English Dub Review: I’m Standing on a Million Lives “Dik Throbb”

Overview:

The dragon isn’t doing much, but it does seem to be absorbing people’s life force. An orc child is discovered and it looks like it will eventually be a queen. In order to get the orcs distracted, they have Aoiu speak Orc to them. Unfortunately, the only phrase she knows is “Dik Throbb” which means “No, I am leg hair”. Yusuke is able to take off with the orc child and stabs her while throwing her towards the lava. Iu managed to revive and helped defeat the orc queen.

Our Take:

For an episode with such a hilarious title, this one got pretty dark and heavy. As if it wasn’t clear a few episodes ago, it’s hard to tell who the bad guys really are here. Yusuke killed a child in one of the most difficult scenes I’ve watched in a while and I mean that in a positive way. The orc who tried to save the girl forced a smile on his face as he tried to keep her out of the lava for as long as he could. He ultimately failed but the impact was definitely felt, and I like how Yusuke reacted as well.

I feel too many times anime protagonists do awful things with a smile on their face. Sure oftentimes they are insane but not always. I like how Yusuke’s inner monologue talks about how he knows what he is doing is awful but he has to do it. Afterward, he even begins to break down a little. I am really excited to see what happens when they go back to the “real” world after this one. Seems like this adventure will have left a lasting impact on Yusuke.

There’s a reason the episode is titled “Dik Throbb” and it does make sense. It’s still hilarious but makes sense, Aoiu only knows one phrase in Orc and it’s “Dik Throbb”. They censored the word “Dik” in this one so it took me a second to figure out that, that is what was happening. Keita made a decent one-liner using it so I guess he goes up like one percent but in case you were wondering he’s still a douche.

This episode gave me chills and we haven’t even addressed the dragon in the room. Everything that has happened has been awful. The orc queen just wanted to protect her family, and I don’t think any of the heroes want to be doing this. Yuka made a Terminator 2 reference when she got swallowed up by lava so I would say everyone had a moment in this episode.