English Dub Review: An Adventurer’s Daily Grind at Age 29 “Rirui and Cocko”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
A beaster scholar and his daughter enlist Hajime and Rirui’s help, but sparks fly between the two kids.

Our Take:
It didn’t take long for Rirui to make another friend her own age.  However, unlike Anyango, her new friend, Cocko, is anything but friendly.  This week’s episode introduces us to Cocko, the daughter of a Chicken Beaster scholar, and she is quite the handful for Rirui compared to Anyango.  In addition to her stuck-up personality, Cocko is pretty darn stubborn towards Rirui, the complete opposite of her Chicken Beaster father’s kind-hearted nature.  However, the episode also reveals that Cocko shares a similar goal as Rirui: to grow up to be like her father.
The episode features a quarrel between the two girls that may or may not excuse Cocko’s rude attitude, but it does highlight her brief development through her understanding of Rirui’s goal.  It also doesn’t shy away from showing Rirui’s complaint about being “useless” once more.  This time, she’s upset that she can’t read or write as well as Anyango, so she’s been enrolled in a school where she can learn while she’s on her adventures with Hajime.  At this point, we’ve already known that Rirui is saddened about not being as good as others, so her depressed state does get a little redundant narrative-wise.  It’s a good thing the show’s slice-of-life essence remains compelling enough to excuse its hit-or-miss approach to the characters.