English Dub Review: High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World, “It Seems High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World!”

 

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Duke Gustav rears his maniacal head once again as he and the prodigies face off one last time to see who will rule over the northern territory. 

Our Take

The mysterious mage introduced in the previous episode turns out to be the still-alive Duke Gustav, revived with a magic crystal grafted onto his heart. He destroys Marquis Conrad and burns down the Azure Brigade’s entire castle for defiling the image of the Emperor. In reality, though, Gustav doesn’t seem like he needed a reason to go berserk and explode. This guy just shows up wherever chaos needs to suddenly erupt and the prodigies need a big bad guy to take down. 

Tsukasa has the perfect response for the impromptu appearance of a mad villain of this caliber: an ICBM. Given how serious and solemn Tsukasa and Ringo were acting around its production, one would think it’d be a nuclear bomb. But an ICBM is still a very devastating and powerful display of destruction as it wipes the castle off the map. 

Tsukasa claims that the use of the ICBM was simply to demonstrate the power of the prodigies and assert sovereignty over their territory, and hopes that the road to being recognized as a nation will be peaceful from here. As one could imagine from what we’ve seen before, Tsukasa is fully cognizant of the consequences of deploying a weapon like this. He gives no excuses for his decision though. He’s obviously not going to get the peaceful route though, as powerful magic exists in this world, so I’m not sure what he’s hoping for. He also tries to absolve Ringo of all blame in the use of the ICBM, saying that it was all under his orders, but she is determined to accept blame with him. 

Using the might of the ICBM as a demonstration, Tsukasa claims the northern territories of the continent for the prodigies as an independent nation. He then vows to give that nation to the people within it, that they may form an equal, democratic republic. What starts as a religious proclamation becomes a jubilant political rally. How this republic will be formed has not been detailed, nor is it seen in this final episode. I’m sure Tsukasa has that all planned out and it would probably be too cumbersome to wedge into the finale, but it still would have been interesting to witness. 

Just as things are starting to get good, the still-not-dead Gustav shows up once again and crashes the party. He transforms into a scaly, demonic beast and a fight erupts. Everyone’s attacks prove ineffective as Gustav blows through them. But just when all seems hopeless, Tsukasa nonchalantly pulls out a pistol and starts slowly putting rounds into Gustav like he’s done this before. It’s sort of funny how casual the whole sequence is; it gives off the impression that Tsukasa truly is in control of everything at all times. Gustav slowly approaches Tsukasa through the hail of bullets, and when he is finally before him, Tsukasa unloads his last round into Gustav’s crystal heart and shatters it. 

Gustav then launches into a haughty death speech, still poised threateningly in front of Tsukasa. This is actually the very first time Gustav and Tsukasa have confronted each other face to face. The hero and major villain of this story have fought this war up until now from the comfort of their own homes. It’s fascinating to seem them finally take stock of each other and realize exactly who the other is. 

Gustav sees that Tsukasa is just a young man and tries to psych him out by waxing philosophy. He puts himself and Tsukasa on the same level, claiming that Tsukasa knows the common man he fights for is mere cattle to be herded at his behest. When Tsukasa remains headstrong and refutes this, Gustav drops the facade and simply berates Tsukasa, giving a final hail to the Emperor before he fades away. 

All of this does get to Tsukasa’s head in a way, as he has nightmares regarding the entire exchange. Instead of begrudgingly admitting to the comparison between him and Gustav, Tsukasa goes the other way and belittles himself. He experiences what appears to be acute imposter syndrome, as he compares himself to his fellow prodigies, noting how each of them is able to produce material results while all he can do is just speak honeyed words. 

This is a surprise as Tsukasa has always exuded a considerable measure of confidence, but it never seemed to be entirely fake. We’ve seen him waver and question himself in the past before, but he always seemed to bounce back from it. These thoughts of his not only make him question his contributions but also throw him into doubt over whether he can go toe-to-toe against powerful magical beings like Gustav. In a way, it’s great to see this side of Tsukasa as it humanizes him and shows that he too is faking it until he makes it. In another way, it’s not great to see because this young man is the leader of a nation. In this case, though, I say the good sufficiently outweighs the bad, as it gives a stronger definition to our protagonist. 

In spite of his ruminations, as Tsukasa finds his friends are briskly going about business as usuals, he realizes that this is where he finds his strength. Powerful forces are beginning to move in the world in response to the prodigies’ actions.  Though we certainly won’t be seeing them any time soon. This is the standard ending to an anime that only touched the surface of its source material; a big explosive confrontation, followed by the teasing of even more confrontations. 

But for a finale of what we did get, it’s fairly satisfactory. An annoyingly persistent villain was at last laid to rest, and we got to see a new side of Tsukasa before we bid him farewell. It did come all too easily though, with very little tension, though I guess that’s what we signed up for.