Twelve Days of Fantasy and Ash Christmas Special Finale

It's been a long journey for our heroes, and let's hope they finish strong after the terror of episode 11.

Remember in my last post when I said the show punishes you for believing Ranta could die easily? This image shows my point. A character death would not be so insignificant to be allowed between episodes. You know he's alive out there, and the show doesn't leave you hanging too long. just a few seconds later, it cuts to Ranta moving around the animals and pens in the fourth floor. He hides from the kobolds among their livestock, and summons a demon. It is half funny, and half karmic justice that it does nothing but insult him.

He is found in his hiding space, so he has to run into a shed. The monster shows up right after and knocks the roof off, seemingly being caught. But then, the rest of the team appears to give some help. They kill some normal kobolds, and do just enough damage to get away from the monster. Of course, Ranta and Yume have a little spat, but Mary forces them to reconcile, sort of.

At this point, I can appreciate what Ranta brings to the team, and watching him be challenged with authority is a breath of fresh air compared to the previous episodes. After a long day of work, they can all go back to their town as a group. Mary runs out of magic anyway, so they need rest. Of course, things don't just go that smoothly in this show. The monster appears as they are making their way back, and Mary reveals a damning fact: It gets stronger the more damage it takes. It is strong enough to stop Moguzo's most powerful strike and grab the sword. Haruhiro grapples it while falling down a pit. He then tells the rest of the team to go on without him, entrusting leadership to Ranta.

Mary tries going down the pit to save him, but Ranta stops her. He has a 1-on-1 duel with the monster, which would in any normal situation, be able to overpower a simple thief. However, Haruhiro uses a technique that he's been occasionally using to guarantee a kill shot. He stabs one of the monster's eyes, but it swings down its sword toward him at the last moment. He then immediately uses the same skill to cut the sword in half, saving himself. The monster falls to the floor dead, and Haruhiro drops as well. The scene is pretty good, but relies entirely on the emotional buildup, so you may be disappointed if you are uninvested in Haruhiro's character, or if you're just looking for awesome-looking fights.

You might now be wondering about whether or not he made it out safely. To that I say: GO WATCH THE SHOW ALREADY. Seriously. Either I haven't convinced you to watch it and you're listening for no reason, or you would much rather see it for yourself. The finale is pretty good. Even the loose ends with Renji get tied up.

Overall, I have to recommend the show. It has good character dynamics, and good fight choreography for those that enjoy it. Its best parts are the dramatic character moments; a characteristic of anime I rarely find appealing. For accomplishing so much, and impressing me so much, I rate this anime as my #7 favorite, with a score of 8.8/10.