Wakaranai

Rating:    

This episode of the Sacred Blacksmith swings back from the light and fanservicey heights of last week’s maid episode and ramps up the action again, providing an abrupt and dramatic conclusion to Charlotte’s Empire quandary. I say it was an abrupt resolution because I kind of expected these guys to hang around a bit longer and end up intertwined with the central story of the series, but instead they were on their way again after a bit of self-pitying and a good healing beating from Cecily. For a 12 episode series, Charlotte-and-company’s plot has been a pretty long tangent, essentially stealing the focus for three episodes, or a quarter of the show. I will be annoyed if they don’t show up again to contribute to the final climax. For that reason, this episode annoyed me a little. But its main problem was that, despite all the blood, sweat and tears being flung about, and the veritable storm of emotions that followed the Empire’s threat, I found myself pretty disconnected emotionally from the whole affair. Perhaps it was just a bit too cliché and predictable to have much resonance with me, but I didn’t feel a tinge of empathy for the girls throughout the episode. The lesson on life and family was just too forced and simple to be very engaging, and I was personally off-put by the girls’ stubborn rejection of the defection offer – if it’d been me I would have accepted happily!

The drama component may have been a bit weak but the action sequence that made up the climax of the episode was really awesome. The subbers, known for their, err, personality, seemed to revel in Cecily’s admission of her own stupidity, but for a Cecily fan like myself, I was more impressed by the fact that she actually got the chance to be awesome! There’s been a fair bit of harsh criticism hurled her way, along the lines of “she’s the most useless heroine of the year!”, but if anyone has the guts to call her useless now then they must be the stupid ones! She fought really well against Charlotte’s three loyal defenders. To their own demise, they opted to attack her one-by-one, but, even still, Cecily beat them down without hesitation or remorse. The fights were animated really well, adding yet another scene to The Sacred Blacksmith’s impressive action repertoire. In fact, the production quality all-round has been good. This may not have caught my fancy the same way the last episode, with its maids and bath scenes, but it was good for its fantasy battles (if not for its plot or dramatic impact).

● Man, Lisa and Luke sure have been sidelined lately. I always kind of figured that the show would primarily feature the four characters it shows on the OP and ED, but none of them have been getting much attention lately, with the exception of Cecily. But I liked Doris, Penelope and Margot so much that I can’t say I missed them much.

● I’m going to miss you Doris! ;_; You were so pretty and valiant..

● So Siegfried set the girls up to get a hold of Aria, huh? What is his goal, I wonder? If he just wanted the demon sword I’m sure he could have found a much better way to obtain it.