Review: Onyx Equinox “Thicker than Water”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

There’s a flashback to Izel’s childhood as Izel and Yaotl arrive at Ox Te’Tuun to obtain the map to the other gates of the underworld. However, they’re being chased by small beasts because Izel is a beacon for monsters thanks to the curse of the underworld. Yaotl tells him to get in and get out with the artifact without any distractions. However after he narrowly escapes from a small beast thanks to the guards, Izel is distracted by the image of his sister in the crowd. He goes to his former guardian to blame him for Nellie’s death because he sold them in the first place.

After storming out, Izel meets the twins, Yun and K’in who are great Ulama players. Yun offers him clothes and food with K’in. They show him the ball, but after Izel tells them he needs it, they stop from him touching the ball. Then the twins start playing with the mystical ball which leads to the temple collapsing from the dents. They get out and leave the city only to come across the corpses of the guards and get chased by the beasts, Izel summons Yaotl with his blood and he finishes off the beasts. Afterward, Yaotl scolds Izel for failing since the ball has bonded to the twins. The twins join after Yaotl’s ultimatum to eat them rather than Izel’s request to team up to close the gates.

Our Take:

This week’s episode was both funny and adventurous as the twins bring a good amount of humor to the bloody quest with their remarks. There are also the battles with these beasts that were hunting down Izel and Yaotl which were nicely animated.

The structure of the episode was good. For starters, we get a flashback to Izel’s childhood which provides some context for his anger against his former guardian. Then there’s the transition from Yaotl telling Izel not to get distracted to the twins playing their game. That worked well for a bit of foreshadowing as Izel gets distracted mistaking a random girl for his sister. Additionally, Izel angrily blaming his former guardian was an awkward one-sided vent from Izel, but his former guardian does apologize for not protecting them which is dropped as soon Izel leaves to find the ball. That scene does show that Izel is still a kid, even more so with the heavy burden of saving humanity while on a clock. However, he’s not alone as Yaotl makes sure he stays alive so long as his blood is spilled on the earth to summon him. The parallel with the hunt from Izel’s flashback to Yaotl brutally killing the beasts was good and shows how Izel has changed from his younger self and that he has Yatol to help him.

The twins have a decent introduction as it starts with them playing a game of Ulama with hints that they’re playing the safe version of the game. They have an interesting dynamic with Yun being the kinder one and K’in being the more mischievous of the two. Plus they help Izel even after he shows up unexpectedly at their home to blame their guardian for the death of his sister. They’re a bit arrogant, but their skills with the ball are shown to be useful with the mystical ball. They did destroy a temple with it after all, so it’ll be fun to see their antics as they travel with Izel and Yaotl. Although I am curious about how their ball will open up to reveal the locations of the other gates to the underworld in the next episode.

Overall the episode was good with the twins and the battle. The little cursing from their guardian was hilarious like the man just knows they’re the cause. It also looks like someone’s following Izel’s path as a partial figure shows up by the corpses of the guards. Perhaps it’s the warrior girl we saw in the first episode or it could be an antagonist hunting Izel down to prevent the closing of the gates? Either way, the next episode is going to be another exciting one.