Etrurian emperor

The new Hero X episode on the deadly assassin Ghostblade just dropped. Not a very action packed episode but I think its by far the best episode since the E-soul arc. Very interesting submersion of expectation. Everyone thought Ghostblade was a human research project turned assassin but no, he's actually just an extremely autistic guy, and I don't mean that as hyperbole. Ghostblade has a very nice combination of tragic and reprehensible traits. Its clear he's a troubled soul who's life is being ruined by his powers, but the series also doesn't try to hide that Ghostblade has always been terrible. The first thing we see him murder Johnny's dad in cold blood, and we later showed he had the same psychotic disregard for life even as a child. His disdain for his family seems equally cruel since while they annoyed him, they actually seem to have been nothing but kind if you remove Ghostblade's horror filter. The episode also has a nice combination of serious and silly. On one hand you have Ghostblade being horrible, and then its immediately followed by him following his daughter around with the most goofy disguises and being completely in the dark that he's the stalker she's scared of.

Not the most stacked letter. I’ll just go with Kieran and Kiragi for being lovable goofballs.

The amount of defenders likely wouldn't be that high. Just the Knights of Seiros stationed at the monastery and the student body. As for the number of student. I guess figuring out how long the education of the officer's academy last and multiplying it by 21 would make for a good guess. We know Byleth's year has 21 students so it makes sense students from other years have the same number. As for the general divisions of the armies. I think its pretty much stated that of the three nations the Empire is the strongest and the Alliance the weakest with the kingdom somewhere in between. The church meanwhile has the smallest army but makes up for it by being the best trained of the bunch. The Agharthan likely have only a teensy tiny force since its just one town of evil molemen who use suberfuge rather than open warfare.

In fact Rosado seems to not be fully human and its a thing for his village that people always remain effortlessly pretty.

I doubt he would go for it. Rosado doesn't seem to hold gender norms in much esteem so I imagine he'd find it a lot of trouble for something he doesn't even need to look ''adorable''. Rosado seems the type to be perfectly comfortable as a boy dressing as a woman. In fact he might even take some offence at the idea he even needs to be a girl to dress and acts like he does.

Its not directly stated but as Bowa and Smile fight you see both Micky and Shang(then from Mighty Glory) follow the match, and after Bowa wins Micky gloats about now being above Mighty Glory in the rankings. Both things would be weird if Smile was be an employee of anything other than MG. As for what happened in episode 4. I definitely think it was a warning about not doing anything against the system and that Rock's behind that.

Seems Horikoshi revealed a timeskip design for practically every character. No worries for spoilers either since even dead characters get new designs. Even the movie characters got new reveals with Melissa sadly losing her long hair, and the plot device twins now being UA students too I'm not sure its really backfiring since Yang Chang being dead inside seems to have been the intention in order to get an E-soul who would do what he's told. Too soon to say anything on the nutjob, but Ghostblade seems to perform decently enough for the company. What's worth mentioning is that the current approach is likely a new style under Rock. That Smile hero seemed to go against the company's MO of edgy heroes and that was when Shang still ruled the company. Ghostblade being relatively benign might also be due to not being brought in by Rock since we see Shang recruit him in the next episode's trailer. What I find interesting is the relation between Rock and the twink CEO. Rock used to be a FOMO employee of all things. Given their little chat they don't seem to like each other much. Given the young CEO's young age and....uh everything else he's likely a nepo baby. I wonder if Rock used to be his father's right hand and got grumpy about being passed over for inheritance in favor of the kid. In any case I like the guy. In a kinda dark setting its refreshing to have someone go to highly classified meeting in pajamas, and then ask his highly shady buddies if he can post about the big secret crisis on facebook. Regarding DOS: they seem the only company that tries to give their heroes a healthy work environment. The head of MG is a sociopath, and everyone working for Treeman is miserable, but while Micky's mask is only skin deep he does try to act helpful, supportive and even vaguely fatherly when things go well. Bowa is an exception, but Cyan, Queen and Johnny all seem well cared for. In any case I really liked Queen, Cyan and Johnny getting depicted as a trio of buddies who hang out in their free time. As for....the reveal.

Yeah I don't think that was ever the case with her. Maybe its done to contrast her with Constance who's always been a good bit younger. Or just to lure whales.

If Byleth's mom isn't on the beach he won't be either. If Summer Sitri ever becomes a thing he'll move heaven and earth to get there.

With how they're treated you'd think Heidrun and muscle man were the main characters and Ratatosk the barely appearing side character. I guess this time it makes more sense since this is a beach banner and Ratatosk is just a kid. Still for a main character she gets unusually snubbed. I've made my feelings clear in the main topic. I don't really think the book 8 cast deserves this much love and attention. Glad to see all the Wolves made it in. Yuri's art looks a bit weird but its nice that he's there. Hapi and Constance are a good duo choice so I'm a bit disapointed they're not dubbed.

All in all I think I've started to resent Heiorun. Her book is only just finished and she was barely in it, yet she now already has two versions, and is getting the much coveted summer alt instead of more deserving characters. Constance, Hapi, Yuri(despite kinda being a gary stu) are all more deserving yet one of them is likely going to miss out to make room for the third version of some non entity. Even without the wolves there are plenty more Fire Emblem characters, and even with the OC's there are far better candidates than Heirorun. Three version of a character with barely any screentime reminds of of a quote from Clanne ''Its hard to cheer for someone who hasn't...you know earned it''

I still think its a shame we never saw Summer Seteth and Flayn. Ya know, those two with an emotional attachment to the sea! I'm also still waiting for my speedo wearing lifeguard Alois summer unit.

Loli's arc is done. It just having two episodes has the same issue with Queen in that its not quite enough time to fit in both the hero's story and the wider worldbuilding stuff, but I think it strikes a much better balance and has a much better villain too. DJ Shinding is great with a good combination of threat level and humor. A completely normal girl going off at him while drunk and the poor guy not knowing how to handle it was funny. I think I'd place the arc in the middle. Below the boys, but above Queen and Cyan. It was a short fun ride. Seems the production company did an oopsie and already spoiled the main villain. Or at least the mysterious masked man in charge of Fear. Not only did they announce the masked man's voice actor which is the same as another character, but they added the character's name for good measure.

Seems Nectar girl and....Balthus? If its an Ashen Wolves and OC banner I wouldn't mind seeing Hapi in a swimsuit

My Hero vigilante's first season is done. It was a fun ride. Having Knuckle take down the villain and Koichi and Popstep not even noticing was an interesting choice. It does take away some of their main character credentials but with Knuckle seemingly vanishing they'll probably make up for that next season. But uh...even if I don't think he was supposed to be a rapist I'd not let that steel punk guy watch after my hospitalized daughter. I like Koichi. He's a good contrast to Deku. Where Deku is the introverted timid nerd who can be surprisingly fearful, Koichi is a more extroverted and somewhat more confidant fellow who despite this comes off less reliable than Deku. He's clumsy, not respected by anyone much and surprisingly for his personality he kinda lets people walk all over him. He's kinda Pop Star's house husband/big brother. Koichi's a bit basic but plenty likable to make up for that. If the big bad behind the drugs wasn't AFO I'd have eaten my own shoes, but I think that mystery might have worked better in manga format. Because from what I can tell its clearly AFO's voice whenever Bee Girl is on the phone with her ''mysterious'' employer. Its kinda cute he's an exasperated boss having to make due with a bratty schoolgirl that barely pays his criticism any mind. Maybe a reflection how far he's fallen at this point. From what I've gathered the tournament takes place every two year and its said he defended his title twice, rather than being X for two years. But that might depend on the translation. I do wonder if the math adds up. He's supposed to be X for a uniquely long time but there's too few X's for that. The title seems to be around for 30 years and the only other holders are Chad-Soul, Johnies dad, Mister discohead, the couple that got into a scandal, Smile, Bowa and finally X. Interesting you also see exactly 7 rotting hands reach out to X in the opening which seems a direct reference to the title. Either his predessors being desperately trying to claw back to his spot of glory(except Chad-Soul who wouldn't care), or trying to warn him of being eaten up and thrown away like they were. If the hands are indeed a reference to the title they likely won't reveal any other person holding the title. Poor dog seems destined to fall out of the top 10. Still his presence in other stories might make up for his singular episode. Heroes always debut in an arc before theirs so I theirs which in this case is Dragon Boy's. It be very fun if psycho Dragon Boy ended up having a buddy cop format with the dog.