English Dub Review: High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World, “It Seem Roo Can Decide Her Own Worth!”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The merchant showdown with Masato comes to a head. Following this, multiple developments occur within Elm Village.

Our Take

The big conflict between Masato and the rival trading company is solved in one fell swoop. Given how much buildup we received in the previous episode, I thought this would be a lot more elaborate and cathartic. Instead of some grand business scheme, Masato cuts to the chase and throws his secret plan in his rival’s face. The entire subplot is concluded in about five minutes. It’s a bit anticlimactic, but they had already spent too much time on this, so I suppose it’s good to get things moving along. 

Right after Masato’s big victory, we get a pretty serious scene with Roo. Roo’s primary role had been to look cute, and it still very much is. This scene adds a small layer of depth to her, giving her a hard motivation and defining her character more. It’s a bit melodramatic, but it gives someone who would otherwise be a mascot character a little more purpose. That said, I’m guessing from here on this whole thing will be stowed away into the back pocket until a convenient moment shows up where they can pull on this little thread and cash in on it. 

These two scenes seem to wrap up Masato’s introduction. He’s touted as a ruthless businessman who will do anything to make more money. But then his actions portray him as a good guy at heart, someone who will always go to bat for helpless people where he can. These two aspects of him attempt to mix together to make a character with depth and nuance. I don’t think it works entirely and the result is just a cocky teenager who thinks he’s edgy. It’s kind of shallow, but at the same time that’s how teenagers actually are, so it also kind of works.

The rest of the episode moves at a faster pace, trying to cram in some more exposition and move the plot further along. 

Tsukasa builds a hot spring for the village, so we get some impromptu fan service. Following this is an action scene, which is also entirely gratuitous. This is more or less done so that Aoi and Keine can have a brief opportunity to show off, lest we forget they exist. 

We get to see a little preview of the next bad guy. Like the previous bad guy, he also couldn’t be more of a hot air-inflated strawman that exists solely to get summarily one-upped by our prodigies. But this new antagonist may be a little bit more than just a simple foil though. His kidnapping Lyrule confirms the suspicion that she serves a more significant role in this whole thing, so he might have some tricks up his sleeve. If this is the case, then we may see our first big, engaging confrontation.