English Dub Review: YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of This World “Twilight in Dela Granto”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Since discovering the secret needed to enter Dela Granto in last week’s episode, Takuya has successfully completed the ritual and been transported to the legendary realm. But rather than finding the Psychite he finds new roommates instead.

He meets Sayless first, a mute girl who exists mainly to be rescued by him. She’s also a runaway priestess. The other newcomer is Ailia, a warrior tasked with guarding the border between Dela Granto and the outside. However, she is not fated to survive.

Our Take:

I liked this episode of YU-NO, if only because it felt fresh. Setting up shop in an entirely new place has allowed the show to discard a lot of the baggage that comes with having so many episodes happening in the same place, covering the same events in parallel dimensions. Dela Granto is a lovely vacation from all the drama back home, and even if he came in search of a rare item for depressing reasons, it still makes for a nice little getaway.

If only there weren’t a bunch of random monsters going around attacking people. Apparently, the border separating Dela Granto from everywhere else is not very secure, and there are frequent attempts made by monsters to bypass the guards. Which isn’t too difficult, to be honest, since Ailia is the sole surviving guard in the entire realm. Takuya crashes at her place once he rescues Sayless from a weird bat creature. It’s a pretty sweet life. She teaches him to use a real sword with his Kendo skills, and Sayless has food waiting for them back at the house.

There are only about three characters in this episode, and it’s all the better for it. Takuya isn’t unbearable this week, though not for lack of trying. His come-on to Ailia is typical Takuya, and his savior instinct is on full display. But he’s also kinda silly, like when he pulls a funny face at Sayless and goes through the alphabet to find her name.

Ailia is probably the more interesting of the two new characters. She’s dead now, of course, but not everything is as it seems when it comes to Dela Granto. “Never let your guard down in Dela Granto,” she tells Takuya. She would have been wise to heed her own advice. All the other guards died already, which sounds very suspicious. Now that Ailia is gone, what’ll happen to the border? And who will inform her little sister, Amanda, who ran away from home?

The dub this week was pretty solid. Eric Vale did a nice job as Takuya, and I thought Ailia’s voice actress did pretty well, too. “Not sure what to do, but you’re pretty much my only hope in this world, so here we go!” After everything Takuya has seen, it’s not surprising that this new world doesn’t really phase him. “Aren’t you even going to buy me dinner first?” Takuya’s reply to Ailia’s clothing removal instructions was funny, as was his weird familial greeting to Sayless: “Honey, I’m home!” Finally, I’m curious to know just what Sayless was running away from. “It’s something only you can do,” Ailia tells her. “Therefore it’s something you have to do”

Twilight in Dela Granto was a pretty good episode. Since it is somewhat of a fresh start for the show, with a new theme song and all, I liked getting a new location and new characters. Neither of them was too appealing, though, and the only one who could talk is dead now. Still, there’s a lot of new questions in this new realm, and I’m looking forward to seeing how things progress.