English Dub Review: Assassin’s Pride; “Labyrinth Library,” “Messengers of Death,” “Pride of an Assassin-Instructor”

 

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Melida and Elise attend the final exam in the Labyrinth Library. Unbeknownst to them, several traps have been laid in advance

Our Take

The arc contained in these last episodes is the academy’s final exam, which is appropriate for the finale. Said final exam takes place within the Labyrinth Library, a gigantic underground library full of trials and traps. Despite being first years, Melida and Elise are allowed to take the first part of the exam to test and prove themselves as knights. 

The Labyrinth Library itself is creative and inspired, evoking some Hogwarts elements but adapting it appropriately. The library is said to contain information from the time when the sun and the moon were still around, which adds a tiny wrinkle of much-needed world-building to the setting. How the books can only be read if your certification is high enough is another cool magical touch. The fairy tale motifs are serviceable enough by themselves, though in practice they’re used to mix results. 

Parallel to this final exam is a group of nobles conspiring together to bring to light the truth about Melida’s magic and lineage. The nobles are headed by Lord Shicksal, who is Salacha’s older brother. Salacha’s struggle with her relationship with her older brother and Melida becomes one of the key conflicts of this arc. Another one of Melida’s friends, Mule, is also a key player. Though she is touted as Melida’s friend, she is the one who comes up with the plan of how to capture Melida, using the labyrinth as the stage. 

Kufa implores Melida to take the exam despite her reservations about it, telling her to use it as an opportunity to prove herself. This scene, in particular, has quite a bit of emphasis placed on it. The anime is really milking all the screen time Melida and Kufa have with each other to establish their relationship. It’s too bad they didn’t think of this idea 10 episodes earlier. 

It’s the eve of the exam, and of course, all sorts of problems pop up. A man in a jester outfit invades the academy claiming to be Melida’s father. Then Melida’s real father shows up to remove her from the academy. Then Kufa receives a calling card from the dark organization, Guild Grimfice. These complications seem complex at first, but ultimately, they require the same solution: Melida proving herself to others.

As the students descend into the labyrinth, they are attacked and separated. Melida and Elise conveniently end up with each other, with Salacha and Mule eventually showing up as well. The group goes forth to tackle their exam: a puzzle involving books. Mule makes quick work of this and they pass fairly easily. 

As they’re about to leave, Salacha feels the weight of her conscience and tells Melida about the trap that was set up for her. Mule wastes no time moving the trap ahead of schedule and attacks Melida. Melida apprehends Mule, but Mule turns the tables by transporting them into a storybook.

While the botched exam is unfolding, the other students are attacked by a necromancer. Kufa is able to enter the labyrinth just in time to save the day. He learns that the attack on the students in the labyrinth was set up in part to distract him from the academy so that Guild Grimfice could attack the rest of the students there. However, this large-scale assault on the entire academy is only shown for a few seconds and is never addressed for the rest of the show. One would think a dark guild attempting a siege on a prestigious academy would be noteworthy, but I guess not. 

Melida finds herself within the storybook, the world within it modeled after the courtroom scene from Alice in Wonderland. With Melida as the defendant, Lord Schicksal and the nobles proceed to harshly vilify her, question her lineage and where she gets her magic, declaring her guilty of gross impropriety. 

Mule is completely involved in all of this, despite her seemingly earnest claims to be doing this for Melida’s sake. At first Mule’s character is contradictory in this regard, but they eventually reveal that Mule thinks this is some sort of trial for Melida to overcome. So Mule thinks of Melida as something of a younger sister, or perhaps even a daughter? Mule has always had a coy and obtuse personality, but what is most vague are her motivations. They’re not made clear enough by the end and Mule as a character falls flat because of it.   

Melida refutes all of these charges and resolves to prove herself worthy. The nobles have Melida fight Salacha, and through perseverance and willpower, Melida is able to neutralize her. The nobles then have a strangely convenient and instant change of heart about Melida and are accepting of her. 

But just as the trial is resolving itself, a pen Salacha received from her brother falls out of her pocket. The ink from this pen seeps out, forming into a giant ink dragon. This ink dragon is probably the most original and unique thing in the anime. It’s drawn as though it came from an ancient tablet or tome, with a menacing jagged outline but sparse in detail. Unfortunately, this dragon doesn’t stay around very long as it’s just there to wreck the place and change the stage for the final battle. 

Kufa shows up in the storybook dressed as the Mad Hatter and the jester from earlier shows up to try to stop Melida and Kufa. The instructor and pupil have a moment and team up to take the jester down. I appreciate the idea and the sentiment this final battle is going for, having Melida and Kufa standing on the battlefield as something close to equals. However, the battle is pitifully short and the execution in the animation is lackluster. This was the opportunity for a big flash, but all we got was a little spark. 

The story wraps things up by showing that Lord Schicksal’s schemes run far deeper than first shown. He blames the entire mess on another knight, presumably the jester guy. Melida also does receive some closure with the relationship with her father, which is nice to see. 

The final scene shows Melida finding a black cat that has a family with a white cat, alluding to the relationship between Kufa and Melida. As for the actual relationship itself, it ends on a slightly more platonic note. Instead of a big mushy romance scene, we see Melida vowing to one day be the one to protect Kufa as he protected her. Melida seems to have grown up a bit after all of this, which is solid character development. 

Though the story was adequate, what was sadly lacking was the quality of the animation. There are way too many drawing errors on the characters in these episodes, with more than a handful of lop-sided eyes and mouths on almost every character, even in close-up shots. In battle, there’s an over-reliance on simple visual effects as they generously fly near the screen to hide the lazy animation. Apart from the ink dragon, all of the visual flairs seem to have faded away. 

In comparison to the previous arc, this one felt a little lacking. This is unfortunate, as it really should have been the other way around for the finale. Though compared to the first half of the show, this is still miles ahead in terms of storytelling. It’s just sad that the quality of the animation couldn’t last until the story caught up to it.