English Dub Review: In the Land of Leadale “A Son, a Fight, a Journey, and Bandits”

Overview

Cayna is hired by Elineh to escort a caravan to the northern land of Helshper. But along the way, they encounter unexpected difficulties..

Our Take

After comprehending the grim reality of her current situation, Canya attempts to carry on despite what she learned “last episode” about what’s really happened to her as an individual. The sibling moments with her kids were quite funny, even if it felt wacky in places. But at least she managed to resolve things to a certain extent, with Mai Mai even asking her mom to drop off a letter to a certain group of people she personally knows.

The odd family dynamic is entertaining, and the extra characters like guards and townsfolk do a good job reflecting how odd Cayna’s perspective on things are. We even get the whole family together. It’s good to see Cayna taking her role as a mother seriously. As she ended up asking Skargo to not use his Special Skill: Roses Scatter, what effects does that skill has on him.

Overall, despite this being a bit of a filler episode, I’m kinda surprised what happened near the end with the realization that Canya has to live with in the fact that people can actually die in this universe. You don’t really get that kind of existentialism in anime often. I do understand that it’s supposed to have a light tone, but it can also feel out of place to see death directly acknowledged and mentally affecting Canya, yet the budget felt low, as it didn’t go the extra mile with the lacking of stylized gore during the actual death scenes? Hopefully this get resolved in later episodes…