So the Hibiki power up scene was one I had been waiting to see animated to see if I could make more sense out of it. And the result was... nothing, they didn't show anything that made it any clearer, I guess there was nothing to learn about it. Unless I try to dig up who that voice actor was, was it the same as a character? Might just be a coincidence, though
And that power, for her, after already being considered dangerous long term by the demons 😬
Well this episode felt like another tease since Io also proves not to be much a threat, continuing the trend... Gonna have to wait a week to see how Sofia does instead.
I forgot to mention it last week but I did not recall reading anything about Lancer having a glow up from harvesting some souls or something. This whole time I had no idea who that even was at the end of the OP, I only thought of him in his smol form.
Also off-topic I've been playing Cassette Beasts for weeks now and got a bootleg (shiny) Tokusect which I've been using in honor of Makoto's suit
I am getting caught up and I think that the voice that gives Hibiki her power is the same as Root's, but I am not 100% sure. I don't remember any hints at all about who might own that voice from the WN during this sequence, and I didn't read far enough to know the answer.
I am also in the same boat as you that I don't remember Lancer getting powered up like this either. I hadn't taken a close look at the character in the OP and thought that it might be Root they were showing. Root isn't an adversary per se, but Makoto, Tomoe, and Mio sure view him as a threat to Makoto's chastity, so there is that.