The penultimate episode is almost entirely dedicated to the final battle, where Shingetsu and Mangetsu team up against Suisho. With this fight, Granbelm can completely get away with leaning heavily towards action. Admittedly, that’s partly because we have so few characters left in the game but to be fair, the past two episodes made a lot of progress with Shingetsu and Mangetsu’s characters so the show can afford to be a bit self-indulgent. It’s the final battle anyway so it may as well. I really have to hand to Nexus. Granbelm has had some strong art and animation throughout its run and this fight is no exception. It is quite the spectacle, especially towards the end.
In the midst of the fighting, this episode sheds some much needed light on Suisho. She is in fact another artificial being created by the Magiaconatus. Her purpose is to stomp out the commpetition and prove to the Magiaconatus that there are no humans worthy of becoming the Princeps. As for her deceptively high power level, that was given to her by the Magiaconatus to fulfill her job. At this point in the canon, Suisho has participated in Granbelm for 1,000 years. While none of this excuses Suisho for all the awful things she’s done, she is a lot more understandable now. She has won Granbelm numerous times now. She feels she should be the Princeps. And yet, Granbelm keeps beginning anew and the Magiaconatus continues to look for a human worthy of its power. Suisho is nasty to humans because she genuinely thinks she is better than them and she’s sick and tired of dealing with them.
I admit that there isn’t really an interpersonal angle to Shingetsu and Mangetsu’s fight against Suisho. That’s the one thing Anna has over the current villain. Anna ties into Shingetsu’s arc both thematically and emotionally. The two are at opposite ends when it comes to magic and how they’re treated by the system and on top of that, their conflict had a strong interpersonal tone because they were surrogate sisters. Really, Shingetsu and Mangetsu are fighting against Suisho simply because she’s their last opponent. The most personal bone they could pick with her is her being Kuon’s killer and that’s not even brought in this episode.
That said, Suisho does make for an effective foil for Mangetsu. Both are artificial beings created by the Magiaconatus and both are given a purpose to serve within Granbelm. While their origins are similar, the two characters differ in the paths they ultimately take. Suisho believes no human should become the Princeps and the only one who deserves that power is herself. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Mangetsu believes that Shingestu, the one human she is designed to help and whom the Magiaconatus has the highest hopes, should become the Princeps. She doesn’t even want the power of the Magiaconatus and she believes that Shingetsu should get rid of it entirely.
The episode throws quite the curveball, in which Suisho seemingly kills Shingetsu with her spirit, leaving Mangetsu alone to defeat her. This could have been a really ballsy move for the show to make since the expectation is to have Shingetsu win and become the Princeps. But sure enough, Shingetsu’s “death” is just a clever ruse by her and Mangetsu. Knowing that Anna would prioritize Shingetsu over her, Mangetsu gives her friend one of Nene’s trinkets, which enables the user to use Nene’s cloaking ability. It’s cheap how these two planned this during their last meeting together and yet, we didn’t see this happen when said meeting is shown in the last episode. This isn’t even any indication that this moment could fit into last episode’s version. But whatever, Shingetsu uses this right when Suisho tries to kill her and while she heads over to the Magiaconatus, Mangetsu sacrifices herself to keep Suisho at bay.
It feels a bit predictable that Shingetsu wouldn’t die. After all, she’s the only guaranteed to become the Princeps upon winning Granbelm so unless the show is feeling bold, it has to keep her alive. To be honest however, Granbelm did had me thinking for a few minutes that Mangetsu might end up at the actual winner. It sounds a bit illogical at first. Both Mangetsu and Suisho are artificial beings so neither are guaranteed to become the Princeps so should the show even make these two the last ones standing? That said, Suisho is convinced that she could become the Princeps so that then makes me wonder if maybe Mangestu actually does have a chance as well. Maybe if Mangetsu defeats Suisho, the Magiaconatus will deem her worthy and make her the Princeps, even turning her into a real human in the process. And if Shingetsu is dead, the show could place Mangetsu at her own crossroad. Does Mangetsu use her magic to bring back Shingetsu or does she use it to honor her friends’ wish by ridding the world of magic? Maybe I’m overthinking this and I’m giving Granbelm too much credit but I think the final fight could’ve gone in two ways and both are equally viable paths for the story to go with.
I’m a little bummed that Mangetsu dies without defeating Suisho. Since the two do parallel each other thematically, having Mangetsu win sounds fitting. To be fair, it wouldn’t be right for Mangetsu to defeat Suisho while Shingetsu wins in the background. Granbelm is intended to test Shingetsu, to see if she’s worthy. With Mangetsu dead and Suisho still alive, Shingetsu is given one final trial: to avenge the death of her friend and to defeat her most powerful opponent yet. I suppose it’s also better for Mangetsu to die here. Sacrificing herself to help Shingetesu is a more fitting ending for her than simply disappearing once Shingetsu gets rid of magic. I also can’t deny that seeing Mangetsu die makes me emotional again. It’s funny. When Granbelm started, I didn’t know what to make of this character. By the end of the show however, I grew to really like her and every new twist and turn in her arc punched me in the gut.
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