English Dub Review: Million Arthur “Amongst the Most Beautiful Light”

I’M YOUR BIGGEST FAAAAAAAAAAAN

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Tekken, Yamaneko, and Kakka walk back from a mission when a beautiful but bratty lady falls on top of Tekken. This lady is Kaguya, an up and coming idol who, at one point in the future, will become a star idol second only to Utahime. Turns out she’s running from a mob of obsessed fans who each have their own Excaliburs and are led by a shifty scientist. The Arthur Hunters make short work of the first wave, but there’s plenty where they came from, and Kaguya is no mere idol. She’s actually what’s known as “Knight”, which is apparently “an artificial life form created to serve and assist an Arthur” and…comes from the moon?

…anyway, they stop at an inn for the night, but Kaguya is infuriated that she can’t seem to catch Tekken’s eye, so she pretends to have been kidnapped to test his loyalty. Little does she know that he will search the whole city for her no matter what, so she stops messing with him. The group continues to fight through wave after wave fanboys until they’re all defeated, so it seems the mission is nearly over. But that night, the scientist Arthur paralyzes and kidnaps her, ranting about being her biggest fan. Tekken soon finds him and knocks him out with one punch. They arrive at the spot of Kaguya’s next show and drop her off, but even though she offers them free admission to the concert, Tekken turns it down, saying that the songs should be for people who appreciate them. Still, he says he probably knows what her songs are like without hearing them.

OUR TAKE

This was a cute little episode of the stock tsundere character falling for the stock dense but dutiful character. While it is definitely not anything new or fresh with this sort of story, I can’t help but be a bit charmed by it whenever I see it, and Million Arthur really likes dipping into the standard episodic anime storytelling, so it would make sense that this would eventually come up. Though while the last episode was more about the antagonists than the usual protags, this one was pretty squarely a Tekken episode. Or rather, a “how someone else reacts to Tekken” episode since it was Kaguya who had the character arc here. Also interesting that, of the two three-Arthur-team episodes we’ve had so far, Yamaneko and Kakka seem to work well as a snarky duo for whatever’s happening. This show has a lot of flaws, but I feel I should give it credit for having easily identifiable character dynamics between its mains.

Though what really brings this episode down for me, besides how uninspired the “save the celebrity from her fanboys so she falls in love with the one who doesn’t care about her popularity” aspect of the plot is, would be how much new information about Arthurs and Arthur accessories is so sloppily name-dropped and then never quite properly explained. So, Kaguya is a “Knight”, which is apparently an artificial being made to serve an Arthur…which sounds kind of like what a Fairy is, but no one bothers clarifying the differences or explaining what the heck the fairies ARE, which is not something that ever bothered me until now because I didn’t think I needed to think about it. And Kaguya is apparently a super successful singer and destined for immense popularity in the future, so are Knights just allowed to have their own lives outside of their missions before they become sworn to an Arthur? And then what exactly do they do for the Arthur they’re sworn to? And what’s this about a “Messenger from the Moon” thing? The scientist guy said it made special but, again, never explained why.

For all I know, these could be things further explored in the second season that I have not yet seen, but the way they’re introduced here can’t even qualify as foreshadowing for that. In the context of this episode, they’re basically just more things to make Kaguya more kidnappable, which is kind of a hat on a hat given that she’s supposed to be a celebrity with a rabid fanbase. Anyway, next week’s the first season finale, which will determine if I decide to bother watching the second.