Review: World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman “The Netherworld Sorceress”

Well, after Funimation got hit with the Daylight Savings plague, we got the latest episode of  World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman an hour late. World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman (man, I need to find an acceptable way of shortening this up) took a step away from the inner high school drama that has driven the story for the last two episodes. What we got this week, in “The Netherworld Sorceress,” was a look at the political machinations that drive what goes on at the school.

The main player in the political string pulling is Shizuno’s brother, Tadanori. This man doesn’t have a brother / sister relationship with Shizuno. It’s more of a business way of saying indentured servitude. Shizuno has it drilled into her head that everything she does has to be done for the family; to make the family more powerful. This is really expanded later on when there was a dinner with the Urushibara siblings and Moroha. Either way, this type of relationship makes Shizuno act like the poster child for what I call,”sheltered child syndrome.” If you need to have an example, just look at how Shizuno acts whenever she has Moroha anywhere near her.

Right after Tadanori’s introduction, we were quickly introduced to United Kingdom’s executive of the Six Heads, Sir Edward Lamperd. Lamperd’s sole intent on traveling to Japan and meeting Moroha is to test the limits of his powers. Lamperd got a brief look at it when Moroha did nothing to dodge his attacks. When Lamperd is at the campus to see Moroha fight, it seemed like he couldn’t even be bothered with watching, even though it was his whole purpose. And then there’s the story of Lamperd’s assistant, who I think fought Moroha as the episode was ending.

There was finally a look into the past lives of Moroha and Shizuno. From the look of it, these two were ruthless, evil sorcerers who tried to conquered the world. It ended in an anti-climatic moment where Shizuno, again, tried to make out with Moroha. This seems silly, especially when it followed a really good scene giving insight into why there was this past connection between Moroha and Shizuno. What made things seem even more obvious, was when Moroha was in Shizuno’s room, and nothing seemed like her.

And now, for the “creepy as fuck moment of the week.” Maya, the sister (even though the Japanese version says neice) of the principal of Mari. This prodigy is several years younger than the first year students…I’m talking about how she looks like she’s six when the youngest seems like 15. Do you see where this is going? She develops a huge crush on Moroha, and is compounded with the kiss she gave him at the end of the last episode. When that happened last week, I thought it was innocent. You know, because of special powers and what not. Yeah, this got weird.

On the whole, I am digging the expansion of the universe. It seems formulaic to me, because Assassination Classroom, Tokyo Ghoul, The Rolling Girls, and World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman all managed to expand either the plot, characters, or both. They all at the same time, both in dubs and when it aired in Japan, so I shouldn’t be so surprised. This is when being formulaic is fine, because it actually adds to the show. Overall, “The Netherworld Sorceress” was a very good look into another past life of Moroha, even though it was short. Now that we got a quick tidbit of this life, I’m sure that the story is going to get more interesting.