Englis Dub Review: Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time Episodes 5~8

Overview:

Peter finds himself in an arranged marriage.

Our Take:

I thought the orc mini-arc would be cringy, but like the elf mini-arc, it ended up being kind of clever? Peter is forced to court an orc woman in order to deepen the relationship between the guild and the orc nobility, something he doesn’t really want to do since it’s a deliberate ploy to get in the way of his betrothal with Luvelia. Luvelia herself is aware of it this time, making the deception have much higher stakes. Piglette is a low-ranking orc who has dead-low self esteem due to her being teased her whole life for looking more like a human. This makes her more conventionally attractive to Peter, but she has a huge chip on her shoulder.

Peter just oh no ‘happening’ to cheat again is much weaker this time around. It would have been interesting if they’d both been drugged, but writing choices. The mini-arc focused on Peter trying to deflect from the situation, but also coming to understand how Piglette feels and what her lot in life is. When he pleads with her, he not only emboldens her to lie on his behalf, but also gain some self confidence. She then uses that self-confidence for her own needs, coming to realize what she wants– revenge. She’s also, once she has some more confidence, pretty smart! She is more strategic than the other girls in the harem, and is able to tell what her position is and when she’s being taken advantage of. Out of all the girls, she feels the most strongly characterized, which was nice.

Still, as I said in my first review, you don’t cheat unless you choose to do so yourself. Arousal is one thing, that’s a physiological reaction, but you don’t really whoops just happen to cheat for no reason. It kind of lessens my sympathy for Peter when the other girls showed up to his date with Luvelia, much less when he cheats on her in the middle of his date. You really have no spine, Peter.

I am still torn on this show. It’s probably more clever about the harem aspect, including the difference of social standards between species as something that causes a lot of miscommunication. At the same time, it doesn’t really commit to whether this is something Peter really enjoys or not, so his forced moments don’t feel that forced and his willful moments don’t feel that willful. This is not a good thing to have mixed up.