English Dub Review: Radiant “The Shadow Lurking in the City -Darkness-”

I smell a rat.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Seth and company avoid the authorities and make their way to the home of the Zeda family, who sent the job request in the first place. They know of the Nemesis because their oldest son Taj came into contact with one, gaining a curse and becoming a sorcerer. His curse manifests as purple snot whenever he sneezes, so his father is trying to play it off as a cold to keep undue attention. Not that they can get the attention to the right way because the Inquisition isn’t doing anything about that Nemesis. They’re immigrants, so they’re already not viewed favorably by people who’ve lived here for generations, so they don’t want people having more reasons to hate them, irrational as they are for doing so.

Melie drops some helpful exposition about the rat Nemesis, pointing out that the ones they faced are likely echoes of the source. They all trace Taj’s reports to a Feather Tree, a plant that sprouts where Nemesis dwell, but this one is strangely large considering Nemesis tend to move around. Just then, an earthquake starts, which Doc deduces is because of all the mining (probably not a smart move on a floating island). Melie and Doc try to leave, but Seth realizes the echoes might show up again once everyone is gone. This theory proves true as they come back in droves, with Seth and Melie managing to trap three at once! Sadly, their plans to finally put a dent in their debt are thwarted by Grimm, who still believes them to be working with the woman controlling the echoes.

He flees, but Melie puts a mark on him so they can keep track of when the next shows up. However, he has taken two Inquisition soldiers and placed them in a coffin filled with grabby hands.

Meanwhile, Conrad meets with Dragunov, the two having a bit of a mixed history between them as Dragunov plays Bugs to his Daffy. Conrad is more than huffy about his authority in this city, but Dragunov just asks him to lay off Seth due to orders from Torque.

OUR TAKE

Just like last week, I’m really enjoying where this arc is taking the story. Rumble Town is still serving as both an interesting but dangerous place for our heroes as they try to learn all they can about the area and how to do their job. The town is also gaining a lot of character and personality this week, leaning more into it being industrial and slowly losing resources while being controlled by someone in a higher position who just wants them to fear and hate each other, especially the immigrants like Taj’s family, instead of him.

Wait, this is actually starting to sound weirdly familiar. Can’t put my finger on it, though! Oh well, moving on.

Taj’s family also helps to put a face on the ones who would be suffering the most out of all them, being both an immigrant family and having someone who has now been cursed by a Nemesis. I guess not every curse is going to be cool looking like Seth’s horns or psychological like Melie’s split personality, but man, does Taj have it rough with the purple snot. It might turn out to be useful later, but for now, it shows that these curses can sometimes turn out to be just that. In addition, he and his father insisting to play it off as cold so he can pass for normal is also probably relatable to an experience of immigrants who feel the need to fully assimilate in order to avoid persecution. I might be stretching this possible allegory, but I think the intention is there.

And then there are the still foggy mysteries surrounding Grimm and the girl with the flute that controls the mice. We didn’t get a whole lot more about Grimm this week; other than we know he takes Inquisition members and throws them in a coffin for some reason, but we do know already that he is on his own mission to stop the girl. Said girl might be connected to the Inquisition in some way, seeing as they are willing to ignore her Nemesis echoes and how they appear like clockwork after a certain part of town is evacuated. Basically, this whole island seems to be running on a well constructed and timed system that uplifts and disrupts the lives of its citizens in order to fuel an air of chaos and fear. We’ll see if we can uncover any more about this conspiracy next week.