English Dub Review: ISEKAI QUARTET; “Uh-Oh! Detention!”

Overview 

The alcohol thieves from the previous episode must be freed from detention.

Our Take

Kazuma, Aqua, and the Imperial boys are sent to detention after breaking into the principal’s office and triggering and mishandling his frog traps. But it’s not regular detention; the presiding teacher is the gigantic insect demon Kyouhukou, who unleashes his little black denizens upon them. 

Admittedly, this is a rather extreme punishment for a school to mete out. As the detainees stumble out of the classroom, their brains are throbbing and bugs wriggle out of their various orifices. Gross. 

Kazuma, Emilia, Megumin, and, for some reason, Darkness all get together and decide to try and help out the tortured alcohol brigands. Emilia goes to Rerugen and butters him up and asks him how the detainees can have their sentence lightened. And by “buttering him up,” all she does is just exist and be courteous to him. Those are some decidedly low standards; Rerugen must be exceedingly lonely. 

He suggests that they could get a sentence reduction if they perform a good deed. Megumin swiftly comes up with an idea to this end. As one would expect from her, this is a very poor idea that involves the use of explosion magic that somehow works out in the end. 

We all expected that Megumin would recklessly light her bunsen burner in the science lab with her Explosion, but not in a kind-hearted way like this. Everyone else, including the teacher, also seems to acknowledge these unspoken noble intentions and lets the explosion play out. What a bunch of pals. I don’t know how Megumin knew ahead of time exactly what would happen next, but I think you’re not supposed to question that part. 

The explosion bursts the water pipes, threatening to flood the school. The principal only begins to actually care about any of this when it is brought to his attention that included in the entire school is his personal cigar collection. Determined to “protect his stogies,” he enlists the help of the detainees, who are conveniently nearby. Aqua, being the goddess of water, is actually useful for once and easily stops the flood. 

I didn’t expect the continuity of this show to have enough integrity to care about what happened to the wayward wine robbers afterward. Regardless, much like the previous exploits of the aforementioned burglars, this is yet another weak showing and a considerably less comedic one at that. Apart from, “Megumin explode things,” none of the characters really even exhibited any of their trademark characteristics. Everybody banded together to do good by each other, which is sentimental enough; but in a menagerie of violent warriors and overlords, it’s all a bit too atypical and bland. The show runs better when their antics involve verbally and physically beating each other.