English Dub Review: Ragna Crimson “A Painful Blow”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Crimson drops the next step of his plan against Ultimatia, who is vulnerable after using up most of her magic fighting Ragna, by blowing up thousands of people and almost making her use up the rest of the her magic. She’s stopped by other dragons around her, forcing Crimson and Ragna to retreat to Princess Starlia, who was born without arms and can detect all magic. Crimson hopes he can deceive her to his own ends while Ragna recovers.

OUR TAKE

Well, as fun as it probably could’ve been to take out the main villain only a third through the show, it’s clear that Ultimatia can’t just die now, even after the severe beating at the edge of death that Ragna gave her in the last episode. With him overdoing it and being out of commission after trying that, Crimson’s plan to test Ultimatia’s supposed compassion by using up the last of her magic to save the people that Crimson kills with the explosions is…pretty sinister, frankly. Ultimatia has carried herself as being kind and gracious, so this gives her an impossible choice: either use up the last of your magic and make you and your empire incredibly vulnerable, or show that your compassion has limits and drive a potential wedge between you and your subjects. I mean, clearly the preferred option for Crimson would be for her to use up that magic and turn back time one more time, then somehow be killed by…one of Crimson’s goons, but that’s not what ends up happening, mainly for plot necessity. Even so, it shows that Crimson and his plans to kill all dragons, including himself, does not have the moral limits one might expect.

Crimson is, by just about all definitions, a terrorist for his cause. He will use and manipulate and kill everything and everyone he can towards the purpose of ending Ultimatia and the reign of the other dragons. And even with if killing her isn’t an option right now, there may be enough of a chink in the armor that the people she controls may rise up against her too. Regardless, that will have to wait until a later part of the story, as now we must let the first titular character rest and let the second titular character take the reins talking to another new character, a princess who was born without arms but apparently overcame that to command an elite group of Dragon Slayers, all of whom Crimson seems rather eager to manipulate for his cause. But being a dragon himself, he’s going to need to be sneaky in order to make this work, especially since Starlia can apparently detect all lies. So now, a different battle begins, one not fought with swords and explosions, but lies and deceit. Yes, we’re about to get into some edgier Death Note territory as the protagonist perspective shifts to Crimson, but that’s next time. Until then, honestly, just rewatch Death Note, it has really held up.