Episode 12 is the series hitting the gas for the finale. After the alliance proposed at the end of Episode 11, Kihachi and Yosuke throw themselves into building the Electric Brain — a colossal computational machine drawn from Seiroku’s notes. At the same time, Inako is finally given the freedom and resources to brew her mother’s unfinished “Electric Nishiki” sake, giving her a parallel success story that feels earned and grounded. The core tension of the episode is ideological: Kihachi wants the technology to serve and uplift people, while Yosuke increasingly frames it as something that should surpass or replace humanity, ultimately revealing his true goal is to recreate Seiroku through a robotic body. The ending — with Kihachi drugged, dressed in a bridal gown, and positioned as a sacrifice — is deliberately shocking and leaves the story in a dark place heading into the finale. Critically, this is one of the more polarizing episodes. Some appreciate the dual-dream structure, the animation, and the commitment to making Yosuke’s obsession fully unhinged. Others find the pacing too compressed, the resolution of earlier character conflicts too easy, and Yosuke’s characterization (especially the queer-coded predatory turn) uncomfortable or poorly executed. The visuals and production values remain reliable strengths even as the writing takes bigger swings.