English Dub Review: The Silver Guardian “Suigin Pledges Himself to Riku Rei!”

This is nowhere near a silver.

The Silver Guardian ushered in a massive change. Suigin was revealed to be the biological grandson of Yuuki Riku in “Suigin Inherits a Legacy!” Moreover, his newfound friend Rei Riku isn’t actually Yuuki’s daughter. Instead, she’s adopted.

Rei is kidnapped by a group of goons. But a strange entity named Silicon Totems (who despite what you may be wondering is not a porn star), steals Rei from them. Totems tease Suigin that he’ll be waiting for him in Gravebuster, the new game Yuuki debuted shortly before his murder.

Adding to the mystery, Suigin’s $10,000,000 inheritance is limited to in-game currency. “What is Grave Buster? Is it just a game or something else? Who was that guy [Silicon Totems]? Where’d he take Rei? I’m so lost,” Suigin thinks out loud. Yeah Suigin, that makes two of us.

Then, and this is where The Silver Guardian gets really strange, a female glowing green gets pulled into the real-world from Grave Buster. “You can call me Twin Star,” she says before calling Suigin her master. Then Suigin gets pulled into Grave Buster.

Landing in a desert, a massive entity erupts from the sand bellowing “Who dares awaken me?” This seems rather akin to the sand tiger who guarded the Cave of Wonders in Aladdin. Ending the episode is a quick recap of the events leading up to this moment in the series. “Suigin Pledges Himself to Riku Rei!” is a bit mixed. While I like the action and high-octane pace, the plot remains muddled. There’s an overall rushed feeling to the episode. As soon as a scene or the episode begins gaining momentum, there’s a scene change or the episode concludes. Additionally, there’s a dose of unnecessary fan service. I wish The Silver Guardian would instead focus on storytelling than fan service which detracts from the overall experience.

Thankfully, fan service isn’t as heavy handed as Brave Witches. Though despite its fan services, Brave Witches is a stronger series in its cohesive narrative structure. “Suigin Pledges Himself to Riku Rei!” does quicken the plot however which benefits the series and episode. At the onset, Suigin appeared in the world of Grave Buster. Now, 6 episodes in, he’s finally made the foray into the game world.