There are a lot to digest in this episode of “To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts” (かつて神だった獣たちへ). First of all, Hank is finally catching the tail of Cain Madhouse, who held the responsibility of killing the love of his life and unleashing all the Incarnates.
It seems that the anime is finally picking up to its main story and the episode reaches its height when Cain keeps Schaal as hostage. He gets the help from another Incarnates Elizabeth (the spider), who seems to have great interest on Schaal according to the teaser.
The identity of the white hair little girl really intrigues me. She apparently knows Elaine as she mentions that Schaal’s eyes have the same color as Elaine. But whether she is an Incarnate or not is still unknown.
Also, the Gargoyle Incarnate, also known as Christopher, looks really cool and I love his goblin-like skull head and stone-like muscle. However, his story is kind of weak compared to some of the other Incarnates we have seen so far. He is obsessed in executing justice and apparently has gone the wrong way by killing criminals of his hometown to achieve that.
The anime actually fails to portray his story as the manga do. When Christopher was a child, he was succumbing to depression until he was taken in by the priest. He had learned from the priest about the words of Christ and thus giving him a new life.
The scene portraying Christopher’s memory takes us back to the time when he first arrives his hometown after war. He tries to bring a boy into faith, but somehow ends up killing him.
The Incarnate comes to the realization that all sinners need to be freed from their wrong-doings, and by killing them, he helps them be released from their sinning ways. His thought may be a bit too extreme, but you can say that his intention is good.
With his own belief, Christopher also refuses to cooperate with Cain. I guess we will soon know what evil plan Cain is plotting. But the “God Killing Bullet” that Cain gave Christopher certainly injures Hank bad. I am curious about its effectiveness (well, it is called God Killing Bullet…), considering that Hank is still alive after being shot twice.
I also love the scene where Hank and Schaal gets to know more about each other. It also explain why Hank allows Schaal to join his hunting as she reminds him of Elaine at a comparable age, apart from feeling guilty about killing his father.
Schaal also knows more about the difficulties that Hank is facing and his responsibility is so heavy that it crushes him. As she mentioned to Andy, she probably still hate Hank for killing his father, but the feelings gets increasingly complicated.
The next episode is undoubtedly a must-watch and let’s see how our hero rescues the princess.