The contrast in Heaven's Great Magic Land is already quite obvious in the play, even the music is exactly the same. I believe that those who have watched Episode 9 will not forget the altered lyrics in the ending. The animation production team really had the intention to adapt it. I can say that since Land of the Lustrous, this is the second work that I feel has fully utilized the advantages of animation and manga as their respective mediums. The manga is black and white, so it doesn't have color when serialized. However, in the animation, even though the eye color of Mei Mei and Shiro is the same, it is gray. And this eye color puzzle is revealed in the final episode - it is due to the reflection of the sky color. Mei Mei and Shiro's gray eyes, under the illumination of the sky, become as blue as gemstones, instantly linking to the clue of the paralyzed patient's eyes in Episode 8!
This feeling is similar to what I recently experienced while playing "Interstellar Colonization." In the moment of seeing the crucial answer, all the clues that were floating in the air like beads were connected, forming a bracelet, and became a circle.
When I read the manga before, even after reading it twice, I couldn't understand or empathize with the importance of the Minotaur plot, especially since it was placed in the last episode of the animation, which concluded all the storylines. But after watching this episode of the animation, I finally understand why it was necessary. It's because the female protagonist has always believed that she has a female body but a male brain, so she has never been able to have a unified identity. Her brain is of course her own, but her body belongs to her sister. So when I act, should I be myself or my sister?
The Minotaur is like an external force that forcibly breaks this dual and chaotic self-awareness, forcing the female protagonist to make a decision to unify herself (being forced is not necessarily a bad thing), and also recognizing and facing the truth of Shinryu with this independent identity, and then continuing the journey. The animation is actually quite satisfying, beating up the Minotaur is really satisfying hahaha.
Another reason why Zanji made Shinryu stop is probably what Shinryu said before, "These hands of mine can only bring death."