What They Say:
Since ancient times long past, this world has been ruled by two tarot cards. Diablos Tarot—The tarot of the devil that feasts on the souls of living humans and uses that nourishment to bring countless pain and suffering. Elemental Tarot—The tarot that draws its energy from the power of nature in order to oppose the Diablos Tarot.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After an episode spent mostly away from the main group, I suppose it’s appropriate for this one to focus almost entirely on one of them, specifically one who hasn’t gotten much attention so far. Akari is the lead, Luna is her lover, and Seira is always there to annoy everyone by saying how stupid it is to feel sympathy for the Daemonia, but Ginka has basically just been there as a cute fourth wheel without the baggage of the others. Although her episode feels a bit light in comparison to some recent developments, it certainly doesn’t spare her from the same despair.
From the beginning of the episode, Ginka is shown to be quite a bit better off than most, as she actually has a father, and a very loving one at that. After having gone through a familiar story of being too poor to eat, the two are now rich and successful, and enjoy life to its fullest. And none of that really changes throughout this episode. The only real blow to this idyllic existence is that a newly introduced friend of this newly introduced father character falls on some hard times of his own, and out pops our Daemonia maker to put him through the process.
And then it’s basically the same final act as every episode, this time obviously offering Ginka the opportunity to hear his voice and suffer a bit more for what has to be done. That’s Seira’s cue to fulfill her standard obligation, and we’ve got our template filled out once again. Despite making such a point to shatter the happiness of one of the main characters, nothing really changes as a result of this episode’s events. Ginka’s personality is intact enough for her to brush the matter off relatively easily (and honestly, even the alternative would’ve seemed a little cheap, as the character who became a Daemonia wasn’t even a part of the story until just now). Her character gets a little bit of exploration and development, but it’s just enough to remind us that none of these characters appear to be very interestingly written.
Since the character moments prove much weaker than they want to be, the one thing to grab hold of is any potential plot progression. As usual, this episode doesn’t offer much in that regard either, but there is a tiny pinch of it. It appears to be clear at this point who the primary antagonist of the series is, and the roles of another villainous character falls into place a bit more. More questions are raised than are answered in this reveal of sorts, but that may be the most positive thing about the episode; at least there’s something to keep us intrigued, even if it’s in the most basic way possible.
In Summary:
This episode revises the formula slightly to give Ginka some time to shine, as she hasn’t gotten much development for being one of the main characters. However, it ends up focusing more on new characters that we aren’t given enough reason to care about, and in the end it all feels like wasted potential, with the small bit of character development we get only showing that there’s not much below the surface after all. A bit of progress and continued mystery surrounding what seems to the main villain is possibly the most that can be taken away from the episode.
Grade: C
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Custom-Built PC, Sceptre X425BV-FHD 42″ Class LCD HDTV.
