English Dub Review: Fairy gone “Balance on Sand”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Dorothea may have cut off the island in an attempt to regain chapter nine of the Black Fairy tome last week, but it sure isn’t much help. They’re eventually forced to end the blockage without discovering its whereabouts. But the mission wasn’t a total bust, as they take Damien captive. After Director Nein interrogates him, they learn about the contents of the tome, and that Damien is distantly related to the author.

Meanwhile, Free makes a deal with Bittersweet for information. No longer a friend of the Gui Carlin mafia, she feeds them info on who’s behind the shadowy organization. This leads to a series of arrests, spearheaded by Director Nein. There are many Gui Carlin executives even high up in Unified Zesskia’s ranks, and the director stakes her job on the guilt of the higher-ups she arrests.

Our Take:

The fifth episode of this new season is a bit of a scattershot affair. We’ve got a lot of different storylines going on, from Bittersweet’s ‘redemption’ to how Gui Carlin has infiltrated even the government of Unified Zesskia. It never reaches the level of confusion that the first season achieved, but it’s definitely not just a spectacle for entertainment. No, we actually learn some things about this episode.

The first of which is the Black Fairy tome’s history. While Damien informs the director of its contents, Marlya and Free go over what they know of it, and how it’s always been sought after from its inception. Damien doesn’t turn out to be overly helpful when it comes to Ver, however, much to Marlya’s chagrin. It was cruel of him to shut her out of the interrogation, so I’m glad she got a chance to let him have it during the car ride out of Rondacia. I’m still a little shaky on how Damien and Ver are connected, but one thing’s for sure: Ver has plans of her own, and no matter who she allies herself with, she won’t be dissuaded from her goals of getting revenge for the extermination of her people.

The other big plot point this week is how Director Nein goes to bat for taking down Gui Carlin. As can be expected with any large criminal empire, they’ve infiltrated everywhere, with associates even extending to the higher reaches of government. It was fascinating following the director’s journey to get approval to move forward with the arrests, but I’m not confident in her future. It seems like Gui Carlin may be more well-connected than Dorothea realizes, and if anything backfires, Nein’s job may be given to someone a little less ‘confrontational’.

This week’s dub is solid, with good performances all around, especially Marlya and Free. Jill Harris’ speech about living for herself was lovely. “On his seventeenth outing, he headed for the desert of death and never returned.” Sad story, Bittersweet, but what do you expect when your father goes to a place called the desert of death? “I’m only after you because you’re a criminal.” Free’s response to Bittersweet’s teasing is so hilariously straightforward. “Just from glancing at him you can tell he’s absurdly rich and a pompous son of a-“ Sebastian’s assumption of the art collector’s personage is fun. “At the end of the day, it’s the one thing I can manage: fighting.” Free’s reason for working with Dorothea isn’t exactly awe-inspiring, but I loved getting a scene where he and Marlya talked it out. “Ver isn’t alone! Because she still has me!” Marlya is at her best when she’s trying to find Ver, and I hope we return to that storyline again soon.

Balance on Sand is a good episode of Fairy gone. It was cool learning more about the Black Fairy tome, even if I wish we got to hear everything Damien said about it. And I really liked all the scenes of Marlya and Free together. When they took a break in the place they first met, that was great. So nostalgic! Nothing too momentous happens this week in terms of drama, but some of the arrests seem to be setting the stage for something big next week.