English Dub Review: Plunderer “My Ace”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

It’s the final showdown! Jail talks Mizuka down, leaving Doan the only one to deal with. But can Licht best the big boy? It’s a struggle as Licht descends into a prison of gravity and the depths of his mind to confront his guilt and shame that prevents him from returning to fully embrace Hina. Together, he and Doan revisit the time when Doan killed an enemy child to protect Licht. When they emerge, Doan is ready to turn over a new leaf and allows them to escape while returning Hina’s ballot.

The second half of the episode deals with delivering on the details, giving us the final word on Nana and Jail, Pele and Lynn, and of course, Hina and Licht. Hina is eager to get busy right away, but Licht says they have a new mission now that their current Ace enemies have been stopped. They need to confront Althing and end Alcia’s reign for good. Licht believes there is a better way for humanity to live with freedom.

Our Take:

The final episode of Plunderer surprised me by not going out with its usual amount of bang. No, instead of big explosions and firing machine guns, My Ace offers up emotional diatribes and tearful reunions. Hina gets her happy ending, and even if Lynn doesn’t get the guy of her choice, she still winds up feeling a little better thanks to Pele’s attention. Even Jail gives Nana a little hope on the romance front.

I guess it’s fair to say this finale was more focused on relationships than warfare. It’s probably a wise decision on the surface. This is the last episode, presumably, so it wraps up the fighting early on in order to give us our last goodbyes with the characters. However, I’m not sure this works as well as the show wants it too. This may be the final episode of the show, but it feels like the journey hasn’t reached a logical ending point. Althing is still on top and Schmerman is still out there scheming. Sure, Licht has finally come around to a better place mentally, but I can’t help but feeling like that should’ve happened three or four episodes ago to leave room for a grand conclusion.

That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy parts of My Ace. I’m a sucker for fun character dynamics, and even though Plunderer hasn’t done the greatest service to its creations all the time, it’s still cool to see Hina so happy. She and Licht’s whole schtick seems a lot healthier and more normal since he stopped being so weird all the time. Maybe he really is changing for the better. Poor Lynn doesn’t get much to work with, though. She’s in a hospital room crying over Licht when Pele is shoved into the room. He cooks her food and tells her anyone else would be happy to date her, then calls her too fat when she asks him out. I’m convinced that if the show had excised all the body shaming, alcoholic fan service, we could’ve gotten a much tighter and more focused show that left room for a proper action-packed finish.

A few of the little moments stand out as well. Nana and Jail have been teased for a while now, and this episode gives viewers a peek into the future as Jail tells Nana that whenever she wants to ‘play’, he’s ready to let her cash in on his promise from long ago. It’s a cute scene, and I think the two of them have good vibes for sure. Pele, I’m not so sure about. He has a weird encounter with Licht where he reveals that he’s more than he appears to be. Licht knows this, but doesn’t care as long as Pele is a friend of Lynn’s.

So that’s that. Plunderer’s final episode isn’t as good as the higher highs of the show, but at least it didn’t sink too low — just ignore Pele’s mean streak and Hina’s strange cornering of Licht. I’m a bit sad we probably won’t get to see the conclusion to the team’s struggles against Althing in animated form, at least for a while now. It’s a worthy cause, and now that the group is focused, it could be quite the epic fight to watch.