After reviewing my episode one post from a month and half ago, it seems my doubts regarding DenYuDen’s ability to walk the line between being a comedy and drama have been put to rest. Aside from a few overly cliché moments, I have enjoyed watching Ferris’ comedic charm and seeing Sion sell his soul to the devil. As luck would have it though, it seems that once I put one fear to rest another has come to take its place.

She reminds me of Yui.

Before getting into what that fear is, I must say that I love girls with fangs, and this episode really delivered on that front. Both Milk and Sui have fangs, and thus, have instantly become my two favorite characters in this show. Regrettably, my love for their dental issues doesn’t mean I think they have any place in the show. The pink haired Sui, and her older brother Kuu, only show up for two minutes, with their only discernable purpose being to alert Milk to Ryner and Ferris’ location. Though the siblings did offer a few laughs, they seemed somewhat out of place and seem to be, for the time being, exhibit A as to what this story’s problem is (which I cover later).

As for Milk, this episode clearly focused around her. With seven episodes under our belt, understanding what taboo breaker means and what her job is became a lot clearer than when introduced. A bit of shame though for Ryner and Ferris, as both Miran Froaude and Milk’s group are out to kill/capture them thanks to the secret nature of their mission. One interesting twist is that is doesn’t seem that the rest of Milk’s crew  knows of her past with Ryner and the affection she holds for him, as even in episode 1 she is always alone when she talks to him. However, the most interesting part of her story was found in the flashback where we saw a far more aggressive Ryner save Milk. Given that Ryner himself said he hadn’t used his Alpha Stigma for several years in a past episode I hope we will get to see why he gave up using his power and if it had anything to do with his personality change.

This one is just too easy.

Though introduced, in passing, during the first episode, I was a bit surprised with how important the defense of a nation’s magic is to its survival. Given that this is something Sion oversaw himself, it does seem to be a rather important plot point. Unfortunately, I don’t really care about the sanctity of Roland’s magic, or any other nation’s for that matter, as the series hasn’t done anything to acquaint us with it. I wasn’t looking for anything on par with FMA’s review on the finer points of Alchemy from episode 1 of that series, but at least try to make me care. Additionally, this potential plot point just adds to an ever increasing catalogue of things in this series that I need to keep an eye on. With an upcoming conflict in Estabul likely on the horizon, that list will likely continue to grow.

On that point, the episode concluded with Miran giving Sion a report about an uprising in Estabul. From the look on Sion’s face once he got that news, I wouldn’t want to be in Estabul anytime soon. Most of his screen time this (and last) episode was again devoted to him moaning about his inability to protect Fiole. Given that he also likely regrets his inability to protect his classmates from being slaughtered by the Estabul Knights in episode 3, he seems hell bent on revenge. After watching the Star Wars trilogy yesterday, I can’t help but think this is Sion’s first big step to the dark side.

I get it. Sion is evil.

Like its expanding plot, the show’s cast of characters continues to grow. Though I am fairly confident that most of the recent additions to the cast will be nothing more than bit players, and thus will not be critical to the overarching story, it seems like the show has not yet hit its stride. While this is a bit of an exaggeration (especially considering episode 3), more than one fourth of the series has aired and it feels as if I’ve only seen an endless convoy of character introductions. I would hate to see this series suffer the same fate as the third season of LOST, in that it continues adding new characters without really ever advancing the plot of the main characters, which in this case would be Ryner, Ferris, and Sion.

On a different issue, it was nice to finally get confirmation as to where episode one fit into the continuity of the series as a whole. While I’d imagine most people who watched this were able to surmise that it took place before episode 5, the open ended ending of the first episode had given me troubles. Fortunately, the show solved this problem by highlighting another. This episode’s ending was the second instance in which Ryner and Ferris apparently walked away from a fight with a monster that had something to do with the legendary relics (the dragon in this episode and the stone monster in the first).

For Ferris, I would be her S any day of the week

It seems as though there is some understanding between Ferris and Ryner as to what they are doing, but it would be nice if we were privy to their conversations. For example, is there a reason as to why they are letting these monsters roam free, are to assume they defeat the monster in between episodes, or is there someone else who comes along to deal with these beasts? Given that the show looked ahead in the first episode, it does seem reasonable to assume that we may not have the whole story and that there is some sort of missing episode that will clear everything up in the future, but then again, I really don’t have a clue. Let’s just hope we don’t get some sort of ending monologue that “solves” all the plot holes ala Angel Beats.