Overview (Spoilers Below): The truth about Kyle and Mabel is revealed.
Our Take: It’s one thing for the series to maintain its middling quality regarding its formula. It’s another when this episode has a title that doesn’t even try to be vague in hiding its biggest reveal about Mabel. Without even watching the episode, I immediately figured that Mabel and Kyle are connected as siblings. Sadly, it turns out I was right on the money, with Seika revealing that Mabel and Kyle are indeed siblings who are also slave soldiers from the Merchants. If they renamed the episode as “Mabel’s Secret” or something other than what we got, then it would’ve made the reveal more surprising in a narrative sense. Aside from that, “Brother and Sister” showcases that the Merchants are plotting to take advantage of the prophecy by fooling the demons into believing that the “hero” has died. To do that, the group has Mabel dye her hair red to pose as the Hero and orders her to let Kyle kill her at the tournament. However, Mabel actually plans to kill Kyle first to end his suffering. Kyle’s suffering is because the Merchants engraved his brain with magic to make him a valuable asset, leaving him emotionless. It’s equivalent to HYDRA brainwashing Bucky to make him the Winter Soldier in the Marvel Universe. If you’re wondering whether these similar elements are coincidental, you’re asking the wrong person. Aside from that, “Brother and Sister” concludes the season’s short tournament arc with the final two matches. The first involves Seika and Mabel, in which the former defeats Mabel by trapping her with his mercury vines despite her miraculous speed and giant axe. However, the final match between Seika and Kyle proved to be a bit more intense than the semi-final battle, with Seika struggling to damage Kyle with his spells. Despite that, Seika managed to defeat Kyle with his minotaur. Unfortunately, he also couldn’t save him from the Merchants’ curse killing him. Afterward, Mabel returns to the academy as a genuine student and changes her hair to her original silver one. But, of course, this means she has to make up for being a year behind her classmates. It’s pretty odd that Mabel’s personality swiftly changed to being paranoid because Seika and Efa are tutoring her. Still, at least that scene gave me a good chuckle before the episode concluded. “Brother and Sister” attempts to provide several hints of emotion into this sibling dilemma, mainly for Mabel’s backstory and Seika sharing Kyle’s apology to her. Sadly, they all struggle to make a dent in its middling yet visually pleasing series. Fortunately, it compensated for it by providing two enjoyable matches to close off another short arc in the show’s first season.