English Dub Review: The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me? “People Hate Me? Are You Kidding Me?”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)
Coming off a major haul of ten million gold from their recent raid, as well as discovering some ancient technology among the ruins, Well and his party decide to move their operations to Breichburg to continue their adventures, so he decides to leave the mansion in Roderich’s hands for now. But Well soon learns about the rumors about his death, which Armstrong attributes to envy of his recent successes. Specifically, that envy seems to mainly come from High Auditor Ruckneer, who plots with some associates to assassinate Well at the next opportunity. His plans begin with spreading rumors about Well’s death to his family, though Roderich, Ruckneer’s son, muddies the waters by spreading his own rumors about Ruckneer trying to kill Well in the ruins. Meanwhile, a pink haired stranger stalks Well and company, eventually emerging at a party Well sets up to feed tuna and soy sauce to those who have helped him in the past. The stranger’s name is Wilma, the adopted daughter of Lord Marshall Edgar, and she storms in wanting fatty tuna. Edgar offers her as a bodyguard or even wife, so the group heads out to see Kurt to reveal that he hasn’t actually died, much to Kurt’s disappointment.

OUR TAKE
So, we finally know the identity of the pink haired girl from the intro and…she’s a character whose entire personality consists of wanting to eat. She has a plot related reason for it, sure, but the problem is mainly that she’s not really a character, just an embodiment of a joke that wears thin right after it’s first brought up. Thankfully we don’t have to deal with her for too much longer since the show is about to end in a few weeks, but that just makes her sudden addition to the party all the more perplexing. There’s clearly not enough time to properly flesh her out along with the plot that will resolve the season, so why even introduce her at all? Well the answer to that is probably that her design is meant to sell figurines and posters and such, which would not surprise me considering that is the main way that shows like these make their money back. I guess it’s just weird seeing an example that’s so shameless.

If anything, they probably would be better off adding Roderich to the group, seeing how he’s actually had a bit of an arc throughout the season. I guess it’s nice to see that he’s getting recognized and is even willing to foil the plot of his own father, so he gets a moment to shine here that I’d say he’s definitely earned, but it seems like he’s going to get overshadowed by Wilma pretty soon just because she happens to be a cute girl who can be marketed better. Heck, I’m not sure why Erwin is there at this point. At least Wilma’s not in love with Well, though if they make a second season, I doubt they’ll have the restraint to keep that from happening.

Anyway, can you tell that I’m not particularly enthused about the political story going on with all the rumors and planned assassinations? Well, that’s because they’re all boring as hell and not really worth getting much into right now. Besides, with the last three episodes on the horizon, we’re likely to have a chance to cover that more substantively going into the finale, so I might as well save my rantings and ravings for that. It’s already felt like a century getting through these first nine, so only three left should be easy enough to get through, but my perception of time is so wonky now that it could take another three years for all I know.