Eehh?! Nani? Sumimasen, nani the fuck?! That was my reaction to almost everything that happened in the first half of Granbelm episode 8. It’s not a “confused” what-the-fuck, it’s a “this is all messed up and moving so fast” what-the-fuck. I mean, where do I begin? Let’s take this episode apart, starting with the first half.

At the end of last episode, we saw in the preview a scene of Kuon and Mangetsu in bed together. This episode we saw it for real, but it was a tease/bait for yuri fans like me. When you return from Magiaconatus, you appear naked in the location from which you entered. That is, unless you visualize where you want to appear and what you want to be wearing. That’s the only reason for that scene. I’m in equal parts disappointed (that there was no real yuri here) and relieved (that my Mangetsu x Shingetsu ship remains in tact). Speaking of yuri, also in this episode was the spectacularly “evil” kiss with Suishou and Kuon. It’s all part of how Suishou is toying with Kuon’s heart.

Shingetsu didn’t explicitly state so when asked, but it soons becomes clear that Anna is actually, for real, fucking dead. She’s dead. Why did Anna die when other participants of Magiaconatus did not? I think it’s because her actual physical body was run through by the sharp tail of Shingetsu’s armanox. That, or it’s because her magic gem was broken to pieces. Or maybe it was both. Either way, when Nene was defeated, the core of her armanox wasn’t too badly damaged, so she survived physically but lost her magic.

Ok, so next we have the memory alteration mess. Only Shingetsu, Mangetsu, and remember Anna. Anyone else had their memories of Anna wiped, and she was replaced with that one girl who got defeated in Granbelm in episode 1. It’s awfully convenient that only Mangetsu and her two friends remember Anna. Why didn’t they lose their memories too?

Suishou starts going to the same school as Shingetsu and Mangetsu. There was a brief but surprisingly intense scene where… damn, Kuon seriously came really close to killing Suishou. This little girl is pretty fuckin’ scary. She stopped herself from stabbing Suishou because she needed information about the curse. Apparently, Suishou’s curse is draining the soul of Shisui (the older sister) and giving the blue-haired girl her magic power. Because of having part of her soul, Suishou seems very much like Shisui, to the point where it’s extremely psychologically confusing for Kuon. The hugs and kisses are bewitching her.

To make things even worse for Kuon, there’s a scene near the end where her sister wakes up and thinks she’s Suishou. I suspect Suishou and Shisui once had a relationship. Shisui was probably in love with Suishou, who was only pretending to return the feelings so she could steal her soul and use it to become a mage. So basically, Suishou is a devil. She’s a sociopath. I love it, lol! Just in anime, of course, I do love smart and sociopathic characters and villains. I’ve been underestimating Suishou’s ability to fuck with people’s minds until now!

I like that Nene remains a central character despite losing Granbelm. Like me, she is immediately curious about the memory alterations, and tries to figure out what’s up. The cause should be the will of Magiaconatus itself, according to my theory, but can that godlike force be detected or measured? Well, it looks like some of it can. Once she sees through the magical signature canceling, Nene picks up on powerful magic readings. What will she do with that information? Will it be possible to read the will of Magiaconatus, or communicate with it? Can they counteract its actions with magic? I’m highly interested in this.

The talk that Mangetsu and Shingetsu had in the middle of the night was great, because I was expecting major drama from it, but everything turned out ok thanks to both of them being calm and understanding. Also, they totally love each other. Fight me.

On a final note, the insanely powerful magical signatures detected by Nene seem to be coming from Mangetsu and Kibou. I wonder if Mangetsu herself is Magiaconatus incarnate. Or maybe it’s Kibou, who is also showing a powerful magic signature. Or perhaps it’s both of them, pieces of Magiaconatus incarnate; or perhaps they are possessed by the will of Magiaconatus. But I’ll stop my speculations now and leave you to think. Thank you so much for reading this review. It means a lot to me. Have a refreshing and restful weekend!

Previous Posts About This Series
Granbelm Episode 1 Review
Granbelm Episode 2 Review
Granbelm Episode 3 Review
Granbelm Episode 4 Review
Granbelm Episode 5 Review
Granbelm Episode 6 Review
Granbelm Episode 7 Review

PATREON

(Images from: Granbelm. Dir. M Watanabe. Nexus. 2019.)