English Dub Review: Our Last Crusade or a Rise of a New World “Paradise: Alice’s Longest Night”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Rin is driving Alice and the recently captured Iska to the Sovereignty, while Alice pleads with her to not turn him in, lest he be tortured or killed. The princess’s maid/servant/bestie reluctantly agrees, and navigates to the nearest territory controlled by the Sovereignty. Meanwhile, Risya meets with the Imperial senate to inform them of Iska’s capture, and determine how best to modify their upcoming secret mission to capture Queen Nebulis. The senate takes interest in her remark that Iska’s been taken to Province 12, aka Alcatroz, the same location where Salinger the Heretical Demon is being held. This newly-introduced character apparently rose up against a former Queen Nebulis, and therefore could be considered a powerful ally to the Empire. The great apostles instruct Risya to act as she will, and she heads to meet up with Mismis, Jhin, and Nene with new instructions. She outfits the crew with some temporary tattoo style witch’s marks, and Jhin uses the opportunity to cover up Mismis’s recently acquired *actual* crest. Risya instructs them to head to Alcatroz once they cross the border and figure out where Iska’s being held. “And once we’ve found him?” asks Mismis, “Wreak havoc!” responds Risya, cheerfully. Back in the car with Rin, Alice seems to be enjoying her time with still-asleep Iska, even going so far as to sum up the whole show by saying “You’re my enemy, but you make me forget that.” He unfortunately wakes up when Rin brakes suddenly to spare a cat, and is impressed by the “prison” accommodations (which, considering there’s a freaking GRAND PIANO in the room, is a natural response.) Alice leaves Rin to guard him, and she takes the opportunity to attempt to kill him with a knife, while framing it as self-defense. Alice happens to come back just in time to stop her. Risya rendezvous with Jhin, Nene, and Mismis once they’ve crossed the border to show them the building Iska’s being held in, before heading off on a mission of her own: meeting up with Salinger.

Our take:

Escape from Alcatraz, but make it anime. Rin continues to be a badass, and the Empire (while they have a few tricks up their sleeve) continue to mostly be bumbling fools, with the exception of Risya. Is, uh, she a witch by the way? And are we ever gonna finally meet the Emperor?

Despite initially writing her off as an overly chipper goody two-shoes, Risya is quickly becoming my favorite character. Her lines this episode are particularly on point. I mean, is there any other character that could say “It’s a prison!” so cheerfully and have it make sense? Major props to Dani Chambers for the voice performance here, she manages to deliver everything in such an upbeat yet also straightforward manner. With such a cheerful facade, I have to assume that there’s more to Risya than we’ve seen so far, and I’m eagerly awaiting when we’ll see (and hear!) a darker, more complex side of her.

Rin, for her part, just continues to get more intense. I thought poisoning Iska was as intense as she would get, but no! In this episode she attempts to finish the job with a knife, but the Saint Disciple literally backflips away from most of her strikes. The creaking animation and shift from “I’LL KILL YOU” mode to realizing that Alice has arrived to stop her was also an exceptional moment, humor-wise.

I will say I’m slightly disappointed that Mismis’s newly acquired astral crest got covered up so easily. I was fully expecting secret-hiding shenanigans from the Empire crew for as long as she had the mark, but those will either have to wait until her “temporary” version has worn off, or the plot will just drop that storyline altogether. Either way, there’ll always be the scene of her getting kicked into the vortex in the first place. Ah, memories!

While I’ve tolerated most of the series’s “meet cute” or general rom-com moments, this episode’s interesting use of an “accidental nude scene” to learn about Iska’s true thoughts on witches (or at least those bearing astral crests) finally crosses into fully ridiculous territory. First Mismis, and now Alice? Are her low-cut tops and constant boob pillow moments not enough!? I will say that Iska’s speech about being products of their nations, and that he doesn’t really care about the mark seems genuinely sweet, if a little strangely timed. His dedication to being straightforward is admirable, but are we ever going to learn his true motivations, beyond the hope for peace by ending the war? I also don’t really understand what Alice expected when she asked how he felt about her. He could truly only answer that he considers her a fierce rival, which results in Alice…dropping her towel to confess her true feelings? Then demanding he take off his clothes to make things even. The Hayao Miyazaki memes are correct, anime is a mistake.