24) Achilles vs. Pandemonium! Clashes of Light!
超ゼツ 対 煉獄の黒炎!!
Chōzetsu Tai Rengoku no Kuro Honō!!
Air Date: August 7th, 2023 (Hulu)
Note: The Japanese title is "Cho-Z vs. Purgatory's Black Flame!!"
Aiger faces off against Pax in the the Lodestar Battle Tournament. As the battle rages on, Pax’s desperation and obsession starts to make Shu and some of the other legends nervous.
Think Pax burst Aiger's Zeal Achilles with Pandemonium & its overwhelming of corrupted Elemental Powers with his desire to be a legend like Valt & Shu.
It really depends on how the tournament is formatted who knows Aiga himself might not be competing and this episode takes place outside the tournament. Because something I just realized is, this tournament is filled more with A ranked/Junior bladers. So Aiga not competing actually makes some sense and would be given more room to beat Pax since it wouldn't effect Pax’s standing in the tournament. Plus i do Believe Pax should lose a few times so he realizes in the end that theres more to blading than simply his answers.
The line up could very well be: Bell, Pri, Pax, Hyuga, Hikaru, Ranzo, and Kitt.
Agreed, unless this is a round robin instead of single elimination, but I don't think that's likely given the amount of episodes left. I also have a feeling that Aiger is going to lose the title match against Bel as well. (That last one is just a feeling I'm having. I have no definitive proof.)
Agreed, unless this is a round robin instead of single elimination, but I don't think that's likely given the amount of episodes left. I also have a feeling that Aiger is going to lose the title match against Bel as well. (That last one is just a feeling I'm having. I have no definitive proof.)
Before Aiga faced Pax we had some filler prior to battle. Aiga knew that Pax had more elemental power to unveil and this caused him some concern, but Valt's prep talk, encouraging him to use more resonance, as well as him reminding Aiga of how they hard they went against each other for the title way back in turbo helped hype him back up(let's take a moment to appreciate the fact that whether it's a new blader like Pri or an old friend like Aiga, Valt has all the words of wisdom).
On the side, we had Bel trying to master his new laucher with varying success. He nailed the launch against Ranzo but failed with Pri on the first go, costing him a round. It was at this point I thought they'd do Bell dirty again with a few more losses but surprisingly he got it togther in the next round and won(this will be Bel and Pri's last on screen battle with each other so I'm glad Bel won the last encounter).
In the final battle we had the long awaited face off between Aiga and Pax. Aiga wasted no time going straight for Pax but Pax took control shortly after Aiga's opening flurry, slowly calling on all of Ruin's elements as he unlocked more elemental power, but Aiga dug DEEP and managed to get the first point on Pax with a ringout finish after going full power on Pax. However, when r2 hit Pax was done warming up, after putting Ruin in high mode and using ruin break Pax won by burst, 2 to 1(r2 was alot less hype than r1 but it was still a great battle).
Tbh, this was the one of the last REALLY hype battles of this season with the visuals, animation, the intensity and all. I like how well they had Aiga do against Pax, showed them battling at a similar level. But this just makes me more disappointed in the Valt vs Pax battle. I get that it was Pax's first battle but Valt shouldn't have been the pawn for him. But Valt will get his vindication come the next epsiode. Final note, Shu is once against trying to stop a certan someone from falling into the darkness.. again, lol.
Alrigh the long awaited rematch between Pax and Aiga. This episode was really fun and was nothing short of tense. Before the actual battle though we get Aiga worrying about Pax and Pandemonium’s true power since in their battle before apparently Pax wasn't giving it his all. This causes Aiga to be off his game while training so Valt has to step in and talk to him and I like the interactions between the two. Valt knows Aiga so he knows how he feels and wants to cheer him up and thats exactly what he does. He motivates Aiga to push through and to believe in his bond between him and achilles. This motivates Aiga and hes ready to blow Pax away!!
Bell creates a new launcher which is directly inspired by Xander and Bell does pretty decent as he trains with Ranzo and Pri. Bell does have issues using it but he has a handle on it for the most part through.
Now we finally move onto Aiga vs Pax, Aiga takes Valts words into heart and gives it his all in this battle completely trusting the bond between him and achilles. This gives Aiga the boost to go head to head with Pax clash for clash and for the most part they are pretty even but Aiga is able to score the first the first point on Pax with Ring out. Pax is then able to make a comeback in the second round showing off more of his elemental power against Aiga allowing himself to win with a burst 2-1. The animation in this episode was pretty solid from beginning to end and the battle between the two was good.
I like how they develop Aiga's character with his rivalry with Pax. I know he's the protagonist and all, but I'm genuinely surprised at how powerful he's gotten. As for the battle itself, it was super hype. I'm a big fan of how Pax fights, slowly switching from one attack to the next. There was also more back and forth in this battle, making it more interesting than the others thus far. This fight definitely lived up to the hype, in my opinion.
Bell's finally gotten a proper new launch. The way he holds the launcher is honestly psychotic, but at least it looks cool. Even though Shu's role in this season isn't super big, but I like how they used him in his talk with Pax. The way they mirror each other is super interesting from a writing standpoint, same thing with Aiga.