Summary
Ishura continues to be overloaded with exposition, but its worldbuilding is intriguing and its action is exciting and brutal.
Episode 2 is another information-dense episode of Ishura, one that is potentially off-putting in how much detail it tries to cram into 20 minutes. But it also suggests what overall shape Season 1 might take, and delivers another exciting, well-rendered action sequence with a smattering of gore for good measure. Like Episode 1, then, it’s a mixed bag overall, but it does provide an exciting degree of unpredictability for the remainder of the season.
Ishura Season 1 Episode 2 Recap
It’s clear at this point that the early episodes of the season are each going to be devoted to a different potential “hero” who could take up the now-vacant crown of Demon King. But it’s also gradually teasing some political background, with Aureatia running the competition to appoint a new Demon King – the slayer of the previous one is a mystery, presumably to be solved later – and Taren the Punished having turned her back on the Council of Aureatia to run a competing mini-kingdom, the New Principality of Lithia.
In essence, the power vacuum has ushered in a brewing civil war, so this episode, “Alus the Star Runner”, is divided up between developing this in the background while also introducing us to the new potential hero. The plots do intertwine a little, and there are a lot of references and namedrops that will matter later instead of right now, so there’s a bit of patience required to get the most out of the show (which isn’t a bad thing!).
Wyverns, Outlaws, and Spies
In the opening, three of Taren’s spies – Lana, Higuare, and Shalk – are ambushed by a swarm of wild wyverns and outlaws, but even this is slightly political. The wyverns are demolished by a battalion of trained wyverns, which is led by Regnejee and answers to Lithia; the outlaws were representatives of the Aureatian Council, dispatched by one of its twenty-nine members, and either didn’t know about the trained wyverns or naively thought they could vanquish them.
An assassin is chosen
As we see elsewhere, the Aureatian Council wants to assassinate Taren, fearful that she will get involved in the competition they’re running to find the next Demon King. There are numerous potential assassin candidates, but the key namechecks are General Harghent, who we’ll spend the rest of the episode with, and the eventual choice, the Vortical Stampede, who we’ll meet in a later episode.
The back half of the episode is devoted to Harghent. The Council reckons he’ll be killed by a dragon he’s hunting on the outskirts of the city – a dangerous mission that he’s undertaking to prove a point since he’s getting on in years and losing a step. As it happens, the Council were pretty close in their prediction, since Harghent’s army is promptly wiped out, and he seems to be next on its agenda. But neither the Council nor Harghent himself accounted for the involvement of Alus the Star Runner.
How does Ishura Season 1 Episode 2 end?
Alus is a wyvern himself, but an unusual one with an extra limb and three legendary weapons. He helps Harghent kill the dragon, and Harghent, while unable to publicly support Alus for the sake of his pride, does advise that he enter the Demon King competition.
Alus is intrigued but has business to attend to first. He’s particularly interested in why the Great Labyrinth in Nagan happens to have fallen flat on its face (as we know, it was defeated by Soujirou.)
What did you think of Ishura Season 1 Episode 2? Let us know in the comments.
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