English Dub Review: Million Arthur “Altered History”

“If ye had the chance to change yer fate, woodjyou?”

Overview

Renkin detects an Arthur in a city called Florien — a place hailed as a feminist haven for women who want safety and opportunity. Stricken by the idea of meeting cute girls, Dancho sprints half a mile to the location in an instant. She is magically stopped by Kakka, who reminds her that she promised they’d all work as a team. However, since Dancho and Kakka already wound up near to the location, Dancho calls the team to tell them that she and Kakka will take care of things themselves.

When they arrive in Florien, they see it’s become deserted and desolate. They find the lord, Adam Christopher, who evacuated his people by the threat of General Bartos — his former retainer who formed a rebellion against him. Dancho and Kakka sneak in to General Bartos’ castle as hired maids, and Bartos abuses Kakka while denouncing all women. Even though they’d been sneaky in getting information about Bartos’ war plans, they’re discovered, and Florien goes under attack. Adam is slain. Just as Kakka and Dancho are about to aid in the war, Renkin calls to inform them that the Arthur detector had malfunctioned and that there was no Arthur there — Florien is simply historically fated to be conquered. Kakka disobeys orders and attempts to kill Bartos in order to save Florien, but can’t bring himself to change history. He leaves tearfully with Dancho.

Pharsalia witnesses this and kills Bartos herself.

Our Take

The real plot twist here was that we finally got an episode that took itself seriously.

“Altered History” actually proposes some food for thought — unlike the other 99% of Million Arthur episodes, which are designed to melt the viewers’ brains. It presents The Trolley Problem, in a more historical manner of speaking. Kakka has the ability to save a population of innocent people if he kills Bartos. However, killing Bartos would result in historically changing the future, which means he would also be “killing” innocent people by proxy — as in, they would no longer exist.

This is the first episode in the season that really addresses the moral quandaries of time travel. Time travel is a huge theme in the show, yet it is so rarely discussed on an intricate and emotional level. This episode invites the viewer to answer the age-old hypothetical: “If you had the opportunity to go back in time and shoot Hitler, would you do it?” By saving millions of innocent lives, it would also be condemning millions in the present — not to mention, trigger completely unseen historical events which aren’t guaranteed to be positive. Aside from the inner turmoil Kakka faced when presented with these realities, it also forced him to look inward and realize that his potential actions — while well-intended — would mimic that of the Arthurs they’re trying to stop.

The viewer desperately wants to see Kakka murder this dude, but when he doesn’t, it’s a better ending. The audience gets the best of both worlds: Kakka gets character development, and Bartos dies anyway because Pharsalia is a Chaotic Neutral force who plays by her own rules. Sure, innocents of the future no longer exist, but Kakka and the gang won’t ever know that — or they will, and it’s a problem for a future episode. #TeamPharsalia.

The quality of the episode (animation/voice acting/effects/etc.) was bland, but if they can keep these brands of episodes coming, it’ll at least be tolerable. Poor Kakka kept getting beaten around while Dancho — who is suddenly a human rights activist — gave him a moral slapping. The big talk coming from a sexual offender and a thief. 

That’s right, Dancho — we saw you steal “one for all.” What, do you think you’re a good anime or something?