English Dub Review: Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor “The Reason to Live”

Where we see just how much of the plot I called from the last episode.

Spoilers Below

Sistine’s massive mana capacity has come in handy. Albert is able to use all that power to bring Glenn back from the brink of death, and both of the boys are now ready to kick some researcher tail. Albert reminds Glenn, however, that this was all his fault anyways. By abandoning the mage corp, he betrayed the two of them almost as bad as Re=L betrayed him. Albert punches Radars out, but not out of true anger. That was punishment, and now, he can forgive his comrade. The two head off to perform their daring rescue. They know where Rumia is not because of a tracking spell on her (that already got dispelled by the bad guys), but by a tracking spell Albert put on the evil maid during their fight in the last episode. Of course, even if that hadn’t been done, Albert already knew that the Researchers were working with the White Alchemy Lab’s leader. It was a foregone conclusion where they’d take Rumia.

As they arrive, the two mages are greeted by one chimera after another, culminating in the lab’s leader himself. Showing shades of Resident Evil’s Tyrant boss, he transforms into a monster and attacks. Albert keeps his attention with powerful magic while Glenn ducks past him and into the ritual chamber. He fights with Re=L, trying desperately to tell her that the man claiming to be her brother is a fake. That is until he asks her what his name is. She can’t remember! That’s because isn’t her brother! He figured this all out from the fact that the con man referred to her by Re=L, and not her real name! You see, the Re=L we know is a clone. Three researchers worked on project Revive Life, and they produced an actual clone from the project. A clone of one of the researchers, which they named Re=L. But, one of the other researchers contacted Glenn, reporting that the project had sacrificed several innocents for the purposes of creating this one clone of Alushia. Rainer, the leader of the project, flipped out, killing Sion and Alushia before Glenn could arrive to help. But, Alushia’s soul data was already uploaded into Re=L. The clone came to life, but with fragmented memories. Glenn hid the truth of her past from her, and let her live a normal life. In return for being exposed, Reiner unleashes a trio of attack clones of Re=L to take them out. They really aren’t a match for both Glenn and their older sister. With that, Re=L and Rumia are safely back with the other students. Unfortunately, the evil maid now has all of the project data in hand. What is the Researcher’s planning to do with this next?

Well, to be honest, I wasn’t expecting the leader of the White Alchemy Lab to be a bad guy. He seemed like such a level-headed dude. On the other hand, he was so inconsequential to the plot of this episode, he might as well have not been there. Still, it was an interesting twist. One thing I was expecting, though, was that those chimeras would be enemies. I mean, have you ever seen monsters like that being made in a lab that didn’t end up fighting the main characters? I did enjoy the English script for this episode. Radars let off a bunch of one-liners that lightened things up in the right moments. Reacting to the chimera busting through the wall with a surprised “HELLO NURSE!” made me chuckle. Good work on that. Josh Grelle did a pretty good job in this episode, conveying a breadth of emotion through Radars that made him well rounded in this action-y episode. My one qualm was Leah Clark didn’t keep up with her portrayal of Re=L from the last episode, choosing to go into whistle register for the girl’s upset voice. I didn’t dislike this sound, but I enjoyed the lower version she used in previously.

I was surprised by the animation’s quality during this episode. The fight between Glenn and the clone patrol had some great direction, and the speed and punch in the animation made the fight exciting. He was desperately running after one of them while fighting off the others, and finally stops her sword with a sudden, enchanted fist. It was well done. Also, it may have been just a computer-generated graphic, but I liked the display in the lab. It used runes and magic circles in a way that portrayed the magic of this universe as a technology. I’ve always felt that should have been the case. Any society built around magic for long periods of time should not be stuck in the dark ages, but propelling forward quickly. Moore’s law should apply for spellcasting, same as processors, and that’s what we’re seeing in this universe. Magic as technology. I give this episode eight clones in tiny outfits out of ten. Enjoy.