Angel Sanctuary 12

I really need to read a few other things before my vacation is over, but I’m going to be cutting it close finishing this series.  I also have a few other things I’ve actually read but haven’t written about.  I should vary the reviews a bit more, like post one thing in between each Angel Sanctuary review, but I want to write these while each volume is fresh in my mind because I can think of things to say then.  Sorry.

Remember what I said about Zephikel last volume, that I liked him a lot but just didn’t talk about him much?  Well, maybe I should have talked about him a little more.  He does something awesome and noble at the end of this volume that broke my heart a little, and it was after a grilling from Sara that had already broken my heart a little.  He’s a pretty good character.

Sara and Setsuna!  Setsuna and Sara!  Finally! Finally! Finally!  I was teased the whole volume through.  They saw each other in dreams, then Sara caught a glimpse of Setsuna from far away, but then…!  And then they’re interrupted, because Sevothtarte is a dick.  But that was my payoff for this volume.  I’m unclear as to whether I’m going to get more next time or not since I’m not clear on who is where in the final scene, and what happened other than… yeah.  The one bad thing.  If I don’t get more next volume, I’m going to blame Sara.  I thought it was weird that she could totally disregard the cute servant girl when it happened, but the fact that she felt bad about it RIGHT THEN and then felt like throwing away that cute little girl’s sacrifice… well, that was unacceptable, Sara.

Also in this volume was some intense Setsuna-Sevothtarte interaction.  The two meet face to face, and Setsuna helps the cute servant girl where Sara has failed.  Setsuna tries to stop Sevothtarte from doing what he does, but Sevothtarte isn’t the most powerful angel in heaven for nothing.  When Setsuna tries to use the Nanatsusaya, a horrible beast appears behind Sevothtarte and stops him.  Seriously, what the hell is up with Sevothtarte?  Later, Sevothtarte not only tortures and kills several people, he then decides to throw away the life of the savior.  Then he ate a baby.  Except he didn’t so much eat it as he pulled out its brain and put it in a jar so he could experiment on its consciousness.  He’s a great villain.

Rosiel reappears very briefly.  I almost forgot he existed.  He shows up and basically gives Sevothtarte all the information he needs to ruin absolutely everything for Sara, Setsuna, and Zephikel.  And here I thought Rosiel didn’t like Sevothtarte.  Apparently they can agree on who to be a jerk to, though.  I can’t remember, has the other shoe dropped?  Are we going to get another brother/sister romance between Rosiel and Alexiel?  That would make a great deal of sense in the context of the story, and also help explain why it was that Alexiel didn’t kill Rosiel.

Setsuna also changes a bit again, as does Sara.  Setsuna’s change is kind of funny, since Zephikel makes him do it so that he can run around heaven without being recognized.  Zephikel dresses him up in what looks like an elementary school uniform, dyes his hair, and gives him glasses.  Setsuna complains that he didn’t even dye his hair for school.  Later, Zephikel dresses him up like a punk rocker, which I thought was pretty awesome, but Setsuna threw out that disguise pretty quickly.

Does anything else notable happen?  Mmm… not more notable than the stuff I mentioned, I think.  That poor servant girl sure did get the shaft, though.