English Dub Review: The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy “A Great Uproar”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

As Leonis gets to know the kids at the orphanage, the Seventh Assault Garden investigates the odd readings created by the strange creature who remembers Leonis. It tries sneaking around but is eventually caught and goes on the offensive, starting an all out battle. Swarms of Voids cover the island, which keeps the 11th Platoon quite busy. Leonis and Riselia defend the orphanage, Leonis pulling out all his high level spells to take down Voids. Eventually the creature reveals itself to Leonis, who recognizes it as Arakael Degradios.

OUR TAKE

The first big battle of the show kicks off with gusto as the whole mobile island is overrun with Voids! This ends up serving a few different story functions at once. First off, it gives us a chance to see all the other characters in the 11th Platoon a chance to show off their Holy Swords in full combat for once. Sakuya’s got her sword so she can slice and dice, Elfine has her eye jewel things that serve…some sort of purpose I imagine, and Regina has her big friggin gun to go all pew pew ratatatat and such. They’re not exactly the most original set of weapons, but they’re sure to get the job done and give these other characters SOMETHING to do besides sit around like a bunch of sexy lamps. Meanwhile, we have the second and bigger thing, which is Leonis and Riselia at the orphanage. Like I mentioned last week, Leonis is in sort of this holding pattern where he hasn’t quite accepted his place in this new era, but fighting alongside Riselia and meeting these orphans can now give him a frame of reference for something new to fight for, which I’m sure will get cemented next episode.

In the meantime, he’s still holding onto excuses that he’s fighting because of his pride as a Demon Lord and defending the honor of his minion, but that’s just the armor taking a bit to fall off before we get to the fact that he actually likes these people. And he gets to come to that breakthrough while fighting off an old enemy who used to be an ally, Arakael Degradios. In this week’s cold open flashback, we see Leonis at twelve years old fighting alongside two other heroes, one of which is Degradios, who sees an invading horde of monsters attacking a town and decides “you know what, we should blow up everything here and then try reviving the townsfolk later”. Leonis then decides that is a stupid idea and fights off the monsters all by himself, which Degradios thinks will get Leonis in trouble later. Which I guess is KINDA right, but frankly, why was fighting the monsters off NOT the first option? Well, clearly this difference in fighting ethics is part of why they had a falling out, though it’s unclear why that led to the guy becoming a giant bundle of roots and a Void. Will we find out next episode with the conclusion of this arc? Well, let me tell you…NOPE!