Giant Beasts of Ars

Episode 12

Giant Beasts of Ars manages to stick the landing in the final episode, though it can't quite escape the issues that have plagued it for the whole season.

Firstly, the good (and there is a lot of good to talk about). The titular giant beasts look vibrant and frightening for the whole episode. The big worm creatures have a lot of movement and cause a bunch of destruction in a healthy variety of locales. Additionally, we get to see a dozen or so supporting characters take them on using different weapons, fighting styles, etc. It has a kind of high-powered Monster Hunter vibe that I honestly thought was going to be the norm from the get-go. While it's not fair to criticize a show for what it isn't, I'm glad to see it deliver on what I assumed it would be about from the beginning.

There's more high-concept fighting going on in this episode too. Kumi and the giant beast facing off has a titanic feel as it should, with plenty of horde-destroying laser beams and “I tap four mana and cast Wrath of God” effects. I think my favorite part was when Kumi turned him into a little ball and blasted him with, this is just back of the napkin math here, four hundred laser crucifixes at once. I also thought it was a fun note that Kumi was piloting rather than Jiro this time, and this new ascended form had a completely different power set altogether.

The problems are still there of course. First of all, Facade getting off in a fight with the old man was an odd choice. I just assumed he and Jiro were going to fight, and despite the cool choreography, I didn't feel much for the battle these two had on the cliff. In this regard and others, the show is clearly trying to set up for bigger and worse threats in the future, but it's not clear that the premise has legs in that sense. After a season spent fighting featureless gray monsters, the next season appears to be about fighting featureless blue slabs. The show spent a lot of time trying to establish the "intrigue" angle with the imperial court but it never really grabbed me, so I'm mostly invested in just our main party/protagonists. The thing is we wrapped up a lot of their drama already, and other than “random villages are under attack by monsters” the world is not terribly deep either.

All in all, I enjoyed bits and pieces of this season, though it had a lot of its potential squandered with diversions that just did not add much to the central premise or action. My hope is that if there is a second season it is more focused on the core cast and that greater variety and fidelity of monster designs are the norm.

Rating:

Grant is the cohost on the Blade Licking Thieves podcast and Super Senpai Podcast.

Giant Beasts of Ars is currently streaming on HIDIVE.