English Dub Review: Fairy gone “Dancing Mouse and Broken Horn”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Dorothea is on their way to storm the castle. Literally! They’ve found out where top Gui Carlin member Eajey is hiding out: at his castle called Theodolua. Director Nein sends out a team of her top troops, including Marlya and Free. While they’re preparing to fight, Eajey and his team of (probably uncertified) surgeons keep performing operations in attempts to create fairy soldiers of their own.

Once the Dorothea agents attack, they quickly realize they may be in for more of a struggle than they bargained for. Eajey has created 55 cultivated fairy soldiers, and he has top-notch henchpeople like Quatoe, his right-hand man and cultivated fairy soldier. But Dorothea agents don’t give up. Working together, they dispatch many of their foes. When Quatoe flees to warn Eajey, Free follows him and finds the evil overlord in his library. What follows is an epic sword fight that ends in Eajey’s death. And an unlikely person is there to retrieve his weapon: Veronica.

Our Take:

At the beginning of this episode, I was nervous. The first few minutes really lean into the season one Fairy gone vibe, complete with lots of jumpiness as we jump from scene to scene of random names, places, and lots of exposition. Luckily, the episode settles down once the siege of Theodolua begins. The battle is intense, and a lot of fun to watch. Eajey is a formidable villain if a little braggadocious by the end.

Theodolua itself is a creepy location. Not only is it Eajey’s fortress, but his scientific experiment chamber as well. The operations they’ve been performing to implant fairies into people seem to be going well at first, with reporting they get better with each surgery, and that they’re on number fifty-five. However, as Dorothea sneaks in the underground, we get a chance to view the crypt where they dump the bodies of those who don’t take well to their operation. It’s a despot littered with sewage and bodies and rats with glowing green eyes. (I wonder if dumping all these bodies with fairies inside will affect the natural varmint ecosystem?) The sense of dramatic tension is palpable, and setting the fight here was a nice choice.

The fight between Dorothea and Eajey is interesting, too. I don’t think we’ve ever seen quite as big a battle as this. Definitely not one with so many fairies in one place. Seeing how the agents step up to the plate (especially Marlya and Serge) was awesome. Free’s face-off against Eajey ends up being successful (loved Marlya’s diving save), but I’m not sure I count it as a total victory. The Gui Carlin goon tries to get into his head, telling him about how his ideal world would be one where fairies roam free to mingle with humans. Honestly, it sounds kind of nice when contrasted against the current world where only those in power get access to fairies. But Free blocks all this out, saying he’s heard enough about motives and monologues. He’s in this for his comrades, and that’s it. If this is the conclusion to his arc about figuring out why he’s such a loyal dog, it’s not a great look. I hope he continues to examine why he’s in Dorothea on a deeper level than ‘because my friends are in it’.

This week’s dub was definitely worth watching. “I wish to end all corruption.” Nein’s continued battles with double-sided government officials aren’t quite as fun as the battle scenes, but I still enjoy them. “No one in the world would have to suffer if they were more similar to me.” Eajey is a funny guy. “The four of you are nothing but outdated pawns of Unified Zesskia!” Harsh, but true. “I’ve had enough of villains and mindsets.” Free’s blind dismissal of Eajey’s ideology is kind of concerning?

Dancing Mouse and Broken Horn starts off slow but turns into a pretty solid episode by the halfway point. Not only do we get some insight into how fairy operations work, (or rather, don’t work) but we got an exciting fight that stayed close until the end. Plus, we even got a little scene with Bittersweet and Patty. (The way they take out that random dude so quick is incredible. They make such a great team!) I’m a little disappointed that we still haven’t returned to Veronica and Marlya’s arc, but now that we’ve gotten Eajey out of the way, perhaps Ver is next.