English Dub Review: Wise Man’s Grandchild “The Fall of the Empire”

Did someone say “Backstory episode?”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Shin has now taught his friends, in addition to the other magnificent powers they all possess, the ability to fly using lightweight cloaks combined with wind magic. Elsewhere, in the neighboring empire that the demonoid forces have just conquered, Schtrom rules over his newfound lands with a rabid horde of demonoids working under him. His subjects clamor for war, to go into neighboring kingdoms and bring them under demonoid rule as well. Surprisingly, Schtrom posits that he isn’t actually interested in taking more territory, as he’s already conquered everything he needed to. The demonoids take issue with this, but Schtrom explains that they’re free to do what they want.

Schtrom is then asked by his cohorts why he’s so melancholy about all this, and why he only wanted to take over the Empire. This prompts a flashback sequence that takes us back to what brought Schtrom to the side of evil in the first place.

Schtrom used to be a duke of no small means in the Empire he now rules. Unlike other nobles, he was kind and good to the common people, even at the expense of his precious time with his family. His kindness towards those of lower standing earned him the respect of the people and the hatred of his fellow nobles. Working together, they hatched a plot against him. Using a series of misdirections from public officials and planted wagons filled with contraband slaves, they were able to convince the public that Schtrom was behind a series of kidnappings intro slavery which was ailing the populace. In one tragic night, the people of Schtrom’s territory gathered into a mob and burned down his castle, killing his wife in the process. In retaliation, Schtrom, who was a powerful magician, made a pact with the forces of darkness to become a demonoid and take vengeance on those that had wronged him so.

Back in the present, Shin and his friends gather to address the public. Led by Earlshilde, they announce that demonoids have entered a neighboring kingdom, but that there is nothing to fear. Earlshilde introduces Shin and his classmates to the public as an elite force that is trained to hunt down demonoids. The crowd roars in applause as Shin and his friends fly into the air, inspiring the kingdom with confidence

Our Take:

I was surprised to see that this week’s entry into the chronicle of misery that is Wise Man’s Grandchild actually had something of a plot in it. I’d gotten so used to just watching the awkward shenanigans of Shin and his all equally boring friends that seeing this anime actually try to tell a story threw me for a loop. Of course, my initial excitement soon faded when I remembered that this is Wise Man’s Grandchild, after all. Still, the show that can’t shoot straight, still the show that wouldn’t know how to keep tension if it good storytelling came with an instruction manual.

The first sign that this episode is not so great comes in the very beginning, where the story just comes to a complete halt to tell this backstory for a character who really doesn’t even need it. Schtrom has been inconsequential for quite some time except as an arbitrary demonic force, not a villain who has actual pathos or an interesting personality. It’s fun to see villains become more fleshed out, especially the particularly sinister ones because it reminds us that good and evil are fragile lines to walk, but a good villain backstory demands complexity, tact and precision to make work. Schtrom has neither the interesting personality or the agency to be a villain I want to learn more about.

As for the story itself. Well, it’s not horrid, but it’s not great either. Everything is played completely straight and it goes about the way you’d expect. The moment you see the nobles around Schtrom decide to bring him down, you already know what’s going to happen; the only question to be answered lies in the details of his downfall. This episode seems to think that all it takes to make an interesting backstory is a simple A to B line of thinking. It’s like a math problem: young idealist plus tragic event equals big bad demon dude, but that’s not how it really works. With only one episode to tell this story, the show forgets about the complexities of the emotional journey takes when they’re falling from grace. And the potential tragic element that could be at play is nonexistent because Schtrom has very few personality traits in the first place: let alone tragic flaws.

This episode is boring but not for the same reasons as usual. Most of the time this show doesn’t even try to tell a good story, but this episode has the exact opposite problem. It clumsily stumbles through Schtrom’s backstory without any idea of how to make Schtrom’s character interesting. Whether this is worse than usual is kind of hard to say, but at the end of the day, crap is crap, even it smells a little bit better than usual.