English Dub Review: I’m Standing On a Million Lives “What a Life is Worth”

Overview:

Kusue (played by Valeria Rodriguez) deals with trying to find her inner strength and be a capable asset to the team. When a group of knights is attacked by dangerous monsters, she puts everything on the line for who she is. 

Our Take:

Since her initial character treatment in the second episode, Kusue has for the most part remained in the background. For good reason though. To establish new characters and build upon existing ones. It is reassuring to see the show switch back gears, however, to reaffirm what was already beginning to be constructed previously. While I appreciate her finally coming to her own by finding the confidence she lacked, hopefully her development will continue to be gradual and not reduced to a single episode. Which would, in turn, cause her to become an otherwise static character.  I also quite liked how Kusue further advanced, specifically. As opposed to receiving a flashy, overpowered weapon or move, timing and intellect was utilized instead. Turning her weakness into her strength was gratifying for not only her but those who have been waiting to see her hidden strength shown previously. On an unrelated note, although brief, Kahabell’s scene with Yusuke, Iu and the group is funny as heck. Christina Vee brings such great carnal elation to her flesh fetish; it’s absolutely delightful. As “What a Life is Worth” comes to a close, it leaves our young heroes in quite the conundrum and poses not only an interesting moral quandary but an external one as well. 

Although, there is a double engaged sword in this episode. With Yusuke struggling in the beginning of the series, it’s nice to see him make the most of his diverse range of abilities that he assumed would be useless. He is utilized as a convincing plot device to further propel Kusue and her convictions, however him receiving all these new abilities at such a breakneck pace is a bit worrying as how the series will handle future updates to his vast arsenal of powers later on. The series by no means is focused on that aspect and/or needs to spend excessive time on it but when it does it hopefully it will slow down a tad. Like the new monster, that is introduced, one thought leapt at me pretty quickly. The designs for most of the creatures thus far have been incredibly generic. Some kind of huge boss battle with a unique beast would be a nice consolation prize for the lack of creativity in that regard. And unfortunately, yet again, as it has been for all episodes generally, it is “animation” stills galore.