English Dub Review: Plunderer “Up My Sleeve”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Things are starting to get back to normal after Licht and Mizuka’s battle. The crew has holed up in a cabin, but Jail gets summoned by the Supreme Commander of the military. While they await his return, the female characters get ogled and groped by Althing due to something about Licht and Mizuka having an unresolved Star Stake.

Jail meets the Supreme Commander (aka his adopted father) and learns about the royal family and their Special Services Unit. He finds out about Licht’s true nature, and finally, that that they know about his battle with Althing, and they’re prepared to offer him a deal: turn Licht over and the lives of him and his men will be spared. He’s about to do it too, until Nana uses her legendary ace powers to send them all back in time to before Licht became a killing machine.

Our Take:

Yikes, what a way to start an episode. Althing trying to get handsy with almost all of the female characters is just gross and dumb and wasted a lot of time that could’ve been spent on more valuable storytelling. At least we finally got to discover more about Licht, the Aces, and why they’re so valuable. Plus it was cool getting to see Jail spend some quality time with his old man. And that ending? It has me on the edge of my seat!

But yeah, the worst part of Up My Sleeve was Althing and it’s weird obsession with people. No wait, not just any people, just girls. And not just any girl, but girls with big boobs. The show isn’t even trying to hide its horniness by applying it equally. They even throw in a super sketchy moment where it seems like Hina is disappointed at not being groped because her chest isn’t developed enough? Just major creep vibes from these scenes. They run throughout the whole episode, sadly enough.

Jail’s talk with his father was definitely the coolest part this week. The Supreme Commander is quite the stud, and I would love to see some flashbacks of him and Jail when Jail actually liked his adopted father. The information about the royal family isn’t really new, but it does confirm that they’re above everyone else, even a guy with the title of ‘Supreme Commander’. What is a new revelation is the secret history of the legendary aces, known only to a select few individuals. They were created to be weapons of war, human genetically-engineered through surgery to be able to control the counts and live forever. A squad of aces fought in the Waste War 300 years ago, and Licht was their fearless leader.

This information makes us look at Licht in a new way. When Nana uses her powers to send everyone back in time, we really look at him in a new way. The scene takes us to a seemingly modern-day type of Japanese school where Sonohara and Licht are just average teenagers worried about being late to class. It’s strange seeing Pudding like this, and Lynn can hardly believe it. What are they doing there exactly? It’s unclear, but Nana did say that if they can succeed where she failed, they should try to change the past for the better.