Good Witch of the West – Astraea Testament – 06 – Roux’ Rival

Good Witch of the West continues its tale of elegance. And yes, Firiel’s indeed kindof slow. She’s smarter than most characters in anime, though she does get thrown into more exreme situations, that really force her to think on her own, which is an element that most anime’d rather abandon. The overall tone of the episode was kindof light again, as it didn’t focus on Roux that much.

The episode begins with Roux asking Eusis whether he can teach him some swordfighting skills. Eusis laughs, and ends up being attacked by an angry Roux, wielding a chess-board. He then drops by on Firiel and Adele, who are drinking a bit of tea, while the latter makes a couple of comments on her brother. Eusis then explains that he wants Roux to be focusing on the things he’s good, instead of learning how to swordfight. This makes sense, after all. Roux remains a genius, it would be a waste for him to focus on fighting rather than knowledge.

Firiel, indeed, is quite angry at Roux about the chess-board he threw at Eusis. And indeed, what Firiel lacks in common sense, he lacks in social skills. The two of them indeed make a good couple. Roux also believed the whole time that Firiel wanted to go back to the astrological observatory as soon as possible, but then Firiel reminds him that she doesn’t. She’d cause Eusis, Adale and the others unneccessary trouble, so she tells him that returning to the observatory can wait. They first have to head for a place named Hyragurion, for some reason. She promises to go back with him to Sellafield once Hyragurion is visited, and attempts to seal this promise with a kiss. Roux is a bit bewildered, but he agrees, though right before we get to see some action, the two of them are spotted by one of the court ladies.

Firiel then gets scolded for attempting to kiss a male. A person named Lady Margot has something about this, so the court lady from before takes her to this woman, assuming that Lady Margot will be teaching her a bit of proper etiquette. Firiel then arrives in a beautiful rose garden, covered in blue roses. It’s great to see that different anime all have such different views of blue Roses. Utena treats them like they’re nothing special at all, something like “all roses are equal”. Good Witch also doesn’t find these unnatural, but rather elegant. Blood+, however associates the blue roses as something incredibly special, associated with Diva, while Paradise Kiss’s method of aquiring blue roses is simply by painting red roses with blue paint. Anyway, this Lady Margot seems to have something on her mind with Firiel, though we never get to see what that might be. In any case Lady Margot comes from Hyragurion, in which Firiel can’t be that easily forgiven for her naivety.

Eusis, meanwhile, gets another visit from his good friend. It then becomes clear that Euris still loves Firiel, which is supposed to bring a bit of a challenge into Firiel and Roux’s relationship. Still, a lot of rumours have been floating around about the two of them from out of Toras Academy, which will really prove to be a threat to our dear Eusis. Lady Margot meanwhile asks Firiel about her reason to go to Hyragurion, Firiel answers with the fact that she needs power to protect Roux and the doctor, and why she must understand why the two of them are heathens. There’s still no clue why Hyragurion will be the place to find out about these things, though.

The next day, Firiel and the others travel to Hyragurion, and then it seems to be hosting a large-scale ball amongst the nobles. Firiel and Adale are of course guests of honor. Adale gives Firiel a few tips on how to be as beautiful as possible, attracting as many people as possible. When they enter the ballroom, this initially works, until Leandra shows up and calls for all attention. Still, there’s little focus on Leandra during this episode. Anyway, Adale splits up with Firiel, though she forgets one important thing: as this is Firiel’s first appearance in an event like this, she has no idea how to behave. Firiel then ends up standing in a corner, all alone, until Eusis saves her. The two of them dance a bit, catching a lot of attention. Then the guy who tortured Roux in the second episode appears on the screen in an instant, exchanging suspicious looks with a bishop-like dressed old man.

Then Firiel’s naivety gets proven once more as the two of them walk outside for a bit, and the Eusis ends up embracing Firiel. When she wakes up the next morning, however, rumours of how Euris proposed to her are floating around. (^^;) The episode ends. This episode again was very enjoyable. It was probably mostly meant as an intermezzo after the Secret Gardenarc, but still, a lot of things happened. I’m surprised that Good Witch of the West takes its time in telling its story, despite its length of just thirteen episodes. So far, it’s going into a great direction. This episode definately wasn’t the best that Good Witch of the West had to show us, though it was pretty darn solid, providing good material for future episodes.