Rating: B-
So far this series has largely been able to avoid its relatively weak technical effort hindering its entertainment value, a feat it has accomplished by exploiting striking visual gimmickry. It attempts to do the same in this episode, too, but it can only mask so much when what should be the most action-oriented scene yet just collapses into an unseemly, poorly-choreographed disappointment. It’s to the point that I can’t avoid penalizing the series’ overall grade for the animation quality any longer. However, all is not lost, because this episode provides plenty of interesting content on other fronts.
Much of that involves Atou. The way she behaves when confronting the two Paladins raises the question of whether she’s naturally evil, being influenced by the evil status of Mynoghra, or just getting carried away with acting the part. Most of her behavior suggests that the former is not the case, though given that she is the designated starting Hero for an evil-aligned nation, that still can’t be ruled out. And while she’s definitely getting carried away in the scene where she’s mentally torturing the fatally righteous Paladin, her general ruthlessness would seem to belie that being the only cause for her behavior. Unquestionably, she is having fun letting loose and playing the villain, and given the way the Dark Elves reacted when they came under Mynoghra’s influence, option 2 seems likely to be a contributing factor. Altogether, it provides an interesting dichotomy compared to the more playful way she acts around Takuto. But the brief flash where she sees Takuto like the Dark Elves do seems a bit ominous for the future state of their relationship.
What Atou and Takuto learn about their setting is also interesting and draws more parallels to Overlord. While this setting has distinct structural and mechanical similarities to Eternal Nations, it isn’t the game setting – or at least not purely so, anyway. That doesn’t necessarily mean much since 4X games are well-known for the potential variability of their setting; the map is randomly-generated each time in the Civilization games, for instance, and plenty of game parameters can be tweaked each time. But anytime the parameters change, understanding and exploiting the differences are often crucial for success, and Takuto is clearly thinking along those lines. Atou’s ability-stealing skill seems to work more efficiently here, and entities called Witches exist as major wild cards; I had previously characterized them as possible alternate forms of a civilization’s Heroes, but perhaps they are plot drivers instead?
Whatever the case on this, the series is certainly aiming for some great, creepy facial expressions (which is also very much in the spirit of Overlord):
USA Anime 