Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra

Episode 10

Just about every week, I've criticized the visuals in the show—saying that while they could be far worse, that they're so underwhelming has massively been to Mynoghra's detriment. I've gone down this road time and time again, so I don't feel the need to rehash this again from the start. And yes, there were some brief moments in this episode where the visuals looked fine. However, overall, this has to be the worst-looking episode yet. I initially thought this was going to be a particularly bad episode for the visuals when we saw Erakino sporting some big ol' yaoi hands.

But then the episode just kept going, and while there was nothing like, overtly terrible—nothing that can hold a poorly drawn candle to the likes of, say, Ameku M.D. in its last stretch or that one episode of Psycho-Pass that looked so sloppy that the director apologized for it—it also just kept getting gradually worse, enough so that by the end of the episode it was hard to ignore.

Behold, Exhibit A:

And Exhibit B:

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I won't dwell on this for too long, but my god. Week after increasingly off-model week, I'm reminded of how much better this show would be able to capture the darkness and cool-factor it so desperately strives for if only more time or resources were put into its animation. More than anything else, I think better visuals absolutely could've helped to give it the edginess it's so desperately trying to conjure. If the planets had aligned better for Mynoghra's production value, there's more than enough scenes—even in this episode alone—that lend themselves to some real spectacle; it could've been a great way for any studio to flex their artistic muscles. But instead, we disappointingly, but unsurprisingly, ended up with cheap blobs.

But moving on past the art, obviously the big thing in this episode is that the civilization of Mynoghra is dealing with—well, not the first enemies they've had to face, but certainly the first substantial threat. And the nature of that threat? A standard JRPG—more specifically, legally distinct Dragon Quest. And I'm just going to rip off the bandage and say it plainly: I don't like this twist. I think it's uninspired and feels like just another half-baked excuse for Mynoghra to not have to reckon with how obviously overpowered they made Takuto. It also feels a bit too Ready Player One-y for my taste, if that makes sense—a bit too reliant on references that feel shallow because they feel like they're there just for the sake of being there, signaling to the audience the creator's taste, and so on.

This twist might've landed better if so many anime—isekai anime, in particular, didn't already take place in worlds that feel Dragon Quest-Adjacent. At this point, it's a setting that we've seen time and time again, and it's gotten real stale real fast. Plus, it feels like something that would plausibly exist in the classic-fantasy world that Mynoghra is in. Maybe the twist would've come across better if they chose something super jarring that doesn't feel like it belongs whatsoever in the same world as Mynoghra—say, Final Fantasy VII, MOTHER, or Persona. Actually, .hack could've been a super clever and hilarious choice for this since it's a JRPG (well, it's a multi-media expanse with more to it than just JRPGs, but I'd argue that the games are the meat and potatoes of what makes up .hack) that takes place within an MMO. I'm not sure how many people under the age of 30 would've picked up on such a reference in 2025, so I get why .hack was probably never even in the running, but still. I wake up every day hoping we've finally arrived at a .hack comeback.

All the same, what I'm getting at is that this reveal probably would've had a better chance of working if they went with something that would give it the same vibes as Clive from Final Fantasy XVI very-British-ly yelling stuff along the lines of, “WHAT IS A HOTDOG” in Tekken 8. But even if Mynoghra had gone down this route, that still doesn't address the criticism that this anime feels like it's making excuses to not grapple with Takuto's status as an expert at the game he's sort-of-but-not-really in. Assuming this is what happens in the source material as well (and please let me know if it's not), it almost feels as though series creator Fehu Kazuno didn't realize the implications of Takuto's character until after Mynoghra already had a few chapters under its belt, so there was a desperate, improvised scramble to nerf him in real time.

Things were going well for this anime for a while, but alas, I guess it never could last forever. Not that I was terribly excited before, but this week really zapped a lot of lingering interest I had in seeing how they close this anime. As per usual, I'd love nothing more than to eat my words, but I don't exactly think I need to start getting any utensils at the ready.

Rating:

Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.