Thunderbolt Fantasy S3 – Episode 8 - Ai Animes 🤖

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to the bombastic battles of Thunderbolt Fantasy, as Shang and his allies attempt to thwart the various schemes of Xing Hai, the Divine Swarm, the Murder Princess Chao Feng, and presumably the newly introduced Count Azibelpher. Having tracked Xing Hai back to her time-manipulating portal-ridden Void Junction, Shang and Lang swiftly found themselves flung into the demon realm itself, where they were forced into battle with resentful survivors of the last demon war.

Not a great situation, I gotta admit. Fortunately, while their enemies are vicious and great in number, they are not exactly unified in their intentions. Jun Po’s alliances to both the Divine Swarm and Murder Princess are unstable at best, while Xing Hai and her sister are clearly only aligned with the Divine Swarm out of momentary convenience, and both Lou Zhen and Azibelpher possess distinct secondary motivations. While the straightforward Shang likely can’t make much use of this fragility, this whole situation is basically catnip for Lin, who Xing Hai rightly defined as a “sadist who takes sick pleasure in the suffering of villains.” I’m thus expecting some gleeful machinations from the Enigmatic Gale as these forces collide, and am eager to find out who he gets his kicks from next. Let us return to the battlefield of fate!

Episode 8

“Schemes and Conspiracies.” Yep, it’s a Lin episode alright

Well, given the revelations of the preceding episode, I think we can explain that big naked woman in the OP now – that’s presumably the resurrected Seven Blasphemous Deaths, back in demon form and ready to ruin everyone’s day. That’ll certainly make for an interesting conversation with Lou Zhen!

We open over in the Void Junction, with Lin taking a tremendous drag off his vape pipe

While waiting for Jun Po to return, the gang bicker about the lousy reception they’re getting through the Void Mirrors

That balance of tone is something I really appreciate about this series; even as they’re engaging in fiendish schemes and bloody battle, there’s also a lot of sitcom-ready banter across both heroes and villains

“Circumstances have led to us working together.” An understatement that could well describe the entirety of Thunderbolt Fantasy

Of course, the minute Lou Zhen sees Lin, he immediately flies into a murderous rage. Funny how basically every character on any side of this conflict has the same reaction to seeing Lin

An excellent duel ensues, with the camera consistently focusing on the menacing presence of Lou Zhen’s mechanical arm. A choice that serves a dual purpose: both centering this fight on that arm’s destructive potential, and also emphasizing how Lou Zhen’s actions are basically revealing all of his new tricks to Lin immediately. Lin loves nothing more than to drive his opponents into a rage, at which point their actions become unguarded and predictable

As always, Lin feigns a mutual interest in order to seduce former enemies. Xing Hai’s the only one who seems to truly understand his threat – even though Lin probably isn’t lying about desiring this Night of Mourning sword (as ever, the best lies are garnished with truth), his true objective is always relishing in the suffering of his former allies

Lou Zhen of course possesses none of Lin’s charm or skills of subterfuge, and thus immediately jumps to “yeah I want the Seven Blasphemous Deaths, and I’ll kill anyone who stops me.” Thus he immediately disqualifies his own valid concerns about Lin

Jun Po’s explanation for why he invited Lou Zhen is basically “my mom told me I had to bring him or I couldn’t hang out”

Oh my god, Lin just dramatically swooping his hair around. This gigantic ham

Elsewhere in the Void Junction, Azibelpher affirms via void leaf voice chat that he’s now in on their grand scheme

Extremely charmed by this dramatic reaction zoom in on the friggin’ sword as she learns that Lou Zhen is here

“He does certainly have his uses, but he is far too volatile.” Unsurprising that fellow schemers Lin and the Seven Blasphemous Deaths would have the same opinion on Lou Zhen – he’s a genuine fanatic, both utterly dedicated to his cause and unpredictable in his pursuit of it, making him useless to those who rule by subterfuge, temptation, and turning the logic of others against them

“I would never, ever offer up my magic power for the sake of another!” A surreal experience listening to Aoi Yuuki play a tsundere cursed sword

Elsewhere, Jun Po’s forces are less than enthusiastic about suddenly being led by the maniac Lou Zhen. Jun Po’s loyalty to the aristocracy is forcing him into deeper and deeper hypocrisy by the second

“My brother was killed by the Divine Swarm! There’s no way I’m going to stand side by side with them!” Lin is blessed to generally be dealing with people who embrace tactics over values, but Jun Po’s soldiers genuinely believe in their cause. Much harder to convince them that allying with their ancestral foes is just good business

Fortunately, while they are noble, they’re not exactly the brightest bunch. Thus a rousing speech by a disguised Lin is enough to quiet their concerns

Jun Po further warns his men to Not Touch The Magic Rocks, which feels like it’d just be common sense in this demon-haunted world

Fucking Enigmatic Gale, man. After switching out of his costume, he gets a fucking camera zoom as he turns to the camera like Jim from The Office

Having saved Jun Po from this potential rebellion, Lin immediately exploits Jun Po’s feelings of gratitude to plug him for more information regarding the imperial court. Of course, Lin plays it like the inquiries of a genuinely concerned friend, thus giving Jun Po permission to voice concerns he’s presumably kept to himself up until now

And Lin repays his apparent trust with truthful information that also serves his own ends – the fact of the Seven Blasphemous Deaths’ presence in the Void Junction, and its reconnection with Xing Hai. Jun Po knowing this does nothing to weaken Lin’s position, but could easily foster a crack within the Divine Swarm’s tenuous alliance

“Damn you, Xing Hai! I should have never trusted a demon!” Poor Jun Po. He’s far and away the most morally defensible member of this alliance, but that only makes him all the easier to manipulate for our moral chameleon Lin

Lin’s such a dick. He specifically stops short at saying he overheard Xing Hai talking about the resurrection of “someone,” leaving it to Jun Po to connect the two dots of the Seven Blasphemous Deaths and his own country’s ruin. Even though it’s the truth, Lin understands Jun Po will be more likely to believe it if he comes to the conclusion on his own

Ah, that’s Lin’s game – by presenting this information at the last possible moment, he’s forcing Jun Po to reveal his method of contacting Huo Shi Ming Huang

Huo Shi Ming Huang sees opportunity in this scheme – if Shang were to know of Xing Hai’s intentions, he would be easy to predict and betray. Of course, none of this feels right to the chivalrous Jun Po

“When his feet are leaden with the shackles of heroism, we will have our chance to slay him.”

“Pay no mind to the demons. Retrieval of the Sorcerous Sword Index is our only priority.” Meaning that Jun Po’s sacrifice was meaningless; even with all the moral compromises he’s made to arrive at his current position, he’s still no closer to actually protecting his country

We then jump to the demon realm, as Lin calls Shang via Nendoroid. Will never get over them flipping out the faceplates on this damn thing for his various reactions

“Xing Hai has trust issues regarding humans, after all.” Lin is truly shameless

And Done

Thus the schemers continue to weave their webs, with Xing Hai, Huo Shi Ming Huang, and Lin all pursuing distinct ends within the umbrella of the Divine Swarm’s alliance, all while Azibelpher, Murder Princess, and god knows who else concoct their own plots on the periphery. This was indeed an episode heavy in schemes and conspiracies, which nonetheless did a great deal of work clarifying the situation for our poor, honor-bound Jun Po. In spite of his dark dealing, the guy clearly deserves better than to be caught between the machinations of the Divine Swarm and imperial court, neither of which deserve his self-scouring dedication to his homeland. I can only hope that like with Shang, Lin develops a touch of fondness for the old soldier – regardless, we’re clearly up for a bloody reunion as Shang returns to the Void Junction!

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