English Dub Review: Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest “Black and White”

Overview

Hajime attempts to complete the grueling trial at the end of the Grand Gruen Volcano labyrinth, but at that exact moment, Freid, a demon commander, launches a surprise attack. Hajime is heavily injured, and a desperate battle begins…

Our Take

After painstakingly wading through lava and flames in the previous episode, Hajime and friends are now ambushed in the pits of the planet with Freid posing quite a challenge and isn’t very subtle about it his evilness in appearance and the army he has at his command. He even speaks in an angry, Shakespearian-like tone while declaring that he’s “god’s apostle” further adding to the ego of these villains who keep underestimating Hajime and his all-girl crew.

This episode also puts a spotlight on Tio, the masochistic dragon who has been part of Hajime’s group since the tail-end of season 1 and easily became the standout this week. While we had some small flashbacks here & there regarding Tio’s past in Season 1 about what happened to her father and by-extension her long-extinct Dragon people. It further reminds the audience, of the tragic circumstances she currently has and how determined she is to break away from them for the sake of herself and especially Hajime. And finally in the final few minutes of the episode skip us back to the castle with the Princess, the King, and all the other classmates with a foreboding cliffhanger…

Overall, the pacing was spot on, and the characters actually seemed to be taking their situation very seriously with the action scenes looking much better. There were actual potential stakes. And the setting of fighting inside a volcano is just kind of cool once you get a decent enough fight scene to enjoy it. And while Tio’s flashback felt like a retread of what we saw in Season 1, I guess it was to add some emotional weight to Tio as a character. As for that ending, it leaves you to wonder what will happen next and what payoff it could possibly have in later episodes.