They are clearly setting up the bishop to be the next antagonist. I guess the politics between church and palace would be the focus of this last arc / last few episodes.

The thing is, it looks like the novel is ongoing, which means that this season of the anime won’t be a full adaptation. Which means that Seiichiro would likely fail to wrap everything up cleanly, and fail to get back to the original world by the end of this season.

Here’s a bigger bet: the bishop’s faction would triumph over Seiichirou and gang, but it won’ta complete victory. They would be successful in removing Seiichirou and Aresh from power, but only by banishing them from the palace and that’s it (i.e. no execution or imprisonment). The season can then end with a sort of cliffhanger, showing Seiichirou and Aresh figuring out how to live their life - and possibly stage a comeback - moving forward.

The first half looks new. It’s anime original, isn’t it? That’s kinda surprising to me, because the manga chapter count is such that it could be adapted into two 12-episode seasons cleanly.

Also, Zareth shares the same voice actor as the narrator, doesn’t he? It’s not shown on AniList at the moment. His voice is iconic, and is perfect for Dou’s grandpa.

How far did y’all get with the puzzle? They weren’t joking about its difficulty 😭

I found 6 before giving up:

Including the one that Sakura pointed out, that makes 7, so it’s still missing 3

Edit: looked up the answers

It’s quite obvious that something is going to happen to Shirakumo, given that we still see Yamada and senpai around but not Shirakumo. However, the rain is just too good at setting the mood…

Thanks for the hosting reccs. Hope this works: https://chibi.iitranq.co.uk/VXIR3KN7eaRe.mp4

I completed Love Through A Prism over the past week. It is a very standard shoujo romance, following all the common tropes like:

I usually don’t care for vanilla, but the meta has been villainess for so long that vanilla looped right back around to being refreshing.

What made it stood out from similar works is its production value. IMO it is on par with the top-tiers of this season.

So even though it’s “nothing special”, I enjoyed it quite a bit. If vanilla shoujo is your cup of tea, consider checking it out.

This clip could have been further trimmed to just Yuna’s skating sequence, which is powerful / inspiring in its own right.

But the interaction between athlete and coach is so heartwarming.

Yuna’s self-doubt at the end - despite having just pulled off prodigy-level moves - made me want to hug her so bad. I am so glad Shinichirou showed her the support he did instead of chastising her. If I were in his shoes, her little “Sensei!” at the end would have made me fold.

These segments showed so much of the characters’ personalities it felt like such a waste to leave them out.

(Plus, it’s poetic that the clip starts and ends with Yuna calling out to her sensei.)

Alright, this is a hard one, but I’m guessing what Makio lost isn’t even a person - it’s something conceptual. What’s harder to guess is exactly what it is she lost.

Hope? Sentimentality? The courage to forgive?

Maybe one of you who is wiser can tell me?

Shion has been my favourite male character in this show for a while now - he has my admiration for being such a gigachad - but Gantetsu is quickly taking over as a new favourite. He’s just so entertaining whenever he’s on screen!

Also, that lack of hesitation of his when removing his own body parts is so metal - first with his hand, and now his eye! I’m surprised that he’s even fully intact before the start of all these events.

Banner nomination: so many noteworthy shots, but it has to be this one 😏

@rikka@ani.social

Title drop!

Elendira appears to be starting to figure out that Knives is just a power-mad psychopath

It’s funny (read: infuriating) that a random henchman is one step ahead of our protagonist in this regard.

The focus this episode has been on Jun and Tsukasa, but shoutout to Shinichirou for being such a bro. Also, feels bad for Shinichirou, getting overshadowed by Jun his entire career. Unfortunately, it looks like this situation is going to carry over to their students, with Inori and Hikaru gapping the rest. It reminds me of those strong but forever-second Umamusume / horses who had to compete with prodigies of their generation (e.g. Win Variation vs Orferve)

Banner nominations: so hard to decide between the funny (read: horny) one and the cool shot

Which one would y’all pick? Or something else entirely?

@rikka@ani.social

There is no new episode…

If that’s all there is to this arc, colour me surprised. I thought it would be dragged out like Akane’s.

I also thought it would be the start of villainess Kana - like Ruby’s case - but she actually took it quite positively - or at least as positively as the situation allows.

I’ve got even more respect for Kana now. Aqua is on point about her being a fighter alright.

Banner: 😏

@rikka@ani.social

Bro’s reactions are perfect:

a sort of Wizard of Oz vibe, which is how I realized the Wizard of Oz was an isekai