Review: Onyx Equinox “The Stranger”

 Overview (Spoilers Below):

The episode opens up with the warrior girl, Zyanya as she tracks down Izel’s group. Izel’s group heads west after the twins get the ball to show them the location of the second gate. Unfortunately, the twins did see their town get destroyed by the king of the underworld in the process. Then Zyanya catches up to them and asks for their help in slaying more monsters however Yaotl is more concerned with getting the job done and they leave her. The group arrives at Lakamha and unfortunately, Yaotl can’t go with them because the temple is made out of the god repellent obsidian. While the humans get separated from each other, Yaotl uses his blood to summon Quetzalcoatl about the curse of the underworld affecting his champion. However, Quetzalcoatl doesn’t mind it and warns Yaotl on getting attached.

Meanwhile, Izel and the twins get attacked by the gate’s guardian and they’re saved by Zyanya who asks for their help once more which Izel agrees to. They find the gate however the mechanism requires five people each one for the levers. Thankfully Izel comes up with an idea and they manage to get it closed. Later the ball reveals the next location of the gate in the direction of Zyanya’s former home.

Our Take:

This episode was great from the action to the plot development. The voice acting has grown as well. For starters, Yaotl may appear to be a grumpy jaguar, but he does develop an attachment to Izel which Quetzalcoatl comments on with a warning. That scene in turn leads Yaotl to leave the group only to be summoned by Izel’s blood. It’s a shame to see him go like that, but he does need to clear his head especially with the revelation of his origins.

Another thing is Izel’s skills during the fight where he gets the idea to drop the hanging prison onto the guardian of the gate, and how to close the gate while using four people. That worked well in developing Izel’s character, and there are still remnants of his previous life with the braided rope. Hopefully, we get to see more of Izel’s development next week now that Zyanya has joined them.

Admittedly I was not expecting that twist with Zyanya at the end. Perhaps it was a side effect to the aftermath of the king of the underworld taking her home? She was human and given the montage in the beginning she does things like a human. However, her current form will definitely lead to some craziness later down the road with the group if they ever find out about her monstrous side.

Overall the show is steadily building the quest and Izel’s group. I look forward to the next episode and hopefully, the next member of the group will join them soon.