For some reason I am getting quite a lot of Solo Leveling vibes from this show. Production quality for animation and music is stellar, but everything that's happening with the show itself is just happening just because it can without any strong reason. The characters themselves are fine, but it's hard to get invested.

I really went onto this show expecting it would be like any other romcom full of cliches, but I was completely blown away on the quality and writing put into this. Every episode I couldn't stop smiling, it was fun from start to finish.

In-lore Rayquaza requires the essence of meteoroids in order to mega evolve, which it is able to do with the help of its internal organ and its meteoroid diet. Meteoroids have been identified as a source of mega stones in the games fyi.

Either the briefcase contains a huge meteoroid with a large essence of mega energy or something similar that will allow it to mega evolve after eating it. It'd be weird if they'd want to change this to a stone instead, because it wouldn't make too much sense lore wise.

So sad it has to end, it really was a fun ride to go through learning a lot about rocks.

I get a giddy feeling nerding out to this show. Every single episode feels so fun to learn new things about various minerals and information surrounding them, and this episode is no different with how even simple minerals can be made more interesting.

I am completely floored by the sound direction in this episode, the ethereal sounds of the dead included in the action is absolutely incredible.

I screamed at the To Love Ru reference. The king of ecchi getting mentioned puts a tear in my eye. Wonderful episode by all means.

First Look Back tears through my heart and now this. Phenomenal episode, can't say enough.

I can't even put it into words how incredible this was, everything was done so well from the characters to emotions, words and scenes, simply everything. This is what a true fan letter really is.

I do excuse if I may be speaking out of my ass (hell, 10 years is a long time to have last seen the early seasons), but regardless, it never occurred that much that they would've originated from this world if they were to possess magic, it always seemed that they either reached out to or came from a different world entirely to have such capabilities in the first place.

You can correct me if there was a strong indication of said magic prowess before this particular episode, as I am curious if I missed anything.

There was never a strong indication that their world already had people capable of casting magic, all the sirens were seen as intruders from a different world without a clear purpose for their existence or powers. This evil group of people you're introduced to want to take said powers, with again, no clear indication of genuinely possessing magic as some of them appeared to have the powers of sirens, as it'd be the logical conclusion to reach. It was a good mystery that could've had a grand reveal, but it just... fell flat from a half-assed explanation that feels disingenuous and illogical in how it'd connect to their world that had all the technological advancements with no indication of magic whatsoever, only beings that didn't belong to their world. That's why I see it as bad writing.

I don't know about you, but to me the abrupt shove in of the backstory for these three mages, let alone the critical information that magic has existed for a very long time that has influenced the creation of sirens, feels like bad writing. It just doesn't sit right with me that it happens so suddenly without much of an explanation, and feels like a rushed attempt to restructure the narrative and fix the logical flaws in the story through an explanation that felt like it hasn't popped up much at all or none in the first place (as far as I'm aware).

Although I'm enjoying this, the quality of writing is making it painful as it struggles to keep itself together while not exploding into a mess, making the whole ride a flaming train that could blow up.

The quality keeps on giving, back to back peak episodes.

Genuinely a phenomenally adapted episode, a pure tearjerker with incredibly good pacing and timing during the whole episode.

It wouldn't be right of me if I didn't say that I zoned out often throughout the show because it lacked quality and consistency to keep my whole interest. It was bearable, sometimes giving a light chuckle, but too many moments were lacking in delivery, feeling either predictable, dragged or rushed to bring thorough enjoyment - not to mention the questionable jokes being pushed more often later on in the show that felt more forced than properly presented. They could've spent more time in the school, expanding aspects of it a lot more, but felt that they wanted to get out of there more than stay for a prolonged duration. Definitely pales in comparison to the other seasons in terms of quality, hopefully this isn't the standard for the third season if there will be one.

The stiff animation is still holding back the show even when this episode was good with decent writing, but the scenes aren't impactful enough when they're missing that "oomph."

I like the character interactions so far, although I am noticing one thing that's bothering me a bit too much - does the show feel a bit too stiff or lifeless with motion and scenes? I didn't get bothered by it at first, but it's starting to become a bit glaring, and I hope it improves.