Things are finally advancing quickly, after a very enjoyable, but slow start to the season. Since this episode really set the stage for the upcoming discussions, I think it’s for the best to look at this episode a little bit differently than normal. I will be skipping around through what happens today, so bear with me.
Shuna, Hakuo and Soei go to Clayman’s castle to take control of it while Clayman is at Walpurgis. The person guarding the castle is Adalman, the wight king (not the white king, like my subtitles said). He has an army of undead. Unfortunately for him, he is a bad match for Shuna, who not only uses holy magic that is very effective against the undead, but she’s also angry right now. She realizes after a while that Adalman used to be a priest, and we get a small bit of insight into his past. He used to believe in the god Luminus, but was turned into an undead creature by the former/recently returned demon lord Kazareem (the blonde lady that was with Yuuki and Laplace a few episodes ago.) He ends up being no match for Shuna. As a matter of fact, after Shuna inadvertently undoes his binding spell, he asks to be brought to her “god” as in Rimuru.
I like analyzing the deeper meaning behind things. I would never say I’m particularly good at it, I had to resit some of my literature classes in uni several times before I got a passing grade, but when the source material is interesting to me, I do enjoy looking for hidden things that might be there on purpose, or are there just by coincidence. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that all of Clayman’s people fall so easily. Yamza was an opportunist that was ready to run as soon when things went south. Tear, Footman and Laplace seem to be on the same team as him mostly because they have a common leader figure in Kazareem, but none of them seem to really trust Clayman or think him competent. Frey seems to have been lured in by promises of power by Clayman, but without her help he would have never been able to brainwash Milim. Even the followers of Milim seemed fine with jumping ship when it got to it, and now we learn that another one of his lackeys, Adalman, was only there because he was bound by his own past, and not because he actually wanted to work with Clayman. I think it’s fitting that all of his allies go down easily when he never bothered to give them a good reason to work for him. I wouldn’t be surprised if Clayman himself goes down easily after Rimuru figures out how to get Milim back in control of her own mind.
And that brings us to the last part of this episode, that mixes in with the discussions had early on; the start of Walpurgis, the demon lords’ banquet. Misery, one of Guy’s maids, picks up the different demon lords and brings them to the discussion table. And here we meet all of the other demon lords, some for the first time.
Guy Crimson seems to be the oldest demon lord in attendance and from what we’ve been hinted at is probably the strongest person in the room. He seemed like a nice bloke when he was talking to Leon in a previous episode though.
The giant demon lord, Dagruel. We know very little about him except that he’s seemingly very powerful and his footsteps are loud enough to cause light tremors.
The Vampire demon lord, Valentine. I’ve highlighted the people in his party as well, because Rimuru pretty much confirms that the maid (the one on the left, the blue haired on on the right is Rain, Guy’s maid) is the stronger one there. So she is probably the real demon lord that Veldora pissed off ages ago.
I’m grouping Dino and Ramiris together for this one, since we know a lot about Ramiris and very little about Dino. All we know is that they’re on friendly terms. Dino is the lazy one that Ramiris spoke about earlier this episode. He seems like a nice person so far. Ramiris we’ve met so many times that I don’t need to talk about her much here.
We’ve already met Frey in a previous episode, when she put the mindcontrolling necklace on Milim. I do have to wonder what her endgame is, since there’s no way she believes Clayman can keep Milim under control right? There has to be another layer to this. That or she’s just not very smart, which is also a possibility of course. Shion does mention that the lion looking man behind her could be Carrion, since he looks like beastfolk. I wonder what’s up with that. Raphael seems to agree, but Rimuru shuts her down too quickly and she hmmmpfs away.
Leon Cromwell. The man, the myth, the bellend. He is the one responsible for Shizu’s condition and then death. He doesn’t seem to harbor any real emotions about the situation. He seems to have a very clear moral code, although not one that’s particularly good. The two don’t get off on a great start though, but Rimuru does get invited over to his place for a discussion. If he leaves here alive. That’s not ominous at all.
Last but not least, we have Milim, wearing her mind control necklace, and Clayman, the main villain of this arc. I wonder if that magical looking fox is like the conch in Lord of the flies or something completely unrelated. Either way, as soon as Clayman disrespects Milim, which he’s obviously doing to make a show out of his control over her, every other demon lord in the room looks on with disapproval.
With Carrion missing, that’s all 10 demon lords that are expected to attend, in attendance. The only ones not included her, that we know of, are the female vampire that is with Valentine, who might be the real powerful one as well as Demon Lord Kazareem, who is presumed dead at this point in time. Rimuru doesn’t count yet since he became a demon lord only after this meeting was called, but he was still invited, so that’s nice of them.
I hope this brings everyone back up to speed, I sure could use the reminder of who everyone involved was. Next week’s episode is called Walpurgis, and with all the fighting seeming mostly out of the way, we’re finally going to get into the thick of it. I can’t wait to see what kind of politics happen here. The fights, although they looked better this week, don’t interest me a great deal this season, I’m all here for the politics. Who is on whose side, who is going to fall, and who is going to rise. I also, upon further thought, don’t think the guy behind Frey is too directly related to Carrion, seeing as a large part of Clayman’s plan is to convince everyone that Rimuru killed Carrion and has to die for that reason. Or perhaps that is the way in which Frey is going to show her real colors. Maybe she holds a grudge against Clayman and has been working with him to betray him at the last second. Or I’m totally wrong, but that’s the fun in this, is it not? I am glad I got this review out in time, since it was an absolute banger of an episode, and I hope to see you all here again next week!
Edit – It’s very late and I can’t seem to figure out the formatting around some of the demon lord images. I apologize that it looks a bit chaotic and I hope to get back to this post to fix it at a later date.
Opal Kaharis 