English Dub Review: Overlord “Soaring Sparks of Fire”

Its time to enact some street justice in E Rantel.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The time has come for Sebas, Brain, and Climb to put an end to the illegal brothel operating in the E Rantel underground. The three are firm in their resolve and discuss their battle plan before entering the den of depravity. They make it clear to each other: they’ll try to take prisoners if they can, but their work here will demand bloodshed. Affirming themselves to the task ahead, the three split up, with Sebas taking the main entrance, and Climb and Brain taking the secret side entrance to the brothel next door. Sebas knocks down the door with his powerful butler fists and sets to work dealing with the scum within. Brain and Climb, meanwhile, take care of the guards in the side entrance lobby with no trouble at all. They investigate the area with the aid of some magical tools at Climb’s disposal and soon come across a secret entrance to the underground area of the brothel.

Sebas continues his assault down the halls of the brothel and comes across Staffan Heivish, the grotesque noble who made fun of Climb two episode ago, sadistically beating a slave girl to a bloody pulp. Sebas takes it upon himself to teach this pig a lesson and begins slapping him across the face, in turn, tossing him around like a ragdoll. Beaten and bruised, Staffan begs Sebas for mercy but finds none in Sebas’s cold eyes. Declaring Staffan unworthy of life, Sebas annihilates him with an ungodly kick to the chest, killing the noble instantly.

Meanwhile, Brain and Climb keep exploring the underground, and decide to split up once more so Brain can try and meet up with Sebas. Climb guards the room he’s in and starts looking around to find the brothel’s secrets. But just then, he’s interrupted by none other than Succulent and Cocco Doll, two leaders of the Eight Fingers and owners of this illicit brothel. Cocco requests Succulent capture Climb, which Succulent agrees to for the right price. Climb, realizing he has a shot at capturing two of the leaders of the Eight Fingers, calls for help to try and stall for time against the two bosses. He taunts Succulent, telling him that if they want out of this room, they’ll have to go through him, and so the fight is on.

Succulent proves to be a challenging fight for Climb. The swordsman is not only a strong warrior, but also a skilled illusionist, and Climb finds himself unable to block Succulent’s seemingly invisible slashes. But after taking a few hits, Climb realizes Succulent’s trick: his right arm is actually an illusion, and his actual sword arm is invisible. Succulent compliments Climb on his perception but mix things up by sending out illusory versions of himself to attack the young warrior. Climb counters by listening for which illusion is the correct one, and strikes the correct one down, who falls to the ground, defeated.

Or so Climb thinks, but just as he proclaims victory, Succulent gets up and stabs him in the back, explaining that he used a false death spell to fool Climb. All seems lost until big bad badass Brain arrives to save the boy. He faces off with Succulent, who isn’t exactly keen on fighting such a legendary warrior. Succulent tries to bribe Brain, and convince him to join the Eight Fingers, but Brain is unmoved by his efforts. He’s far too moral of a man for that.

Succulent resigns himself to taking Brain on, and charges at him with a crew of duplicates just like before. But Brain ends the battle in one shot, slashing behind him to take down the actual Succulent who was invisible and behind him the whole time. Just then, Sebas appears from nowhere, knocks out Cocco and apprehends him. The battle for the brothel is over.

The authorities are soon on the scene. They apprehend Cocco, and release the slaves in the brothel. Our three heroes part ways, proud of the good work they’ve done. Sebas’s mirth is short-lived, however; when he returns to the mansion, he finds none other than Solution Epsilon, informing him that Ainz is there, and does not want to be kept waiting. Meanwhile, Climb meets up with Princess Renner and basks in her kind support. Brain finds some resolution to his recent struggle, too, drinking the night away with Gazef and discussing Climb’s progress as a warrior.

The episode soon comes to a close, with Climb leaving Renner to her evening, but not before we see something a touch sinister in the young princess. She stares at herself in the mirror, revealing that her smile is just something she puts on like a piece of clothing; something to influence how people see her. She remarks to herself that anyone who makes fun of her precious Climb must die. We hear her internal monologue confirming that the pure and righteous Renner might not be so innocent after all. She summons the maid who spied on her and Climb two episode ago to draw her a bath, and we are left with the sinister realization that anyone who gets in her way is subject to her murderous intent.

Our Take:

This week gives us one of the better episodes of the season so far, and one that has left the most impact on me from the outset. The episode itself is a pretty entertaining fighting episode, with some strong lines coming from Brain and Sebas to give the episode some flair. While I would prefer villains who are tough enough to survive more than one episode, Succulent and Cocco were no pushovers and made for some nice antagonists for Climb to take on. All this, of course, is surmounted by the well-done twist at the end of the episode, leaving me hungry to see what will happen next. Great stuff, Overlord, keep it coming.