English Dub Review: Million Arthur “Rosebud”

It was his sled from when he was a kid. There, I saved you two hours.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

On a mission, Ruro is caught up in a water current but yells at Renkin to “take care of Lucy”. The team is puzzled by this, including Dancho in a cheerleader uniform, but split up to go find their lost companion. Later, Ruro awakens in a lavish mansion under the care of a beautiful woman named Rose Blossom who found him washed up near the river. His means of communication are busted, so he’ll have to settle in at the town of Flora that has vibrant roses despite poor soil. Rose gives these roses to the people every day, and so rose their affection for Rose and her roses as well.

As Ruro takes in the sights, a Gaston-like figure named Dokudami arrives with an Excalibur-like wrench staff, having come to propose to Rose even though everyone know he’s only after her fortune and even suspect him for Rose’s parents death. To throw him off the scent, Rose tries lying and saying that Ruro is actually her fiancé, but he’s more than willing to use force when that isn’t convincing enough. Still, he wishes he could help Rose out of her despair, but can’t think of any options. Eventually he reunites with some of the other Arthurs, who tell him that the readings that indicate another Arthur are still occurring. In addition, the forests surrounding the land are barren and dead while the village still prospered somehow.

With Dokudami out, that only leaves one other suspect, as much as Ruro hates to admit it. He confronts Rose, who admits that she is the real Arthur, using a shearing Excalibur to make new roses, but at the cost of the life in the rest of the area. Finally understanding the damage she’s caused, she hands over her Excalibur willingly. Upon its destruction, the roses in the town wither and die. It is a sad fact that his and the others’ mission is to destroy Excaliburs, even when they’re used with the best of intentions.

Back at the house, the others ask Ruro about who “Lucy” was, but he tells them it was just a baby bird he spotted minutes earlier.

OUR TAKE

Okay, THAT’S more like it. Now we’re back to dealing with this show at its best…which is still only fairly decent, but I will definitely take that over the last two episodes. With this, every main Arthur finally has a focus episode under their belts. Some of been passable, some of have been deplorable, and some have been SLIGHTLY ABOVE passable. Like the episode with Yamaneko, I’d say this qualifies as the third category by virtue of doing a lot of the things that worked well with that one. Specifically, we have an enemy Arthur who is acting with good intentions, even if those actions have potentially lethal results. But unlike the girl with the sniper rifle that turns people into pickled radish, Rose’s sheers seem to be totally non-offensive (at least to humans), being merely tools to retrieve life and the roses that grow from it.

Also possibly related are the characters that featured in those episodes, since they are written to have the most “edge” to them in personality. Yama is the tsundere with a troubled and bittersweet past, so her episode was about preserving similar things to the better parts of that through saving a previous version of the town she lived in. Ruro, being the bad boy sensitive type, immediately makes Rose put her guard down which also puts him at ease. The two seem genuinely at peace with one another, with an easy common enemy in Dokudami to push them closer together. But once the Gaston-wannabe is ruled out as the culprit, Ruro wastes no time nor hesitates to confront the truth (likely knowing we’ll probably never see Rose again anyway). Ruro is also pretty much a mystery in terms of his backstory, but based on his treatment of Rose and Lucy, I believe he’s someone who genuinely invested in others’ best interests, even if that requires facing hard truths and swallowing bitter pills.

The only notable missing piece compared to the Yamaneko episode is probably the lack of truly embracing the sheer madness of it all. A girl not seeing her accidental problems of holding onto the past is sad and all, but it feels so dry in comparison when it could have been at least a bit more fun when playing around with things. Ah well, three episodes left in the season which could be filled by anything now that the focus episodes are done. The suspense is mildly annoying me!