Overview (Spoilers Below):
Miss Gray has discarded her teacher disguise and reveals that she is a member of Eugenics, an organization trying to get the sorcerers’ brains. Faced with her reckless onslaught, Ray is finally forced to face her as the Iceblade Sorcerer. As his friends look on, the battle is decided! Then, time leaps backward ten years. A young Lydia discovers a war orphan during her battlefield patrol. His name is Ray. Slowly, the mysterious past of the Iceblade Sorcerer is unveiled.
Our Take:
The previous episode generated more interest in the series despite its basic formula and less-than-stellar characters. The academy’s instructor, Miss Gray, is revealed to be the spy responsible for stalking the students. Even worse, she’s the member of Eugenics sent to steal Ray’s powerful Engram stored in his brain. Fortunately, her betrayal is the last mistake she’ll ever make, as Ray is forced to unlock his Iceblade Sorcerer powers, which came from Anti-Material magic, to freeze her solid.
After the brief showdown, it immediately becomes a flashback episode, where we see Ray’s origin story come to light. It’s revealed that Ray was a war orphan raised and taught by Lydia to learn ice magic and fight in the Far East War. More importantly, we discovered that Ray suffered from Overheat, a loss of control of the Engram, during his last battle that forced him to retire. The flashbacks further explore Ray as a kind and supportive sorcerer surrounded by pain and regret due to his condition and losing the people he loved. His power, combined with Overheat, managed to end the war, but it came with the cost of putting Lydia in a wheelchair. Filled with guilt for what he’s done, Ray used Chronos-Lock to limit his magical abilities and began his path to living a normal life.
The episode also sees Ray finally admitting to his friends that he’s the missing Iceblade Sorcerer. But, of course, through the power of friendship, his friends still accept him for who he is, regardless of his past. Thankfully, that includes Albert, who finally admits to being a dickhead and apologizes for his actions. As someone who despises Albert character-wise, I can say that it’s about damn time.
After watching this episode, it’s safe to say that The Iceblade Sorcerer may have improved its magic just in time. The fifth episode is by far the best in the season because it expands upon Ray’s past that led him to where he is now. But, more importantly, it offered a solid amount of emotion in the characters and Ray’s closure to overshadow its formulaic elements.
Aside from a couple of rushed moments, the only issue I had with this episode was the sound mixing for Miss Gray’s monster form. She’s supposed to sound like a demonic force of nature, but the sound mixing made her voice too difficult for me to hear what she was saying. Other than that, this is an enjoyable flashback episode that could mean big things to come in the remaining episodes, with one of them being another Grand Sorcerer from Ray’s past, Carol Caroline, taking over as his homeroom teacher. Ray may have the right to be worried about this change based on how she’s displayed in the episode.