Gosh this arc is looking like it could be one of my favorite shounen arcs period... I've been so invested in every single episode.
The whole Shaka all the way in the Virgo house vs the trio in the Cancer house was really unique and awesome. Shaka knows that he may not be able to take all three in a fair fight so he attempted to run the clock and trap them in his illusions. He had them running in the palm of the Buddha not making any progress. They then realized that the only way out of the endless painful illusions was to take on Shaka, but they cannot reach him from all the way in the Cancer house, so they end up having a freaking laser beam battle from across the houses. Shaka even managed to block the one that injured Kanon despite the fact that his entire house got destroyed and crumbled around him. Shaka was always one of the coolest Gold Saints so its awesome to see him again. This kind of challenge for the trio to face is not seen often, the only other time I can think of such a situation was when Shun had to strike Saga with his chain and it traveled through dimensions or whatever happened way back then!
And jeez, speaking of the trio, I know Shura and Saga have done wrongs. Camus on the other hand was nearly perfect, fighting Hyoga to prepare him. Yet, despite Shura and Saga's wrongs, I deeply admire them. Saga was coming from a place of good intentions even if the means to get there was cruel. Shura made mistakes in judgement but absolutely atoned for them by saving and guiding Shiryu. I view the three as legendary warriors. As deeply admirable and strong figures. And they are all together fighting against our heroes. Even if they are double agents or doing this for an ultimate good, they are still willing to kill the gold saints to achieve that. That is truly scary. I loved how Shura flashed his Excalibur when mentioning if they should take care of the specters following them! That was so cool and as brutal as Shura has always been. It was also cool to have the trio acknowledge that they know they're being watched and followed by Rhadamanthys' goons. They're there to ensure that the traitorous gold saints don't fail and to possibly make sure they don't betray Hades either, I'm sure Rhadamanthys feels similar to how Miro did with Kanon. They cannot trust saints who directly opposed them not long ago, because, how could you?
The whole Shiryu vs Ikki confrontation was definitely interesting. Ikki has always been a loner. He's never be upfront about his thoughts. And he's always felt like he wasn't deserving to be a part of the bronze saints in my view given to me by a lovely @Sparkyon. So, this made sense to me. He's even left the saints and decided not to help them in crucial times to do what he thought was right in the past. That's why I loved what Shiryu took from it. No, Mu and Ikki are not cowards, obviously not. Rather, "there's nothing to say. One day we will understand". The line rang very much like some similar words from Old Master this very episode, "if that is the will of the gods so be it". Both are very accepting of very cruel and hopeless situations, I can see how Old Masters teaching have rubbed off on Shiryu.
That said, I'm still really uncomfortable with the idea that the bronze saints are useless now. Sure, the gold saints may be at a higher base strength than they are, but the bronze saints beat the gold saints, let's not get that wrong. They may not have as high of a base level but they can ignite their cosmos even greater than the gold saints. So, to call them useless must be a misunderstanding on Ikki's part. In fact, Old Master didn't allow the gold saints to help in the battle against Poseidon. I think it was because they knew that the next Holy War was coming, Athena and her saints appear in the times of darkness after all. So, the gold saints potentially- being lead by Old Master, let the saints fight against Poseidon and push their limits so they could become strong enough to be a monumental part of the upcoming war. In that way, perhaps Athena believes risking the bronze saints lives against 3 foes when 108 are coming is why it is useless for them to fight here... I'm not sure if any of this is right at all, but I think it adds up somewhat!
Finally, I want to touch on the words between Dohko and Shion. The fact that this war will probably be even greater than the last when the last ended with two sole survivors made things sink in. That's why Miro was so sure that the two of them would die too. This war has hardly begun... it's in its first phases. The arc started with some words between Athena and Hades and then she banned her saints from coming to the Sanctuary. There is so much we don't understand, I have to imagine the big picture is already planned by Saori. It's so tragic that there were only two survivors last time... I feel like everyone we love is going to die now. To make matters worse, the two survivors are out to kill the other now. Dohko vs Shion... jeez. To make it worse worse, Shion was one of the people who fought against Hades last time!
Also, that whole talk about the last holy war made me really excited to watch the anime about it! |