English Dub Review: If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord “The Young Man Arrives at His Home Village”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

That cat-man who approached our duo at the end of last episode is actually a “beast-man” named Joseph. He and Dale are distant relatives—very distant, likely filtered through marriage once or twice. Joseph brings them home to spend a few days with his wife, Ute, and his two-year-old daughter, Maya. Dale is impressed that Latina can differentiate the different genders among beast-people even though it is super obvious and Dale is clearly prejudiced.

Latina and Maya become fast friends. The immediate bond between them allows Maya to sense Latina’s inner-sadness. This realization transforms them both into blubbering babies. Once everybody settles down, Dale speaks to his daughter in private. Apparently, when Ute mentioned a local prophecy, Latina remembered an unfavorable, yet very unclear, prophecy she once received. This led to her being exile from her village, and indirectly to the death of her father, Rag.

Dale comforts her with a reminder that prophecies are always vague, and the fact that her family never believed her to be evil was a positive sign. He also makes it clear that Rag’s death is not her fault.

After a fruitful boar hunt in which the local villagers caught two enormous, magic boars, Joseph and the citizens of his small beast-town send Dale back on the road with a whole bunch of pork. Not wanting Latina to leave, Maya throws a fit in the center of town and practically kicking her father’s ass as she struggles to break free from his hold. Dale and Latina both promise to visit again real soon, but nothing they do or say has the power to silence that insufferable brat.

After a time lapse, Dale, Latina, and their horse find themselves in peril. Archers are shooting arrows, other riders are chasing them, and a huge rock falls from the heavens, blocking their tunnel escape. Once they magic their way out of danger, the bandits are revealed to be Dale’s parents and grandmother. Latina doesn’t understand why his family teases him so much and misinterprets it as animosity.

However, after spending some time with the fam, she begins to understand their rapport. The family adores Latina, believing her to be the cutest, most polite girl they’ve ever met. Furthermore, they can’t believe Dale is doing such a good job raising her. After our duo has time to get settled, the true reason for the visit is revealed. Dale’s brother, Yorck, is getting married to Frida, the daughter of their neighboring village’s chieftain.

Hey, guess what? Latina is excited by this news because she loves happy things like weddings, rainbows, and puppy dogs.

 

Our Take

I want to reiterate a point I made last time. We didn’t need to be introduced to Joseph until this episode. Overall, he added little to the plot, and the visit itself didn’t do much besides add to our story’s lore. Also, Dale’s bigoted remark regarding the beasts’ genders didn’t make a ton of sense. Even if we’re to believe he can’t see the obvious differences in their sizes and shapes, why can’t he just look at their clothing? All the men in Joseph’s village wore shirts and slacks while all the women had on bonnets and long skirts. Come on, Dale! That’s really embarrassing.

Latina had an opportunity to use the gravity magic she learned in the last episode which is a great nod to this series’ continuity. Earlier—in the last paragraph, to be precise—I was miffed about Joseph and the beast-people plotline going nowhere. However, this small moment involving gravity magic has given me hope. Perhaps they’re setting something up for a few episodes down the line. They did promise to visit Maya and her family on their return trip.

Then again, do we really need to see Maya again? Much like any kid—or mogwai, for that matter—they’re cute at first until you’ve been around them for more than ten minutes. After that, it’s all: look at this trick; play airplane with me; give me my juice box; you’re ugly; and so forth. And Maya is even worse than most. The cub cries over everything. She bawls when she’s happy, empathetic, sad, or simply pensive. Since she is technically family, I’m glad our travelers got to meet her, but once is plenty.

I’m really interested in Dale’s family. The way they behave like unrefined jerks is a new dynamic to a show that has so far given us primarily straight-laced characters. Sure there’s the occasional racist teacher or rascally team of devil poachers, but those are mere one-offs. Dale’s family members represent where he comes from and the type of person he truly is. Plus, I can’t help wondering if this upcoming wedding is going to be on the up-and-up or if something sinister is secretly guiding this match. Yorck seems like a solid guy, I hope we won’t be disappointed in him by the end of next week’s episode.