English Dub Review: Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World “Battle for the Vortex”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Mismis has taken the crew to try their luck at a casino for a last chance vacation that doubles as an attempt to win enough funds to score a battle tank, but the slots aren’t paying out for Iska. However, his fortune is about to change (or, I guess, remain the same) because who else is trying their hand at gambling? That’s right, Alice and Rin. They’ve come to Jurak, the neutral “city of pleasure” at Rin’s behest, hoping to avoid an encounter with the Empire. After Alice hits a jackpot on her first try, she generously shares her winnings with Nene after the redhead comments that the quantity of coins would be more than enough to afford their captain’s tank. The two groups set off into the city separately, but Iska and Alice still manage to happen upon the same fortune teller. The psychic tells each of them that the other will always be nearby, that their souls are bound together, and can’t even be separated by ill fate. Meanwhile, Risya takes a meeting with the Imperial Senate and discovers that there’s been a “vortex”, or source of astral power discovered, and Unit N07’s new mission is to secure it. Alice gets similar news from Sisbell by way of Rin, and the two travel to Mudor Canyon, which is controlled by another part of the royal family: the Zoas, who want the vortex for themselves. When they arrive, “Masked Lord” On Zoa greets them with an attempted stabbing, then proceeds to reveal no useful information before sending them off with a warning to keep a low profile. Back at the Imperial Vortex Hunting Camp, we’re introduced to Mismis’s friend Noro, and Iska has an encounter with a former fellow Saint Disciple, an intimidating assassin known as Nameless who’s ordered the search for the vortex to continue despite soldiers going missing. Back in the Nebulis Sovreignty, the Zoas seem to be plotting something, and with huge amounts of astral power at stake, that’s probably not a good thing.

Our take:

It’s nothing short of a miracle that any of these characters get anything of substance done, when basically every episode is another vacation. Sure, this trip is *supposedly* the last chance for fun before a tough, dangerous mission, for Iska and his crew before they’re officially under the no-nonsense command of Risya, but we’re currently at about 2:1 ratio of vacations to missions, and it’s starting to seem like actual action sequences may be a thing of the past. A point of humor does come from the fortune telling scene though, where the psychic gives Alice and Iska basically the exact same reading. A good approach, I think, since the one time I tried my hand at the divinitive arts, I predicted a fight between two argumentative friend, but unfortunately blew my cover when one of them tried to tell me I’d “predicted” the obvious.

Despite Iska and Alice (barely) avoiding each other this episode, it still manages to be at least half filler, with both the Empire group and our Nebulis witches just kind of wandering around Jurak. One positive point I will mention is that the lighting in this series, and this episode in particular, is absolutely top-notch. The flickering of the fortune teller’s candle against Iska and Alice’s faces, the bright flares of the casino lights, and of course, the constantly coursing sparks from the (I’m assuming?) vortex near Alice’s castle all make for stunning scenes.

The voice acting is also worth note. Jhin (Alejandro Saab, who’s deadpan vocals also bring to life Tatsuya in the other series I’m reviewing, The Irregular at Magic High School) gets in some extremely quality jokes, made extra impressive because some of them are just a word or two, while Kellen Goff (League of Legends players know him as Fiddlesticks) shows off his impressive creepy power as the newly introduced “Masked Lord”, On Zoa Nebulis.

Basically nothing new is explained, unfortunately, except that the witches get their astral powers from these “vortexes” somehow, and that Alice simply can’t *imagine* marrying Iska (except, y’know, she totally can). So, not a super interesting episode this week in my book, but hopefully it’s setting the stage for some adventure and action in next week’s offering.