What They Say:
Book of Equivalence Camilla arrives at Huey’s in another strange outfit, bringing gifts. Camilla notices that Dalian is browsing through a catalog for an old mansion. Once Camilla learns which item Dalian wants, she takes a paper clip from Huey and leaves. It appears that Camilla had obtained the “Book of Equivalence,” a Phantom Book for bartering, from a used bookstore…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While the Mystic Archives of Dantalian has found its groove early on and pretty much stuck with it, it has found some ways to be creative and stand out a little. One of the things that I liked a few episodes ago was that it didn’t devote the entire episode to one story but rather broke it into two stories, doing short run pieces on particular books. Some stories are worth telling but may not have enough material to it to merit an entire episode. Letting it shift to something a little shorter can tighten things up a bit and really just have fun with it. And there is a good sense of fun with this episode from the start as Camilla shows up wearing a man’s outfit and a moustache.
And promptly puts it on Dalian as well, which is utterly priceless to watch. Camilla is a breath of fresh air in the series since Dalian is pretty introspective, moody and quiet in her own way. The opening half of the episode has these light moments and they’re enjoyable, but it goes elsewhere as well as Camilla gets it into her head to find something that she thinks Dalian wants, which is a very cute little bear from a catalog that Dalian was looking through. It takes an interesting turn when we find out how she was able to get such an item from the man that had it as she had the Book of Equivalence in her hands, but hated the whole concept of bartering since she just wanted the actual item itself and not the experience of bartering. Huey’s shock over it is comical since he can’t believe she traded the book for a stuff bear.
The second half is more interesting with what it does as it touches ever so lightly on Huey’s past, as someone he worked with before named Armand has come to see him as he has a seriously problem. He encountered the Book of Relationships recently and used it to get his girlfriend, a very attractive woman name Lianna that he considers to be too good for him, but he was desperately in love with. The problem is that while the book did work for him, it’s become seriously attacked to him as half his body is covered in branches now to contain the book on his person. There’s a neat little history to it in how the two books that make up the Book of Relationship works, and it’s understandable why this is yet another book with a curse to it in that it does give you what you want, but not without some repercussions. It’s a pretty relaxed episode as it unfolds, giving us an amusing look at how the book works and the dangers of it.
In Summary:
While the short form storytelling worked the last time they did it, it doesn’t quite click as well here simply because the stories aren’t as engaging. The second story has some very interesting ideas to it with the way the Book of Relationship works and the way in which it can cause serious problems, and it has a much darker edge to it overall. It’s also the more linear and cleaner of the stories in terms of execution. The first one is a bit fuzzier with what it’s doing, but it has the advnatage of starting off with Camilla in a moustache and actually making it sexy. Dalian in a moustache, not so much. But Dalian never comes across that way to begin with. There’s plenty to like in the episode overall, but it doesn’t match up to the previous episode that did this kind of split story. Huey and Armand give it a good flavor though and the second half merited far more attention and saved the episode overall.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Nico Nico
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
