Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra

Episode 11

It's already been pretty obvious in episodes past that Mynoghra here desperately wants to evoke that same grisly, blood-soaked darkness that series like Berserk and Vinland Saga have. But more than any previous episode, wow, was it ever apparent this week that Mynoghra just doesn't have, pun very intended, the guts. Or to be more specific, it just doesn't have the visual flair. Allow me, a self-declared gore guru, to explain:

Gore and good visuals often go hand in hand: the aforementioned Berserk and Vinland Saga, Akira, and Hellsing Ultimate all spring to mind. Even so, there's still plenty of bloodier anime out there whose visuals—even if they're not awful (and they rarely are)—aren't exactly revolutionary, and range from serviceable to good-but-not-great: Higurashi, Another, and Elfen Lied among others. And usually, these anime with less-impressive visuals make up for that in some combination of spectacle and amount of blood. Mynoghra, however, isn't really doing either, and that's why it's not working.

To use a specific example from this episode: we saw the fire boss's body get torn to pieces. What a great time for some over-the-top blood spray going everywhere, and all over Isla, who sliced him. Instead, we just got the disappointing equivalent of like, the losing sound effect from The Price is Right. Like someone was getting ketchup out of a packet. And the larvae busting out from under the bubbles of flesh, meanwhile, looked as though someone just crushed a singular, red fruit gusher. I've seen anime papercuts bleed out more than this. And neither lasted more than a few seconds, at most. It was more blood than we've previously seen in Mynoghra, to be fair. But still, not even a little bit close enough to let the spectacle or amount of blood outweigh how thoroughly unimpressive the visuals are.

But of course, this is Mynoghra. These underwhelming visuals are, unfortunately, nothing new. What is newer, however, is the sheer volume of power Takuto has bestowed upon Isla, who subsequently uses it to defeat one of the bosses in a battle that would've been a lot cooler if the visuals weren't so lifeless. Well, I say “defeat,” but the end of the episode makes it look like he might not be as down for the count as we believe he is right now. Either way, this episode is more or less just a fight that was no fun to watch, which is wild, considering it's against a giant bug queen and a guy with fire powers. You'd think that'd be enough to give the fight some pizzazz, but most of the time, they're just talking about nothing before Isla finally slices him. Or rather: most of the actual battle happens completely off-screen because I guess this anime just couldn't resist an ill-timed segment where Takuto monologues and reminds us who's doing what. Yawn.

Next week is our finale, and I'll hold off on posting about overall thoughts until then. But in the meantime, unfortunately, I'm looking forward to this series ending more than seeing how it actually ends. Which is such a shame, since this series had so much potential at its start, and toward the middle, we were seeing it take some steps in the right direction. Alas, it couldn't keep that momentum up.

Rating:

Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.