Overview (Spoilers Below): The school festival is here, and Ard is busy patrolling with Ireena. However, Ard is left cradling his head after Olivia acted on her own to enter him into the Sword King Battle Tournament, and Ginny forces him to be waited on at their class’s Erotic Maid Cafe. Meanwhile, Ireena, Ginny, and Sylphy also decide to enter the Sword King Battle Tournament. In Sylphy’s case, it’s due to her strong attachment to the tournament’s grand prize.
Our Take: The Academy of Magic’s festival is officially underway in this week’s episode. However, it isn’t without a few mishaps that Ard and his friends encounter during this special event. One of them sees Ard unexpectedly competing in the tournament, thanks to Olivia’s desire to reveal his true identity. Additionally, we see Sylphy causing trouble at the festival and Ard and Ginny taking part in a Miss and Mister Beauty Contest, much to the latter’s desire to seduce him. This episode attempts to live up to its title by incorporating many exciting things for Ard to do while patrolling the festival. One of them is, of course, the tournament, which houses its grand prize: a replica of Vald-Galgus, a sword wielded by the Great Sword King and originally belonged to Lydia. While this element was overshadowed by its other scenarios, mainly the Erotic Maid Cafe, it offers enough moments to gain some excitement in its festivities. The only scene that made me laugh the most was when Ard accidentally blasts Olivia away with his spell, resulting in their disqualification. I know this show has a lot of silly moments this season, but I didn’t expect myself to laugh this hard over Ard’s latest misfortune. The Erotic Maid Cafe parts also have their moments, including Sylphy’s over-the-top behavior and Ireena’s continued feud with Ginny. However, the one scenario that compensated for the episode’s worry-free plot happens during the Beauty Contest. While Ginny was on stage, Ard encountered former bully Eraldo, who looked like he had let himself go the last time we saw him. Eraldo reveals to Ard that he was Ginny’s friend when they were young, but he’s raised by his father to be cruel to people inferior to his family, resulting in Eraldo bullying Ginny. Eraldo hopes to apologize to Ginny and be forgiven for his actions. It’s a brief yet thoughtful piece of character development that showcases Eraldo as more than just a noble brat on campus. Overall, “The Exciting Festival” kicks off the school’s celebration on a solid note. As usual, Sylphy’s personality and Ireena competing against Ginny for Ard will depend on people’s tolerance as they progress through the show. I’m not annoyed by Sylphy as far as I’m aware, but I do wish that Ireena and Ginny would end their pointless argument sooner rather than later. Next week could get a lot more exciting than this title suggests, with Ireena and Sylphy competing in the final match and the masked man planning his next move.