English Dub Review: Our Last Crusade or a Rise of a New World “Intersection: Awakening of the Vortex”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Alice and Rin go to check out the vortex for themselves to see how the Zoas intend to use it. “Masked Lord” on Zoa assures them that he’ll defend it well, as he believes that Alice’s relative, the Zoas’ “treasured child” kissing Zoa is powerful enough to protect it by herself. Meanwhile, Unit N07 continues their hunt for the vortex, while Jhin worries that astral forces may have infiltrated their ranks and kidnapped the missing troops. Just then, Mismis manages to spot a flash of astral light, leading Nene to excitedly speculate on a commendation for their efforts. Jhin dryly informs them that they’re not the only unit there after all, as Noro and her crew pull up in their vehicle. Mismis runs over to greet her friend, which turns out to be a dangerous mistake, as her green-eyed compatriot reveals herself as Shanorotte, an astral mage who’s been undercover within the empire this whole time. Shanorotte zaps Mismis with her lightning powers, causing Iska and Jhin to attempt to advance, before Nameless appears to “prosecute” the treacherous Fifth Division. Shanorotte manages to escape, taking Mismis as her prisoner. The optical camouflaged assassin tells Iska, Jhin, and Nene that there will be no rescue mission, and that instead they’ll simply be bombing the mage encampment once he returns to base. Back at the vortex, Alice, Rin, and On muse about the vortex’s slightly underwhelming size, before Shanorotte returns with Mismis, who almost reveals that she knows Alice before Rin knocks her out. Alice takes the opportunity to head off to the Imperial Camp, supposedly to face off against Iska. They’ve managed to cross paths, and she ends up battling Nameless instead, while Iska has to take on the stronger-than-she-looks Kissing (while also rescuing Mismis.) The mirrored fights rage on, until Alice chases Nameless off with a powerful Ice Calamity move, and Iska manages to hold his own until being stabbed by On. Alice returns to the vortex just in time to see Iska jump into it to save his captain, and rescues them both, on the condition that they fight for real at their next encounter.

Our take:

Things seem to (finally) be picking up with this series, as we get a solid bit of action this episode. Mismis also slips up and manages to be competent and not ear shattering for a half a second second before immediately getting captured by her former friend and unofficial member of Team Instinct, Shanorotte. Revealing her as a mole furthers this series’ narrative of the Nebulis Sovereignty as the aggressors in this ongoing conflict, which, in addition to the Zoa family being shady as fuck and apparently willing to utilize the vortex’s powers to take out the Empire, is an interesting storytelling choice that unfortunately hasn’t been used for much more than “but Alice is one of the GOOD ones!” purposes.

While the story could definitely use some work, the visuals in this episode do not disappoint, with the highlights being the fluid fight scenes, and new-as-of-last-week character designs. Despite looking like an over-the-top Master Chief when not invisible thanks to an optical camouflage suit, Nameless gets to show off some impressive flexibility while battling Alice, with stances and a forward facing silhouette that make me wonder/hope that this is a Samus from Metroid situation, although I do have to acknowledge that’s unlikely. Shanorotte’s eyes are a stunning shade of green that put her solidly in “if villain bad, then why hot?” territory, while Kissing’s intriguing appearance and impressive powers (rendered with even more impressive visual effects) make her scenes thrilling, even with minimal dialogue. I know it’s practically mandatory to make Iska strong, but not a killer, to boost his “good guy” credentials, but I got some serious Rurouni Kenshin vibes from his final move against Kissing this week. Also a huge fan of Masked Lord’s main power just being “knife”.

Overall a quality episode, and one that’s been sorely needed for this show, in my opinion. Here’s hoping this energy sticks around for a few weeks, but I guess if it’s right back to convoluted romance next week, I can wait for another episode like this.