English Dub Review: Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest “Pandora’s Box”

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Nagumo has been surviving well as he traverses through the Great Orcus Labyrinth, unsure of what level he wound up on. Nagumo’s power is at a whopping Level 17, thanks to all the monster meat he’s been eating. Meanwhile, Yaegashi has been reflecting on Nagumo’s “death,” which had been reported to Pope Ishtar by Commander Loggins. While practicing sword-swinging in the courtyard, she additionally overhears Hiyama suspiciously try to convince himself that “everything went perfectly,” and that nobody would “ever find out.”

She tends to Kaori, who had just woken up after a five-day-long faint, spurred by Captain Loggins knocking her unconscious for her own safety (as she was attempting to dive after Nagumo.) She grieves Nagumo’s fate with Yaegashi, but doesn’t give up hope that he’s still alive. She promises to look for him when she’s strong enough.

Meanwhile, Nagumo is traversing the floors and kills two giants who are guarding a massive door. The door leads to a room full of stars, where a girl is being imprisoned. She explains she was betrayed and locked away because of how powerful she was. Empathizing with her betrayal, Nagumo frees her, and refers to her as “Yue.”

The episode narrates lore about how Nagumo and his classmates were originally students from Earth, who were transported to Tortus and dubbed the chosen warriors. They are meant to restore the balance between humans, monsters, and the demons who control them.

Our Take

It’s odd how widely spread the whole “girl-in-a-box” trope is when it comes to storytelling scenarios. Then again, not really. It’s not a coincidence that characters have to find and free a distressed girl, who is usually either A) naked, or B) “new” or naive in some way. It was a welcome sign (and a good laugh) that Nagumo initially gave no f***s about Yue’s imprisonment, but the entire subliminal idea of having Yue’s narrative be a “prize” (AKA, Girl in a Box) is a trope that pretty much needs to die. With all hope, they’ll continue to turn this trope on its head, and Yue won’t just be some naive harem girl. Nagumo’s (lack of) reaction at her nudity and hug was a great sign.

On the topic of Nagumo, though, it’s a little hard to watch him onscreen — mainly because he’s become so edgy that if we put a side-by-side of him and Shadow the Hedgehog, the resemblance would be uncanny. Seriously — he even has a gun. The main issue isn’t even the edginess, though — it’s how he became edgy.

It’s very obvious that Nagumo wasn’t originally like this. He seemed like a caring and soft-spoken boy, but suddenly, he’s a confident killing machine who acts like a total dick to someone he’s just met. The personality transition seemed so random — does monster meat just make people act like this? Maybe the sudden personality switch would be slightly more bearable if his voice acting wasn’t so god damn cheesy, either. His voice sounded totally different before he became a monster eater. He’s at least twice as deep as he used to sound, for no other reason than for The Edge. Everyone else’s voices are completely fine, though — save for Yue’s squeaky voice, which might need some getting-used-to.

It was really cool that we got more lore about the actual students and the world. “Something, Something, Because They’re the Chosen Ones” may be a pretty typical plot, but hey — it’s more about what they do with it. It’ll be pretty exciting to see where they go with it, why some random kids from Earth were chosen to save a fantasy world, and what the story dynamics will be like with the demons.

Mystery, Fantasy, and D&D logic — it’s a pretty sound setup!