Overview (Spoilers Below): Erdomaid trains the students in methods of dragon slaying. He does so in a dangerous battle with an actual dragon summoned. Anos and his friends infiltrate the dragon’s den and arrive in the Underground World, where the dragonfolk called Draconids live. Ahide, who attacked the previous evening, guides them to the Institute of the Gods, Everastanzetta. There, Anos is told how he has already been involved in the “Judgement Selection”.
Our Take: We’ve dealt with many demons throughout the series, and now it appears the protagonist will be confronting gods this time. As someone who’s new to this lore, I’m assuming that this was a way to inject more interest into the show’s convoluted world-building. After watching the previous episode with Anos confronting Ahide, I see that it seems to be working. However, whether it could maintain this momentum throughout the rest of the season will be the true test of the show’s appeal. But the real question I should be asking is how the CGI effects got significantly worse for the dragons. I can forgive “Moon of Creation” for having one poor CGI dragon, but sadly, I couldn’t say the same for this episode, which has more than one poorly rendered dragon flying around. Thankfully, this only occurred during the episode’s first act, with Erdomaid training the students from both Hero Academy and Demon King Academy to slay a dragon. How, you may ask? By running towards a tree by the dragon’s nest without using magic. Afterward, we see Anos, Misha, and Sasha exploring the Underground World and learning about its inhabitants and the Judgement Selection. This leads to a confrontation with one of the Selective Eight, Gazal, whom Anos defeats easily, although it begs the question of what Ahide’s real game plan is. “Institute of the Gods” is an expedition-driven plot bogged down by its subpar CGI effects. I’m not sure whether this is due to production being affected by COVID-19. But even if that were the case, that doesn’t excuse the effects team for cutting corners with the visuals. That alone makes me concerned about future episodes using CGI effects for the dragons. Fortunately, Anos’s battle with Gazal compensates for this issue since it doesn’t rely on CGI as much as the creatures.