so the title’s left unresolved, and next episode there could either be an unnecessary killing, or a killing to prevent an unnecessary killing – with the obvious question in the latter case of “was that a necessary killing?”

until recently the series has been war between humans and demons, and they go out of their way to convince the viewer that the villains (demons) really are inhuman: creatures incapable of feeling empathy toward anyone and therefore not worth your own empathy. and the heroes (at least in the ideal) are those who do exactly what’s necessary, but no more, when it comes to violence. i don’t know that the story can veer too far from that ideal framing of heroism without losing its charm, but they may be setting up to challenge that framing of villainy.

also, seems it’s becoming a pattern that Fern’s opponents are caught off-guard by her speed & stamina. when she fought the demon in episode 10, that was explained as her suppressing her mana, and the demon being careless/overconfident against such a technique. but here in ep 20 everyone is familiar with mana suppression: that Fern’s overwhelming experienced mages with just raw speed/stamina has me suspicious.

author’s other famous manga is 100% worth the read then, if you haven’t already: Kaguya-sama: Love Is War

that kind of door is fine for me. it’s doorknobs – where you have to rotate them more than a quarter turn to unlatch the door – for which i’m always spilling stuff (and then ranting to anyone who will listen about how dumb it is that of all the types of door handle, the U.S. uniformly settled on knobs for inside the home).