Eusis heads to defeat the dragon. In the world of Good Witch of the West, there are two types of dragons: carnivorous and herbivorous. Eusis first heads for the herbivorous ones, only to stand face to face with a ferocious herbivorous dragon. Firiel is watching him from a safe distance as Eusis grabs all his courage and slays the dragon with great honor. But wait, another carnivorous dragon approaches Firiel. She now has to run for her life in order to stay away from the angry teeth of this ferocious beast. But then, Rouxbow runs off on his own and Firiel rushes in to save the little guy. Then, the dragon closes her in. Firiel prepares for the inevitable. She’s only seconds away from death…
Only to be saved by Roux, who just happened to be in the neighbourhood. I didn’t like that scene. Talk about Deus ex Machinae
In any case, this episode illustrated once more the major flaw of Good Witch of the West: it doesn’t build up. At all. That’s the pity of only having thirteen episodes. This show would SO have profited from thirteen extra episodes. After all, the story is just amazing. If the first thirteen episodes could have been spent at building up and introducing the characters, countries and concepts while the last thirteen episodes would focus at the story, this anime could have been totally incredible. Right now, there were just too many moments at which I kept wondering about certain names which were used (Hermes? Vildo? Cheviat?) The Mahiru-star also has been left without any explanations so far. Does it also function as the major light source in that world, or is it just a pretty statue, which floats around in the air?
And I’m also having a bit of trouble concerning the “big bird’s feather”. According to r3dking, it’s actually called the “firebird’s feather”. Why did Ureshii choose for “big bird’s feather”? I would also have loved for this series to explain a bit more about each of the cities and strongholds visited. I still don’t know the real meaning of Hyragurion. And why did Marie become a maid at the castle?
Okay, that’s enough ranting for now, on to the good stuff. As there were quite some juicy things revealed this episode, which made the story take another turn for the best. 🙂
First of all, the big firebird’s feather mentioned two ways to become queen. Either hunt dragons or protect the country Torubato from the country Brigeonte. This was incredibly direct, so there’s got to be some kind of catch to it. I have a hunch that Firiel will be the one to figure it out, but that’s not the point. At the beginning of the episode, Leandra figures out why Torubato has to be protected. It seems that Brigeonte’s been rather hostile lately, and it aims to attack Gulair. As Torubato lies between the two countries, it would be troublesome if it were to fall.
Another interesting fact which gets revealed is that Duke Riez is actually alive. The only ones who know this are probably the ones who were present at the night in which he was supposedly killed, so that means Roux, the mysterious guy with the hat and Riez himself. It also means that Riez used some kind of doppleganger, who killed him off, which would explain the body that Eusis found the day after. Or it could be that the real Riez died that night, but the blue guy from the OP managed to survive.
Roux also reveals a major part of the storyline: The Wall. It seems that the Ephemeris-research was really close related to this. It seems that the entire world is surrounded by an invisible wall. What’s behind this wall, nobody knows. It just seems that a lot of dragons come from there. In any case, the Mahiru Star and this Wall seem to be competing with each other, or something like that. Whenever the star gets close to the wall, the wall opens. That’s what the doctor has found out. The Ephemeris will help Roux to prove that the star and the wall are interfering with each other. But what this has got to do with the darkness isn’t clear yet.
The final interesting thing happens when Firiel touches The Wall. Roux promised her to take her to the wall, in order to disappear forever afterwards. Roux’ plans change when a great light appears which swallows Firiel up, leaving no trace at all. This probably has a lot to do with the big firebird’s feather, though we need to wait till the next episode to find out. Nevertheless, it’s a very interesting development indeed.
Overall, despite its flaws, I’m still enjoying Good Witch of the West. It’s got an awesome story, after all.
