“To the Heart Kingdom!”
What They Say:
In a world where magic is everything, Asta and Yuno are both found abandoned at a church on the same day. While Yuno is gifted with exceptional magical powers, Asta is the only one in this world without any. At the age of fifteen, both receive grimoires, magic books that amplify their holder’s magic. Asta’s is a rare Grimoire of Anti-Magic that negates and repels his opponent’s spells. Being opposite but good rivals, Yuno and Asta are ready for the hardest of challenges to achieve their common dream: to be the Wizard King. Giving up is never an option!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Asta excitedly tells Yami that they need to go to the Heart Kingdom! Yami doesn’t understand why the kid is so excited. Asta explains that they can probably find something about the devil’s curse if they go there. He also informs him that Gordon stayed behind to learn some curse magic from his dad. Gauche and Grey are currently passed out because the food they ate at Gordon’s home didn’t agree with them. Asta thought it was tasty though! But more importantly, can they go to the Heart Kingdom!? Yami says sure, why not? That was easy. Later that night, Yami tells Asta that going to the Heart Kingdom is impossible. Well, I guess it wasn’t as easy as previously imagined. Apparently, the Heart Kingdom has a whole bunch of trap spells on their borders and if they trigger them, it’ll become an international incident. It’s also impossible to get in without them knowing. Noelle remembers Mimosa talking about visiting the Heart Kingdom as part of a student exchange. Finral happily volunteers to take them to the Golden Dawn’s headquarters. He has some business to take care of there, too.
What’s this business Finral is talking about? Visiting his brother, of course! Langris seems to be doing better but he’s still very much frustrated about everything that happened with the elves. He did a lot of terrible things and to top it all off, he was beaten by his brother. He still hasn’t accepted that. Well, you know what? Too bad! Finral declares war on Langris. He’s going to earn his father’s respect, become the head of the House, and make Miss Finnes happy! Finnes blushes and tells him not to take too long! I don’t know about you guys, but I think she likes him. It makes you wonder why he’s always hitting on girls if he already has such a beauty waiting for him. In a hilarious twist, Langris was thinking about that very thing! He takes Finral outside and he immediately starts flirting with two girls from the Golden Dawn. Langris knew it! He’s just a hopeless playboy that will hit on any girl in front of him. He’s not wrong. He’s never going to make Finnes happy like this! If he doesn’t change his ways, Langris will end up marrying her instead. It ain’t going to be easy, that’s for sure.
Asta and Noelle visit Mimosa and ask her to help them get into the Heart Kingdom. She agrees to help them. After all, anything for Asta! The next thing you know, they’ve gotten permission to head into the Heart Kingdom! That was fast. Asta, Noelle, Finral, and Mimosa are the only four that are invited to go. Why is Finral going? Because his spatial magic is convenient. Seems legit! They’re going to make their way there on an adorable little boat. When asked where it came from, Yami admits that he stole it from Marx, haha. Never change, Yami. Heart Kingdom, here they come! On the way there, there’s a funny scene where Noelle gets jealous of Asta enjoying Mimosa’s sandwiches. She doesn’t know why but this frustrates her! Asta is choking on his food and Noelle uses her magic to spray water into his mouth. They begin to banter back and forth. Mimosa doesn’t know why but this frustrates her! Rivals in love, am I right? On a side note, Finral is super jealous.
Eventually, they arrive in the Heart Kingdom. It’s a beautiful place where the water is abundant and the greenery is lush. We catch a glimpse of the Queen of Hearts and she proclaims that they must get the devil power from the Clover Kingdom. Well, that sounds ominous. I’m sure everything will be fine! Randomly, a guy shows up on their boat. He’s known as the Spirit Guardian Gaja and he’ll be acting as their guide. I bet you thought a fight was about to go down! I’m telling you, everything is going to be okay. They learn that the queen’s Mana Zone covers the entire kingdom. In every generation, the queen makes a pact with the Water Spirit and uses its magic to protect the kingdom. The result has been a magic civilization with deep mana that doesn’t allow unwanted guests to enter. Clearly, the Queen of Hearts is a powerful mage. You probably wouldn’t want to get on her bad side. It’s impressive that a single queen has been able to keep the peace of an entire kingdom for so long. Well, that used to be the case. All of a sudden, Asta is trapped in a ball of water and taken away! Gaja remarks that they need Asta’s power to maintain the peace.
Naturally, the others aren’t too happy about their friend being taken away from them! Finral uses his spatial magic to chase down Asta but Gaja catches up with him right away! Everyone is surprised by his unusual magic. It looks like they have to fight him. Alright, I guess I was wrong. Things don’t seem to be going well at all. It seems like Gaja uses lighting magic but he’s also using runes that you don’t see in the Clover Kingdom. Maybe it’s a Heart Kingdom thing? Noelle transforms into her Valkyrie Armor and she’s the unfortunate target of Gaja’s lighting attacks. Luckily for her, Mimosa and Finral have her back! They manage to evade his attacks but he’s just getting started. He creates a giant rune above them and they realize that this is powerful magic. Things are definitely not looking good!
Asta has been transported to an underground cave. He’s greeted by the beautiful Water Spirit, Undine. She’s impressed by his Anti-Magic but he’s no match for her. She proceeds to toy with him for a little bit before cuffing him underwater and attempting to drown him!? Things certainly escalated quickly! Back over to the others. Gaja unleashes his True Lightning Magic: Irial Astrauza spell! It turns out to be as powerful as they had imagined and it creates a huge crater in the ground. Did he just eliminate those three? Nah, they dipped using Finral’s spatial magic. Gaja is a little relieved that they ran away. Jokes on him though, they didn’t run away! In fact, they combined their magic and land a counterattack on him! Teamwork, baby! Oh yeah, what about Asta? He’s lucky that Nero came to his resue! She frees him using her sealing magic. Asta can tell that there’s someone else here with them. A shocked Undine watches him rush straight towards that person, most likely the Queen of Hearts, and attacks! Does his attack land? We’ll have to find out next time!
In Summary:
I really liked this episode! I wasn’t expecting it to be this good. It seems like the animators got that well-deserved rest because the animation quality in this episode was better than usual. In fact, some scenes were just so gosh darn beautiful. In particular, the shots of the Heart Kingdom were quite lovely. I hope it stays this way for a while. Finral made his goals clear at the start of the episode which was nice. It’s not going to be easy for him to stop being a playboy! Let’s be honest, he’s not even that great at being one. He should just be happy with Miss Finnes. Speaking of romance, the Mimosa and Noelle pouty faces of jealously are always adorable. And how can I forget to mention to the fights? While short, they did a good job of demonstrating the capabilities of the Heart Kingdom. Gaja is a strong mage, so is the Queen of Hearts. I’m looking forward to learning more about them and the Heart Kingdom! Of course, you better believe I’m also ready for some more awesome fights!
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll, VRV
