English Dub Review: I Left My A-Rank Party to Help My Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths! “Tenebre”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Prince Rafuma’s reckless assault on Tenebre yields further insight into its truly terrifying nature.

Our Take:
It’s unsurprising that things have gone from bad to worse for good old Clover.  In addition to the arrival of Mastoma’s brother, Prince Rafuma, the team is now faced with a dilemma that could spell the end of their world as if that hasn’t happened before.  The appearance of multiple black domes, known as the Tenebre, indicates that the Abyss Gate in Achromatic Darkness has been reopened.  This ominous gate was last seen at the beginning of the series, in which the previous party kept the gate temporarily closed until a new team was capable of closing it for good.  With the show’s first season nearing its conclusion, it’s fitting that it finally brought this element back for Clover to encounter during their latest dungeon quest.
Unfortunately, getting to the Abyss Gate may not be as easy as it seems, as the Tenebre has revealed its true nature, thanks to Rafuma’s ill-planned strategy.  In addition to the Tenebre’s ominous-looking appearance, it also has the ability to transform people into Shadow Stalkers upon contact.  However, thanks to the return of Yuke’s uncle Saga, the leader of an adventurer party responsible for sealing the Abyss Gate, the seven-leaf Clover has found a solution to combat it.  The Persephone’s Curse that Yuke possesses is actually a stigmata that can protect him from the Tenebre’s side effects.  The leader also learned that the stigmata can also be transmitted to other people when he kissed Rain.  Of course, this means that Yuke would have to pass it down to the other members through lip contact to survive the Tenebre, except Niberune, for one obvious reason. Sadly, the episode didn’t show that process unfold.
Amid its exposition-heavy plot, “Tenebre” gave us a moment we’ve been waiting for since Yuke and Rain got engaged on paper.  It was a long time coming, but because I’ve been tolerating their relationship since then, I can admit I was mostly satisfied with their first kiss.  It wasn’t a normal kiss due to the Persephone’s Curse, but it was a kiss nonetheless. Besides that, it’s another episode that follows similar basics from previous ones regarding their expositions and the girls convincing Yuke to stop putting them off to the side.  It was fine the first few times this happened due to Yuke’s generosity in protecting his friends, but now it started to lose its emotional impact afterward.  Fortunately, we won’t have to deal with that any further, as the team is now ready to tackle their most formidable quest yet.