The major character in this episode? Surprisingly, it’s Hervé. This episode was really meant to introduce his case a bit, and some interesting things are revealed about Lise. Still, it’s not yet clear why he killed the other four girls.

It seems that he and his family are different from normal humans. The episode starts with a flashback, in which his mother dies, and turns into one of the monsters we’ve been seeing. I think the creators were better off showing some of his experiences with his mother first, before they killed her. It would probably have made this scene more emotional that it is now.

In any case, he’s got a good reason to act as Lula’s antagonist. I’m not sure with how many they are, but his kind has the tendency to transform into monsters as soon as they die. Right now, his little sister and his cousin are about to suffer the same fate. It seems that his grandfather is in charge of the research, attempting to cure them, though Hervé is getting more impatient by the minute. He also starts singing, at one point. I really have to pity these voice actors. They’re really doing something they aren’t used to, but the effects are great.

Two other major characters in this episode were Claire and Kate. Claire seems to be the next one to break down, seeing as Rachel cooled down a bit. Right now, she’s starting to shout to random people as well, which made her lose her job. Kate, meanwhile, moves into the opposite direction. She’s actually getting active with her Grace-responsibilities again. It’s indeed a good way to distract yourself, but I do feel that this won’t last forever, and that she’ll have her time to break down as well.

The previous episodes haven’t really been focusing on one character in specific, but this really was a Rachel-episode. At one point, she was even at the verge of committing suicide. I think that she’s the only one acting like this because she believes that she doesn’t have anyone to rely on. Rose has to be strong for her siblings, while Kate can feel, in a certain way safe, when she’s with Paula and Claire has found methods of distracting herself from these kinds of tensions, not to mention that the three have found support in each other.

Rachel actually has the most friends of all of the girls, but she doesn’t seem to realize this. Because she’s been living with such a rebellious attitude, she never really understood the support that friends can give at troublesome moments. Lula gets to be the one to bring her out of her suicidal tendencies with an interesting revelation: she can be able to get her old body back, as long as she keeps winning. When everything is over, she’ll be able to return to her previous life.

Still, the other characters also got their share of screen time. The most important probably were them, discovering their old bodies, and an interesting find by Kate. For some reason, when the girls are building up power when they feel stressed, they start to get an extremely dry throat. Eating a lemon actually helps to cure that. I’m suspecting that Kate will force Rachel to eat one of these in the next episode, as it’s really obvious that she’s extremely bothered by her dry throat. The blond guy, apparently named Hervé, will probably also benefit from these lemons. It seems that he’s got two little sisters who suffer from a similar problem. It’s probably one of the reasons he’s doing the things he does, though I feel that we have yet to reach the bottom of his problems.

I also like the meaning behind the ED a lot. We first have an episode full of tragedy and sadness, and afterwards all characters just go to a rock concert, and have fun like nothing ever happened. Nice contrast.

Oh god… The Third has once again been kidnapped by the evil animation company of episode 13. Luckily, it’s not as bad as before, but still, it’d be better off if this episode was left in the hands of the usual animation companies.

Still, if you ignore that little detail, this episode was good stuff. Really good stuff. Due to the fact that this is the conclusive arc of the series, AND that it’ll only be two episodes long, the pacing has been increased with a considerable factor. This episode did the preparing, while the next episode will probably end with a huge bang.

Especially the second half of the episode was as awesome as usual, when Ikus threatens to leave Honoka for good, on a mission he doesn’t want to involve her in. He’s heading for a place called the Steel Valley, a place under the highest level of the technos taboo. Filla Marique has also surpassed herself when she tries to take measures against this, sending a huge army of autonomous soldiers in order to guard the place.

The best part of the episode really was when Honoka opens herself up to Ikus, in order to keep him from leaving her. The first half of the episode also seems to suggest that Joey will be playing a role in this arc, but it seems that Honoka left him behind when she found out about Ikus. Still, the guy’s got a good heart. He broke the technos taboo in order to install new parts on Bogie.

Endings have always been one thing that’s hard to do good. It’ll be interesting to see whether The Third can pull this one off. It’ll be an action-packed ending, in any case. Will it be able to deliver? I do hope so, as this magnificent anime deserves a great ending.