English Dub Review: Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World “Beginning: The Two of Them Trigger the Rise of a New World”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The Empire’s secret weapon Object is attempting to capture Sisbell while Masked Lord is trying to arrest her. Despite being unarmed, Iska is trying to fight them both off. Lucky for him, the rest of his Unit arrives in the nick of time. Jhin fires a warning shot at Masked Lord, while Nene thoughtfully brought along Iska’s swords.

Object takes note of all astral energy present, including Mismis’s recently acquired crest. While the machine moves to corner Sisbell, Jhin faces off against Masked Lord as revenge for him kicking Mismis into the vortex.

Nene joins Iska against Object, hoping to prevent it from sending data back and revealing their captain’s secret. She asks Iska to buy her some time. He gets Sisbell to safety, then moves to take the robot down. Sisbell asks why he’s helping her. He replies that he has his own reasons, but doesn’t intend to give her up to the robot or Masked Lord before charging in once again.

Sisbell wonders how to pay him back for this kindness while Iska continues to fight. He calls out to Nene, who’s set up and tells him to retreat. She fires “Piercing Shot”, striking the robot with multiple explosives.

Mismis and Jhin face of against Masked Lord, resulting in a slashed arm for Jhin, and an eventual shot to the face after Masked Lord discovers Mismis’s secret.

Nene’s strike only results in Objected shedding its exterior to run on astral energy. Iska is able to strike it down, with Sisbell’s help but it ejects its “core”, an astral spirit that captures Sisbell. Alice shows up just in time to aid Iska and save her sister.

Once freed, Sisbell asks Alice and Iska if they know each other, which they deny. She then implores Iska to be her knight. He leaves without answering.

Risya and Nameless discuss the unexpected outcome for Object. Nameless asks where the Emperor’s gone, while the camera focuses on a newspaper headline about Salinger’s escape.

Emperor Yummelngen meets with the Transcendent Demon near a large tree, but only to say “Hi, I have something fun to share with you.”

On Zoa remarks to Kissing that they’ll be preparing her for the election.

Iska and Alice meet once again, in secret. They nearly kiss before parting ways.

Our take:

Not a single dull moment in this episode! But even fewer answers than the previous one.

With a title that seems to hint at some form of closure, or at least an official joining of forces between Iska and Alice, it was a little disappointing to have so many loose ends at the end of the season. Of course, SOME mystery is necessary to keep viewers tuning in, but when it’s already so clear that they’re going to end up together, it seems silly to keep dancing around with the interpersonal “will they/won’t they” approach.

Additionally, there’s some pretty serious plot holes (How did Iska get his swords? How did Jhin and Mismis manage to escape? How does Queen Nebulis know about Elletear’s business but not Alice’s? What’s Salinger been up to? Is the Emperor straight up a cat?) and the usual issue of cramming in a bunch of new info into the last few minutes.

The positives are the visuals and music, as is so frequently the case. The CGI used for Object’s armored robot form looks intimidating and technical without being overly sleek. It fits with the rest of the animation style well enough to not be glaringly out of place, and moves with impressive, yet plausible fluidity.

The beast’s spirit form is where this episode really shines, though. The iridescent effect gives the ethereal being a truly otherworldly glow while it battles fiercely against our protagonists. Frantic strings heighten the tension when Iska faces off against the creature solo, before melding into the main battle theme when Alice arrives. Seima Iwahashi, Ryōta Tomura, and Ryūichirō Fujinaga have outdone themselves on the entire soundtrack, but this episode’s music seems especially noteworthy.

Impressive voice acting performances also helped end this season on a high note. While Alejandro Saab is usually limited by Jhin’s “man of few words” characterization, we hear quite a bit more from him as the normally stoic sniper defended his captain. Similarly, this is one of the few times — possibly even the first official full line? — we’ve heard from Katelynn Barr (My Hero Academia fans know her as Ryukyu) as Emperor Yummelngen. Anairis Quiñones (aka Yelena from Attack on Titan) doesn’t get more than a few lines in as Elletear, but boy does she know how to make them count.

Despite all my (many, legitimate) criticisms, I will admit this show has managed to draw me in. I was wildly uninterested at first, but once things picked up on the action side, it got to me! I could still do with less Mismis, but even she’s less annoying as time goes on.

Overall, props to this series for going out with a bang. Who knows what next season will hold? I, for one, am excited to find out.