English Dub Review: Wistoria: Wand and Sword “The True Name of Cowards”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Surrounded by countless monsters, Will and the others are in trouble.  Even so, Will says they should fight.  Faced with an Evil Grand Duke, the same monster that plunged them down to floor 11, will the party retreat, or will they make a stand?

Our Take:

Wistoria doesn’t hold up on the stakes, especially regarding the final episodes, and this one is no exception.  After confronting the mysterious mages, Will and the others are now facing the same monster responsible for separating them: the Evil Grand Duke.  As we’ve seen in “Praxis Begins”, the Evil Grand Duke is no joke, as it is one of the strongest monsters in existence, worth 270 credits.  It also comes equipped with impenetrable wings and a barrier courtesy of Marze and Headless, making the Duke even more impervious to magic and physical attacks.  This forces the team to finally put aside their differences to find a solution to defeating it.

While the episode’s plot is mainly about Will and his party battling the Duke, it’s not without some stakes in the characters that make the showdown more enticing.  One particular case is Will, whose confidence was damaged when the goggles he got from Elfaria broke while rescuing Lihanna.  This moment further showcases the significance of Will’s goggles, which he usually puts on whenever he’s in battle mode.  It serves as a confidence boost that allows Will to strategize and persevere in his dream of reuniting with his childhood friend.  With his goggles in pieces, he’d have to rely on himself and a special crystal to help his team defeat the Duke.

Additionally, we see that Sion is finally able to cooperate with Will, with him being the solution to help Will snap back to reality.  But that’s not all.  He even helped combine his fire magic with Will’s sword, creating a new power source, Wis, as predicted years ago via a flashback.  However, I’m not going to assume it means they’ll be even when all is said and done…at least not yet.  With an engaging high-stakes plot and solid animation, “The True Name of Cowards” is an action-packed penultimate episode that truly earns the subtitle, “Wand and Sword”.  The question now is whether Will’s new power will help them escape the monster-filled dungeon.