English Dub Review: From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman “The Old Country Bumpkin Gets Enraged by the Bad Guys”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Beryl encounters a pickpocket.  Seeing the despair in her eyes, he confronts her in an attempt to get her to open up, but it’s not as easy as he thinks.  With the help of Allucia and Lucy, he strives to help her free herself from the clutches of shadowy forces and the evil that binds her.

Our Take:
This week’s episode showcases Beryl tackling another force as dangerous as a high-level monster: thieves who trick kids.  This group, The Dark Hand of Twilight, hasn’t done much ruckus to make them a serious threat, but that doesn’t mean their malicious deeds should go unpunished.  This is due to its leader, Twilight, manipulating a rough and tough girl named Mewi Freya to pickpocket people in exchange for resurrecting her dead sister.  Of course, knowing Beryl, the old swordsman doesn’t take too kindly to adults who lie to children, so he and Lucy Diamond join forces to apprehend Twilight and free Mewi from his dastardly clutches.
While the stakes in this episode were lacking, as usual, it does showcase more of Lucy’s capabilities as the Magic Corps leader.  This comes in the form of her brief magic duel against Twilight, who uses expensive magic jewelry to combat Lucy.  Unsurprisingly, that didn’t turn out well in his favor, proving that Lucy doesn’t need any fancy jewelry to make her magic powerful.  The episode also did pretty well in showcasing Mewi’s tough yet troubling state due to Wissall Homayun’s performance despite the so-so voice direction given to her.  The battle against the Dark Hand may not be exciting, considering Mewi’s dilemma, but it did further decipher the mystery behind their intentions, with the plot to resurrect the dead originating from inside the church.  Beryl’s new life in the capital is about to get a lot creepier from here on out.