The answer is always a secret family technique.
What They Say:
Kurihara Misato was a little more capable than other high school girls, and as a result, she was always alone and couldn’t live her life the way she wanted. When she was reincarnated in another world after a tragic accident, she wanted a chance to make normal friends and live a normal life. So she asked God for one thing… “Give me abilities that are average for that world!” But the abilities God gave her were not “average” at all… And now this girl, who’s been reborn in a world where magic is real, struggles to find simple, ordinary happiness!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
It’s Lenny’s 11th birthday and a party is being held for her at the inn. The girls of the Crimson Vow give her a nendoroid of herself as a gift. Heck, I wish someone would give me a nendoroid version of myself as a birthday gift. Everyone notices that a certain feature on Lenny’s nendoroid seems to be exaggerated. It’s not like Mile is envious of Lenny’s assets or anything! Flat is justice, right? Anyway, Mile starts reminiscing about the first birthday she ever spent with her friends at Eckland Academy. It was so much fun and she couldn’t stop laughing that day. Upon hearing how much fun that day was, a fire starts to burn within Reina. Is it the fire of jealousy? Nay! It’s just a sense of rivalry! She doesn’t want to lose to memories of Mile’s friends from the past. That’s totally jealously though, just saying. If only her birthday was today! They could throw an even better party than that one. Pauline recalls that it has almost been two hundred days since they met Mile at Hunter Prep School. They could celebrate that! Everyone is on board with the idea.
The next day, the girls all gather at the guild. Mile suggests a quest but the others say that they have other plans today and promptly leave. Reina, Mavis, and Pauline are going to earn money themselves to buy Mile a present. D’aww, that’s nice. They recall her admiring an expensive accessory and they plan to get it for her. The next few days all go the same way. Mile asks to go on a quest with everyone but they all say they’re too busy. She starts getting suspicious and fears that they don’t want to hang out with her anymore. Did she do something wrong? We then learn that Mile has been up to no good at night when everyone else is sleeping. She’s been snacking on Pauline’s hidden snacks, measuring Reina’s chest to make sure she isn’t beating her in that department, and reading Mavis’s picture diary. I died of laughter at this part, haha. Mile tries to ask them what’s going at dinner but it just turns out to be an awkward evening. The next morning, she tries to bully Lenny into telling her what they’re up to but she doesn’t budge. Mile starts having delusions that she’s been replaced in the Crimson Vow by Lenny. Why? Because the group only needs one flat character. I told y’all this joke wasn’t going to die. Mile falls into an Ashita no Joe state of despair. I love that reference and I love that anime. I recommend watching it if you ever get the chance.
Mile can’t take it any longer and decides to confront the others. She interrupts them in the middle of a quest and defeats the monster for them. She starts crying and demands to know why they want to abandon her. Later that day, Mile learns that they’ve been trying to earn money to buy her a present. Why didn’t they say so earlier!? It was supposed to be a surprise, Mile! Regardless, everything is cleared up and they throw her the party that night. They even make her an adorable cake that has all the members of the Crimson Vow drawn on it. All’s well that ends well. Actually, not quite. Mile is so relieved about this party that she inadvertently admits to her nefarious deeds at night when they’re all sleeping. Naturally, they’re not very pleased to learn of this. Uh oh, it’s going to be a long night!
During their next quest, Mile notices that the others have gotten way too relaxed. Why wouldn’t they be? After all, the ultra-powerful Mile is on their side! There’s nothing to worry about. Lazy bums, am I right? Mile hilariously compares them to Doraemon characters. When they return to the guild, Mile scolds them for relying on her too much. Life is full of unexpected surprises. What happens if she randomly dies one day? Will they be able to survive without her? That seems a little bit extreme but the girls understand what she’s trying to say. They are too dependent on her. That’s why they decide to do the next quest without her. The only problem is that they decide to take the most dangerous quest. No one has been able to successfully complete it, yet. They set off immediately to find the missing investigation team from the quest. As promised, the girls don’t let Mile do anything. They manage to defeat all monsters in their path easily. They haven’t been skipping out on their training at least! They’re being watched though and Mile starts to get worried. Eventually, they’re attacked by a group of beastpeople but they defeat them with ease. At night, they sneak into their excavation site and free the captured investigation team. They learn that the professor is still being held captive within the ruins and the girls decide to go save her.
The Crimson Vow make their way through the ruins and defeat some beastpeople along the way. They finally reach a room where the professor is being held prisoner. They free her and discover that she’s an elf. They also find out that the beastpeople aren’t the real enemies. They’re just being controlled…by an elder dragon. Wait a minute! Isn’t the elder dragon the strongest creature in this world? This isn’t sounding good. The elder dragon shows up and the girls attack it but to no avail. Their attacks aren’t landing. The elder dragon nails Mile with her tail and gravely injures her. This is the first time the others have seen her in such a state. This can’t be happening! She’s not dead, right? The girls unleash their most powerful spells at once but they only manage to scratch the elder dragon a tiny bit. To add insult to injury, it heals those scratches right away. Yup, things are definitely not looking good for the Crimson Vow.
The unconscious Mile is dreaming of her former life as Kurihara Misato. She remembers the warmth of her family. Amusingly, everyone in her family, except her little sister, is an otaku. Her parents even make a Your Name reference! She had some cool parents. She also dreams of her time as Adele. Spending time with her Eckland Academy friends were some of the happiest moments of her life. How long is she going to keep dreaming though? She’s scolded by her Kurihara and Adele versions. Mile is scared. She’s never been in this type of situation since she reincarnated. She doesn’t want to die, again. An elder dragon is just too powerful. Her Adele version hilariously points out that she was the one that asked to have average abilities in this world. Now she wants more power? Her Kurihara version tells her to stop complaining. She knows what she has to do. Mile sees her friends desperately fighting for her sake and it finally wakes her up. Mile gets up and manages to injure the elder dragon with her Spirit Gun attack, Yu Yu Hakusho style! The elder dragon can’t believe that a human could injure it. It’s soon joined by two other elder dragons. All three attack Mile together but she blocks all of their attacks. They’re absolutely stunned by her power. We also learn that her magic is currently being amplified by the nanomachines. I’m going to be perfectly honest, I forgot that was still a thing. Mile defeats all three elder dragons with her ultimate Spirit Gun attack.
The professor is flabbergasted. Why is Mile so strong? Who is she? How did she do that? The girls all respond in unison that it’s a secret family technique, haha. I still love this joke. The dragons explain to them that they were looking for a lost civilization. They had the beastpeople excavate these ruins in order to find it. It turns out that these ruins aren’t a part of that civilization. Thus, they agree to leave and cause no more trouble. The girls return home and have a party at the inn to celebrate their victory. However, Mile doesn’t seem to be in the mood to celebrate. Why do powerful beings such as elder dragons need to find the lost civilization? They wouldn’t tell her anything and Nano won’t tell her either. It’s classified information. When she was reincarnated, she was told that there were no gods in this world. Noone will save the people here. Mile takes it upon herself to rescue this unstable world. She decides to embark on this journey alone and leaves the others behind. But you can’t get rid of them that easily, Mile! They followed her and give her a piece of their minds. How dare she try to leave without them again!? Mile says this is going to be a dangerous journey but they don’t care. They’ll have her back, always. They’re friends, yeah? Mile is moved to tears and hugs them tightly. The Crimson Vow embark on their new journey as the season ends.
In Summary:
This show was silly fun until the end. The four girls of the Crimson Vow were all lovable dorks. The references throughout the series were great. I enjoyed most of the jokes. The opening song was just so darn catchy, too. Wahhō wahhō! Was it the best show this season? I don’t think so. Could it have been better? Probably. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. I had a lot of fun with it and that’s good enough for me. It was a perfectly average show! I hope someone found that line as funny as I did when I came up with it. I don’t think there’s going to be a second season but who knows? Anything can happen. I wouldn’t mind another season. Will Mile ever be able to obtain an average life and normal happiness?
Grade: C (average for all three episodes together)
Season Grade: A perfectly average C (it’s funny, dangit!)
Streamed By: Crunchyroll, VRV
