English Dub Review: From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman “The Old Country Bumpkin Watches Them Grow”

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Overview (Spoilers Below):
Beryl wrestles with teaching Ficelle, who is a terrible teacher, how to actually teach.  Mewi struggles to fit in with her fellow students, but a conversation with Cindy at lunch hints at that beginning to change.  At a small party, Beryl views both Mewi and Ficelle’s growth with satisfaction.  And then, an unexpected disturbance rocks the Magic Institute.

Our Take:
Beryl certainly has a lot of jobs to juggle this season.  Besides his role as Mewi’s caretaker and trainer for the Liberion Order, he’s now adding “teacher at the Magic Academy” to his resume.  He’s not only teaching Ficelle’s students how to sword fight, but also has to give Ficelle her own lesson.  Ficelle may be an expert on combining sword techniques with magic, but that doesn’t mean she’s an expert on everything, as her teachings proved to be too demanding for her own good.  Thankfully, Beryl has so far been proving to be a helpful teacher in the art of swordsmanship, though Vice Principal Brown isn’t too keen on accepting outside help from those who don’t practice magic.  But that may change as Beryl is confronted by a new type of enemy that can remove magic.
The second episode of the season further highlights the show’s world-building with the Magic Institute, prompting Beryl to adapt to different strategies, not just his swordsmanship skills.  More importantly, it showcases more development for Beryl’s students, mainly Ficelle and Mewi.  While Ficelle strives to be better because of Beryl’s praise, Mewi faces her own struggle to become more comfortable around others, particularly Cindy and the other students.  Her attempt seems to be working very well, thanks to her kind gesture towards Cindy.  It’s too bad that the voice direction in the English version remains inconsistent for their vocal range and dialogue timing.  It bears repeating that the show is somewhat tolerable despite its formulaic shortcomings, but its dub remains just as distracting as before.

About Marcus Gibson

I'm a recent writer for BubbleBlabber who has an extraordinary passion for films and television, especially from the animation genre. I also spent plenty of hours playing video games, most notably from the Kingdom Hearts franchise. My goal is to provide the most friendly and entertaining reviews on the planet. Whenever something might be good or not, I always remain optimistic and curious about a specific concept from a film or television show.