It’s Anime Expo weekend and premieres are starting up too (including a couple right here in L.A.).  That means posts are going to be on the short side for the next few days, including this one.  I’m writing this one from the press lounge in fact, looking down on the teeming masses of anime fans on their pilgrimage of consumerism in the vendor hall, counting down until the world premiere of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card-hen (which I’m going to reluctantly choose over the concurrent Yamamoto-Kubo panel – at A/X, conflicts and hard choices are a way of being).

I’ve used this line before, but don’t take brevity as any reflection on this episode of Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul, because it was a stunner – one of the most epic any episodes of the year, in fact.  MAPPA is no longer a studio to watch for in the future – they’re here.  I pretty much put them in the same breath as Bones and Production I.G. in terms of production quality now, and almost right there with Bones in terms of creative ambition and taste.

We got a lot this week – including our first Class A “Favaro!!!” of the season.  The main MacGuffin was the introduction of Dromos, Charioce’s Death Star thing.  It’s apparently a weapon older then ever the Gods and demons (much less men), and it’s more than a match even for El’s massive powers (which themselves seem a level above any we’ve seen from any of the Gods so far).  Jeanne immediately recongnizes the light she’s seeing on the battlefield (a mother knows) but Dromos activates before she can go to her son.

We also get a very interesting reunion between Charioce and Nina.  Charioce operates Dromos by sticking his hand inside it like a ventriloquist, but Nina rather forcibly (if accidentally) puts a stop to that.  Charioce seems to lose one eye to burns, but he knows Nina when he sees her – and interestingly, he complies with her demand that she hug him.  And Nina’s dragon ability is still intact, at least when hugged by Charioce.  He seems to feel something for her too, whatever it may be – a bemused curiosity if nothing else.

As things stand, the aftermath of the battle leaves most of the angel army dead and the Gods retreated to Heaven, with Jeanne and Nina on a road trip to her village to try and find out the way to the Land of the Gods.  Rita is dropping in on Kaisar, who’s been captured by Charioce again, and on the way plans to find Favaro (who’s been blown off to who knows where).  I don’t imagine we’re going to get any more episodes on the scale of this one for a while, but there’s plenty of intrigue to drive the story in the meantime.