It’s Tensura time! Shit hit the fan pretty hard last week and I was kind of surprised by the almost jarring increase in pacing, but let’s see what this week’s episode has in store for us. We obviously continue where we left off, with the conversation between Diablo and Guy. We see here that the chaos that is overtaking the Western Nations is being made even worse by Guy’s involvement. While Granville’s troops are trying to overtake the kingdom of Engrassia – which seems to be abandoned by Yuuki at this point – the demons swoop in to deal some extra damage wherever they can. Guy looks like he’s just doing whatever he wants because it is fun to mess with humans, but surely there is something he hopes to gain from all of this. Granville’s lofty ideals about protecting humanity have fully gone to the wayside now. He may be right that it’s not good to have these demon lords meddling with the humans, but his own meddling is at the very least doing far more damage to the realm than that of Rimuru. His selfish desires are what is turning the Western Nations into a bloodbath. The one thing that has me very confident things will end up being somewhat alright – besides the fact that it wouldn’t make sense for the story if things went really poorly – is the fact that at the gathering of the human nations we still have Testarossa, who is very powerful. Last week I said this was Elmessia. I was mixing up my white-haired calm women, sorry about that. Maybe I should be worried, we don’t yet know what Testarossa is capable of and if she’s truly as loyal to Rimuru as someone like Diablo. Still, the council needs to figure out how to deal with this problem and they immediately turn to her.

And for the right reasons. Her military might is incredible and she also catches on to Johann’s scheming immediately. Unfortunately it is still too late as the barrier is destroyed and Vert shows up in the hall. These Rozzo zealots are crazy and it seems like not just Granville is beyond saving but Johann and these green beret-looking weirdos are also beyond saving. They’re in league with the demons to some extent as they summon Misery, the other demon working with Guy. She’s surprised that Blanc is now working for Rimuru, as it seemed like the other demons had no intention of incarnating until now. Also, I’m going with Misery for now even though the subtitles say Mizeri. But after a short conversation, Misery leaves. She’s no goddess after all, she’s just a primordial demon like the others and her priorities are not aligned with these zealots. Quick sidebar. Testarossa is more insane than Diablo. And she sounds like a cop, which is the worst way to sound. At least her knowledge of the law works out very well in this case. 

I love how Diablo is completely turning Guy off his game. It makes sense since Rimuru now has four primordials working for him while Guy only has two working for him, not counting himself. I wonder who named Guy, or if he was somehow able to name himself. Either way, Guy wants to meet with Rimuru to see what the hell is going on. Seeing how smitten Testarossa and the other demons already are with Rimuru, it does make me wonder what sort of crazy power he has imbued in himself. It’s either that or the effect of the great sage, who we still know so very little about. 

In the meantime we head back to Lubelius where Granville is still stalling Rimuru until finally Leon arrives. This is where Granville plays his hand. Leon has been indirectly responsible for the summoning of many otherworld children, putting these children who would have otherwise lived normal lives into severe danger by bringing them to this world and shortening their lifespan. There is a tiny part of me here that wonders if the constant disappearances of people is something that the people back on Earth are desperately trying to figure out. I wonder how many Isekai stories actually deal with that part of the problem. It was different for something like SAO where their bodies were still present, but here the people are fully taken into this world. I suppose if it’s spread out over a lot of places and timelines, then it might be too few people for someone to actually sound the alarm but it’s still food for thought. Granville here does everything he can to incite Rimuru against Leon and even though the great sage is warning him, Rimuru is choosing to still get angry. Of course he is, he has a soft spot for people from his own world, we’ve known this from the very start, and he feels especially strongly for Shizue and the children and knowing that Leon is responsible for all of this is sending him over the edge. He punches the crap out of Leon. But that is just to get some revenge for Shizu. It’s now time to deceive Granville with a little playfight from the looks of it, but what I don’t understand is how both Leon and Rimuru understand that Granville is the real enemy and that the other is playing along. There is something I’m missing. We of course know what Granville is planning, but why? What’s the point in sacrificing everything for Yuuki’s scheming? I’m really hoping we get some answers soon. Either way, it looks like all the members of Octogram will end up being on team Rimuru in some way or another, with Guy being the only one who is still a bit of a question mark. Leon and Rimuru have all but made up from the sounds of their inner dialogue and the others were already friendly with Rimuru. This makes me curious how strong the next opponent can truly be. I believe we heard the term “angels” somewhere earlier on in the story, a few seasons ago, when referring to something or someone in the Eastern Nations. Perhaps after this whole ordeal with Granville is over, we will get to learn more about that. But for now, we have a handful of episodes left to resolve everything there is to resolve here, and I’m excited for what that will look like. Thanks for reading. I’ve had a very stressful few days so I’m going to take some time to relax now and enjoy my weekend.