God Eater

Episode 8

Even if nobody had told me God Eater was wrapping up after a paltry nine-episode run, this scattershot episode eight is all the evidence I'd need. This week hardly touched on its namesake character, Sakuya, opting for an across-the-board ramp-up of action and exposition. Conveyed in short clips of increasingly emotional weight, episode eight of God Eater felt like a second-to-last episode struggling to put out all the fires before the clock stops.

If anyone was the star of this episode, it certainly wasn't Sakuya, but Lenka, who stood at the center of the story's exposition. We discover that Lenka's God Arc didn't break because of any weakness on his part, but because he's just so darn powerful that the Arc couldn't handle it. Lenka's power is underlined in a later scene, where he leads the First and Second Units to survival over the com, despite being the least senior person in the briefing room. Combine that with a strange conversation where Sakuya connects Lenka's compass to Lindow (maybe?), and Lenka becomes The Chosen One of this season. I'm not surprised that God Eater wants to use this tired trope—the dialogue and writing have always been the weakest parts of the show. It just becomes more insufferable than usual when the writers seem unaware that the trope they're using is far from novel. Whenever Lenka does anything, we get many reaction shots of other characters gasping at his ability. I thought it was great storytelling to show his growth through failure elsewhere in the series. Now he's done growing, I guess. The silver lining is that with the finale coming up, we can expect the best possible version of Lenka to go into the final battle.

Meanwhile, Alisa's storyline has gone to pot. Both Newtypes are on leave, but Alisa is mentally broken, while Lenka's just waiting around for his God Arc to be repaired. It turns out that not only was the Vajra variant Alisa saw the same kind as the one that killed her parents—it was exactly the same one that killed her parents. This Vajra is the closest the series has to an antagonist, since it appears to have human intelligence through its evil grins and possible power of speech. It's no wonder Alisa is suffering. At first, I applauded the series' strength to give Alisa a powerful PTSD episode to show that her problems wouldn't fade away like magic, but now it's like she's in standby. It's almost as if they're not sure where to take her character's story from here.

Constructively, the episode was gorgeous as usual, but I prefer when the budget is spent on sunsets instead of industrial settings. The construction of the episode is also strange—the credits roll at the fifteen minute mark since there's no room for an ending sequence, but why didn't they just roll over the action at the end? It felt like the episode was ending prematurely. There was also plenty of exposition, but audiences who haven't played the God Eater game need it badly anyway. We learned a ton about the God Arc, the origin of the Aragami, and an especially concerning tidbit about Lenka's possible lifespan. At the same time, I realize that God Eater would be a better show if it didn't require so much exposition in the first place, especially this late in the game.

All in all, this week was pretty mixed. The most positive thing I can say about episode eight is that it kept up the pace by switching quickly between increasingly tense subplots starring Lenka, Lindow, and Alisa. Between this and a heart-stopping sequence from the past that foreshadows the total apocalypse of the earth, we're fully revved up for the season finale. However, knowing that it's ending so quickly makes me wonder if the decisions to give everyone such a tense emotional plot is just to get us invested in them for one final spurt.

Rating: C

God Eater is currently streaming on Daisuki.

Lauren writes about anime and journalism at Otaku Journalist.