English Dub Review: Chain Chronicle: Light of Haecceittas “Snowy Mountain Screams”

The Darkness, it got into his hand and it went bad.

Spoilers Below

Directed to the Maze Pass by the three Sages, our heroes are stopped in their tracks. The Black Mist has become a Black Blizzard and animated the skeletons of dead adventurers to attack them. Despite their great combat prowess, the heroes can’t outright destroy the miserable bag of bones, they just keep regenerating. Fortunately, this show is based off a video game, and everyone who’s played a JRPG knows that healing magic kills zombies. Cleric Marina lets loose some healing-as-hurting magic, and we’re clear to go… until what looks like a token anime mascot comes bounding in, more skeletons at its heels. Aram and Yuri leap to its defense, as Velnar goes on offense to torch out the primitive screw heads. Unfortunately, his boom stick is a bit too much for the cliffside, and Aram and Yuri are tossed off the edge. The rest of the party goes on to the Earth Sprites to get their help in retrieving their missing friends.

At the bottom of the cliff, the boys debate their tactics. Aram wants to keep going, to get past the storm. Yuri brings up that they would lose body heat faster than they think, and it would be best to make an ice cave. If you get lost, stay where you are and wait to get found. Solid advice. Inside the cave, the two of them have a discussion about trust and friends and all the things that lonely Aram doesn’t have. Well, now he does. That little critter they saved has taken a shine to him, and him to it. He names the albino pigmy puff Furball, and it takes up residence in his coat.

Back with the Earth sprites, the party gets their help and head back to rescue the boys, leaving Marina and Phoena behind to look at that nifty golden artifact. It definitely has some sort of power, and the Chain Chronicle reacts to it, turning to a page. The Sword of Light, eh? Well, that will come in handy later. A little big to wield, given that it’s about six stories tall, but you’ve got a Gatsu clone in the party somewhere. He can handle it.

In another area of the world, Shuza, a very dark-looking Samurai receives a message. He is called upon to help the Suppression Army. He decides drawing his sword was response enough.

Meanwhile, Yuri suggests that they play Word Chain to stay awake. This is a common game in Japanese culture, and Aram is floored that such an amazing hero would want to play such a… normal thing. He goes outside to take a leak, and Furball goes missing. He tries to find it, but the black blizzard is hiding everything. Yuri heads after him, trying to find him in the storm. Nasty thoughts start weaseling into him. Serves Aram right, it isn’t Yuri’s responsibility… As it gets darker in his headspace, the hallucinations of another Yuri becomes all the more real. You know, “I’m Bad Yuri, you’re good Yuri. Goody Two-Shoes”. It attacks him, and Aram arrives to save him. The illusion fades, revealing it was more skeletons all along.

Yuri begs for Aram to stay back, and let him take care of them. In a rare moment of lucidity, Aram yells out that Yuri was just talking about trusting his comrades. That if Aram beats them, its the same as if Yuri beat them. That sparks new hope in the captain, and the two fight together as one in Aram’s first Chain Attack! Skeletons beaten, a new figure appears. An old wizard, Melchiori appears and tests Yuri’s philosophical resolve. Apparently, this is the master of Fatima, the naked Sage of Fate. As a gift for passing the test, Melchiori clears away the storm and returns Furball to Aram. He offers a bit of advice about dragons and deserts that I don’t understand because I didn’t play the game, and vanishes. The party arrives to the rescue of the boys. Aram says he’s happy that Yuri’s friends were their to help them. Yuri retorts that it wasn’t his friends that saved them, these friends are Aram’s too.

But you know who isn’t their friend? Shuza. He intercepts them on the road and demands they hand over the Chain Chronicle. He’s gonna save Yggdra himself, then rule it.

Well, this episode was not written as well as previous ones, but it isn’t wasteful. There was no point in the episode where it wasn’t advancing the overall A, B, and C plots. It just wasn’t very compelling. Furball reminded me so much of my own cat, Xeno. It was adorable. Other than a few points where Marina talked reeeeeeealy quiet, there wasn’t much of problem in the voice acting. I don’t know how I felt about the animation. All of the skeletons were CG and were animated well enough, but it was obvious that they were CG. You could say it was intended that they look soulless, but it seemed a bit off to me. Otherwise, it was all the same quality I’ve come to expect from this show. Altogether, I give this episode eight Furballs out of ten.