Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest (Episode 20) – A New Vow

Hajime is struggling to move on to the next labyrinth as it will mean leaving Myu behind. Meanwhile, the capital seems to be falling apart and the demons are on the move!
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest (Episode 20) – A New Vow
What happened?
Hajime needs to move on to the next labyrinth if he is to find a way back to Earth, however, he doesn’t want to upset Myu and keeps putting it off. That’s until Remia, Myu’s mother tells him that he needs to do what he needs to do. She knows that, his friends know that. Myu probably knows that too. It’s a load of Hajime’s mind, which suddenly gets replaced by bikinis… Bet he wasn’t expecting that. Anyhow, after a farewell meal, Hajime discussed his plans with Myu and then said that he would come back for her and take her to see where he grew up. Remia is going to come too.
Meanwhile, the Princess is fleeing the capital after seeing what happened to Sensei and the way her father is acting. She needs to find help before it’s too late. The Commander is concerned for what’s happening too and seems to rule out a demon attack based on the strange nature of things and how he hasn’t been targeted. That’s when Jose, his second in command attacks him, but that was just a distraction so that Daisuke could attack from behind. On top of that, the demons are attacking with everything they have.

What did you think?
Where the hell has this Arifureta been hiding? I’ll admit that the scene at Myu’s home probably went on a little too long, but at the same time, it was the most natural the party has felt since the beginning of the show. Even Hajime acted like a real person and not just an edge lord. It was refreshing to see them act like real people and the chemistry within the group was better.
After that, it started to move a number of pieces into place for what will no doubt be the final conflict for the season. There are five episodes left, but better to start now than wait any longer. In fact, it would have been better to start all the way back at the beginning of season one. As good as these scenes were, I can’t help but think they would have been infinitely better had we been invested in this side of the story too. It’s frustrating thinking about what could have been.

What have you learnt?
I remember my thoughts back in episode two of season one when it split the episode between Hajime in the labyrinth and Shizuku in the capital. It’s still one of my favourite episodes as it was well balanced and gave us some insight into both parts of the group. Sadly, the Shizuku side of things died off and was forgotten about until the last episode. It has done a slightly better job this season, although it has been limited to a couple of minutes before the end of the episode.
There are obviously a lot of moving parts in this story and it is criminal that most of them have been ignored until the very last second it’s needed. These scenes would have been amazing had we not been trying to work out who they are and why we should care about them. We’ve been denied more than half of the story and that will have an impact on the ending, especially if we haven’t had a chance to bond with anyone involved on that side. I think this is potentially a great story, however, the storytelling method has not been able to deliver. How long before we can start asking about a reboot?

Other posts in the series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – The Monster of the Abyss
- Episode 2 – Pandora’s Box
- Episode 3 – The Golden Vampire Princess
- Episode 4 – Guardian of the Depths
- Episode 5 – The Maverick’s Lair
- Episode 6 – Worthless Rabbit
- Episode 7 – The Great Reisen Labyrinth
- Episode 8 – Reunion with the Past
- Episode 9 – Dragon Slayer
- Episode 10 – The Goddess’ Sword
- Episode 11 – The Monsters’ Day Off
- Episode 12 – A Looming Shadow
- Episode 13 – The Best at Being the Worst
- Season Two
- Episode 14 – Irregular
- Episode 15 – Burning Light
- Episode 16 – Black and White
- Episode 17 – Reunion
- Episode 18 – Memories from the Bottom of the Sea
- Episode 19 – Someone Important
- Episode 20 – A New Vow
- Episode 21 – A Disturbing Darkness
- Episode 22 – Invasion of the Capital
- Episode 23 – God’s Apostle
- Episode 24 – Betrayal
- Episode 25 – A New Journey
- Bonus Posts
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I’m in agreement here. Something is a bit off with the way they chose to present the storyline. While I really like the show, I feel like there are a lot of loose ends. That being said, you said “edge lord” and that made me laugh.
Hajime is most definitely an edge lord.
I think one of the biggest issues is that they are going too fast. I thought it during the first season and I think it’s still true for me. The Orcus labyrinth could have been a season on its own, especially if we’d seen more of the rest of his class. It does make me want to read the books though, so I guess that’s mission accomplished for the anime studio.