English Dub Review: Skeleton Knight in Another World “The Monster-Taming Barbarian Laughs in the Darkness”

It’s not very often that Skeleton Knight… has fumbled during the season so far. However, last week was that stumble. There was so much that felt off, and we needed a severe course correction. Did we get it?

“The Monster-Taming Barbarian Laughs in the Darkness” went hard and fast. Arc and Ariane made their way into the Holy Revlon Empire. When I say the episode went from 0-100 in about four seconds, it isn’t an exaggeration. Arc and Ariane made their way down into Fumba’s lair, where Fumba was able to control Ariane enough to start a fight with Arc.

The demeanor, and downright derangement of Fumba is almost next level. The sheer excitement he gets from controlling Ariane, to feeding his animal slaves humans, is just…cruel. I spent 25 minutes to find who Fumba’s voice actor was, because this man deserves a god damn beer. I’ve never been so entralled with such a short performance. There isn’t a single thing that Fumba did that made me wince or cringe.

That said, Fumba’s influence has finally been exposed to Arc and the gang. The rings dating back to episode one, through the missing (and now dead) elves that were shipped into the Revlon Empire from the Rhodan Kingdom. The delight of all of this coming off of Fumba was sheer delight to watch. Next week’s episode can’t come soon enough.

One thing I want to point out in this week’s episode is the fight between Ariane and Arc. This was pretty crazy. You get to see how powerful Ariane is, because Fumba cuts her loose once she’s taken under control. Arc was really only overtaken in battle during his sparring session with Ariane’s mother. But he was made to look silly. This barely happened, not even with Fumba himself. It didn’t take too long for Arc to get around it, and with the help of Chiyome, almost took out Fumba, his animal goon squad except for the giant hydra that was hiding in the hole.

This was a great setup for the next week’s episode. Fumba was made to look like a clown during “The Monster-Taming Barbarian Laughs in the Darkness.” That much is simple. However, basic storytelling is that Fumba will probably be the star next week, because of how he fights Arc, as well as the giant hydra at his disposal. There’s entirely too much left on the table, and there’s a lot to eat on it. 

“The Monster-Taming Barbarian Laughs in the Darkness” was the rebound we needed after “Hope for the Future Found in the Desert”. Where that was a slog to watch, “The Monster-Taming Barbarian Laughs in the Darkness” was 23 minutes that went by in about five. Fumba made “The Monster-Taming Barbarian Laughs in the Darkness,” and his inevitable confrontation with Arc is what I’ve been waiting for since the beginning of Skeleton Knight…, because Fumba has “big bad end boss” vibes for sure. And, hopefully, the final episode does justice for Fumba.