English Dub Review: To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts “The Hound of Hell’s Gate”

Overview(Spoilers Below):

Hank wanders the mountains.

Our Take:

Even though this was a full-length episode, by the time I reached the end I found myself going “Is that it?” Not really in a good way either, but more like I was surprised that the episode didn’t really cover much.

Pacing can be very hit or miss in shows, especially when it comes to an episode feeling like it’s long or short. For example, an episode with a lot of tension constantly interspersed throughout, whether it be with fear for the characters, a rough situation, or a reveal that turns everything upside down, the methods are numerous. Most of the time, it comes from new information being revealed, or characters that the audience is invested in being put into a troubling new setting, and people want to find out what’s going to happen next. The other option is if the show is very much in the middle– not too good, but not too bad, but enough that you keep waiting to find out more only to get to the end and wonder where the rest of it is. This case is the latter.

Most of the episode centers around Hank, who is revealed to still be kicking, although he is unwilling to transform even to defend himself. He’s lost in the snow and is tormented with the guilt of killing so many members of his former platoon, one that results in hallucinations. In that, he’s attacked by a former member of his squad, the Garm, who is coming after him as a result of Cain’s orders. To be fair, Hank’s guilt needed to be shown, and his conflict is something worth delving into. This is important information, considering we don’t really see much of Hank’s conflict minus his messy tell-all intro.

However, it keeps going on and on. I’m sure this was better paced in the manga, where there’s time to delve into this, but by the very nature, episodes are contained. There’s only a very short amount of time in a series, and so whatever is given has to be delivered fast. I’m sure this was something decently done in the manga, where introspection has time to flourish, but here it doesn’t have room to breathe so it comes off rather flat. And that’s kind of unfortunate because this could have been a deeply psychological and engaging episode, but instead, we get two wolves punching each other.