English Dub Review: Radiant “In Search of the Future -Utopia-“

See you in the Fall for “Radiant: Shippuden Z GX”!

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Seth and Alma find a note from Yaga, who has mysteriously departed (though really he’s just hiding from Alma for some reason), saying that Seth should go to a place known as “Caslien Merlin” to meet some knight-sorcerers who are also searching for Radiant. But there will also be Inquisitors there trying to salvage their reputation after Rumble Town. Seth goes to grab Melie and Doc, but Doc won’t let him put either him or his assistant in danger again (not to mention the massive debt they all still have to deal with), making her go and get mushrooms from a nearby island. Though even without his friends’ support, Seth isn’t really sure what to do next, especially after Hameline told him that the Nemesis isn’t all bad.

But speaking of the giant monster devil, a whole omelet’s worth of Nemesis eggs start falling from the sky onto Artemis, as well as the island Melie has gone mushroom hunting for. After “borrowing” a ride, Seth makes it there just as a dragon Nemesis hatches in front of her. They both manage to ground it, but Seth is hesitant to finish it off, hoping it’ll just run away. Unfortunately, the dragon blindsides Melie and drags him underwater, forcing his hidden power to reawaken and allowing him to vaporize it in one shot. However, Seth can’t find joy in this victory, as he still can’t control his abilities and might have just killed an innocent creature.

The next day, Seth has shipped out with Alma to go find Caslien Merlin and learn how to control his strength, only leaving a note behind to say goodbye to his friends.

OUR TAKE

So, we’re here at the finale of the first season AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND it’s another filler episode. But for once, I can see the value of placing it here. In the comic, there isn’t that much of a transition between the Rumble Town arc and the next one, but there clearly wasn’t enough time to start that here, and they couldn’t just end the season on a slow character piece again so they’ve gotta throw in some action to cap it off! I imagine the story meeting went something like “And what better way do that than literally throwing some Nemesis eggs at the town and seeing what happens? Plus, we might as well remind the viewers about Seth’s new powered up form too so they know to expect that next season. AND we should make Seth’s goodbye a lot sadder than in the comic since this is the show will be on break. Yeah, good job, guys. Now let’s go get wasted.” Stuff like that.

Although while pulling a Nemesis attack out of their asses might seem a bit of a cheap move to put in a finale, it does give us an opportunity, just like last week, to see how much Seth has changed in his outlook of the world. Where before defeating a Nemesis would make his day, especially if he saved a friend while doing it, now he can’t help but feel guilty for both being unable to rely on strength he can control AND how he might just be making the world worse by treating these creatures as monsters like the world treats him as one. Still loving the self-reflection that Seth has picked up from Rumble Town, so I’m obviously glad to see it play a part here before the break.

I have yet to read ahead in the comic about the arc the next season will be taking us into, so I can’t say much for what we can expect. For all I know, the arc might still be ongoing so the anime might have to make up it’s own ending. But I’m also kinda glad I’m mostly blind about things for now since that means I’ll hopefully be surprised about where the story goes. And I’m already way invested in the world and the characters, so they’ll have to screw up REALLY hard for me to not look forward to it.

But instead of looking forward, next week will be about looking back on this past 21-episode season for all its highs and lows. Time to see if this show still has its magic after one more look through.