English Dub Review: From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman “The Old Country Bumpkin Returns Home”
Overview (Spoilers Below):
A letter addressed to Beryl arrives from Beaden. Sent by his father Mordea, it urges him to return to the village for an annual event unique to the village. With the Magic Institute on summer break, Beryl invites Mewi to accompany him and Henblitz. Then Curuni invites herself along. It’s the first time Beryl’s been home since his move to the city. The next day, an unexpected confrontation occurs.
Our Take:
As the title suggested, this week’s episode sees Beryl…well, returning home. Given the occurrences he encountered in the city, especially the encounter with shadow wolves, he certainly needed a familiar place to return to. However, it doesn’t appear that he’ll be resting at his humble abode, as he, Mewi, Henblitz, and even Curuni are invited to attend his village’s annual hunting event. However, this hunt for the saberboars, monsters equivalent to wild boars, doesn’t happen in this episode. Instead, it focuses on Beryl getting reacquainted with his home and family, with the result being exactly what you’d expect from the usual family get-together. With Mordea embarrassing his son with his dream of being a grandfather, it seems that things hadn’t changed for the country bumpkin, for better or worse. Though with the addition of Mordea’s history as a legendary swordsman, it appears that Beryl’s relationship with his father may be developed a bit more if it decides to continue exploring that aspect.
When we’re first introduced to Beryl’s father in season one, I careened towards the negative side of how he sounds. Regarding his personality and age, I expected him to sound very old. However, with Hopper Stone voicing Mordea, he instead sounded like he’s at least twenty years younger. This is one case of miscasting that’s almost impossible to ignore, especially since Stone’s vocal performance sounded a tad off. Similar to my criticism of the dub direction, this episode showcases that the miscasting problem still exists for Beryl’s old man. Don’t get me wrong. Mordea still provides some humorous moments from his unintentional phrasing, particularly calling Curuni Beryl’s potential wife. Unfortunately, that could only take it so far when he doesn’t have the right voice to match its comedic timing.
