Hubris.
What They Say:
Episode #11: “The Fall of Castle Unicorn”
Despite suffering casualties, Altirk has gained the upper hand in the battle. But suddenly, a massive fleet is spotted, advancing towards them from across the seas. Marrine has called on Nord, the nation across from the continent, to reinforce her troops.
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
It is very convenient that Theo and Siluca are off protecting their own domain when the lord that they serve is about to fall in battle. This episode doesn’t even attempt to disguise the outcome, it straight up tells you as the episode title. Altirk will fall because Villar poked and prodded a monster until it decided it was annoyed enough to crush him.
The battle itself is a spectacular riot of loose animation and sweeping camera moves. Marrine gets the drop on Villar by allying with the Nords (aka Vikings) and having their fleet take out the battleship while she marches on the castle from the land. We don’t know what deal she made with the sea raiders, but their power is overwhelming. The mirror weapon can’t work in the dark, which seems like a huge oversight. Villar realizes as soon as the fleet is spotted that his rule is over. Rather than surrender, probably because he knows Marrine will give no quarter, he decides to fight to the end. A decision which condemns all of his men and supporters because he was stupid enough to start this war to begin with.
There’s also some awkward making out from a couple of fronts which just cements that this is trying to prove it’s a more mature series. It doesn’t make any of it less awkward or weirdly timed. Timing is not this series strong suit. Neither is logic sometimes. Why are the soldiers not doing everything in their power to protect the mages while they fight? Why are their mages rushing the front lines? Mages are squishy, have these people never played a game with magic users before?
It’s really hard to care about everyone dying in this episode (or losing everything) when it didn’t develop any of these characters and make us care about them. Villar was more often a hindrance and a nuisance to the two characters who are supposed to be our leads. Remember that one time Theo marched against him and Siluca ghosted on her assignment for him? (Theo wanted to save his small country, not the world.) They’ve stuck by his side because he was merciful to their transgression, and that’s it. Like some sort of Stockholm syndrome, they came to appreciate how he ruled, but Villar never took either of them seriously. Instead, he as obsessed with showing up his cousin and his bloodline, and ultimately loses his entire kingdom, his lover, and his life. His last message to Theo is basically “go get em kid, you amused me.”
Speaking of not caring about who these people are, is there a reason I should care about the battleship lady losing her harem? I must admit I do feel bad for the poor mage girl who is slaughtered without remorse. (Why did the other commit suicide? What?) So many bodies in this episode, at least the cast is being whittled back down to more manageable numbers. Those outside of this massacre are the lucky ones, basically, anyone who is chilling with Theo in the opening credits. Unfortunately, the only development they were given was during their introductions and I don’t particularly care about them either.
Marrine conquers her cousin’s castle and marches her forces onward into the lands that called Altirk an ally or were directly reporting to Villar. Theo really should just cut and run.
In Summary:
A beautiful slaughter that is ultimately hollow. Everyone has underestimated Marrine and are paying the ultimate price for it. Villar felt the need to take out his bloodline frustrations on her instead of being an ally when she needed it the most and, well, mommy issues ended up being his downfall. Shame he had to take down all of his supporters in the process. The guy really only cared about himself in the end. Margaret deserved better and she was a fool. I’m happy Siluca was shedding no tears for the lord she never wanted to serve to begin with. Marrine continues her relentless assault of Altirk while the Union council frets indecisively.
The next episode is a recap episode so I’ll likely skip the review. See you back here in two weeks for how Theo resolves to move forward.
Episode Grade: B
Streamed by: Crunchyroll & Hulu