Giant Beasts of Ars

Episode 10

I can't help but feel that this episode of Giant Beasts of Ars is the biggest letdown of them all. I've had my issues with the series until now but have at least generally thought it had potential, but I can't believe how anticlimactic this episode ended up being.

The entire episode is centered on taking out Mezami's laboratory. In my opinion, essentially every opportunity here gets wholly squandered. Facade and Jiro get a chance to hash it out again, but it's terribly short and lands like a thud. Mezami turns into a literal beast monster as his power-up, and I'm not sure that's really needed here. I get that villains sometimes have random power-ups, but it cheapens his villainy to make him a talking monster for no reason. He does a huge exposition dump which is, again, normal villain behavior. But he gets immediately taken out by a giant beast nom-nomming him. Okay? Sure, I guess. Facade and Mezami were the only engaging enemies up until this point, and they both got taken out without much (if any) effort. All the tension the series had effectively built up over the last few weeks gets deflated. What a waste.

The general lady who has spent the whole season walking down hallways also arrives just in time to drop Kumi's life expectancy knowledge on Jiro. This is the most compelling part of the episode; much like last week with the big explosion in the forest, the setup was wonky, but the emotional payoff is there. Jiro's reaction is sufficiently dramatic, and the tragedy of a child fighting to end war who won't enjoy the fruits of that effort resonates. But other than “I guess we're fighting space gods next week?” the series seems to have lost its primary antagonists with little to show for it.

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Grant is the cohost on the Blade Licking Thieves podcast and Super Senpai Podcast.

Giant Beasts of Ars is currently streaming on HIDIVE.