Author: Faris
Editor: KnightAvenger
Studio: Kinema Citrus
Watch at: Crunchyroll
This week, we have another excellent episode. It gives us more info about some things that have been unclear so far, but, more importantly, it provides a sort of conclusion to a fight between Naofumi and the Spear Hero-at least, a temporary conclusion.
After the Wave of Catastrophe, all the heroes are invited to a party organized by the King, and during that party, Spear Hero idiotically challenges Naofumi to a duel to free Raphtalia from slavery. After that comes the duel, and most of the episode is devoted to their one-on-one fight, which was great. Naofumi seemed to finally accept all of them hating him and used all the tricks he could to win, but, of course, it isn’t as easy as that. I will not spoil the fight itself, but it’s nice to see the Shield Hero finally get some reprieve at the end of the episode, after the duel is over and done with.
As I mentioned at the beginning, it provides a conclusion to a fight between the two Heroes but also somewhat provides the conclusion to a story arc, with Naofumi finally being able to taste food, which is obvious symbolism. Additionally, there is an attempt at somewhat explaining some things, such as why Raphtalia grew up so quickly or why the place they’re in is supposedly a matriarchy.
While the explanation for Raphtalia’s sudden growth is fine and makes sense, the explanation for the matriarchy thing is not that great. It seems that the place is considered a matriarchy due to women pulling the strings from the shadows a la Illuminati, with the King apparently working together with Myne to set up Naofumi so she could get close to the Spear Hero. Hopefully, there is more to it, as the explanation is somewhat lacking.
Nonetheless, the episode was still amazing. Much more focused on the character of Naofumi and his relationships with Raphtalia as well as other Heroes than the others. While the scope of the episode was rather small, it was very satisfying.
