English Dub Review: Chain Chronicle: Light of Haecceittas “The Sword That Rends The Darkness”

Time for a surprise ambush…What are you guys doing here?

Spoilers Below

The Black King broods within his shadowed sanctum, waxing poetic about the waning days of humanity. How they have no understanding of the machinations of fate. How with each new birth, the cycle of hope and depression continues and blah, blah, blah, king of darkness blah, blah. Blah, Blah gonna destroy everything because fate said so, blah, blah. Let’s get to the opening credits, he’s boring me.

On the hero side of the equation, things are starting to fit into place. Juliana’s Holy Guard, the Desert Kingdom’s army, the sprites, and dwarves have all assembled for one final battle… again. This time, they have a dragon on their side. His name is Furball, so your mileage may vary. Only one problem with this plan: the Black King has used the dark mana to form an impenetrable shield around the Imperial Capitol. Not a problem. We have a giant sword with an evil-destroying song written on it… Did anyone find this a little convenient? Anyways, we’ve also got a master songstress who can sing that song, but it only works from the inside of the shield. How are we gonna get her and the sword inside?

Oh. That makes sense. Mount the giant, evil-slaying sword to the front of a teleporting airship. By the rule of cool, this is bound to work. I see no problems with this plan. And since nobody on the bad guy side knows what they can do, this will be the most devastating ambush that the continent has ever seen. Plan disseminated, everyone preps up. Juliana makes a speech about hope and duty, Aram gets his sword maintained, Phoena gets naked in front of the only male sage… Okay… While this is going down, the Black King tests DarkYuri’s resolve. Well, if he can’t save all of his friends, he’ll reduce them to ash with his own two hands. Seriously, do evil dudes ever listen to themselves rant? Someone’s logic train went off into the ravine.

Speaking of rational thought, Velnar has one for Aram. If push comes to shove, can Aram really kill Yuri? Aram is resolved not to. The answer lies not with offing the darkened ones but saving them. He knows that this was the path he had been led down, and he knows what he has to do. Velnar is doubtful but wishes him luck in trying.

That night, Aram meets up with (the now fully clothed) Phoena on the deck of the ship. He’s nervous about the battle, but learning Yuri was always nervous before a big fight makes him feel less like a wimp. He asks her about how she came to meet Yuri. Backstory time! So, she arrived on Yggdra Island with nothing but the clothes on her back and the Chain Chronicle. She wandered the continent for a while until she ran into Yuri, who took her in with no questions asked. Next question: Does Phoena love Yuri? From this face, it’s safe to assume so. While she stammers, Aram lets out that he totally does, and will do anything to get him back. Oh, so he didn’t mean that kind of love.

An explosion on the bow rocks the ship. DarkHart has shown up and demands the Chronicle. As Phoena tries to make a break for safety, thousands of enemy soldiers appear. The ambush has been ambushed! The heroes snap into action. They were going to wait until the next morning to set things into action, but now is as good a time as any. The crew fights their way onto the ship. Aram and Velnar focus their efforts on DarkHart, while the other fighters try to make a path for Musica to get onboard. Enemy attacks knock her off the ship, but Furball makes the save. It’s an epic battle alright. Only problem, the mages have begun running out of mana, and DarkHart has infected the ship’s drive with dark mana. Why the airship’s mana drive is out and exposed on the deck of the ship by design is beyond me, but these sages are not tactical geniuses by any stretch of the imagination.

Aram uses his newly found Light Mana power to refuel the mages and purify the mana drive. The ship goes into motion, slipping through the portal and into enemy territory. DarkHart has been knocked off the ship and goes flying into the abyss… Or does he? No more than a second after we watch him fall out of range of any part of the ship to grab on to, he’s back on the deck, knocking out the ship’s systems and absconding with Phoena and the Chain Chronicle. The ship crashes, deep behind enemy lines and with no hope for support.

After this episode, I am primed for the final battle. The action was solid, with some really well-animated scenes with DarkHart and Aram. I felt like there was a bunch of stuff in the early portions that I was supposed to understand from the video game but didn’t. Like, Phoena stripping for Melchior. Honestly, though, the bad guys need to stop talking. When your every word betrays the fact that you aren’t thinking logically, you need to just shut up and be evil. It’s okay. An unknowable evil is even more intimidating than a knowable one. Voice acting didn’t really have anything special in it, but it was definitely hitting par. I give this episode eight McGuffin swords out of ten.