Arifureta - Episode 12

"A Looming Shadow" (忍び寄る影) is the 12th episode for Season One of the Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Anime adaptation. It aired in Japan on September 30, 2019.

Synopsis
Hajime's party makes their way back to a familiar location. Deep in the Labyrinth, a new foe threatens the lives of his classmates.

Summary
Despite his unease Hajime takes to parenting Myu quite well. They return to the city where Hajime and the other heroes were summoned. While visiting the Adventurer's Guild Hajime meets a panicked Endou, one of his classmates, who warns them Cattleya the Demon set a trap in the Labyrinth for the rest of the class.

The class are overwhelmed by Cattleya’s summoned Monsters, unable to even get close to Cattleya to try killing her. Hajime is indifferent until Endou upsets Myu and he becomes downright reluctant to help at all. A student, Suzu, is injured, causing most of the class to flee.

Hiyama and Nakamura both suggest signing contracts with the demon to survive. Kouki, the main Hero who refuses to back down, gets close to Cattleya, but hesitates after she drops a locket with a picture of her lover, realizing she has a life outside the war as well. While hesitating, he is seriously injured. With support from the girls, Hajime decides to save his class, reasoning only one of them tried to kill him, meaning most of them are innocent. Shizuku’s original sword is broken during the fight, so she prepares to die alongside Kaori. However, they are saved at the last second by Hajime, having created a shortcut using his Pile Bunker to blast through the upper floors. Everyone is shocked to learn Hajime is still alive.

Characters in Order of Appearance
Characters in italics debuted here.
 * Shea Haulia
 * Hajime Nagumo
 * Myu
 * Yue
 * Tio Klarus
 * Meld Loggins
 * Kouki Amanogawa
 * Ryutarou Sakagami
 * Yuka Sonobe (flashback)
 * Eri Nakamura
 * Yukitoshi Shimizu (flashback)
 * Nana Miyazaki (flashback)
 * Atsushi Tamai (flashback)
 * Kaori Shirasaki
 * Shizuku Yaegashi
 * Daisuke Hiyama
 * Loa Bawavis
 * Kousuke Endou
 * Suzu Taniguchi
 * Cattleya
 * Mikhail (picture)
 * Aiko Hatayama (flashback)

Locations

 * Horaud Town
 * Adventurer's Guild
 * Great Orcus Labyrinth

Monsters

 * Ahatod
 * Absod
 * Chimeras
 * Black Cats
 * White Raven

Differences from Light Novel

 * In the Light Novel, Myu is sitting on Yue's lap while they are driving to Horaud. In the Anime, Yue sits beside Myu.
 * In the Light Novel, after arriving in Horaud, Tio asks Hajime if he would change how things turned out for him in the Great Orcus Labyrinth if he could, to which Hajime says no since he would meet Yue again. This prompts Shea to burst out in a jealous fit and complains that Hajime doesn't treat her like he treats Yue. This is omitted in the Anime.
 * In the Light Novel, when Hajime visits the Adventurer's Guild in Horaud, he has the receptionist deliver his letter to Loa. In the Anime, he personally delivers it to Loa.
 * Hajime's brief confrontation with the adventurers in the guild's reception area is omitted in the Anime.
 * In the Light Novel, Loa's scar is over his left eye. In the Anime, it is over his right eye.
 * In the Light Novel, Kousuke arrives at the Adventurer's Guild first and asks the adventurers for help before being escorted away by Loa. In the Anime, Kousuke arrives during Hajime's meeting with Loa.
 * In the Light Novel, there are several more students that are in the Great Orcus Labyrinth. They include Jugo Nagayama, Kentarou Nomura, Mao Yoshino, Ayako Tsuji, Reichi Kondou, Shinji Nakano, and Yoshiki Saitou. In the Anime, it is later revealed that they, along with Noboru Aikawa and Akito Nimura, have stayed behind in order to act as a standby team for the kingdom.
 * In the Light Novel, Cattleya's white raven has two heads. In the Anime, it has one.
 * In the Light Novel, Kentarou warns Suzu to put up a barrier just as Cattleya unleashes her "Dark Gaol". In the Anime, it is Daisuke that warns Suzu.
 * In the Light Novel, several of the students are petrified either completely or partially, including Suzu. In the Anime, only Suzu is petrified from the waist down.
 * In the Light Novel Kouki is shown to mostly use light attribute spells though he has an affinity for all magic elements, while in the Anime he is shown using a wind attribute spell to remove the petrifying smoke before it affected anyone else.
 * In the Light Novel, Kouki and the other students retreat to the 89th floor of the Labyrinth after their first encounter with Cattleya.
 * In the Light Novel, Cattleya accompanies the Monsters that attack Meld and the knights on the 70th floor of the Labyrinth, while in the Anime only a few Monsters appear to attack Meld and the others.
 * In the Light Novel, the knights that guard the teleportation circle on the 30th floor try to stop Kousuke from destroying it before one of Cattleya's Monsters arrives and kills the Knigths. Kousuke kills the Monster afterwards. This was omitted in the Anime.
 * In the Light Novel, Cattleya uses Meld as a hostage just as Kouki is about to attack. In the Anime, Meld meets up with them on his own before he is mortally wounded by one of her Monsters.
 * In the Light Novel, the students debate with each other about Cattleya's offer to join the Demons after she finds them hiding on the 89th floor. In the Anime, it is while they are trying to flee from her.
 * In the Light Novel, Meld tries to kill Cattleya by sacrificing himself with a magical gem called "Loyalty's Promise", but is thwarted when her turtle Monster Absod absorbs the energy from the blast.
 * In the Light Novel, Kouki uses "Overload" against Cattleya in their second fight. In the Anime, he uses "Limit Break".
 * In the Light Novel, Cattleya says goodbye to her lover while holding her locket before Kouki is about to kill her. In the Anime, Kouki sees her locket after it falls off her from his attack.
 * In the Light Novel, Cattleya only has one horse-faced Monster, Ahatod. In the Anime, she has two.
 * In the Light Novel, the horse-faced Monster that Cattleya uses has four arms. In the Anime, it only has two.
 * In the Light Novel, the turtle Monster that Cattleya uses has six legs. In the Anime, it only has four.
 * In the Light Novel, Hajime asks Kousuke about Kaori before deciding to help them.
 * In the Light Novel, after Kouki hesitates to kill Cattleya, she orders Ahatod to kill Shizuku before Kouki blocks its attack and severs one of its arms before he collapses due to using his "Overlord" skill. In the Anime, Ahatod attacks Kouki immediately after he fails to kill Cattleya and knocks him out.
 * In the Light Novel, the sparks around Hajime's pile bunker stake are red. In the Anime, they are blue.
 * In the Light Novel, when Hajime destroys Atahod with his pile bunker, it is literally torn into a million pieces. In the Anime, his attack pierces both the two Ahatods at the same time, after which they disintegrate into black smoke.