Faputa: I will keep moving forward until all my brethren are destroyed.
Reg: Osananajimi-no-jitsu!
Mitty and Nanachi: I bid thee farewell again.
Honestly I think the anime is a few steps above the manga. The Kevin Penkin music and the VA performances make it so much more sweeter.
It's been a little bit since I've read this arc in the manga, but I generally agree. Not only because the music by Kevin Penkin adds so much more to the experience, but also because the manga can be hard to make out at times. Also, I'm very thankful the anime doesn't have those extra pages, if you know what I mean.
Definitely one of the best episodes I've ever seen and the best of the whole series. At the end of the episode I almost cried but not so much for sadness but more for the tension and intensity of the relationship between Reg and Faputa. All flanked by Penkin's music and a technical side superior to the rest of the series (I had read that the director of the Made in Abyss film directed this episode).
The episode did a fantastic job of showing instead of telling. A lesser anime would have relied purely on exposition and lore dumps to fill in the back story. This episode managed to seamlessly transition back and forth between the past and present while giving additional meaning to scenes from previous episodes.
@Ryuseishun You're quite invested for someone who's generally displeased with this season. xD
I really hated that they brought Mitty back at first, she had her whole arc and goodbye last season and it felt unearned to reintroduce her here (in such a strange way too, Bondrewd came to visit with her in tow for...reasons? And Belaf was like, gimme.) It was only here in this episode where we heard Nanachi talk about her and their relationship as she said goodbye that I felt...sure, okay. This is good.
The fight was excellent, the music was fantastic and Faputa's VA was absolutely great.