English Dub Review: The Reincarnation Of The Strongest Exorcist In Another World “Mabel Crane”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Seika meets a powerful girl named Mabel and heads to a combat tournament in the capital.

Our Take:

Seika has brought peace to his ordinary life and gained a new ally in Amu. However, this week’s episode looks like he might gain another friend during his second school year, assuming that this person is actually friendly. As the title suggested, this particular student is Mabel Crane, another noble with a more strict and mature personality, meaning she’s not all sunshine and rainbows like Efa. Mabel is also a skilled swordsman like Amu, making her the perfect rival for the “hero” after defeating Amu in a practice duel using her dark magic.

Aside from this addition to the cast, the episode starts with a time skip, with Seika, Efa, and Amu already sophomores at the academy. This would mean that Amu has already grown fond of Seika compared to her in last week’s episode. The one-year time skip came off as a surprise for me. I usually thought that the entire season would focus on the characters’ first year at the Lodonea Academy, but it looks like that isn’t the case, thanks to this episode. It does result in their relationship coming off as rushed, however. It’s like watching the first 40 minutes of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and immediately jumping into Chamber of Secrets. It just doesn’t make sense to me.  

“Mabel Crane” also sees Seika and Mabel being chosen to compete in a dangerous combat tournament in the capital, much to Amu’s disappointment. Like Seika, I also wonder why Amu wasn’t picked to participate in the competition. She defeated many demons and monsters in the last couple of episodes, and you’re telling me that’s not enough for her to compete?

What’s special about this tournament is that they allowed combatants to use magic since many mages are competing compared to the number of sworders. Additionally, as seen in the episode’s conclusion, the contestants can die in the tournament and have their amulets destroyed if they’re defeated. That’s enough for me to consider how dangerous this event is for Seika.

“Mabel Crane” offers a fine introduction to the new noble student, although she might be a bit difficult for Seika to befriend compared to Amu. It was odd to have the series jump a year later so early in its first season, but it occasionally compensates for it with its enjoyable characters. The episode also showcased a new adversary that could pose a threat at the tournament: a swordsman with an evil eye curse named Kyle. After seeing Kyle use his spell to paralyze and kill his opponent, I can tell that Seika and even Mabel will have a tough fight ahead of them.