Rating: B-
This episode once again reminds us that action scenes are never going to be this franchise’s forté. Thankfully, some other interesting developments are afoot here to help carry the entertainment load.
At least this episode tries to put some “oomph” in its action scenes, as the battle between Isla and Demon General Flamin has a greater sense of movement than previous battles and even some true back-and-forth exchanges. However, it’s still not a very dynamic affair, and Flamin is underwhelming in his reliance on fire emanations and basic ranged fire takes; the only thing remotely flashy he does is a pillar of fire. We don’t see him setting fire to the local forest, either. Isla has fare more tricks up her sleeve and generally completely outclasses him, to the point that the battle’s outcome is never even slightly in doubt. The one thing the visuals and animation do succeed at through this part is a moderately effective job at portraying Isla’s body language. As a multi-limbed, vaguely mantis-like insect, she should move markedly differently from a humanoid even if she still uses some humanoid gestures, and we do see some of that here.
But while the Hero/General battle was ostensibly the feature scene, there were a few other interesting details afoot. For one, the fact that the “Demon Lord” looks very human lends credence to the notion that he may be a Player like Takuto is, and the conversation of the two minions right before Isla attacks seems to support that. And like Isla and Atou, Flamin seems to have awareness of his circumstances. Unlike those two, though, he (and perhaps the Demon Lord, too?) seems to be trapped in his role, presumably by the circumstances of the game mechanics he’s coming from. Is this because they were enemy forces in their respective game rather than aligned with a player, or is something else going on there? And why did they seem to think that they could gain their freedom by offering up the world? A lot of important hints and details get exchanged amidst the barbs Flamin and Isla fling during the battle, and not enough information is yet available to judge where, exactly, it points.
What, exactly, is going on at the end of the episode, where the twins get suddenly teleported out to where Isla is, is also unclear. Given the foreshadowing earlier in the episode, it almost certainly has something to do with RPG mechanics, but I’m not quickly coming up with a gimmick that would do that. We also didn’t see if the twins just disappeared from Takuto’s presence or if they were replaced by someone else. The communication cut-off in conjunction with his is also strange, perhaps suggesting some kind of close field was implemented? We’ll presumably find out the truth next week, but I do suspect this is a situation where Takuto may, for the first time, have to undertake direction action. I’m looking forward to seeing how that turns out.
USA Anime 