What They Say:
Huey and Dalian are waiting in line for some very popular buns. When they finally receive their bread, they bump into a woman who is taking refuge inside the cafe, and the buns end up on the floor… Dalian is very distraught, but then they discover that the woman was named Fiona, the daughter of the president of the famous perfume maker Famenias as well as a lead researcher, who had run away from home. There is a legend that Famenias possesses an ancient text, which was passed down to Fiona…?!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As has been apparent for several episodes now, Dalian and Huey are simply drawn to people who have connections to the Phantom Books. It’s a series of coincidences that definitely stretches the suspension of disbelief, but how else to have them interact with a book every week? Having people come to them has its merits, but it can be used only so far in some ways. This episode tries an amusing approach as the pair are at a bakery where they’re waiting for some really delicious and particularly noteworthy buns to take home and savor, but it ends badly for the buns as they collide with a young woman named Fiona who is hiding out from some unwelcome people. Of course, she has a potential connection to the books as the men are searching for her.
It turns out that she’s not just some ordinary girl with a Phantom Book but rather the daughter of the president of a famous perfumer maker. She’s hiding out from him and the people that want her want to get at the supposed ancient text that the company possesses. The episode goes into Fiona’s past and explores why she ran away and all that’s associated with it, and it also clues in Huey and Dalian why she’s using a Phantom Book, though Fiona herself isn’t aware that that’s what the book is. And with the people that are hunting it up because of what it can do, it’s little surprise that it’s gaining traction among people that shouldn’t even know it exists.
The episode does naturally delve into the action side of events as the “men in black” of the episode that want to sell the special perfume she has arrive and make their expected threats and intimidations. It plays out predictably enough because we’ve pretty much seen it unfold like this in just about every episode so far. Which is why, seven episodes in, the series is getting to be a bit more of a disappointment. There is twist that does happen with this one, but it’s not enough to really affect the overall course of it. What the show needs, and needs soon, is more material that helps us connect with Huey and Dalian more. As interesting as the episodic nature of the show can be, if we don’t get to know them better, who they really are and what they’re after in life, it’ll just be a book of the week series. And that can go only so far before the show starts shedding more and more viewers while failing to attract more new ones.
In Summary:
The Mystic Archives of Dantalian continues to be a series that has a lot of potential but ends up being mostly about pretty animation and predictable stories. The show feels like it aches to be so much more but can’t escape the bonds that it’s trapped in. As an episodic series that follows a generally predictable series of events in each episode, it’s not bad and certainly is an easy show to watch and enjoy on a basic level. But because of that, it doesn’t do enough to draw you in more to really make you feel engaged in it. Like Gosick, this is a series that I really want to like more, but it’s not breaking the barriers yet to achieve what it should.
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.