English Dub Review: Scarlet Nexus “Naomi and Alice”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Suoh is preparing to utilize Naomi, Alice, and the rest of the human-derived Others for some unknown, nefarious scheme. Kasane’s platoon rushes to stop them, and arrives just in time to learn the truth about who they got their orders from. But then Togetsu attacks to get Kasane’s brain, and Naomi sacrifices herself to help save her sister. Meanwhile, Yuito’s platoon ventures into Arahabaki to broadcast the secretly recorded video to the public… but Major General Karen won’t stand for that.

Our Take:

Scarlet Nexus returns with a new dubbed episode this week, and boy, is it a crazy one. In a show about flower creatures and brain eating, it takes a lot to call any individual episode crazy, but Naomi and Alice is one of the more eventful outings in a while. The show seemed to be spinning its wheels a bit in the past few weeks I thought, but this episode certainly got things going again!

It starts with Kasane and her squad picking up where they left off last week. They’d just gotten word that the human-derived Others like Naomi were being moved from the research facility under orders from Major General Fubuki. Since Naomi is basically the only thing that Kasane is living for at this point, they go to investigate ASAP and what they find it very distressing. All of the human Others have been transported to the wilderness with OSF agents and they lie about getting their orders from Fubuki. Instead, Naomi shares that she heard them say they came straight from Suoh and the top brass.

This revelation starts a battle that is interrupted when another player enters the field: Togetsu! They’re back again, and this time they won’t leave until they harvest Kasane’s brain and get those pesky red strings. The cult’s main fighter is formidable, and eventually the only thing standing between her and Kasane is Naomi, who says she’ll keep her occupied until her older sister can get to safety. It’s this big emotional moment, but it kind of gets ruined right after it happens, because instead of leaving, Kasane just comes right back after Naomi is on the verge of death. Then the show tries to have another emotional moment, and things get a little too much.

The sadness quickly turns to surprise and shock though, because it turns out Major General Karen was behind this all apparently. He’s always seemed a little suspicious, but then so does everyone on the show, and he’s been portrayed as a radical on the right side of history for the most part. Not only was he the one who framed Fubuki, but he also steals Karen’s red strings for himself! It’s a pretty big twist to happen after an episode with several big twists already.

Finally, we check back in with Yuito and his platoon. They are able to broadcast the taped conversation between Yuito and his brother to everyone in New Himuka, despite Yuito’s reservations about blowing everyone’s minds. The dynamic between Yuito’s duty to his family and duty to himself is kind of interesting, but there’s not much time spent on it and the broadcast goes through without a hitch—until Karen arrives. Like, who is this guy exactly and why is he so speedy? It looks like he’s going to be the big bad for the last part of the season, so I’m sure we’ll hear more from his next episode.