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

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Clover begins their adventure in Salmutaria by inspecting the path to the dungeon that has reawakened there.

Our Take:
Do you guys expect Clover’s visit to Salmutaria to be a pleasant one?  Well, the bandits awaiting them just happened to prove you all wrong.  Fortunately, the fight didn’t last long, thanks to Mastoma’s assistance.  I mean that in a literal sense because the episode cuts directly to the bandits already being defeated with Mastoma’s help after the opening title sequence.  I suppose this means that the battle teased in last week’s episode occurred during the opening theme, or the series is just too lazy to animate that scene.  Either way, it’s a disappointingly abrupt way of starting Clover’s dungeon quest in a foreign country.
In addition to the country’s village, Ra-jo, the episode emphasizes more of Mastoma’s personality, in which he prefers people to act casually around him, especially Yuke.  Despite his royal presence, Mastoma needs to be treated more like a friend than a prince, which is evident in his outbursts whenever he’s treated formally.  At the very least, he usually compensates for his desire to protect his people rather than himself, which is why he requires Clover’s assistance to tame the reawakening dungeon.  However, considering how the dungeon is already affecting the area and a Stampede of mixed monsters, it’s likely that Mastoma will need more than one party to conquer it.
Also, I might be losing my mind, but I could’ve sworn that Rain’s voice got a bit deeper compared to the previous episodes.  Either her voice actor, Bryn Apprill, grew a bit older during her recording sessions, or a different actor replaced her for this episode.  Based on how smoothly the weekly releases went so far for the show, I suspect that it’s the former.  It didn’t detract from the overall episode, but I was mildly distracted by how different Rain sounded compared to her in the earlier ones.  Perhaps I’ll become more comfortable with this minor change and Rain’s maturity as we progress through the remaining episodes of the season.