Spoilers for episode 24. My opinions on majority of the episode.
Well, that was a clusterfuck of an episode.
There were parts where I was disappointed/miffed about and parts where I enjoyed. I'm going over with the parts I disliked first, the parts I liked, and miscellaneous.
Please note that all of these are my opinions, and that I still enjoyed this episode regardless of my complaints. If you enjoyed it too, then good for you! Don't let someone else's opinions affect your own experience of it.
1. I'm tired of the "giving more questions and no answers" thing. I get it; you wanna make it mysterious and whatnot, but there's two times where a person says something important, they just get cut off because wow, what a coincidence, huh? Or that they don't finish their sentences and elaborate more. It's none of the MC's business, but all this secrecy is too much. Not to mention that it was another cliffhanger, like I predicted.
2. Were Yuri and Jiro neglected again this episode? Didn't it feel like they had less screentime than the ghouls? Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure they only appeared at the beginning and at the end. I suppose this isn't a big problem, since the main focus isn't on them, but Mortkranken really has been neglected these previous episodes. Especially Yuri.
3. I'm disappointed they didn't do much with Rui and the MC meeting again after two weeks. They didn't even talk to each other. All they said were each others' names and that's it. Really?
4. The curse being so easily resolved was anticlimactic. I thought there was going to be a bigger spectacle about it, especially considering it was our main goal from the very beginning. They made it out to be a big deal, with even the last episode where the MC did not go out for two weeks when they failed their only chance to capture the Kyklos. But it was really cured just like that. I was excited to see the curse taking effect, but the fact that the curse was so easily broken makes me feel nothing.
The monkey paw comes from the short horror story "The Monkey's Paw" where, likewise, grants three wishes. In the original story, it grants three wishes per person by in twisted and horrible ways. Mr. White, husband of Mrs. White and father of Herbert, wished for £200 as a joke, to pay off the remaining mortgage for his house. The next day, Herbert died from a horrific accident at work and the company came to compensate the family with £200. A week after the funeral, Mrs. White begged Mr. White to wish for their son to be alive again. Mr. White was hesitant, but gave in, and imagined their mutilated son as he made his wish. The same night, they heard a knock on their door. While Mrs. White struggled to open the locks on the door, Mr. White, in fear of seeing whatever it is outside, made his final wish. The knocking stopped and the door opened, finding there to be no one. Whatever wish Mr. White made and whatever was outside was made unknown.
In this episode, they changed it to only have a heavy price every third wish, but it really disappoints me that there really was no struggle or consequence for making a wish to cure a curse of an S CLASS ANOMALY. Unless the monkey paw is also an S Class anomaly, I'm less inclined to accept any excuses. And even if that was the case, that was way too underwhelming.
5. Maybe I'm just heartless about it, but I didn't really feel anything when they killed off Kaito. I did somewhat expect something was going to happen after that curse cured bullshit. I guess I also wasn't very attached to Kaito to begin with, but it feels like they're only doing it just for the shock value. I suppose it was necessary for Luca to lose his shit, but still.
6. This episode was again building up for the next episode/season. Not that this episode was bad, but we didn't even figure out anything besides that the demon arm wasn't even a demon arm. And we didn't even learn it ourselves. We learned it from Tohma and Jin. And that clocked figure? Are we only going to know more about it in the next episode? Why can't we have one episode where everything resolves naturally and peacefully without turning something else into a bigger mystery/deal?
Now onto parts I did enjoy. In chronological order:
1. Vagastrom appearing in the first chapter was wholly welcomed. I love seeing the Vagastrom boys. And Sho had his "soft eyes" when he saw Alan coming out of the train. Seeing the first-years care for Alan was really sweet.
2. That Rui and Lyca CG... Particularly Rui. He looks so good? So cute and pretty as always.
3. Haru and Romeo sympathizing with Rui repeating a year was sweet. Especially Romeo, as he doesn't come off as someone who cares, but he does. Just in his own special way. "Take your time," he said. Compared that to episode four where he was rushing Rui to make his drink. Granted, Romeo was super pissed at the time, but it's a nice thought.
4. Towa coming in unexpectedly to rip Edward's arm off... That's definitely one for the books lmao.
5. Leo taking pictures of the MC for his private collection because it's "funny"? Be for real, we all know you're doing it just because you want to lol. We also get a chance to "gross him out" with the third option, which, who DOESN'T want to choose that?
6. Leo and Kaito meeting each other was expected, but it went exactly what I'd expect. It was sort of funny seeing Leo continually to insult Kaito, Luca getting angry on his behalf, and the parents (Sho and Tohma) getting tired of the same shenanigans.
7. Alan sincerely apologizing to the MC even though he didn't need to... He's way too sweet on the MC.
8. The MC unintentionally pissing Romeo off about his knowledge of gemstones... I chose the third option the first time around, but his anger is actually more subdued if you choose the first and second options, which is really nice to see. Picking either options has him being kinder to the MC than they first met. And then he actually calmed down after she told him to keep his voice down.
9. Tohma speaking informally with Alan and him convincing the higher-ups to abolish the rule really shows that he cares.
10. Edward was NOT having it this episode. He nearly had his arm tore off, had fingers stuck into his mouth, and then had Lyca hauled him away like it's nothing lmao.
11. Jiro bringing up that the MC will eventually learn about gemstones being ingredients for some anomalous medicine, and Yuri trying to shush Jiro makes me think Yuri was trying to not bring up the MC's curse, since it'll remind her of what time she has left.
12. Yuri leaving the Gala (something he has been looking forward for a long time) to attend to Jiro was sweet of him to do. I mean, of course he would, since he's a doctor and all, but my point still stands. And then asking the MC to stand-in for him if Mortkranken does win. She has really grown on him.
13. Haku's voice when he said the MC can sit next to her. Just his voice. Very sensual.
14. Towa crying in the caves and Zenji trying to comfort him. Just like in their first meeting. This duo is underrated.
15. Ignoring the second option, when Subaru apologizes for failing to break her curse, her first and third options has her being more optimistic about her situation than before. Leo has really helped boost her confidence.
16. Everyone meeting up in the auditorium at the same spot (the MC probably didn't move much from where she was) was honestly kinda funny to think about. They were all just conveniently meeting up with the MC.
17. Kaito returning the money to Luca was really nice of him.
18. It's not as obvious as the other amazing voice actors (seeing as she doesn't appear/speak as much in the comic-styled cutscenes), but the MC's voice acting is also really good. I like the part where she was beginning to transform.
1. Rui's sad reaction to Romeo, Haru and Lyca talking about not to worry what other people say? Bro? Maybe he's affected by what others say about him being non-human and a risk to be around. Which I wouldn't be surprised, because he's a very kind person.
2. That Towa and Edward becomes more sad when Towa realizes Haru will someday leave him... And also the part where Edward mentions his wish. It seemed to imply his wish goes against whatever it is relating to the MC, no?
3. Jiro thinking that he doesn't have a brother and getting attacks/angry whenever Zenji or the doll (that looks identical to the Kirisaki brothers) is mentioned, directly or indirectly or not, is really concerning. Makes me think about their situation as a whole.
4. I believe Dante isn't a bad person. Based on how he acts and Hyde's comments about his "bleeding heart," there must've been an accident or something we don't know yet regarding that mission with Alan's dad. He contrasts Hyde, whereas Hyde is outwardly friendly but is extremely shady, Dante comes across as more aloof, but does care about the students. Dante not ratting Alan out reinforces that belief.
5. I think Ren probably feels pressured whenever someone believes in him. He might think that he's not going to do anything meaningful at all or actually live up to their expectations, which is why he got so angry at Haru.
6. Honestly did not expect Haru's whole arm to be a prosthetic. Thought it was just his hand, or his arm to his elbow, but a whole arm is insane.
7. The campus is on fire and filled with anomalies, and that one Hotarubi girl is yelling for Subaru not to hit her? Get your priorities straight, like goddamn.
8. "Narcissa" is likely the person Edward has indirectly mentioned in his final affinity line.
9. If I had a nickel for every time the MC says "x wouldn't have happened if I never did y" whenever she goes through a particularly bad day, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
10. Some ghouls are talking as if the tragedy has happened before. Taiga implying the world's about to end, Yuri saying he saved the world from the tragedy "back then," and Elias saying that the profound tragedy could've been avoided if the MC knew the truth.
11. The final scene with the chancellor makes me think that, if the time loop theory is really true, maybe he knew this was bound to happen, but tried to stop it anyway and still failing?
12. Did Moby's voice actor changed? I wonder what happened.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! You survived through my incredibly long yapping.
Realistically, this episode is a 6.5 out of 10. The parts I mostly enjoyed was in the beginning, some subtle moments here and there and some bias from me. There were just too many important yet lacking instances to ignore. My main disappointment lies with how they handled the MC's curse, but it's still a too important plot point that they really fucked up in this episode.
I think that's most of what I wanted to say about this episode. I reread the entire episode again just to get everything properly and in order. Mainly just skimmed through it though, but yeah. That's about it.