Just give me 22 minutes of Piwi and I’m not really bothered about the rest of it.

I’ll say up front, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the first half of this episode.  Perfectly fine.  Necessary, even.  But the truth is, for me Helck has become so much about the title character and his two companions that the rest of it just isn’t as interesting for me.  Mostly what I was thinking during the A-part was “how soon till we get back to the good stuff?”  Not exactly fair I know, but the heart wants what it wants.

Basically, that A-part served as an update on the state of play in the human-demon war.  The heroes, being immortal, keep launching attack after attack knowing they’ll just be revived when they die.  This is in spite of the fact that they’re still individually much weaker than their enemies (though that gap is closing).  Azudora’s counter is to try and capture as many of them alive as possible, which seems like the right play.  Except it’s not really working, judging by the numbers Hon is quoting (like 5 captured in the latest battle).

As Asta determines during her spy mission (where she’s almost caught), the humans are playing the long game here.  This isn’t about winning, it’s about leveling up and bringing down enemy numbers.  Azudora (who refers to Helck as a “highest caliber menace”, though he seems to trust him now) himself continues to obsess over Vermilio’s status (for practical reasons, but not only).  And he reveals that he’s been friends with at least one human leader in the past – one who harbored an interest in forging a lasting peace with demonkind.  It didn’t work out (obviously) for reasons that will surely become clear in due time.

As for the main trio, they’re progressing through the desert, having just passed through an important merchant town (as we’ll see in the very entertaining omake).  There’a a heart-to-heart between Helck and Anne – despite his professed surprise he knows full well she’s been wary of him since his berserker episode.  Anne has clearly come around on Helck, though – she’s angry at herself for doubting him, though he knows she’s right to do so.  In fact he asks her to take his sword – which is actually half a broken longsword knows as “Hero Killer”.  This is the weapon Augis referred to last week as one Helck shouldn’t have in his possession.

Having seen Anne’s concern over what happened, Helck has decided it’s time to share the story of his past – the flashback this series has been building towards for the entire cour.  Flashbacks are normally as popular as the mange but this one has been a long time coming (and a little longer still).  Not to be overlooked is that Helck is doing this to convince Vermillio to take Hero Killer, and the reason he’s doing so is that its likely the only thing that can kill him.  Anne may profess to trust Helck now, but he certainly doesn’t trust himself.

That omake at the end – quite long, about four minutes – was the highlight of the episode for me.  Not just for all the Piwi service, but lots of other good stuff too – like the narrator just randomly showing up in the town and spouting off.  And the trio spending on animal ears, and the “cameloinks”.   And that dancing bit at the end, with Anne really busting some serious moves.  Piwi keeping a traveler’s journal seems like a sidebar with endless comic potential (are these the extra chapters I’ve heard so much about?) – the little spud waxing profound every week would be worth the price of admission all by itself.