REVIEW: ‘ZENSHU’ Episode 9 — “HERO”

ZENSHU Episode 9 starts the final leg of the series with intense narrative development and sad revelations. It expertly displays the depressing narrative of A Tale of Perishing with excellent direction and shows how unforgiving its world can be, especially to its main characters.

The episode starts with a recap structure from Luke’s perspective. We see him slowly developing feelings for Natsuko (Anna Nagase) through the anime’s prior events. But before these flashbacks get repetitive, the episode returns to the present, where Luke (Kazuki Ura) is still trying his best to win Natsuko’s affection. This short recap does a great job of refreshing viewers’ memories and all the major events that have led up to this episode in a very concise way.

More importantly, it shows a brief glimpse of all the dead members of the Nine Heroes and how they fell in battle. However, it is disappointing that these members are only featured through the depictions of their deaths. It would have been great to see more focus on each of the Nine Heroes and their personalities, as they genuinely seem interesting in the glimpses we’ve seen of them. Regardless, the few minutes featuring these characters showcased immaculate animation with beautiful art direction and visual effects.

Natsuko contemplates her feelings for Luke.

In the present day, Natsuko still contemplates her feelings for Luke and how to respond to his confession. However, her attention quickly switches back to Kametaro’s looming words in the previous episode. She lays out all her worries to QJ, and we are given the full A Tale of Perishing timeline.

Since most of what is told has already been divulged in previous episodes, this scene makes it clear that this ZENSHU Episode 9 is mostly a recap episode. However, it also reveals that Luke destroys the final crystal at the end of the movie, dooming the city. Luke, being the destroyer of the Last City after going through trauma due to the events of the movie, is a shocking development.

The concept of a hero turning into a villain after losing everything is interesting but it also feels like a nonsensical conclusion to the movie. Ultimately, nothing comes from all the deaths and suffering if everyone dies at the end. The movie’s original narrative only provided a tragic story with a tragic ending. This sorrowful ending is what Natsuko is trying to prevent, but a new Void attack with significantly more advanced Void creatures who mimic Natsuko’s ability proves this may be hard to achieve.

ZENSHU Episode 9 makes a depressing pivot. 

The Heroes and Natsuko narrowly survive against them with their lives, except QJ, who sacrifices himself to protect everyone. Natsuko being unable to fend off the ever-advancing Voids and letting Kametaro’s words get to her is painful to watch. Her demeanor, as she panics and scrambles, trying to solve the situation however she can, is portrayed excellently, with superb facial expressions and voice acting by Anna Nagase. Moreover, while lacking the impact from previous fights, the combat scene, specifically between Luke and the Voids, displayed outstanding choreography.

Though mostly filled with recaps, ZENSHU Episode 9 is a great episode that showcases amazing animation and choreography from MAPPA. It forces Natsuko to reflect on her decisions in the anime thus far and the seemingly inevitable tragic conclusion of the movie’s narrative.

ZENSHU’s narrative is getting more exciting as it nears its conclusion, and the stakes are getting higher. It will be interesting to see how Natsuko will deal with the events to come and the evolving Voids. If the next few episodes are as great as this one, there is a lot to look forward to.

ZENSHU Episode 9 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.

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