Right from the beginning, this episode had the machinations to be the end of Art. It’s never a good thing when your episode begins with major flashbacks and exposition of a character’s motivations and reasons for “trying so hard” and etc.
Our friend Art is not exempt from this rule, as it so turns out.
A confrontation set in motion since Art and Morale’s meeting in the third episode comes to a very final conclusion in this one. Art is revealed by Honey to have been the first and likely only person to graduate from the Minimum Academy that has never been able to manifest a minimum. If this guy isn’t brooding an extreme inferiority complex then he’s a strong ass dude. But as the past has shown us, he in fact has fought that urge as anyone in his shoes would.
Honey’s partner in crime actually took Art under his wing as his kouhai in physical combat; Art was hoping to compensate for his lack of a supernatural ability by strengthening his bare-handed combat. Congratulating him on a job well done, they take a break.
Art, still determined to keep Nice and Morale from ever meeting, connects Morale and his latest hits with a graveyard. Surely enough, Morale was waiting. Attempting to discern what Morale’s true intentions are by pumping out non-innate minimum holders is, he finally tells all. It’s lonely at the top and at the top, there are no equals. His ultimate goal is to become Nice’s equal and “save” him from that despair. Having none of Morale’s bullshit, Art rushes him and is easily conquered.
And here comes what I’m sure everyone saw coming. Morale offers Art the chance at having a minimum of his own. Art clearly contemplates but declines (Nice going, Art!). Ultimately, it doesn’t matter; he is stabbed and shot, repeatedly. Art meets his untimely demise while reaching for his phone to answer Nice’s call.
Art couldn’t stop Morale and Nice from meeting each other. Nice is going to have a bone to pick with Morale and I’m sure it’s not going to be pretty. I except to go straight into the endgame at this point. I must also say that the pacing for this series has been pretty damn solid and I’ve been presently surprised with how uninterested it is in sitting on it’s laurels. Brace yourself, Morale; with blood on your hands, your days are numbered.
