Five Things From: The Owl House 2×18, Labyrinth Runners

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Five Things From. This time we are looking back at season 2 episode 18 of The Owl House, Labyrinth Runners. Which five things stood out and for  what reasons? Let’s take a closer look…

1. First of All

I won’t to get this little moan out of the way as at the end of the day, it is purely a personal preference. I didn’t like how this episode relied on side characters to carry the story at this stage of the season. This is especially true as we have been on a run of very strong episode lately. I don’t like Gus anyway and having him front and centre made the whole thing less important. Not having Luz there made it all lack urgency and I never really found myself fully invested as a result. With that out of the way, let’s carry on…

2. Use Your Eyes!

I did actually feel sorry for Gus at the start of the episode when he realised that once again, a friendship he believed to be real was in fact fake. He found out in an awful way though as the guy was just so stupid in not looking before speaking. Gus was basically right in front of him when he told another student that he was just pretending to be his friend.

3. Paranormatorium

The Paranormatorium has to be one of my favourite names for a room ever! It is just so fun to stay! Hunter was living in there after running away from the Emperor’s coven and we found out that the Emperor wants him found. Interestingly, not all of the coven know the whole story as some were saying that the Emperor wanted them to find Hunter as Belos was worried about him.

4. We finish each other’s…

A moment which really did tickle me was a short exchange between two guards when one accidentally finished the other’s sentence. They were trying to capture Hunter when the first guard said “put him” with the second cutting him off and saying “out of his misery”. The first guard was shocked and said that he was going to say to sleep. An awkward moment where one guard’s bloodthirstiness was accidentally outed!

5. Adrian Graye

We got to meet Adrian Graye in this episode who was the leader of the Illusionist Coven. I loved how they made him like a stuck-up, artsy film director and how he belittled the guards, treating like his own film crew. The poor guys were out of their element and trying their best but he was having none of it. He isn’t on Darius’ level, but he was a very fun coven head and antagonist for the episode.

Five Things From: Seven Deadly Sins 3×8, The Druid’s Holy Land

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Five Things From. This time we are looking back at season 3 episode 8 of the Seven Deadly Sins, The Druid’s Holy Land. Which five things stood out and for what reasons? Let’s take a closer look…

1. Gowther

I’m just going to say it straight; why the hell is Gowther still welcome on this team? They have done way too much to hurt the other members and are a liability to put it mildly. They have become really unlikeable and although I don’t want to throw the word irredeemable out there, they will have to do an awful lot to win people’s trust back in any lasting way.

2. Human?

At one point, a group of demons were described as looking humanlike…how is that accurate when one of them was Galand? They look like a giant, red scorpion demon! I know that some of the armour designs are on the larger and more extravagant side but still! I would definitely not called Galand in all there are, particularly humanlike.

3. Mom

Does Hawk’s mom have a name? They all just call her “Hawk’s mom” which was actually quite amusing as it was said deadpan and seriously. Part of me would like them to just keep referring to her as such and it is fun to see her becoming more of a character in her own right, rather than just being a one-dimensional mode of transport.

4. Druid Chiefs

This episode introduced us to the druid chiefs who consisted of two ladies and a big, strong boy called Theo. Let me tell you, Theo did not look 15 at all! I’m intrigued how big a role they play going forward. They don’t need to go down the path of Elizabeth being jealous of how the girls treat Meliodas because I really don’t care. I have never been invested in her and Meliodas as the romantic leads. King and Diane; that’s the ship I’m on board for!

5. Derieri

I know very little about this demon but they have a very cool name. Sure, we would all love a bit of character development but at the moment, having a badass sounding name ranks you pretty high amongst the ten commandments.

(A little bit on the negative side is this review but I still enjoyed parts of the episode. Let’s see what next time brings.)

Five Things From: The Owl House 2×17, Edge of the World

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Five Things From. This time we are looking back at season 2 episode 17 of The Owl House, Edge of the World. Which five things stood out and for what reasons? Let’s take a closer look…

1. It was all a dream

The beginning episode seemingly had King’s family appearing at the owl house and being welcomed in for a “getting to know you” dinner by Eda and Luz. First of all I double checked that I hadn’t missed an episode and after that sat thinking that this is all rather rushed and sudden. It turned out that it was all a dream. In hindsight that is a shame for King as now we know he will never get to experience for real what he did in his dream.😔

2. Listen to Hooty!

Before setting off on their journey, Hooty informed the rest of the group that he could hear marching at the edge of the forest. The moment was moved on from very quickly and it wasn’t acknowledged by any of the other characters. I was left wondering what it was about but the answer came to fruition right at the end of the episode as the Emperor’s coven guards surrounded the owl house. People need to start listening to Hooty!

3. Oh Hooty

A few minutes later when they got to the island, Hooty then demonstrated why people end up ignoring him as he spoke absolute rubbish. How did he always think that Luz had three arms?! I guess he at least showed concern when he thought that the extra arm had fallen off.🙈 I still felt it was a little harsh near the end of the episode though when he was unfairly referred to as an ungodly sock monster!

4. The Titan Trappers

We met the Titan Trappers who we believed were King’s family and for a while it looked like all was going well for King. About halfway through the episode you started to think that things were going too well but I loved how they drip fed the reveal. They foreshadowed it by having Tarak say multiple times that King’s dad must have passed down his skull to him. It didn’t really click with me the first time but the second time I did think, “wait, do their skulls come off?” It turned out that they wear Titan skulls on their heads and are more humanoid-like in appearance.

5. King

King is such a good sympathetic character and you could really see how much he wanted this new family he discovered to be the truth. I like how they didn’t go down the route of Luz trying to convince him and then the pair falling out. There was no need to cause a temporary falling out so I’m glad they didn’t. You had Luz solving the mystery with Hooty separate to King being deceived and then the two plots combined when they got to the reveal. It worked better as it didn’t make you pick a side between the two characters.

Five Things From: Seven Deadly Sins 3×7, Where Memories Lead

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Five Things From. This time we are looking back at season 3 episode 7 of Seven Deadly Sins, Where Memories Lead. Which five things stood out and for what reasons? Let’s take a closer look…

1. Deterioration

We jumped straight back into where we left off as King discovered that Diane had no memory of him (at least in his current form). Rather than it be her specifically forgetting King, it was more that she had forgotten everything that had happened after a certain point in time. Things were noticeably getting worse as she forgot more and more (and tried to eat Hawk!) to which Merlin felt that they just needed to keep an eye on her for a time being. That was easier said than done as almost immediately after that, Diane had disappeared. You are going to find it hard to keep a scared and confused giant anywhere they don’t want to be!

2. What’s the point?

Merlin has now found a way to project an image of her physical self around the magic cube that her soul is trapped in. It makes you question what the point was to have Merlin taken out in the last episode. One has to believe that it is only because she is too overpowered to be a regular character so they had to find a way to take her magic away. She must still have some control over magic or how would she have made this illusion of herself???

3. Gowther

I’m just done with Gowther at this point. He openly admitted to wiping Diane’s memories on nothing more than a petty whim. He is more trouble than he is worth and I wish they were all more angry with him! Just cut him off; the guy is a liability!

4. Matrona

Most of the episode was made up of flashbacks of Diane’s time with the giants. She was looked after by a giant called Matrona and she was buying into “the way of the warrior” way too much. She banged on about honourable death and only living for battle, looking to train Diane to be the most powerful warrior that she should be. I liked how Diane wasn’t afraid to call her out on what she was saying (she told her that killing someone on the off chance they could hurt you is ridiculous) and they didn’t take it too far the other way. Diane acknowledged that she would have to fight and wasn’t afraid to when needed. She just wasn’t prepared to accept that that was all there was to life.

5. Sir Gannon

Sir Gannon turned on the giants way too soon. After using his rather naff power of creating the illusion of a far off noise, he celebrated his seeming capture of Matrona and revealed his hatred for the giants. Would you not play dumb a little longer until you were definitely sure that she was neutralized? What a silly man, he deserved to be launched into the air by a giant rock.

Five Things From: The Owl House 2×16, Hollow Mind

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of five Things From. This time we are looking back at season 2 episode 16 of The Owl House, Hollow Mind. Which five things stood out and for what reasons? Let’s take a closer look…

1. A Half-Century Reign

We found out that Emperor Belos has been in charge of the Boiling Isles for 50 years! This was given as the reason as to why many people weren’t jumping on Luz’s words about Belos being evil. They didn’t just have the people seem ignorant or dismissive; I liked that they gave a reasoning to why they weren’t all rallying in outrage. King worded it very well when saying, “No one wants to think they’ve wasted their life following the wrong person”. That is both true and rather sad.

2. What a Command

When trying to detain a masked group of vigilantes (who we didn’t get to see but I think Raine has something to do with it), Hunter made quite the order. I want to know if “I forbid you to flee” would ever actually work in any situation.

3. Backstory

This episode gave us lots of backstory on Belos and it was all very dramatic. Focussing in more on Luz’s horror as she realised how everything played out and connected together was very well done. Even if you weren’t overly surprised yourself, you still felt the emotion through Luz as she is such an investible character.

4. The Mystery of the Golden Guard

They did manage however to throw in some more mystery and intrigue in regard to the history of the Golden Guard. Hunter is not the nephew of Belos like he was led to believe. They also suggested that Belos kills the Golden Guards as they all end up turning on him eventually. Hunter looks the most like whoever Belos based him on and they are saying that he is something called a Grim Walker…I have so many questions but am very intrigued. It just adds another layer of sinisterness to Belos who could have been in danger of just being a generic dictator.

5. The Collector

Who is this mysterious collector being who was talking to Belos. It was very childlike and playful. It reminded me of a similar entity seen in the Full Metal Alchemist anime. How much is Belos pulling the strings here? Is the collector the one with all of the real power? Overall a damn fine episode!

Five Things From: The Owl House 2×15, Them’s the Breaks, Kid

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Five Things From. This time we are looking back at season 2 episode 15 of The Owl House, Them’s the Breaks, Kid. Which five things stood out and for what reasons? Let’s take a closer look…

1. Key Notes

Luz was experimenting with various glyphs at the start of the episode and was making notes about them in her notebook. One of the notes simply read “petrification-bad”. We then saw that she had a petrified figure that she had practiced on. I hope that it was a toy and not a small, innocent creature that she had practiced on! Also, Hooty ate a demon’s arm and nobody batted an eye! I’m pretty sure it was still attached to the rest of it too!

2. Faust

We spent the majority of the episode in a flashback, looking back at Eda’s time at Hexside school for witches. We met Headteacher Faust and he was a truly terrifying being. Credit to the art department because his design was great! He was extremely strict and had an issue with the squeakiness of shoes, although it was actually the squeaky ones he preferred! How can you trust shoes that don’t squeak?

3. Lateness

Faust also earned himself the line of the episode. His expectations were so high that he wasn’t even happy with the students arriving on time! In his eyes, being on time is the beginning of the road to being late. Is he wrong?

4. Threats

The head of the plant coven was making various threats this episode about turning children into mulch for her garden and poisoning people. It was funny how legitimately annoyed she was whenever she was informed that these things she was suggesting were illegal. If nobody would have warned her, I’m pretty sure that she would have followed through with at least some of these.

5. Raine

I don’t really find Raine that much of an interesting character and nothing that happened in this episode really changed that opinion. What I did pick up on however is that they use the they/them pronouns and a little research confirmed that they are a non-binary character. It is really good to see this type of representation in animated shows and I also like that it isn’t the defining trait of the character. They happen to be non-binary while being a fully formed character too. Win-win.

Five Things From: Seven Deadly Sins 3×5, Overwhelming Violence

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Five Things From. This time we are looking back at season 3 episode 5 of the Seven Deadly Sins anime, Overwhelming Violence. Which five things stood out and for what reasons? Let’s take a closer look…

1. Trees

There was a moment at the start of the episode that for a couple of seconds, really confused me. After the forest had been attacked by the Albion, the fairies began to do what they could to restore the forest. They were able to magically move the top of the enormous tree that got broken and for a second it looked like they were just going to balance it back on top of the trunk! It did then show that the tree could magically fuse back together but for a second I was really questioning the fairies’ logic.😅

2. Corpses

Another question I have about the fairy thought process (it looks like I’m picking  on them but I promise you I’m not!) was how long were they planning on keeping Elaine’s corpse there on that bed of flowers for all to see. Fair enough they have a “laying in state” period but surely it can’t stay there forever. Unless they hope to bring her back to life somehow it is a bit odd. And if it so Ban can bring her back, that only works from a logic standpoint if the fairies are in on Ban’s plan.

3. Merlin

Merlin featured in my favourite part of the episode: as she stood face to face with Galand she spoke very confidently to him. It then cut so we could hear what she was actually thinking and she was definitely panicked, showing how she was just chatting absolute shit to this demon in an attempt to appear confident. It was nice to see Merlin acknowledge that she was struggling for a plan as up to now she has been presented as dangerously overpowered.

4. Stone

Galand put an end to his standoff with Merlin by turning her to stone, claiming it was as a result of her lying to him. What I’d like to know is whether this was a power he has that can detect lies and then activates meaning that you have to tell the truth while in his presence. That would be a very exciting power that could be used to unearth various revelations from our characters. The less interesting option would be that he just has a power to turn people to stone and just said that she was lying as a reasoning for this.

5. What’s the word?

Galand used the word traitorous and I always thought that the word was treacherous. Turns out that traitorous (and traitorously) are words in their own right. You just never normally hear them used.

Five Things From: Seven Deadly Sins 3×4, The 10 Commandments on the Move

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Five Things From. This time we are looking back at season 3 episode 4 of the Seven Deadly Sins, The 10 Commandments on the Move. Which five things stood out and for what reasons? Let’s take a closer look…

1. King

Despite the majority of the Fairy kingdom not seeming to be huge King fans, he managed to win them over by bring the only one to not be completely cowardly and stand up to the Albion. The others didn’t even run away, they just stood there! Was he being foolish in taking on the Albion all by himself? Maybe, but it was honourable of him to not want to see the kingdom destroyed under his watch for a second time. The other fairies helped eventually and it was nice to see them rally around King who is quickly becoming one of the more likeable Sins.

2. Ban

Ban had what looked to be the start of an interesting scene but then had very little to do for the rest of the episode as he ended up incapacitated. He argued with a fairy who didn’t want him to be king that he didn’t want to be anyway but then got…plugged into the tree??? They didn’t fully explain it and then he seemed to be free of it later but then still stuck there? It was very odd.

3. Galand

One of the demons (collectively known as the Ten Commandments) called Galand found it hilarious that there were still people around who didn’t just accept the Demons taking over and destroying their land…what a lovely guy. They are setting these guys up to be very powerful though as he was almost off the scale when Hawk used his stats earing (I’m sure it has a proper name that I have forgotten) to check his power rankings. What I did like was how Diane was so scared when she saw him again. There is definite history between the two groups that should be quite interesting to unpack.

4. That’s Mr. Pig! (There’s a cheeky Lion King reference for you)

At one point in the episode, Arthur referred to Hawk as “Sir Pig”. Hawk didn’t seem overly fond of the title. Why was it not Sir Hawk? Either way, it shows how Arthur is a respectful leader, recognising Hawk’s intelligence and value to the group.

5. Double Team

It seemed that Meliodas’ cloning power was much more permanent than I first expected! I thought that it was the equivalent of “Double Team” in Pokemon but that was not the case. They are not as powerful as Meliodas but I imagine that they could still get up to plenty of trouble!

Five Things From: The Owl House 2×13, Any Sport in a Storm

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Five Things From. This time we are looking back at season 2 episode 13 of The Owl House, Any Sport in a Storm. Which five things stood out and for what reasons? Let’s take a closer look…

1. Hunter

This was another chapter in the inevitable defection of the Golden Guard from The Emperor’s Coven. The episode made it clear at the start that the Coven heads did not respect him. They referred to him as “little prince” and didn’t bother to turn up to the meeting that he was going to lead. He has been gifted his position and has only just began to question if this is actually the path that he wants to be on.

When he said that he hadn’t spoken to witches his own age much before, sure it came with a few funny moments but it is actually quite sad. Seeing him genuinely develop feelings of friendship towards Gus and Willow and not having them throw it all back in his face after the betrayal happened made for a really emotionally investible story.

2. Darius

Hooty better watch out because in only his second notable appearance, coven head Darius is quickly becoming one of my favourite characters. The line delivery of everything he says is just wonderful and I find almost everything he says or does hilarious and leaves me with a big smile on my face. Him developing some respect for Hunter by the end and showing that he does care about his wellbeing was really sweet too. If there is a coven head to redeem, it has to be Darius.

3. Art

On one of the stalls during the…I don’t even know what it was; an open day? A school fate? Anyway, on one of the stalls there was a painting that resembled the Mona Lisa but she was a cyclops. Is this coincidence or has someone in the Boiling Isles made an adjustment to the real Mona Lisa painting that they had somehow seen?

4. Theories

The show created and solved the mystery of the author of the Azura book series that both Luz and Amity are fans of. It felt rather unnecessary by the end as I don’t really know if Luz needed the “lesson” that the whole experience taught her. Surely after all she has achieved while in the Boiling Isles she already knew that you don’t have to be a powerful witch or demon in order to get things done. Hearing the random out-there theories linking to the author such as it being Eda or it being Luz’s mum from a different time were still fun to hear though. There are tv shows that love to pull out ridiculous twists like these purely for the shock factor that it would create. At one point when she was running away, they thought it was Kikimura and I thought that too when I saw the size of her.

5. The Reveal

The funniest tongue in cheek laugh came from the actual revel of who they were chasing. It turned out to be the little creature that just resembles a nose with arms and legs that his been a very minor or background character in many episodes. Amity calling her by her actual name, “Tinella Nosa” (what a name that is) and Luz responding in shock, “she had a name this whole time!?” was brilliant.

Five Things From: Seven Deadly Sins 3×3, The Sacred Treasure Lostvayne

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Five Things From. This time we are looking back at season 3 episode 3 of the Seven Deadly Sins anime, The Sacred Treasure Lostvayne. Which five things stood out and for what reasons? Let’s take a closer look…

1. Numbers Game

A scene early in the episode saw the new villain team having a conversation and all I could think was “why are there so many of them?” There doesn’t need to be that many! An overcrowded cast was what hurt the show’s first season because you can’t develop everyone as well as you would want. Even if they were to trim it down to seven from ten so that they were a sort of evil mirror version of the Sins would at least be a little better! It just makes it harder to get invested!

2. Albion

The group ended up getting teleported to Camelot to battle an enormous, stone golem. They referred to it as an Albion and I wonder where the name came from. Was it chosen as a reference to them being in Camelot and “Albion” is what those who lived in Camelot called England during that time period? Or was it just a coincidence and this is something that Golems are often referred to? I can’t say that I’m overly familiar with their mythology.😅

3. Cannons

The Albion itself was a very formidable adversary that put up a very good fight against Meliodas. It even created a set of cannons out of its own body at one point! Quite often, the Sins are so powerful and as a result some of their battles with foes can be quite anticlimactic. This one managed to remain engaging and entertaining while letting Meliodas show off the almighty power of his newest weapon.

4. Diane VS Gowther

They teased us with a glimpse of Gowther and Diane battling it out before Gowther saw the error of his ways before restoring the memories of those he took with Guila being surprisingly okay about the whole thing. It felt like they were either teasing the potential of a villainous arc or they were  showing how dangerous the powers that Gowther possesses could be if they ended up in the wrong hands.

5. Dolls

We also got a very peculiar bit of origin story about Gowther. It turns out that he was actually a doll which was then bought to life in some way…ok. I guess that explains why he is even less aware of human feelings and emotions than the other Sins are. Still felt pretty random and out-there though. Surely we now have to meet his creator at some point then???