English Dub Season Review: KING’s RAID: Successors of the Will Part Two

Overview (Spoilers Below):

King Kyle fought the Demon Lord Angmund in a great battle, but it’s been a century since then and the king is no longer around. His son Kasel sets out on a quest to recover the Holy Sword Aea and defeat the Demon Lord once and for all along with his ragtag group of friends.

Along their journey, they encounter perils and pitfalls, including a giant spider demon which has been kidnapping villagers for months. But with Kasel’s strength of spirit and the strength of the Holy Sword, they’re able to overcome their adversities. But the rise of demons still threatens the land.

Eventually, they embark in a battle to decide the fate of the world at the aptly named World Tree and there Kasel finds Angmund—who is actually just King Kyle under a curtain of darkness—and fights the dark aura that surrounds him until the king is able to pass away in peace, giving his son a final message before he departs for good.

Our Take:

Kasel and company are back! Funimation released the first part of the KING’s RAID dub back in October. It’s been a few months since then that fans have had to wait, but now the second and final part is finally out in English. It picks up where part one left off, continuing on with Kasel’s quest, Riheet’s struggle, and Scarlet’s goal to restore the kingdom to greatness.

The show left off last time with episode thirteen. It was a solid mid-point to the show, and served as a good season finale of sorts for part one. Part two picks up pretty slowly, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing since it gives us a chance to remember where things stood before getting back into the sword swing of things. Kasel and his friends are still trying to unleash the full power of the Holy Sword in order to find and defeat the Demon Lord, while Riheet is attempting to survive as a dark elf in a land ruled by prejudice. Princess Scarlet is trying to change things, though, and she enlists the help of the Black Edge to join her on a mission to restore peace and order.

They have the same goal as Kasel set off with in part one, but no one has heard from him in a while and even his old friends are beginning to wonder what happened. Though he obtained the Holy Sword in part one, that doesn’t mean his quest ended. There’s still a lot he has to learn, including about the temptations of power and what it means to truly wield the sword with a hero’s heart.

And of course, when they aren’t learning about heroism, there’s still plenty of new side characters and quests to partake in. These little one-off episodes make the show feel the most like the Gacha Game adaptation that it is, and the pacing definitely could’ve used some work. The most enjoyable one is probably when Kasel’s group meets up with a mercenary named Reina. She’s a lot of fun, particularly when she’s trying to flirt with the guys in the group, and Felecia Angelle has always been one of my favorite actors.

One of my favorite parts of the show ended up being the dynamic between Riheet and Princess Scarlet. Over the course of the show, her idealism and his pessimism really made for some great interactions, and I think the kingdom ends up in good hands with the two of them trying their best to heal old wounds.

Kasel’s ending is nice enough, too. The revelation that King Kyle has actually been acting as the Demon Lord Angmund all this time isn’t necessarily the most shocking thing to ever happen, but it adds a bit more wrinkles into a show that’s otherwise fairly bland. It also gives Kasel a chance to say goodbye to his father as he frees his soul, which was sweet. I mean, it’s hard to be too mad at a show where the so-called villain’s last words are telling his son he loves him, y’know?

As KING’s RAID comes to a close, Kasel finally gets the full-fledged knighthood he’s been chasing since the very first episode. Scarlet grants Riheet the rank of noble and the two of them vow to improve the kingdom one step at a time. It’s an enjoyable ending to part two, and I think it’s a slight improvement over the first half of the show, if only because conclusions are more satisfying than beginnings. KING’s RAID may be pretty basic and boring for the most part, and I don’t think I would recommend the show to casual fantasy fans, but it’s not a bad show.