English Dub Review: I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability “The Battle Above the Clouds”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Lloyd and Guitane’s clash, with the fate of Saloum in the balance, enters its final stage.

Our Take:
This season has been impressing me with its focus on the supporting characters, particularly in the previous three episodes.  Even though it came with the cost of Lloyd’s epic battle being pushed to the sidelines, these episodes highlight the seventh prince’s allies and their capabilities to carry the arc’s narrative stakes, providing some surprisingly engaging moments in the process.  With them already defeating the chimeras, we finally turn our attention to the real meat of the season’s second half: the showdown in the sky between Lloyd and Guitane.  Of course, similar to his season one battle with Guisarme, Lloyd finds himself faced with a formidable foe in Guitane due to his shape-shifting abilities and dark magic.  Additionally, the demonic priest has the ability to send out his powerful chimera offspring, further continuing the fight from below, but not before Escher’s singing helped turn the tide of the battle.
“The Battle Above the Clouds” would’ve been seen as a 23-minute flashy extravaganza featuring Lloyd’s battle against Guitane.  However, that’s not entirely the case, as most of the episode is spent on Guitane’s tragic backstory, where his beliefs in pureness and God were tested due to a horrific incident.  Guitane’s harmless attempt to assist a young Anastasia resulted in his family being murdered by her parent, whose only strive is to savor their hunger and nothing else.  This resulted in Guitane questioning the purity of people’s hearts, setting him on a dark path to rid the country of its religion for good.  Fortunately, Lloyd managed to subdue this threat by harmonizing his attacks with Escher’s music.
Those looking for an enticing fight between Lloyd and Guitane may find their beliefs shattered by its execution.  However, it does continue to highlight the show’s fourth-wall-breaking humor seen in “The Moon and Tonkatsu”.  In this case, Lloyd acknowledged the depressing nature of Guitane’s origin story and even the monochrome palette that’s still present following the flashback.  I’m usually a sucker for fourth-wall-breaking jokes if done correctly, so I should consider myself satisfied that this season continues to take advantage of them.  It may not raise any particular stakes that have been teased since the beginning of the season, and the voice actor for Guitane provided a performance that felt wooden in his line delivery.  Thankfully, the humor and flashy animation persist in helping me tolerate some of its narrative shortcomings.