English Dub Review: Sand Land “Muniel’s Urn”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

With the news of Ann being a demon going public, her lieutenant in the resistance also reveals that her mother was Lilith, who turns out to be Beelzebub’s sister, making Ann his niece. Also revealed is that, shortly before the coup that deposed King Jam, Lilith brought the Aquanium found in Forest Land to Lucifer. When she returned, she was outed as a demon and sealed by Muniel in a magical urn, forcing Anne into exile. After that Bred and Muniel gathered Aquanium from other locations, powering a great floating fortress from before the Great War, which they now take to Sand Land to secure the Aquanium from Lucifer, who Muniel has a special grudge against because Lucifer humiliated him long ago by stripping his wings. Beelzebub races to protect his father, but arrives too late, as Lucifer has already been sealed.

OUR TAKE

We got a lot of big reveals this week, which is saying something when last week had the twist that Ann was actually part demon. Not only do we learn that Ann and Beelzebub are related, which does lead to some funny moments, we also learn that basically everything set in motion that’s led to this has essentially been because Muniel once effed around and found out around Lucifer, but clearly did not learn his lesson and is now out for revenge. Additionally, we see that big magical urn he used to seal Lilith and Lucifer is something he brought with him from wherever angels come from and kept with him after being beat up and found by Bred, but then that kinda raises the question of why he needed to find it again at the market a few episodes ago. Maybe those are two different urns of the same type? Either way, sealing demons in bottles is definitely nothing new to a Toriyama story, made extra hilarious when it’s a demon who basically looks like an alt skin for Dragon Ball character Dabura, while Lilith’s design makes me wonder if she used to work with the Pride Troopers from Universe 11.

This arc continues to get the angels and demons more involved than the previous one, which certainly helps raise the stakes. Lucifer was a brief part of the original manga but obviously had a minimal role, so I’m glad to see they’re making use of him more now that the story has extra material. The demons in the first arc really just seemed like they were just around but now we’re learning so much more about both Beelzebub’s family and how the angels operate. On top of that, the problem of this flying fortress powered by Aquanium is a bit more urgent than simply trying to find a water source. That said, finding that source did basically lead to overthrowing the government, so that wasn’t exactly a cake walk either, but now we’re dealing with a giant superpowered death blimp, so that’s a bit more pressing, I’d say. Not to mention simply relying on Beelzebub to bail them out with his demon powers is a no go if Muniel was crafty enough to capture his much stronger father. So yeah, I’m pretty dang excited to see how this all wraps up, even though it’s pretty bittersweet that this is one of the last things Toriyama wrote. Onto Episode 11!