Episode Synopsis:
Emma and Ray discuss Norman’s plan to exterminate demonkind with Norman. Norman first explains that Mujika’s blood has the power to let demons that consume it keep their human form and intelligence, and that any demon that gains this ability can themselves pass it to others. The demon ruling elite killed anyone with the blood, however, so they could control society using the supply of human meat. Mujika is a threat to Norman’s plans, and he wants her killed. Emma argues that she doesn’t want to kill Mujika, and further, does not want to exterminate demonkind. She wants to find a way to coexists, even if it is unlikely. After a lengthy argument, Norman grants Emma and Ray five days to find Mujika and return with her before he sets his plan in motion. After Emma and Ray leave, Norman talks to his team of fellow experimentees, and reveals that he’s using Emma to find and kill Mujika, and will continue his plan regardless. It also seems that all of the experimentees have only a short time to live due to a side effect of their time at the Lambda facility.
Episode Review:
There honestly isn’t much to say about this episode that isn’t 100% covered by the synopsis above. Nearly the entire episode is three people sitting in a room and talking. It’s another enormous exposition dump in a season that feels like it doesn’t understand what made the first season great. How did we even get here, anyway?
Season 1: A group of children seeks to escape from a place where demons farm humans for food, ultimately escaping into a vast and unknown world.
Season 2: The same group of children, with no timeskip from Season 1, debates whether to exterminate all demons everywhere. They have the ability to do this, they’re just not sure if they should.
I was in this to watch the adventures of a bunch of really smart kids trying to survive in a very cruel world. Instead, I get a plot recycled by countless anime, and not even recycled well:
SIDE CHARACTER A: I want to do the brutal thing that benefits my side and keeps them safe.
PROTAGONIST: That’s wrong, there must be a way where everyone can be happy!
SIDE CHARACTER A: I disagree with you, but only because Mysterious Anime Disease means I don’t have long to live and I’m already too far down this path to come back.
Before I go, I also want to say that the fact that a tiny amount of Mujika’s blood can solve everything forever feels like an absurd copout. Anyway, something better happen soon in this show, because I’m losing interest fast.
The Con Artists 
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