English Dub Review: The Unaware Atelier Meister “Yulishia’s Date”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Yulishia’s date with Kurt is ruined when thugs harass a local meat bun shop over a cooking competition.

Our Take:
After a harmless date with Lise, it’s now Yulishia’s turn to spend quality time with Kurt amid the festivities.  With the season nearing its conclusion, this should’ve been the proper moment for Kurt and the others to ignite their rescue mission in Margrave Taicone’s territory.  However, that moment isn’t until the tail end of this week’s episode, as it focuses solely on Kurt’s “date” with Yulishia.  Unfortunately, their time together was immediately cut short due to a cooking competition taking place at the festival.  As a result, an upset Yulishia vowed vengeance on the competitor responsible, who happened to be a cheating Gargel, who hired his thugs to sabotage the other competitors.  Of course, one of the victims is the owner of a meat bun shop, whose critical injuries have Kurt and Yulishia taking over while exposing Gargel’s fraudulent ways.
“Yulishia’s Date” moved away from the arc’s crucial plot in favor of a formulaic and tedious narrative involving Kurt competing in a cooking competition.  While it further emphasizes Kurt’s eagerness to help others in need, it also provides another reason, in my opinion, why Yulishia isn’t a good character to root for.  With Kurt’s attention set on the thugs sabotaging the meat bun shop, Yulishia feels distressed that she won’t be able to spend as much time with him as he did with Lise in the previous episode.  She knows that Kurt’s generosity usually gets the better of him, but she was acting like that wasn’t the case.  While some viewers may find some humor in Yulishia’s disappointment, I’d consider it pretty selfish and unamusing, and not in a fun way.  The only good thing coming out of this episode is that the cooking competition wasn’t seen as pointless filler, as the winner of the contest gets to have their food presented at an upcoming tea party.  Besides that, “Yulishia’s Date” felt more like a reflection of Yulishia’s irritating personality than another “date”.