English Dub Review: Clevatess “Current of Insects”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Alicia talks to some of the villagers about her experiences as a hero and manages to turn the tide against Maynard’s insects with Clevatess’ help.

OUR TAKE

Huh, I just found out the ending song for this show is done by Ellie Goulding. Neat! Anyway, this episode brings an end to both the current arc and the middle third of the season, with it mainly being a test of Alicia’s fighting abilities and her pride in being a hero. Last time ended with it seeming like the villagers would be turned against her due to her being one of the heroes that fought and died against Clevatess (she got better), telling her that her group didn’t really add much to society like regular workers do and just ended up getting themselves killed. While that is a valid complaint, especially where that made the kingdom end up, Alicia fires back that at least she tried to break through the imposed barriers placed on their continent by the Lords of Dark Beasts, and she could have only done that by being inspired by the legends and her own bravery. Luckily, her integrity wins over the villagers enough to have them fight off the soldiers while Alicia deals with the insects, and while that plan doesn’t really work out for a few of the villagers, it is at least a testament to how this story is meant to be a hopeful one, despite its gory and dark trappings.

We also learn of Maynard’s reason for despising heroes so much, and it’s mainly that they weren’t around to help him when he was a little kid. So, it seems that the main difference between how he views them and how the villagers view them is that Maynard just sees heroism as transactional and if they weren’t useful to him, they’re just pointless. Ah well, guess that’s one villain down. As for Clen/Clevatess, he arrives via some sort of smaller version of his form to finally give Alicia permission to use that Regalia they found, and it very quickly changes things and allows her to wipe out all of the insects. However, while they have earned a good rest through fighting and winning the hearts of the people, that still leaves the matter of Drel, who is apparently being assisted by another one of the Dark Beast Lords, explaining his massive power increase. Well, that just leaves us four more episodes and a lot of training for Alicia so she can get her revenge. Still though, did we really need to see that shot that pointed right through her cleavage?