Short Synopsis: Lief, Barda and Jasmine run into one of Tegan’s guards. Surprisingly, he uses riddles.
Good: Kree; Great to see enemies actually using riddles in a show of this nature.
Bad: Rather incompetent fansubbers; the guardian could have used a bit more background.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10
With this episode, I think it’ll be obvious why I decided to switch to the subbed versions. Seriously, I can follow what’s going on on the screen decently, but when an enemy actually uses word games and riddles, then it’s a definite sign for me that this isn’t an anime that I can watch raw. This anime also makes use of a number of very specific explanations, and without full understanding of what’s going on, it’s going to be hard to enjoy this anime to its fullest.
It’s just too bad that the fansubbers seem to either have insufficient English knowledge, or they just don’t know enough Japanese, as the translations are far from accurate. I wouldn’t be surprised if the lack of background from the guardian is because they missed a few details. Either that, or there’s some explanation about how he suddenly changed back to normal later in the anime. But ah well, you’ve at least to give them credit for trying, and subbing this anime in the first place. 😉
Anyway, I liked Kree’s back-story in this. The reason Jasmine was so reluctant to go to the lake was because of Tegan. The witch used to kill its entire family in her web (suggesting that she’s some kind of spider), and certain events in the episode suggested that she has no respect for animals whatsoever. Because of this, she sends him back to the forest. I still find her reason to join Lief and Barda a bit weak, though.]]>
Deltora Quest – 04
Yeah I agree with the bad fansubbing. They should’ve read the books to get the actual names right. Like with Theagan’s name and her children and the riddle. I would like to point out their actual names are Hot, Tot, Jin, Jod, Fie, Fly, Zan, Zod, Pik, Snik, Lun, Lod and Ichabod.
Ah, thanks for pointing out. I’ll be using these spellings for now.
Sorry, I misspelled Thaegan.
The giant turned back into a bird because he was cursed to guard the bridge until truth and lies were one – he said this when introduced. After Lief failed the riddle, he told Lief to say something and if it was true the giant would strangle him to death and if it was false he would cut off his head. Lief said “My head will be cut off”. If that was true, the giant would have to strangle him, making it false, and if it was false, the giant would have to cut off his head, making it true. So the curse was broken.
As for why he was cursed, if the sub left that out, it was because he tried to deceive Thaegan to help a friend. Probably a raven.