English Dub Review: Ishura “When the Sun Sets”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Regnejee tries to help Curte escape.

Our Take:
The ending of the show’s first season is almost nigh before we have to wait for another season.  Beforehand, we have another set of characters to focus on in this penultimate episode.  The first is Regnejee the Sunset Wings, who has survived his battle against the formidable Alus the Star Runner and is now tasked with helping Curte the Clear Sky escape the horrors of war.  However, as far as this show goes, not many characters will leave this hellhole unscathed, with Higuare and Nihilo being the first to bite the dust.
Unsurprisingly, this episode is no different, as Regnejee and Curte share their final goodbyes before their gruesome deaths.  Regnejee was shot through the neck by Hargent, while Curte met her unfortunate death at the hands of Alus, who survived Regnejee’s attacks.  The moments between Regnejee and Curte hadn’t gotten as much attention as the other characters throughout the season, which makes their emotional farewell a bit underwhelming compared to the previous episode.  However, to the show’s credit, it emphasizes the depressing nature of its themes of war, especially since most of the characters won’t live long enough to appear in season two.
The episode also shows that Dakai didn’t survive as well, as Soujiro and his dull blade easily outmatched him.  This particular moment also provides more of Yuno’s development, in which she is free from her guilt of being weak during the destruction of her home.  While she still doubts Soujiro, Yuno seems to have grown some trust in the young swordsman by leading him to her location with her arrows.  It’s evident that the episode continues to deliver the feels in the characters’ brutal demises, but that doesn’t make it less compelling even though the execution of its emotion was hit-and-miss.  With next week’s finale upon us, we can only hope that things might get better amid the destruction and despair from the war.