English Dub Review: AZUR LANE “HOPE – Light Shines Through The Darkness”

Overview

Ayanami wakes up in Azur Lane and is told that she’s being “held” there as a “prisoner of war.” Laffey and Javelin take her shopping, eat food, and introduce her to new friends. She even meets Enterprise — who is still connected to the Black Mental Cube.

Our Take

It was genuinely sweet to see Ayanami finally experience what befriending “enemies” is like. However, there was one aspect of this episode that kind of blue-balled things, and that was the interaction between Ayanami and Enterprise. It seems that both of them have had similar introspective themes. Enterprise was always thinking about how war never changes, and why it has to happen, while Ayanami had only just recently (in comparison) started her own journey of self discovery when it came to considering war and having to fight/kill people. The idea of having them finally meet was great, because they’re two characters that no one ever really thinks would be in the same room together, yet have a lot in common. However, the conversation was pretty much just Ayanami opening up to Enterprise about her experience with war, and Enterprise basically just says, “Yeah,” and walks away. It was pretty anticlimactic.

The ending mimicking the beginning where Ayanami first met the girls as a spy was great, though. The voice acting in this show is surprisingly good for how nonsensical literally everything else is. Every emotional scene was portrayed well. These voice actresses should be paid double for having to switch between accents and ages — let alone in a show that isn’t very good to begin with.