English Dub Review: Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor “The Evil Being”

Illusions within illusions, but the truth will out.

Spoilers Below

Glenn and Rumia are under attack by the two mysterious agents, and boy are they a challenge. While the little girl among them uses alchemy to summon swords, the man has access to military-grade sniping magic. Fortunately, while the girl is gung-ho for clearing and smashing Glenn, the man stops her in her tracks. Despite her beef with our hero, Re=L (yes, that’s her name) and Albert Fraser are here to help. They are also Court Mages, and ranked among the arcana. They were sent to investigate irregular activity in the royal guard, and heading off to execute Rumia is pretty irregular! However, there must be more going on in this situation. Celica, formerly the court mage code named “The World”, is with the queen, but isn’t taking any action. She seemed to have given Glenn a clue, telling him that he had to “present himself before the Queen”, but that doesn’t make a huge amount of sense.

While Glenn runs off with Rumia, Albert and Re=L take their place at the magic competition. They advise the class using exact quotes given to them from Glenn. They urge them on to victory after victory until they win the tournament itself! Normally, this would mean that the teacher of the class would receive a medal from the Queen herself, but Albert and Re=L accept it, as Glenn isn’t here. Or is he? Illusion spells go down, revealing that Albert and Re=L are actually Glenn and Rumia! The soldiers who though they were chasing the pair were actually chasing the two agents! However, something horrible is going on. The Queen orders that the captain of the guard kill Rumia! After a long and harsh disavowal of love for her daughter, she confirms that this is her choice. But that can’t be right! Glenn tells the queen to remove that conspicuous necklace, but she refuses. He goes to remove it himself, taking a sword in the hand as he does so. The necklace disintegrates before their eyes. This whole thing was a conditional curse. If Rumia didn’t die before the time limit, or if anyone revealed the curse, the Queen would die. Using his Fool’s World ability, he negated the curse before it fully activated, saving the Queen and allowing her to finally reveal her real love for her daughter, healing wounds and mending bridges. All’s well that ends well. Except for Glenn. The afterparty for the win cost him his entire earnings from the tournament. Oh, well. Poverty again.

Fun, fun, fun. I liked how this episode kept moving visually, holding my focus throughout. Between the battle scenes in and out of the tournament, and the tense drama at the end, the plot and visual direction is no slouch. Although the general what’s-going-on isn’t all that different from the previous arc (Rumia’s been kidnapped! Glenn saves the day with counterspells!), its expression in this arc has kept my attention. I’d like to know more about these “Researchers of Divine Wisdom” because, at current, their motivations are nebulous, and their reach is vast and insidious. I have a feeling we will be seeing more of those agents, especially since Re=L is featured so much in the opening credits while wearing the school uniform. The voice acting in this episode was good enough, I guess. Nothing stood out to me, either as grating or as deep, so I can’t really give it points or ding it there. All the same, I give this episode eight cursed necklaces out of ten.