English Dub Review: YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of This World “Into the Rafaelo Desert”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

In an effort to save Takuya’s life, Sayless takes her own as the royal guards prepare to kill Takuya. They leave his life, but they take the reflector device, so he and Yu-No travel through the desert in an effort to reach the Divine Emperor and reclaim what’s theirs.

They eventually meet a weird girl named Sarah. She seems chill but ends up betraying them to the Royal Guard. Yu-No is carried off to be her mother’s successor, and Takuya is sent to the quarry, a kind of work camp/prison from which there is no escape.

Our Take:

Holy moly! Was it just me, or did a lot of stuff go down in this episode? From the very first moment, we’re thrust into the fantasy world of Dela Grande, but it’s a lot less calm than it has seemed the past few episodes. Of course, that’s mostly due to the interference from the Divine Emperor’s royal guards. Sayless is a runaway priestess, so it was bound to happen sooner or later. We discover in this episode that she’s actually the only priestess, so it’s no wonder the kingdom is on high alert.

Some things worth discussing in this episode: Sarah, Takuya, and Yu-No and Sayless bonding. Let’s start with bonding. Weird, right? I took it to be a more metaphorical thing at first, but then Yu-No starts hearing voices in her head? This seems really messed up in a way, that Sayless would take over her daughter’s body. But then again, I can see it as a kind thing, since it means Yu-No will never have to be alone in a harsh and unforgiving world. If Takuya and his wife/daughter are ever free to do as they please again, I wonder how that’s gonna work out.

When it comes to Sarah, I’m still kind of shocked to be honest. I was really worried about how the show would portray her once she was introduced as just eye-candy for Takuya, but she turned out to be one of the best characters in the show so far. She’s just so blunt, direct, and funny! And I absolutely adore her actress, whoever she is. (Funimation hasn’t posted an updated cast list to my knowledge.) I was looking forward to spending a lot more time with her until she up and betrays them without warning. It makes me like her even more though. She’s not randomly nice to Takuya the creep, she’s just looking out for herself like anyone should! As for Takuya, I didn’t love him this episode. He grows creepy facial hair and opens up a random coffin in the desert.

The dub was really good this week, mostly because of Sarah’s VA. She just sounded so natural, not like a lot of dub actors where you can tell they’re dub actors. (That’s not necessarily a criticism of other dub actors, just a fact.) A few of the guards sounded a little too dumb to me: “She gave that man her body AND her soul?” The whole Sayless/Yu-No situation is creepy, even if I can see why Sayless did it: “From now on, the three of us will always be together… isn’t that great?” “I hate you!” Yu-No’s emotional goodbye to Kunkun struck me as being very realistic and sweet. What wasn’t realistic was Yu-No thanking her dad for killing their camel/thing for food: “Thanks for all that you did for us.” Yeah, right! A kid would be bawling and angry at his dad. “Mama didn’t talk, she was kinda different like that.” I sure hope Yu-No doesn’t give away Sayless’s secret to the guards. “How can I just abandon someone who just says they’re gonna punch the freakin’ emperor?” Sarah is just incredible.

Into the Rafaelo Desert had its ups and downs. The long journey through the desert was kind of boring, and I didn’t care for Takuya or Yu-No, really, in this ep. But I completely loved Sarah, even if she doesn’t get a whole lot to do other than be creepy to Takuya. It was nice seeing someone creep on him for a change, I guess? Yikes, this show sometimes…