Two Worlds, Two Justices

The first season of Cop Craft is officially over. I know, I’m sad too. But think of it this way, despite the series having terrible animation and the fact that no studio in their right mind would give it a second season, the studio behind this series is Millepensee.

If they can give Berserk a second season, they can give Cop Craft a second season. And that’s the first thing I really want to talk about here. Will Cop Craft get a second season? If so, what will it cover?

Alright, the first thing I need to mention about this topic is that no, a second season of Cop Craft has not been confirmed (yet). But like I said, there’s not really a reason for there not to be a second season. It’s not like Millepensee is a studio that has a lot of other options, so I’m sure they’d be happy to have a second season greenlit.

On the other hand, I do think that where the season ended is also a good stopping point for the anime. There were a couple loose ends, such as who trained Ethan Dole — probably the same person who trained Tilarna — but overall the main plot was wrapped up neatly.

As for what would happen in the second season, I’d imagine it would be similar to the first season. I do think Tilarna and Kei have to travel beyond the gate to Leto Semani. But, I think the second season may be a bit too soon for that. That’s more like third season stuff.

Also, there are six light novels out at the time of this review being written. I’m not sure exactly how far into those the anime got, but I’d imagine it only went three novels deep at most.

Kei’s Password

Now let’s discuss the biggest question of the entire episode, “what is Kei’s phone password?”

As far as I’m concerned there are two options, and both rely on him telling the truth when he said it was seven characters long. The first option is that Kei was actually telling his interrogator the real password. That password was “F***YOU” and I could definitely see this being Kei’s actual password.

However, there’s another option which I actually considered before Kei began to spell out the first option. As soon as he said the password was 7 characters long, I assumed his password would be “TILARNA.”

Honestly I could see either of these turning out to be the case, and I’m kind of glad we weren’t given an official answer to this question so I can speculate. He’s sarcastic enough for the first one to be true, but I think he cares about Tilarna enough for the second to be true as well.

I still don’t think Kei has any romantic feelings for Tilarna like she seems to have for him. When I say that he cares about her I mean that he’s very attached to her as his partner, sees her as a close friend, and potentially thinks of her as a younger sister or even daughter. After all, he’s in his 30s I think and she’s 18.

I’m not saying they can’t have a romantic relationship, but Kei has never hinted at that being something he wants. He mainly treats Tilarna as either his partner or a child. And no, I don’t want them to change their relationship. I like the dynamic they have now.

Zelada’s Will

So what was the deal with Zelada after all? Well, we’ve known for a long time that his goal was to create mistrust and hatred between the Humans and Semanians, but we never had a reason for why this is the case. Unfortunately, the reason we got in the end wasn’t a very good one.

It turns out that Zelada just doesn’t like Humans because he doesn’t like seeing Semanians embracing Human technology and culture. One of the biggest issues he had with Human culture was the music, and apparently that was enough for him to become a terrorist.

Also, it seems that Marla Mozeleemay was in fact the one behind her husband’s death for whatever reason. Zelada actually wanted Coal Mozeleemay to win the election, not be assassinated. The assassin, Ethan Dole, went against Zelada’s orders after having his meeting with Marla.

If we get more Cop Craft anime, I don’t think this is going to be the last we’ll see of Zelada. Yes, he died, but I think we’ll have to see him in flashbacks later on. He was such an integral character and there are still unanswered questions surrounding him.

For example, how exactly was he related to Ethan? We know he didn’t train Ethan, but somehow the two came into contact and joined forces or a time. Also, how is Zelada related to Tilarna? He speaks respectfully to Tilarna, implying that he respects the standing she holds as a Semanian Knight.

He also seems to be a high ranking person in Semanian culture himself based on his clothing, magical skill, and the fact that Tilarna knew who he was from the start. And, let’s not forget he played a role in the initial war between the Humans and Semanians.

Tilarna’s World

Throughout the series we’ve learned a decent amount about the world beyond the gate, Leto Semani. This episode was no different, and actually may have been the first time we heard the name of the world.

Aside from that, though, there were two other pieces of information regarding this world, and specifically Tilarna, featured in the episode. The first is the name of the pantheon of Semanian gods. This pantheon is known as Kizenya.

Tilarna refers to “the gods of Kizenya” so we can assume that includes the various gods associated with Vaifhat steel transformations. Specifically we know there’s a god of war and a god of the forge. There are likely many other gods as well, though it’s unclear if we’ll ever learn of them.

The information specifically regarding Tilarna has to do with her family. During the end credits we have Tilarna narrating a letter she’s writing to her father. In it she also mentions her mother and someone by the name of Shajinna. My guess is that this person is Tilarna’s sibling, probably sister.

If and when we do make our way to Leto Semani, I’m sure we’ll meet Tilarna’s family and learn the true identity of Shajinna. But what’s the fun of saying that if I don’t also make a crazier prediction to go along with it?

I’m fairly confident that Tilarna isn’t just any Semanian Knight. I think her father is the King, her mother is the Queen, and her sister is probably the crown princess. Tilarna was likely the crown princess, but gave it up to follow her sense of justice. You heard it here first.

Conclusion

In a few weeks — or months, who knows — I’ll get my review of Cop Craft as an entire season out. If I had to guess, it’ll be some time in December, but it could happen in November. To make sure you don’t miss that, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama.

If you enjoyed this final Cop Craft episode review, remember to click the like button ❤ down below. And if you’re interested in more Cop Craft discussion, come join us over on Discord. We’ve been known to share pictures of Tilarna and discuss the shows lack of animation.

Finally, I’d like to thank HeavyROMAN for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month, along with Rob Wright and Keyboard Kadabra for supporting at the Kouhai tier. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of the series as a whole is available here.

Transitional Crisis

In this week’s episode of Cop Craft things are all starting to come together. Just last week I mentioned that I didn’t think we’d really get a resolution within this season of the anime, but that may have been premature. It also seems I was wrong about a new faction getting involved, but I’ll discuss that more in a bit.

First, let’s take a look at the episode as a whole. In the previous two episodes two of the three mayoral candidates were assassinated. This left the sole candidate as the hard right Domingo Tourte. However, the wife of Coal Mozeleemay decided to throw her hat into the ring after the death of her husband.

So once again we have two very different political organizations battling it out in the city. Domingo Tourte represents the anti-Semanian faction. While Marla Mozeleemay represents the pro-Semanian faction — or at least that’s what she wants the voters to think.

Domingo Tourte

Domingo Tourte is racist against Semanians. There’s no way around it. However, aside from his obviously racist views, he has a fairly straightforward message which resonates with the human masses. He doesn’t necessarily have a problem with Semanians — so he says — as long as they obey the laws.

That checks out on the surface, but then we also have to remember that he thinks Semanians are inherently bad and therefore are prone to breaking the laws. He also pretends that he’s being fair to the Semanians and claims it’s their fault for not being able to acquire high paying jobs.

But, Mr. Tourte’s political views aren’t what I really want to discuss. Instead, there are two, very important pieces of information we get from Kei and Tilarna’s talk with him.

The first comes from Tilarna who claims that their current location once belonged to the Semanians. I’m not sure if she’s trying to say that Earth was once ruled by the Semanians, or that the city was originally founded by Semanian settlers. Either way, that’s a pretty interesting proposition.

However, Mr. Tourte does fight back against this claim which causes Tilarna to back down. So it’s unclear exactly how much credibility we should be placing on Tilarna’s statement.

The second interesting piece of information comes when Kei asks Mr. Tourte if he sees himself as an Earthling or politician first. He answered politician because even if he had been born a Semanian he would have gone into politics. This may be hinting to the fact that he doesn’t actually think Humans and Semanians are all that different after all.

Marla Mozeleemay

The “left-wing” candidate going up against Mr. Tourte is Marla Mozeleemay. I don’t actually think she’s as liberal as her late husband was. And, I actually think that she’s fairly right-wing considering some of the people she seems to be connected to.

However, there’s still a difference between Mr. Tourte and Mrs. Mozeleemay. Mr. Tourte is a right-wing politician, but what I’m suggesting is that Mrs. Mozeleemay is a right-wing extremist. She appears to have relationships with people connected to Zelada’s cause — which of course is to separate Humans and Semanians through terror.

It’s already been heavily implied that Mrs. Mozeleemay was the one who hired Zoey’s assassin, so we know she has some connections to the criminal underworld. And in this episode, she’s seen meeting up with her husband’s assassin.

Last week I assumed that Mrs. Mozeleemay had nothing to do with her husband’s death. After all, if he became the mayor then she was set up to run the city from behind the scenes. But, what if we assume that she only viewed her husband as a stepping stone?

What if she knew he would have a better shot of becoming a serious candidate than she did? Then, once he’s established himself, she has him killed so that she can run in his place. This would turn all of his former supporters into her current supporters.

Honestly it was a pretty good plan other than the fact that she’s going to get caught.

From Marine to Assassin

The next person I want to bring up is Ethan Dole, the man who assassinated Mr. Mozeleemay. There are some things about him that don’t quite add up with what I’ve just asserted about Mrs. Mozeleemay. In fact, everything I just mentioned may be completely wrong, and that’s what I want to touch on now.

After his death we learned that Ethan wasn’t actually a Semanian, but instead was a human. Specifically a human who knew how to use magic and wield a sword, which is extremely uncommon. It then turns out that he was a former Marine who went missing six years earlier.

The big question here is what happened to him? Did he meet Zelada during his time missing? Did he leave the Marines after meeting Zelada? Either way, it seems clear that the two are connected somehow, which I didn’t originally think last week.

Now, here’s where Mrs. Mozeleemay comes in to the picture. She and her husband are both Semanian. And as I mentioned, Ethan is not. However, in the picture Randall takes of Mrs. Mozeleemay meeting with Ethan we can see that Ethan is using his magic to disguise himself as a Semanian.

It’s entirely possible that Mrs. Mozeleemay actually didn’t hire him to kill her husband. Instead, Ethan may have taken on the appearance of a Semanian, gotten close to Mrs. Mozeleemay to learn information about her husband, and then proceeded to assassinate him for Zelada’s cause.

And if this is truly the case, we may have to rethink Zoey’s assassination. It may turn out that Mrs. Mozeleemay is a law abiding citizen through and through. Sure, she acted extremely suspiciously, but we don’t have proof she’s done anything illegal just yet.

Zelada Returns

And finally, at the end of the episode we get the return of Zelada. I haven’t yet explained why I think Ethan is actually a member of Zelada’s faction yet, so let’s get right into that.

After Ethan’s death the “FBI” quickly swoop in to take control of the crime scene away from Kei and Tilarna. At the time, I felt like something wasn’t quite right, as I’m sure many of you did as well. It turns out that our feelings were well-placed, because these FBI agents happen to be working for Zelada.

At the end of this episode they surround Kei, Tilarna, and Randall and take them all into custody. During this arrest, Tilarna realizes that all of the agents other than the one in charge are actually already dead and being controlled. And of course, Zelada is nearby.

Also, let’s not forget that Kei and Tilarna have had strange encounters with the FBI before. Back in episode 8, the one in which Tilarna gets turned into a cat, the pair were harassed by an agent who wanted to retrieve all the evidence they collected from the plane crash.

The piece of evidence he was looking for was the crossbow which shot Tilarna. So with this in mind, I think it’s safe to say that even back then Zelada had at least some of the FBI under his control.

Conclusion

Is anyone even watching Cop Craft? Let me know in the comments if you are, because I only know of one other person actually watching this series. Sure, the animation sucks and the plot is a bit strange, but the story and characters are pretty good.

If you enjoyed this review, be sure to click the like button down below and follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama. We also have a Discord server where you can discuss past, present, or future anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank HeavyROMAN for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog and the benefits you’ll receive for doing so, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of the final episode is available here.

Cock Robin, John Doe

Today’s episode of Cop Craft had some really bad animation. However, the story and events which took place within the episode were great. If only a different animation studio was working on this series. Did you know that Millepensee is responsible for the Berserk 2016 adaptation? Explains a lot, right?

But I’m not here today to discuss how bad the animation quality is in this series. Instead, let’s focus on the good aspects, like the fact that the story is really getting interesting and the world is being explored more.

It’s been two weeks since the last episode, so in case you didn’t remember what happened, the third candidate running for the mayor’s office was assassinated. This assassination is pretty important because the candidate was human while the assassin was Semanian.

Obviously this caused anti-Semanian sentiment to break out in the city, and this had a polar opposite effect for each of the two remaining candidates. On one side we have the Semanian candidate, Mozeleemay, who now looks suspicious. On the other is the human candidate, Tourte, who stands to gain a lot of support.

Originally we thought Mozeleemay may have been a bad guy, but then this assassination seems to throw that into question. We then learn that Mozeleemay is actually just a pawn of his wife who actually is bad. Remember, she’s the one who had Zoey murdered.

But then everything gets thrown out the window when Mozeleemay is assassinated himself. It’s highly unlikely that his wife played any part in this. After all, if he won the race then she would have been the one truly in power.

Mozeleemay’s Assassination

Initially you would think that Mozeleemay was assassinated by a human in retaliation for the assassination of the other candidate. However, this isn’t actually the case. I mean, technically he was assassinated by a human, but not for that reason. Also, we don’t know it was a human initially.

From what we know right after the assassination takes place, a Semanian male was the culprit. And, though it was never explicitly stated, this man was alive at the time of the assassination. I think I need to point that out because previously the culprits turned out to be corpses which were controlled.

But even though he’s alive, this man is able to take a lot of bullets before Tilarna finally takes him down with her sword. Because of this, I was originally under the impression that this was yet another corpse being controlled. After all, a tell-tale sign of those corpses is the fact that they don’t go down easily.

Once the criminal was taken down, Tilarna was going to execute him on the spot, but Kei managed to stop her. Although Tilarna has gotten slightly better at seeing the world is more than just black and white, some things never change. Her strong sense of justice tends to blind her judgement.

Transformation Jutsu

Even without Tilarna finishing him off, the man dies in about a minute and it’s revealed that he was actually human. This is the point at which the episode takes a turn and we start to learn some new things about the world.

First of all, he used his final words to thank “Leeze” in Semanian. Tilarna apparently knows who this is or what it means, but she gets cut off before she can tell Kei. My guess is that Leeze is somehow connected to the Semanian royal family. Perhaps that’s the name of the king — and remember, Tilarna is a royal knight.

Then we have the fact that this man is actually human. It’s not all that surprising that a human knows how to speak Semanian, but what is surprising is that he can use Mildey. Again, Mildey is the form of magic used by the Semanians which relies on Latena.

It was already hinted that humans could use Mildey, but it’s either extremely rare or extremely difficult. This man was using Mildey both for his physical transformation as well as to boost his physical attributes. He could move at superhuman speeds and, as I already mentioned, take a lot of bullets.

So who exactly was this man? Why did he assassinate Mozeleemay despite seeming to be on the Semanian’s side?

My first thought is that he’s simply another member of the terrorist organization run by Zelada, but I’m not so sure. Tilarna mentions that his use of Mildey was beyond what Zelada could imbue into a corpse. Would someone with that ability really be working under Zelada?

It’s possible, but I think what’s more likely is that a third faction has entered into the ring.

Vaifaht Steel

Also, let’s not forget that Mozeleemay’s assassin was wielding a weapon made from Vaifaht Steel. This is an extremely rare substance which the Semanians typically use to craft weapons (or armor). Tilarna also mentions that even the best smiths wouldn’t normally be able to make a gun out of it.

But what exactly is Vaifaht Steel? It’s actually something we’ve seen a lot in this series. Remember how Tilarna casts a spell before she goes into combat and her clothes change shape? They’re made out of Vaifaht Steel. The ability to transform between two shapes is what makes it so special.

As for how it’s made, the raw material is extracted from a certain tree and has the consistency of cotton. It’s then woven into a cloth-like material, but has the strength of steel (or something harder, probably). The two forms it can transition between are also set when the object is being crafted.

Since a gun was made out of Vaifaht Steel, it seems that someone who’s able to create it has teamed up with humans. Normally it wouldn’t be able to be crafted into an object with so many small, moving parts. However, with the right knowledge it’s not impossible.

But enough about the weapon, let’s talk about Tilarna’s battle uniform for a moment. At the beginning of the series I wondered about this transformation she underwent before battle and now we have answers — sort of.

It’s still not clear what advantages come with the battle version of her outfit. After all, both versions are still made from Vaifaht Steel. At least we now know that the spell she casts to make it transform is specifically used to swap the versions of a Vaifaht Steel object.

Conclusion

I do want to mention one last thing tied to Tilarna’s outfit before I conclude. The spell she chants to swap the versions of Vaifaht steel calls upon the god of the forge. However, we’ve seen her use a different spell before battle calling upon the god of war. I’d love to discuss the Semanian gods in a post if we ever learn more about them.

Actually, perhaps Leeze is the Semanian god of war. I don’t particularly remember if that god was ever named earlier on.

What did you think of this episode of Cop Craft? Did you find the bad animation bearable? Do you think Mozeleemay’s wife is somehow connected to his assassination? And, is the assassin connected to Zelada’s faction? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤ down below and follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama. Twitter is the best way to stay up to date with all my latest content. There’s also a Discord server for anyone who’s interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally I’d like to thank HeavyROMAN for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of the next episode is available here.

A King Maker

This week’s episode of Cop Craft was a bit strange. It concluded the mini arc from the previous episode and began the next mini arc. However, that’s not what was strange. What was strange is how it chose do make this swap between arcs.

If you’ve been watching Cop Craft you may have noticed the little introduction which sometimes plays before the OP. This intro isn’t always present, but I think we’ve only ever seen it right at the start of an episode or right before the OP begins playing.

This time around, the intro came right in the middle of the episode and served to split the two arcs. It really felt like the director didn’t know how to make a natural transition there and chose to add the intro instead. And honestly, I don’t even think there needed to be a real transition in the first place.

Also I just want to say that the Cop Craft intro reminds me of a mix of the Seven Deadly Sins intro and the Pokémon narrator.

Tilarna and Kuroi

In last week’s episode Tilarna was shot with a latena-rich crossbow bolt which caused some strange side effects. She swapped bodied with Kei’s cat, Kuroi. But, while this gave us some pretty good Tilarna’s body content, it wasn’t exactly a very good episode plot.

I’m still not sure if this is a good thing or not, but that plot was wrapped up rather easily in the first half of this episode. Once the crossbow was destroyed in a waste treatment plant, Tilarna and Kuroi’s souls swapped back into their original bodies.

On one hand, I’m glad this plot point wasn’t dragged out any longer across multiple episodes. But on the other, this resolution made the rest of the mini arc feel pointless. Sure, the original point of the crossbow could come back later in the series, but I really don’t feel like it will.

What I mean by that is I’m sure it plays a bigger role in the light novel and actually ties back into the main plot somehow, but it won’t in the anime. This season is only set to run for 12 episodes, and I doubt it’s going to get a second season. I just don’t feel like it’s popular enough.

Pool Party Tilarna

The best thing about Cop Craft is Tilarna. Sometimes the plot is good, but any time Tilarna is on screen is always good. That’s why the second half of this episode was better than the first. Sure, Tilarna was in both halves, but in the second half she has a new outfit.

The police force has a pool party, and so obviously Tilarna is going to be the star of the show. Her outfit includes a middle school swimsuit, a pink hoodie, a green scabbard for her sword, and two upside down ice cream cones on her head.

It was interesting to see that despite some of the things Tilarna gets embarrassed about, this outfit wasn’t one of them. She didn’t even mind when she and Kei had to report in to the morgue while still dressed like this. And I think this ties into how outgoing Tilarna actually is.

Despite how stubborn she can be at times with Kei, she’s able to get along with just about anyone. From watching her interact with Kei you wouldn’t expect her to be one of the people passing a beach ball in the pool at the party, but there she is.

Super Sleuth Tilarna

So, I mentioned that Tilarna and Kei had to go to the morgue while still wearing their pool party outfits. This is because while the party was in full swing, one of the mayoral candidates was assassinated by a Semanian. Well, actually I don’t think we know if the assassination attempt was successful or not.

We’re told that the candidate was unresponsive as he was being put into the ambulance, but not if he actually died due to his injuries. However, the Semanian who attempted to assassinate him did die, though it was before the assassination attempt took place.

Tilarna deduces that the Semanian who actually committed the crime was already dead before it happened, and that his body was being controlled by magic. Zelada is the prime suspect, but we don’t know if he was involved for sure just yet — he totally was.

Then, Tilarna also points out something which the other detectives seem to have overlooked, the motive for the assassination. Who stands to gain the most from it?

The Mayoral Race

There were three candidates running for the position of mayor: the liberal Semanian who was caught up in the prostitution sting, the conservative human who was shot, and the extreme-right conservative human who things Semanians should go back to where they came from.

It’s this third candidate who stands to gain the most from this plot. Since a human candidate was shot by a Semanian, the human masses will be more likely to express anti-Semanian views. Then, they’ll vote for the man who wants the Semanians to all be deported.

Also, I’m pretty sure Zelada is involved because he too wants to cause discord between the humans and Semanians. Their goals are aligned, just as Zelada’s goals aligned with the terrorists from the very first arc of the series. It seems like everything is starting to come together.

Conclusion

What do you think? Is the right-wing candidate involved in the plot? Or is it the left-wing candidate? Sure, the liberal candidate is a criminal in his own right, but this assassination would only hurt his chances of winning. Also let me know in the comments your thoughts on Tilarna’s pool attire.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤ down below and follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. We also have a Discord server for anyone who wants to discuss anime with members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank HeavyROMAN for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of the next episode is available here.