The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 22 – Hammertime

Be it a remnant of the grimoire or a piece of her subconscious that won’t let her break free or hold any hope, Philomela is pulled out of the dreamscape and back into her grandmother’s office. Chise, Lucy, and Isaac are also there, but still unconscious. Still driven by that “dark side” of herself, she heads to the site of Lizbeth’s ritual, in hopes she’ll be reunited with her parents and make all of this torment worth it.

Meanwhile, I don’t know if Elias always knew something was not quite right about Alcyone, or only figured it out now, but now he’s decided to do something about it. He takes hold of her and finds that there’s a twisted metal core within her, placed there by Lizbeth to repurpose her. Elias destroys the metal core, revealing a core of blue light. Perhaps this core contains all of the memories of Philomela’s childhood.

As Lizbeth prepares to commence the ritual to resurrect her son, we get a little bit of her backstory, and it’s what you’d expect. As the heir to her family, Lizbeth was tasked with bearing her own heir, but her womb was lacking. At some point she must have found away around that, since Adam was born though his father isn’t revealed.

Lizbeth found herself simultaneously captivated by Adam’s cuteness and repulsed by his weakness, but he eventually grew bigger and stronger; a worthy heir. Then he took his “test subject” and ran away, a betrayal Lizbeth could not have predicted. Just as she was deemed inferior in her youth, she always saw Philomela as inferior to Adam.

While it’s good to get some context into what makes Lizbeth tick, I didn’t gain a single iota of empathy for her. Philomela was totally innocent, and yet Lizbeth treated her as someone who had wronged her; treated her like fuckin’ dirt. Frankly Lizbeth deserves to die screaming for her years of abuse and cruelty. Fingers crossed!

Chise, Lucy, and Isaac come to, and as Chise can still detect the scent of Mela’s soul, she leads the way, knowing the other two aren’t going to turn back now for safety. They rush to Philomela not a moment too soon, as she learns that Lizbeth only raised her as a vessel for the magical power sufficient to bring back her son.

Mela herself is no more than a sacrifice; Lizbeth will take all the magic she amassed and there will be nothing left. At first Lizbeth does as she’s told, but then pulls back and hesitates. At this point, Lizbeth drops all pretense and calls for her guards to force her into the magic circle for the ritual.

Philomela lies there as her magic is drained and her skin begins to crack like porcelain, utterly resigned to her fate because “she has no one.” But she’s proven wrong when a someone—three someones—arrive in the nick of time. Chise, Lucy, and Isaac, flanked by Elias and Ruth, have come to rescue her.

This doesn’t matter to Lizbeth; she says that the ritual that has started cannot be stopped. But that’s only if Philomela herself lets it continue. Chise tells her that if she wishes, she can stop it right here and now. She, Isaac, and Lucy encourage her to finish what was started in the dreamscape, and she does, shouting as loud as we’ve ever heard her to “HELP ME!”

Chise tries to rush the eldritch deity Lizbeth summoned, but Elias holds her back, saying there’s a better way. She employs the tool Isaac brought, changing its form into a weapon suitable for destroying the ritual. A sword or staff isn’t quite right, so Chise conjures a freakin’ warhammer, which she brings down upon the magic circle and smashes it to bits. I might have startled my neighbors cheering this action!

With the ritual cancelled, Chise hurries to Philomela, who gets up and meets her halfway, and drapes a dress cloak over her. Chise takes Philomela’s ruined, blackened hands into her own and holds her tight, communicating without words that everything is going to be alright now.

Philomela, bless her, only now just realize what she’s wanted more than anything is for someone to help her. After a lifetime of failing to ask, Philomela has finally done it, and learned that she does not have to live her life in darkness and hopelessness. She has people who aren’t just using her, who actually care about her, and will help any and every time she asks.

No doubt Lizbeth will launch some kind of counterattack, but I’m not concerned. She’s already lost. Her bitterness and resentment, and years of physical and psychological torture have amounted to nothing. She has no chance against Chise’s love and kindness. Just as I have no chance resisting a Chise x Philomela ship. Look how goddamn adorable these two look in the Postcard Memory that ends the episode!

Akebi’s Sailor Uniform – 01 (First Impressions) – Clothes Maketh Girl

From the opening moments that linger on rice paddies shimmering in the sunlight, Akebi-chan no Sailor-fuku makes it clear it is not fuckin’ around in the animation department. It also establishes right from the get-go that our heroine, Akebi Komichi, has got the moves, running across the countryside and pulling off near-perfect gymnastic moves that reminded me of the famously spry Kinomoto Sakura.

That’s not the only thing that reminded me of the Cardcaptor. Like Sakura’s show, Akebi places family, and familial love, at the forefront. Amazingly, both of Komichi’s parents are living and while her father is away for work, he makes sure to congratulate his daughter’s acceptance to the private middle school of choice, the illustrious Roubai Academy.

Komichi’s dream was to attend school in a lovely sailor fuku, and so her mom, who also attended Roubai, takes it upon herself to maker her one, from scratch. I appreciated the episode taking its time and sweating the details when it came to the making of the uniform, from choosing the cloth to preparing the tacking.

The episode also takes care to show that while Komichi’s little sister Kaois proud of her for getting into such a fancy school, she’s also sad that they won’t get to attend the same little country school anymore.

In a touching bath scene that’s brimming with sisterly love, Komichi tells Kao that she’s nervous too, especially about getting alone with the rich Tokyo girls at the school. Kao then turns around and assures her big sis she won’t have any trouble making friends, because she’s really cool.

The day the sailor fuku is completed, it feels like a combination of  Christmas morning, a wedding day, and the dawn before a battle. Komichi carefully puts on the brand new uni like she’s donning armor, and when she shows the completed look off to her mom and sister, they’re struck by the sheer beauty of it.

Alas…it’s the wrong uniform!

Komichi doesn’t learn until she arrives at Roubai for the opening ceremony and find all the other girls in charcoal blazers. Turns out that while her mom and her classmates wore sailor fukus in her day, the academy has since revamped their uniforms.

That said, the headmistress remembers Komichi telling them at her interview that it was her dream to wear the fuku, and since it is still technically Roubai issue, and Komichi’s mom put so much love into it, she decides to allow Komichi to wear it…if she so chooses.

Choosing to do so means standing out far more than she thought, and combined with her “simple country girl” background, could potentially make things that more difficult for her socially. Komichi is crestfallen upon coming home, but Kao has zero tolerance for her pity party, and gives her big sis a big ol’ spank on her bum, as if to say Snap out of your funk this instant…you’re cooler than this!

The next morning, Komichi leaves for her first day super-early, but not too early that Kao isn’t awake to see her big sis chose to keep wearing the uniform their mom made for her. She’s going to rely on “confidence and a smile” to make friends, whether her clothes match theirs or not.

When she arrives at school (after running through several gorgeous painterly scenes of her idyllic, almost Kincaid-ian setting), she finds she’s almost the first person there. The first person there is Kizaku Erika, who is introduced very carefully clipping her toenails at her desk…and then smelling the clippers. What does Komichi do to break the ice? Why, smell her own feet, of course!

That gesture, earnest and not at all mocking, helps save what could have been a disastrous first meeting. Komichi learns that Erika was so nervous about her first day she couldn’t sleep and arrived way too early, and is comforted to know she wasn’t alone in her nervousness.

The two take their assigned seats right next to each other, having calmed each other down. And at seat number one, Komichi is positioned to greet everyone else who enters. I suspect she’ll have no trouble making more friends.

As I said in the first ‘graph, CloverWorks really outdid themselves; this is a surpassingly beautiful episode of anime, so much so that my main concern is whether they can keep up this level of quality for an entire cour. Murakami Manatsu is another great new voice as Komichi, while vets Kuno Misaki and Hana-Kana anchor the fam as her sister and mom. In all, a very impressive opening salvo to a gentle, heartwarming slice-of-life.

The Faraway Paladin – 02 – Hero or Die

There’s not much of a sharp edge to Paladin, and yet it’s anything but soft. It’s as wholesome as Mushoku Tensei is raunchy, but it never feels too sweet. In fact, despite three of the four on-screen characters so far are a skeleton, a mummy and a ghost, there’s a profound realism to the proceedings. It’s a wonderfully balanced show that draws you effortlessly into its world.

William could easily have come off as boring or far too squeaky-clean for his own good. But he’s just such a goshdarn nice kid, you just want to protect and root for him. Now that he’s thirteen, the fruit of his three surrogate parents’ labor is starting to show: the kid is a badass. Blood knows this, which is why he leaves Will in the dungeon below the ruined city without escort. He’ll be fine!

But while Blood is passive in his instruction, teaching Will a lesson through the absence of his big, burly, protective person, Gus pushes Will to the absolute emotional limits with some truly diabolical mind games. Will doesn’t know if Gus is serious about trying to kill him, nor does he know if the dungeon and the city of death above it are somehow controlling Gus. All he knows is he’d rather die than hurt his “grandpa”.

With a father figure in Blood, a mother figure in Mary, and a gramps in Gus, Will has quite possibly the coolest and most loving families anyone could ask for, alive or undead. And yet questions like who his blood parents were and what happened to them and the city trouble him. He becomes more self-aware, introspective, and curious as he nears his fifteenth year, which in this world means you’re an adult.

Before the coming of age rituals that are certain to come, Gus and Blood show Will a more mischievous side by having him collect coins in the dungeon and then gamble over backgammon. This draws the ire of Mary, but both misbehavior and scolding are equally important lessons as Will will soon strike out into a world that will try to prey on his kindness and relative naïveté.

But the march of time is relentless, as is Will’s drawing nearer to the line between child pupil and adult paladin. He’s to swear an oath to one of the gods and thereby gain their divine blessing (along with a degree of hardship in exchange), and at some point Blood will challenge him to a serious one-on-one duel. There’s the bittersweet feeling that Will’s three parents don’t want him to leave the nest, but it’s inevitable that he’ll have to, and essential that he’s thoroughly prepared.

The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent – 01 (First Impressions) – Keeping Busy in a New World

I loved how elegantly Saint’s Magic Power begins: a lovely prelude preceding the title card, then a quick sequence of overworked office drone Takanashi Sei (Ishikawa Yui—Hi Mikasa!) suddenly being transported to a new world via a summoning spell. It immediately feels new and refreshing simply because its protagonist is an adult woman and not a horny male teen/NEET.

The other refreshing catch is that Sei wasn’t the only “Saint” summoned by the Grand Magus of the Kingdom Salutania. A second Saint is summoned right beside her, but despite them having equal standing, the preening Prince Kyle chooses the other young woman, totally ignoring Sei. Rather than follow the chosen heroine, we follow Sei…the “Spare” Saint.

Except for a brief recollection of her in Sei’s thoughts, we never return to the other Saint’s story, though I’m sure she or we will check in on her at some point. Until then, Sei is encouraged to reside on the grounds of the royal palace and basically stay out of trouble. While her life is comfortable and every need seen to by her kindly maid Marie, Sei, a hard worker in her original world, soon becomes quite bored.

Frankly, that’s awesome! For once, our heroine isn’t thrust into an epic battle of good and evil with a ticking clock. Instead she makes do with far more modest stakes that nevertheless make the fantasy setting feel more real and down-to-earth. Watching Sei, so often cooped up in an office most days, happily frolicking on the palace grounds, is quietly enthralling.

Sei soon finds that her real-world interest in medicinal plants and herbs has a magical analogue: an entire institute dedicated to their research. She meets Jude, one of its researchers, who shows her around, and before long it occurs to her that this is where she wants to be: somewhere she can do what she loves and keep busy.

With the institute director Johan’s blessing, Sei decides to join, and to move out of the palace and into the institute. The palace’s aide-de-camp is happy she’s found something to do and pleased to offer whatever she needs. With that, Sei starts her new unexpected new career in potions.

But first thing’s first: she has to learn to make potions, the institute’s top export. Jude goes through the process step-by-step, and reaches the point when he learns that she’s never used magic. You’d think Jude would know this if he knew she was a summoned Saint from another world, but whatever.

Regardless of her inexperience in casting spells, as a Saint she is naturally imbued with more magical power and sensitivity than most. It’s just a matter of learning how to summon and use that power. Within three months, she’s already making medium-to-high level potions the institute usually had to order from outside sources—and making Jude understandably jealous with her rapid progress.

Their playful repartee is interrupted by an emergency: knights who were on a mission to subjugate a forest of monsters took heavy casualties, and several are near death. The researchers are summoned to the palace with all the potions they have in tow. It’s a good thing, then, that Sei has gotten so good at making potions—all of them 50% more effective than anyone else’s—she lost count of how many she’s made!

When they arrive, Sei is initially shocked by the sudden scenes of injured and maimed soldiers, but soon snaps out of it and gets to work administering potions, which have an immediate healing effect. She’s brought before the horribly wounded captain of the knights. When he won’t drink her high-level potion, she insists that he must until he does, and soon recovers nicely.

Both the captain and Johan, his good friend, thank her for saving him. Sei, beaming proudly, is happy she could help. I for one am here for this charming, laid-back yet still engrossing slice-of-life isekai series. Should her titularly omnipotent magic power justifiably lead her to greater things, I’m fine with that too!

 

Cautious Hero – 06 – My Precious Porter

Following Leviae’s declaration that Eruru is to be sacrificed, things move very quickly and Eruru heartbreakingly comes to resign herself to dying for the caused, absent any words of protest from Seiya. But when the time comes to cast herself into the abyss, Seiya grudgingly says the words he deemed unnecessary earlier: he’s not about to let his precious baggage carrier die.

Leviae had the food and drink at the banquet drugged so Rista and Mash are paralyzed…but the ever-cautious Seiya vomited up everything her appeared to consume, and challenges Leviae to a fight. Leviae transforms into a Dragon God Mode, and a time limit is set to the battle in the form of of Eruru’s necklace, which will kill her in three minutes time.

The battle is another back-and-forth affair: Seiya weilds Dragon Killer (made from more Rista hairs, plus Eruru and Mash hair), Leviae activates Ultimate Wall, Seiya eats a bag of Speed Seeds and Double Wields Dragon Killers, Leviae takes minimal damage, Seiya backs Leviae onto a precipice.

Leviae drops Ultimate Wall and activates Dragon Breath, Seiya counters with Double Wind Blade, Levia pretends to give up, then reverts to offense, but Seiya pushes her over the ledge, and because he destroyed her wings just prior to Ultimate Wall, she plummets to her death.

Eruru is spared, and a new sword emerges from the abyss, which Seiya embues with a drop of Eruru’s blood to produce Igzasion. But Rista confronts Seiya later about it being a fake; he created a big song-and-dance to put the Dragonfolk at ease, and thus ease their withdrawal.

But the party’s troubles are far from over: Seiya lacks the ultimate weapon, the entrance to the Dragon’s Den is blocked by some kind of military force that doesn’t look the friendliest, while the Demon Lord and his underlings are confident the Hero will be no threat to them.

The comedy, so dominant in the training episodes, takes a firm back seat to drama and action, and despite not knowing Eruru for long, it was impossible not to empathize with her plight and hope Seiya did the right thing, which he did. It’s also encouraging that he can say something like “it’s gonna be okay” and “we’ll figure something out” with regards to the Demon Lord; his cautiousness is looking less psychotic and more prudent by the day.

Lord El-Melloi II Case Files – 05 – The Wild Hunt

When attempts to contact the recently deceased Waletta fail, Adashino swiftly declares Wills as the culprit, since he stood to gain the most from her death. Lord El-Melloi II contents—quite reasonably—that in the world of mages, it doesn’t matter who does something or how, because both of those things can be controlled via magecraft. Rather, it’s the why that matters most.

Since the storm has not ended the original agreement is still in place; Adashino will allow Lord El-Melloi to continue his investigations. He hires Shishigou Kairi to assist him, but as Kairi and Gray collect reference materials, they are attacked by a Black Dog—the final form of the lightning outside—that punches right through Adashino’s Bounded Field.

This incident not only confirms the “murder weapons” used in the string of killings, but piques Shishigou’s interest in Gray, and why the Black Dog seemed to fear her Mystic Code. With her okay, El-Melloi explains that the code is Rhongomyniad, the spear of King Arthur (Arturia), disguised and sealed by both Add and its scythe form. He calls Gray “a portrait of King Arthur created by a certain family.”

The Arthur connection confirms it for Kairi and El-Melloi: the storm of lightning, wind, and spirits surrounding the workshop is the legendary Wild Hunt, once led by Arthur, but which led to defeat and his departure to Avalon. El-Melloi bids that the others indulge him in carrying out a ritual to test his new hypothosis.

Using Wills Mystic Eyes (with Reines’ as a catalyst), El-Melloi is able to summon a fairy in the flesh—the same one that has been appearing before Wills as if to warn of an impending death. The fairy can speak, and admits that she herself killed Trevor as punishment for essentially disrupting the balance between worlds for his own selfish desire to build an army of “false fairies” (i.e. Black Dogs) that he can command.

Now El-Melloi has the “why” as well as the ultimate means: the Marburry Workshop itself being the murder weapon with its ability to summon the murderous Black Dogs.

In his shortsightedness, El-Melloi’s demonstrative ritual ended up activating that weapon, sending an entire army of Black Dogs (led by one large boss-sized one) at the mansion. Adashino stays inside to protect Reines while the others head out to meet the dogs of war in glorious battle.

And I have to say, despite it being a bit dark, it’s quite a battle to behold. Wills shows his prowess with mystic daggers, Kairi has a mystical shotgun, and even El-Melloi pops off a few magical bullets, if you will. But obviously the battle’s MVP was always going to be Gray, taking care of business with her scythe and saving El-Melloi from a premature end.

Ultimately Gray must rescind the second seal and unleash the true power of Rhongomyniad in order to defeat the boss. It’s a hauntingly beautiful sequence, as her “Lance that Shines to the Ends of the World” not only obliterates the boss but blasts away the storm clouds as well. Gray may only be a “portrait” (her name perhaps a reference to Dorian as well as her main color) but she can still bring it when called upon.

What her attack does not do is close the gate to the fairy realm from which the Black Dogs first emerged. To do that, Wills decides to do something he always suspected he’d had to do: walk through the gate himself. El-Melloi begs him not to go as it would be a one-way journey, but Wills is prepared, and knows that not only will he not really “die”, but that his father and Waletta are waiting for him there.

With the gate—and case—closed (and El-Melloi’s favor to Sophia-Ri fulfilled), all that’s left is to head back to London. But before parting ways, Adashino hands the lord some material she found in the aftermath relating to the origin of Wills’ Mystic Eyes, with which he wasn’t born as El-Melloi assumed. They were acquired via Rail Zeppelin, a legendary phantom train that buys and sells the eyes.

With part of the lengthy show title now in play things look to only get more interesting as Lord El-Melloi’s case files continue to flow. Meanwhile, before parting with Gray Kairi tells her to keep a close eye on El-Melloi, since he senses the former Waver to still have a strong connection to his now-dead servant. Since connections to the dead only draw people backwards into the past, it’s on Gray to ensure El-Melloi resists that pull and keeps moving forward.

Mahoutsukai no Yome – 05

The sorcerer Renfred and his apprentice Alice turn out not to be of much concern, as their attempts to turn Chise against Elias fall on deaf ears. Not knowing from whence she came, they totally misunderstand how she feels: far from wanting to be freed, she wants to belong to Elias, the first person to ever call her family. Out of her shadow, Elias appears, and a whole mess of thorns push the sorshies back.

With that over with, Chise, Ariel, and the King of Cats proceed with the plan to cleanse the corruption, which is truly growing out of control. Chise makes contact with the miasma and enters the memory of the corruption, able to watch what unfolded, yet unseen by everyone there, as what she’s watching has already come to pass.

And as horrible and heartrending a story as it is, it hardly came as a surprise. Even before we see a desperate Matthew meet with a super-sketchy sorcerer, things unfolded super predictably: the sorcerer tells Matt the only way to save his beloved Mina is to slaughter cats and make a medicine from their blood and guts.

When Mina catches Matt slaughtering cats, it breaks her heart, but he and the sorcerer force the potion down her throat…and naturally, it doesn’t work. What I didn’t predict was that she’d explode, suddenly and awfully, right in his arms. Jeez.

The sorcerer shrugs it off, thanks Matt for helping him with some practical research, and is on his merry way. But Matt has a breakdown. Before he can slaughter more cats, believing he can still bring Mina back, the cats come for him, led by Mina’s pet, Tim.

Due to the combined horrendous circumstances of the deaths of Mina, Matthew, and the cats, all of them forgot how to return to the cycle of life and death; they are lost in between, and Mina tells Chise the only thing to be done is erase all their existences, lest they become consigned to an even deeper, darker void (harming the living world in the process).

Chise’s like nah-ah, Minal; I’m not erasing you. Instead, with the help of both Ariel and the King of Cats (on her ninth and final life), she guides Mina to where she belongs, with Matthew, allowing the two to happily pass on together and rejoin the natural cycle.

In the gorgeous meadow of blue flowers after they have passed on, Chise stands there, musing about how she was born without a place or purpose in life, but now she has a “perch”, thanks to Elias. As such, she’s less inclined to die soon…but being a Sleigh Beggy, how long does she truly have?

Mahoutsukai no Yome – 04

Before waking up with her head in Elias’ lap on a train “not meant for humans”, Chise has a dream about a sickly woman in bed, telling her cat how she wishes she could have one of its nine lives. From there, a messenger appears in the form of a cat. No wait; it’s just a regular cat…who can talk.

To be precise, Chise learns cats can converse with mages and other magically-inclined people, including her. Like people, they have countries, and their king, a female named Molly, has a task for Elias and Chise in Ulthar – a land where cats are loved and cared for by the humans living there.

There is a growing mass of “corruption” on an islet in the heart of the lake, which will soon wreak havoc on cat and human alike.

As soon as Molly tells the tale of a man who once tortured and killed scores of cats—who was ultimately killed by a whole mess of cats organized by the first Cat King—I began to suspect the source of the corruption had something to do with that cat-hater.

A suspicious hooded woman snatches Chise, carries her into the air, and drops her in the lake.

At the bottom of the lake Chise meets Mina, the sickly woman from her dream earlier. Mina’s husband Matthew turned into the corruption, with her at its core; she begs Chise to kill them both so they can be free.

Oh, and Matthew? He hates cats, and they hate him. HMMMMMM. He’s clearly hiding his dark inclination from Mina, who rarely leaves her bed and probably hardly ever leaves the house.

Chise wakes up in Elias’ arms (again), and he has another task for her: to don robes and perform a cleansing ritual with the help of Ariel; something he with his incompatible shadow concentration cannot do himself.

Chise starts to walk out to the corruption, with Mina’s plea ringing clearin her head, and worried about Elias losing faith in her if she fails. Then she’s suddenly captured again by the red-hooded woman. She’s joined by her master, the sorcerer Renfred, who doesn’t want the corruption cleansed.

Renfred also ridicules Elias (whom he refers to as Pilum Murialis) for “putting a collar” on Chise and using her as his “latest experiment”, without telling her the fate that awaits all Sleigh Beggys—early death.

Not that I blame Elias for taking it slow with Chise, but it now looks like a rift could form based not upon lies, but omission. Unless…as he grooms Chise he’s also looking for a way to prevent her from sharing the fate of her kind.

Isekai Shokudou – 05

While Gaganpo was primarily a hunter, this week’s demi-human is a warrior who ends up crossing swords with the famous half-elf Alexander, who sells him into gladiatorial slavery. While preparing for an arena match against a manticore that may well kill him, the door to Nekoya opens.

He goes through, is greeted warmly, and treated to not one but five pork cutlet rice bowls, which he wolfs down with gratitude. Because “katsu” means victory, he returns to his world and makes short work of the manticore, which is just as well, as he must win 99 more fights to win his freedom – as well as pay his restaurant tab.

Like our liony warrior, the next customer, Victoria, has a very limited niche in society in which to operate. Because she’s a half-elf, she had the choice of becoming a sorceress, an adventurer-for hire, or the resident of a remote village of her own kind. Vicky chose sorcery, and quickly rose to the upper echelons of magic users, tutored by the venerable Sage Artorius.

Both Victoria and the Sage are regulars at Nekoya; Artorius ordering his fried pork cutler, and Victoria preferring pudding a la mode, in contrast to the full elf who won’t eat anything from an animal. She also takes some of the soft, velvety, delicious, springy pudding to go, storing it in a magical mini-fridge she keeps in her bedchamber. As noble a use of ice magic as I can imagine!

Isekai Shokudou – 04

The first of this week’s two new visitors to Nekoya is a strange one: Gaganpo, a Lizardman and Hero of the Blue Tail Tribe. His visit to the restaurant is preceded by an almost David Attenboroughesque nature documentary, in which a soft-spoken woman narrates everything he does, carefully bathing and suiting up for what is, in his tribe, a great honor.

Upon entering the restaurant, Gaganpo says the “magic words” that get him what he wants: omelette rice, and lots of it. Omelette rice is one of those ultimate comfort foods, and it’s like nothing the marsh-dwelling Lizardmen have ever tasted before and is beyond their ability to replicate.

The fact neither Aletta nor the Chef bat an eye at the presence of the blue behemoth show you that Nekoya is a super-diverse and accepting place. Gaganpo returning home, with three “party-size” omelettes of three distinct varieties for his fellow villagefolk to enjoy, is certainly a sight to see.

The next customer is a little more conventional: Fardania, a wood elf from a village carved into massive trees. But because she’s an elf, she’s also a vegan, so when she enters Nekoya and sees everyone eating animals, she’s a little turned off and very dubious of the human chef’s ability to cook her something she can actually digest, let alone fine tasty.

Of course, this is the nearly omnipotent chef of Nekoya we’re talking about, and it’s not like there are no vegans in human society, so he whips up a delectable tofu steak with veggies and rice at which even a carnivore wouldn’t necessarily turn their nose. Of course, Fardania takes this delicious meal as a challenge to make even better food for her widowed father.

This was an episode that, at times, looked like it was animated by a grade-schooler, as Gaganpo and his cohorts were particularly inconsistent in their design and proportions. Fardania faired better, especially in close-ups. But I was able to mostly overlook the uneven production values thanks to the mouth-watering depiction and description of the food….which is, at the end of the day, what this show is all about.

RokuAka – 09

There’s no lengthy ER-style scene in which Albert and Sistine work to save Glenn’s life – their spell is already complete, Glenn wakes up, and Sisti is the one asleep from using so much mana. Albert is simply waiting to get going, and makes it clear to Glenn that rescuing Rumia is the priority. If Re=L gets in the way, Al won’t hesitate to eliminate her.

By the time Sisti awakens, Glenn and Albert are long gone, but she resists the urge to go running after them, and instead chooses to put her faith in their ability to bring Rumia back save. Even when some classmates want to do something, Sisti insists on sitting tight. Talented though they may be these are all young, totally inexperienced students who are unprepared for the kind of combat we’ll see Glenn and Albert face. They’ll only get in the way.

That being said, Glenn and Albert carve through the gauntlet of chimeras Director Berks, Eleanor Chalet, and Re=L’s bro have ready for them awfully easily, to the point where it starts to get a bit boring and perfunctory. As for Berks himself transforming, it feels like exactly what it is: an excuse to make Glenn rescue Rumia—and flip Re=L back to their side—all by his lonesome.

Eleanor isn’t even concerned with fighting a battle here: she gets what she needs (data on the Revive Life ritual) and skedaddles long before Glenn arrives to confront Re=L and her bro. Glenn manages to prove to Re=L through a combination of yelling and telekinetic pistol-whipping that the man standing there isn’t really her brother, because her brother’s dead.

Actually, Re=L died too—or rather the girl Re=L was modeled after. That girl, Ilushia, was disposed of along with her real brother Sion once her “replacement” was created. And when Fake Bro can’t rely on her anymore here in the present (because she still has emotions), he whips out a trio of emotionless, “perfect” Re=L clones (in skimpy S&M outfits, natch).

Far from “perfect”, are just as easy to defeat as the chimeras. They’re in the picture for so little time I’m not sure why they existed at all; it’s as if Glenn and Re=L simply blew on them and they fell over.

I’m glad Re=L’s backstory (and name) are explained, and I’m satisfied her sudden betrayal last week was due to her inherent programming, but this episode still couldn’t match the third and sixth episodes in terms of being satisfying conclusions. The bad guys were too dumb and pushover-y (or in Eleanor’s case, disinterested), and everything was rushed and wrapped up too neatly.

Not to mention, I think I’ve had my fill of Rumia-napping stories. Can we take the fight to Divine Wisdom, already…or as she demands in the preview, more Celica Time?

Little Witch Academia – 20

Despite Akko’s protesting (with backup from Andrew) Diana insists she has no choice but to perform the ritual before the transit of Venus behind the moon is complete. She goes into the ritual chambers alone, but is immediately impeded in her mission by Aunt Daryl, who wraps her in one of her many giant magic snake familiars.

No matter how much logic he tosses at Akko, she knows it’s not right for Diana to be dropping out; she’s clearly putting her own dreams aside for the good of her family. When they eavesdrop on Daryl and her twin daughters talking about how she had no problem stopping Diana, Akko has all the moral capital she needs to break with sacred Cavendish custom and enter the sanctum to rescue her.

Andrew helps, convinced that Akko is right. He remembers how passionate Diana became years ago when talk flew around she wouldn’t be able to perform magic. We know the spark of inspiration was the twin pillars of her mother and Shiny Chariot. But to her credit, Akko keeps Andrew out of the sanctum: she’ll bring back Diana on her own…all the way back the academy.

Akko proves she can mostly take care of herself, using her patented partial-transformation magic in rapid-fire mode to lure the snakes away from Diana and stay one step ahead until she regains consciousness and saves her.

With Akko bitten and poisoned, Diana sacrifices her chance to complete the ritual by healing and staying with Akko, who wakes up, then scolds Diana for staying there with her instead of continuing on with the ritual. But this is just Diana being Diana: kind, caring, and healing, just like her mother and the centuries of Cavandishes who came before her.

It’s no coincidence their conversation is held in a facility borne of that family “affection”, a secret hospital where Diana’s ancestors used their considerable magical knowledge to heal the wounded from conflicts that plagued history, without regard to whose side they were on.

Diana’s confession of her lifelong dream (to protect and preserve her family’s and mother’s names and the home they left behind) moves Akko to assure her she can still achieve that dream, restoring her family and complete her education at Luna Nova, as long as she…you guessed it, believes in her heart.

In this manner, two Chariot superfans—one current, one lapsed—come together to realize her credo that a believing heart can make anything possible. To that end, traditional and modern powers mingle, and Diana realizes the fifth word is Akko’s for the taking.

Reciting it summons Chariot’s broom, which they ride together to reach the site where the ritual is to be completed…only to find Aunt Beryl and her daughters waiting to disrupt Diana once more.

For this latest act of treachery, Diana’s relations are punished not by her or Akko, but by the system itself, and are quickly encased in trees. As she did with Akko, Diana stays true to her family’s legacy again by putting judgement aside and helping others before herself.

By the time she’s saved Daryl and the twins, the Venusian eclipse is over, but Diana still gets a momentary nod of approval, so to speak, from her family’s founder, Lady Beatrix. She may not have quite completed the ritual, but it’s clear to all who will lead the Cavendish family’s future.

Until that time, Diana is free to return to Luna Nova, much to Akko’s delight. She also gives Akko a ride home on her broom, which is the perfect time for her to express her gratitude for what Akko did…softly, and only once. Still, Akko heard her, and after their shared experiences this week their bond has never been tighter.

After charming and fun but inconsequential episodes involving the B-characters, this Diana-focused two-parter was a welcome and worthwhile outing that brought two rivals closer together and brought Akko one word closer to potentially changing the world.

I also appreciated the bonhomie that’s gradually developed between Akko and Andrew (who will be back, at least to give Akko her hat back). While I would have preferred if Diana’s full fleshing-out arc had come sooner, it’s better late than never, and well worth the wait.

Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil – 11

The whole purpose of anime, and most other audiovisual media, is to show as well as tell what is going on. This episode told us quite a bit, much of which could have been very interesting, but unfortunately it also happened to be one of the single worst-animated episodes of anime we’ve ever reviewed.

It doesn’t even seem accurate to call it badly-animated, since a very large portion wasn’t animated at all. This episode simply felt unfinished, which made it extremely difficult to get invested in what was ostensibly going on. It was like trying to read this review without vowels.

Mind you, we haven’t been insensitive to the fact that WizBar in general is not a show that has ever prided itself on flawless presentation. It could also be that a lot of the production budget was spent both on the first episode and on CGI effects such as the Metamoloids. Frankly, if that was the case, it wasn’t worth it. I would have preferred more balance in the visuals. But the show had still always managed to muddle through, with the story pulling enough weight to forgive the shortcomings.

But this…this was something else. The shark was officially jumped. There were far too many static close-ups, establishing shots, lines of dialogue and actions by people we never see, and agonizingly long stills. Some potentially powerful and/or poignant moments were thoroughly ruined by the lack of visual information. On many occasions throughout the fiasco, we sympathized with those involved with the show who weren’t responsible for bungling the budget, as they were let down as much as we were, if not more so.

All that aside (and it’s pretty damn hard to move it aside!) a lot happened this week. Shimuzu raided Butterfly and eventually captured Cecil. Makusu had his little ritual, and we find out that Lucifer had already awakened and taken human form, that of Tento Moyo. She merges with Cecil, who grows fangs and a tail (which bursting through her underwear…yeah, they animated that), but Shimuzu Does The Right Thing in the eleventh hour by dying to protect Cecil.

Cecil and Makusu have one big confusing Metamoloid battle that ends in the upper atmosphere. But when their mechas dissolve, Cecil sprouts wings and saves Makusu’s life, only for him to request she defend him at his impending trial. That’s actually a nice twist that brings everything back to Magic Law, something we always found more interesting than Magic Conspiracies. So yeah, a lot happened! I just wish we could have, you know, seen all of it, instead of just a few scant parts of it.