right?

[Buffalobiian]

E24

-----------------




The resolve is good and all... but let's not forget that the humans have captured the telepathic spy girl. And the king is supposedly not as mighty as everyone things, though he is the medium.

Edil hitting on Hyura was pretty fun to watch, in the usual Tsun manner.

[DarthEnderX]

Anticlimactic. But the fight would have just looked like shit anyway.