So ends the Pop-up Dungeon Arc…Finally
What They Say:
“Destruction and Salvation”
Asta is gravely injured in the battle against Mars and collapses. Despite his own injuries, something drives Mars onward, and he tries to finish off Asta.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
How are we already at 19 episodes? Has that much happened that I missed? Somehow it feels like we should still be at like episode 10 or 15 or something with how the pot’s been going. Might also just be me and my salt for this show. Anyway, on with the review!
Asta is badly wounded, Mimosa is healing him and Mars has a tragic past. Yuno sees a fairy girl that ultimately defeats Mars when he’s about to attack Mimosa and Asta. They leave the dungeon and have a little moment where Asta thanks Mimosa and Klaus apologizes for being a dick. Meanwhile, Lotus and his cronies took advantage of Mars’ distraction and ended up stealing treasure anyway.
Mars’ history was as cliché as they come. He had a friend, a girl named Fana, while in the place where young mages are made in the Diamond Kingdom. They speak about freedom and leaving that place someday. Of course, as per formula for a tragic backstory, all the children are told to kill each other. They are the last ones standing and he kills her almost by accident. I found that I didn’t care enough for Mars or even Fana to feel anything about this backstory. I’ve seen it done better and that’s all there is to it.
It was nice to see Asta on the backburner this week. I fear I have become a bit too reliant on Asta’s ability to be a “main character” with his ability to win every fight. When Mars was attacking Mimosa I actually felt a little bit of suspense because I knew Asta wouldn’t be able to help. I did take comfort in Yuno, or Yuno’s fairy-thing, finally taking Mars down because it meant that Asta can’t win every fight as the show has tried to make us think. I originally thought in the end that they had failed their mission because the Diamond Kingdom warriors had taken a lot of treasure, but it was Yuno that found a magic item that gave him spells in a mysterious text he doesn’t understand. Joke’s on Lotus since all he seemed to get was gold. Him getting this spell was indeed a case of main character syndrome where he got the one ancient magical artifact that they would have been looking for, in the same way, he happened to get a four-leafed clover grimoire in the beginning of the series.
I did like how Klaus apologized for his behavior after realizing that Asta and Yuno are pretty good magic knights. Three for you Klaus, you go Klaus. You’re back in my good books again. Something to consider though is the fact that in the manga, where we didn’t get the parts of the story where they visited Hage, Klaus would be doing a one-eighty. He would be going from being a pretty mean and stuck up guy to suddenly praising Yuno and Asta, the latter he would have only known for a few hours. It is a bit of character development for sure, just with the way the story is being told it’s a bit weird.
In Summary:
The cliché was high but the fairy made me curious. It really says something when I worry about the outcome of a battle simply because Asta was down for the count. Fana and Mars’ backstory was cliché and forgettable. Thankfully the Wizard King will show up in the next episode so that will hopefully be more enjoyable
Grade: C-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Naruto Clover is losing me lolz