English Dub Review: Radiant “Omen -Sign-“

Nobody expects another Inquisition focused episode!

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Seth has an Age-of-Ultron style nightmare about his power going out of control and killing people he cares about. Later, Alma meets Melie at the coffee place, but bad news! Because of the incident at Rumble Town, commerce is down and there’s no more coffee! Inconvenient for humans, but apparently lethal for that one giant squid from that filler episode. So, after several comedic shenanigans, they manage to find some good beans for the squid…that came directly from Lord Majesty, meaning Doc’s debt is now even larger. Later that night, Seth talks with Alma about his dream and how he fears he might actually become a monster people feared he would be.

But this episode isn’t really about Seth, it’s about the Inquisition! Particularly, Dragunov, as he becomes a topic of conversation among the Thaumaturges for his failure to capture Seth, along with their damaged reputation because of Conrad’s actions and lessened fighting power because of Teppes’ stupidity. Dragunov’s men are near starvation after giving up nearly all of their provisions to the Rumble Town victims. Even worse, no other towns seem to be willing to help them out because of that incident. That is, except for one: the town that they saved from that Leviathan Nemesis in THEIR previous filler episode, proving that there are still people who believe they’re doing their best. Though even this blue patch is followed swiftly by some clouds, as Dragunov gets a letter to meet with Torque about his previous actions, and so can only expect the worst.

OUR TAKE

One episode away from the season finale and we spend it on a filler episode, huh? And not only that, a SEQUEL to two other filler episodes from the stretch that seriously made me seriously question if this show was going to end up being worth my time. Luckily it did in the end (and with one episode left, I highly doubt my mind is going to change about that now), but reminding me of that period certainly didn’t help. However, while it does pull from the group of my most disliked episodes of the season, this one has some merit to it, as it uses its time to help us connect the current mental state of both character factions. Seth and his friends are still mentally recovering while the Artemis economy is impacted by the last arc’s events, and the Inquisitors are in damage control thanks to Conrad’s antics.

The plot with Seth is pretty much entirely filler fluff, but the important things to take away from it are the mention of the impact on Artemis, showing the world is affected by the things going on and not just our main characters, as well as Seth’s dream about his power going out of control again. While this doesn’t exactly move things that much more forward for him than what we’ve seen before, it’s still interesting to see him grapple with the possibility that he might become the exact thing he’s constantly avoided becoming but that people see him as regardless. The Bravery Quartet and Hameline were both driven to be criminals by the harsh world around them, but it was their choice in the end. Seth may have considered it at times, but he’s never had reason to go as far as them, so the only way it could happen is if his power overwhelms him, meaning he could end up completely thwarting his own goals and not even realize it until it’s too late. And it looks like that thought will carry over into the finale next week.

But the more major focus of the episode is on the Inquisition. Mostly on Dragunov and his men but also partially on Torque and the Thaumaturges. Back when he had his first focus episode, I mentioned that I appreciated the in-depth focus on the antagonist side of this conflict, but that the lack of a really villainous character in the story at that point made the tension feel rather lax. Thankfully we got exactly that in the form of Conrad just a few episodes later, but now he’s gone. We do know more about the Thaumaturges by now too, but they also seem a bit too…cool to be villains right now. They’ve certainly shown themselves to be a real threat against sorcerers, but there doesn’t seem to be much that’s antagonistic about them. That said, it is nice to get to know Torque and his parallels and contrasts to Dragunov in terms of goals and mindset. And, having read ahead in the comic a bit, I can say that, despite appearances, this isn’t the last we’ll be seeing of our blue-haired pirate.

All good things must come to an end, however, as we’ve only one episode left in the season. Let’s hope we go out on a good one.