Helck – Season 1 Episode 18 Recap & Review

Smile

Episode 18 of Helck Season 1 begins with Helck combatting the Kingdom’s forces while thinking of his allies. After defeating a group of the kingdom’s troops, Helck continues moving toward the Kingdom. Meanwhile, several citizens and kingdom workers belittle Alicia for her acts of treason and cheer for the executioner to murder her. The executioner stops after sensing a dark presence in the air. Helck arrives at the scene, causing everyone to tremble. 

Helck tosses one of the mean-spirited townsfolk aside and comforts Alicia. He tells her they should flee to the demon world because he believes Azudra is right about them being a kind-hearted species. Alicia says she’s willing to go with Helck to the demon world. Suddenly, Rafaed arrives and acknowledges Helck’s ambition. However, he says he’s unwise to return to the kingdom as Alicia and its residents succumb to the awakening.

Helck questions why Alicia is affected by the awakening. He observes the snow and Rafaed says the snow in this nation is a part of the spell that accelerates the awakening process in folks. Rafaed tells Helck that escaping this snow is meaningless as Helck watches Alicia suffer. He says everyone from common folk to nobles will awaken and be reborn as living soldiers. Alicia stops Helck from trying to save her and asks her to slay her with the Hero Killer. Helck refuses and the two discuss things for a while. 

Before Alicia awakens, she requests Helck to smile for her one last time. Helck smiles and the episode closes with Alicia awakening in his arms.

The Episode Review

Helck episode 18 gives fans a strong dose of sadness this week. Not only did Helck lose his brother, but potentially, one of his most compelling friends to the Kingdom’s meddling. Ultimately, this shows why Helck grew to appreciate demons instead of humans. The episode exceptionally portrayed humanity in a terrible light. 

Hearing them cheer for Alicia’s demise will make anyone as flustered and infuriated as Helck was. Despite all his efforts, it’s upsetting that Helck could not save her from her fate. Based on episode 19’s preview toward this chapter’s conclusion, we’ll be exiting this flashback and focusing more on the current battle between Azudra’s forces and the Winged Knights. 

Although this flashback was enjoyable and provided fans with interesting lore about Helck’s past, it’s great knowing we’ll be focusing on the anime’s present events again. Now that Vermilio knows about Helck’s origins, it’ll be intriguing to see how their relationship develops over time, too.

Overall, this was a decent chapter of Helck and I’m interested to see where the story goes from here.