English Dub Review: BACK ARROW “Does Genius Come When Least Expected?”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Shu Bi reminisces on his past as a slave with Kai and their promise to change Rekka. Before departing Shu Bi and General Kai discuss his departure from Rekka and their promise. Shu Bi hires powerful mercenaries called the Four Fiends to fight Arrow. Meanwhile, Back Arrow and his group are deciding to go to a neutral zone and take a safe route to the wall. However Shu Bi and his Four Fiends attack them. The Four Fiends use a spray to disable the ship’s flight and the Briheights battle for a bit before Back Arrow makes physical clones of his Briheight.

Rekka then surrounds the group with their army Briheights, not before Shu Bi destroys the Bind Warpers and cannons. He surrenders to the group much to everyone’s confusion. Rekka pulls back and Shu Bi gets a lot of weapons pointed at him. Onboard Shu Bi explains how the spray interferes with the ship’s ability to fly, and since they don’t trust him yet the group decides that he has to risk his life for them in some form. Meanwhile back at Rekka’s capital, Ren tells General Kai about Shu Bi’s betrayal.

Our Take:

After the recap of the last episode, the episode starts off with Rekka’s trio. Shu Bi recalls the promise he made with Kai to change Rekka from the inside. There’s a bit of discussion that keeps General Kai in the capital as Shu Bi uses the opportunity to try to get his enemies off his back by completing the task.

The backstory from Shu Bi solidifies his genius personality and his goal of changing Rekka with Kai. Other than that it provides substance on how Rekka operates by squeezing villages with taxes. His curiosity about things unknown leads him to try and ally with Back Arrow, but they aren’t too keen on being duped again. How he’ll prove himself to the team by risking his life will be interesting since he doesn’t appear to be a Briheight user.

In addition, we get a few details about the world of Lingalind. For example, in Rekka it’s tradition to introduce oneself before a Briheight battle. It does serve to put a name to the face, but most of the villains aren’t memorable enough to stand out from their cliches. Then there’s how their vehicles are able to fly. Shu Bi explains how the spray works to interfere with the ship’s flying ability. Thankfully the effect will wear off otherwise the group wouldn’t be able to start their journey to the wall.

The Four Fiends are a classic four-element enemy group for the heroes to battle. A small part of the episode hypes them up as formidable opponents to the newbie Briheight users. However, Back Arrow defeats them all with his new ability. Back Arrow’s ability to duplicate himself and how he’s not bound to one conviction like the rest of the Briehight users is a rare case. It merely emphasizes his uniqueness as the hero of the story.

Overall it was a decent episode with Shu Bi’s betrayal and the Back Arrow’s new ability. Hopefully, the next episode will be more exciting now that General Kai knows that his best friend has betrayed Rekka.