FINALLY! Let us all rejoice that our Shield Hero Naofumi has finally gotten his justice after 21 episodes! After saving Naofumi’s life after using that incredible attack from the Chaos Shield, Naofumi and his party was told by the Queen that she planned on outing those who caused Naofumi so much harm...Malty and the King. A trial is held and both criminals are tried by having Malty being given a slave crest so she can’t lie about her actions...which she tried too even with the pain attacking her with each lie! Everyone learns the truth that Malty and the King worked alongside the church and Malty tried to make moves early on to get the Shield Hero outed as a horrible person and villianfied by all. The trial ends quickly with the Queen finding both parties guilty and then was willing to give them an execution! Naofumi steps in though and save both Malty and the King by having them change their names (we can say the King is now called Trash but Malty we can’t say her name...we’ll just go with B****) and forever live with losing their titles and their pride. Naofumi and the gang (minus Melty) leave the kingdom to get ready to stop the next wave and the episode ends with some truly sad goodbyes and thank yous. Even in comparison to the action heavy last episode, episode 21 of Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari was simply incredible.

A mysterious assassin is targeting the gifted, and manages to poison Fukuzawa. At the same time, Mori is attacked in broad daylight, by none other than Fyodor. The two heads of the gifted organizations are linked by this poison, with Fyodor telling Dazai that killing one will save the other. Though Dazai is shot in the process of learning this, the rest of the Armed Detective Agency and Port Mafia gear up to save each one of their respective leaders!

After a few backstory-heavy episodes, Bungou Stray Dogs is finally getting back into its main conflict for the season. I love the way this show manages to weave all the characters they’ve previously introduced throughout each new episode! Though we have a new villain in Fyodor and new allies in the form of characters like Katai Tayama, the remnants of the Guild are still around and relevant to current conflicts, along with past supporting characters like Higuchi and Ozaki-sama. It was interesting to hear Fyodor also talk about his goal of a book that can reshape the world, as it seems similar to Francis’ goal from the last season. And though Dazai has been out of the picture before, this latest forced conflict between the Port Mafia and Armed Detective Agency is a bad time for him to be missing in action. I am looking forward to seeing how this latest conflict plays out next week, whether it ends in a brawl between the organizations, or they all manage to save Fukuzawa and Mori in another way!

It’s all been leading up to this – way back in October when the ED glitched into a preview of the second half of the season, it was the climactic moment of this episode that was shown in suspense-filled fragments. Among manga fans, it’s known as the “serumbowl”, since the decision of whether Erwin or Armin should live is just as impactful and intense as the real Super Bowl.

With almost no music for the entire episode (even the OP was absent), the voice actors’ performances really got a chance to shine. Yui Ishikawa brought heartfelt and vulnerable emotion to Mikasa’s desperate pleas in defense of Armin’s life, and Romi Park dug deep to portray Hange’s barely restrained grief. Ultimately, Levi sends everyone away and decides on his own to give Armin the titan serum instead of Erwin, since he couldn’t bear to drag the commander back into the hell that tore the man away from his dreams. Erwin was forced to send hundreds of young soldiers to their deaths, echoing Kenny’s sentiment that nobody survives a war without becoming a slave to something – be it alcohol, power, or the corpses of your comrades. But Armin’s hope to see the ocean still burned bright within him, so he could make the most out of his second chance at life.

Next time, we finally find out what’s in the basement! And, as a manga reader myself, let me assure you that it’s worth the years-long wait. Get hyped!

While on a mission to protect some cargo, the members of Dorothea are ambushed on a train. The group comes face to face with Beevee Liscar, one of the seven knights. Despite the combined efforts of Ozz and Free, they are no match for Beevee's overwhelming strength. Even after getting defeated by Beevee, Ozz jumps into action when Marlya is in trouble. Ozz is able to save her and carry her off, as he shields her from the incoming gunfire by using his body. Unable to run any further, Ozz falls to the ground in pain still protecting Marlya. While looking over his defeated foe Beevee decides that Ozz will never be able to recover from his wounds and delivers one final blow, to finish one final blow to finish Ozz off.

This week in Fairy Gone we got a somewhat fitting and unfortunate end to Ozz. In just five short minutes we went from an epic battle between Ozz and Beevee to probably see the last of Ozz. The members of Dorothea can never seem to pull it together when it matters and it really sucks to see one of the best characters in the series die. I can't wait for next week when we actually learn the fate of Ozz, and hopefully, this is the motivation Marlya needs to not be so useless.