When I first heard about the show, I never would have imagined that it would be dealing with such heavy themes. That certainly became clear with this episode, after the previous one had been hinting with Roux’ torture. Anyway, this episode plays inside the Toras Academy (also known as The Secret Garden and the Demon’s Hideout), in the Kingdom of Gulair, nicknamed The Good Witch of The West. Yes, it’s not a person, it’s a kingdom, this Good Witch of ours. Its pride is the Secret Garden, the most elite academy in the world, practically everyone’s looking up to it. Ah well, this expains why the series is called the Good Witch of the West: it’ll be centered around the Gulair Kingdom. An interesting fact is that during the entire episode, there were absolutely no suggestions that the Secret Garden might be a very important place in the anime. Though the fact remains that it IS the main reason why the Gulair Kingdom got its fancy little nickname. There still is something major which has to happen, which will put the academy in the spotlights. But then again, we’ve only hit episode three. There’s still lots to come.
Anyway, this episode’s main purpose was to introduce the Secret Garden, and although it’s such an incredibly famous academy, it’s actually a very nasty place. This mostly is because of the three student-council members, who are absolutely evil and really believe that the nobles are the only people worthy enough to exist. Such a concept may have been done before, though this anime carries it one step farther, and provides some subtle differences as well. For starters: this is the first anime which actually shows what is being taught at these elite-schools: proper etiquette, and how to get a guy in 10 steps. The council members actually order people to just search through Firiel’s properties, in order to investigate. She then gets declared as a spy, and the council members make sure everyone in the entire school knows about it. Even the friend Firiel managed to make ignores her, which is totally different from other anime which tried the same. Another interesting, yet subtle difference is that an actual expelling request is put on Firiel, but it’s refused by the school direction.
Though the biggest difference, and in fact, the thing I really liked about this episode, is that the council members actually go a step farther than just making the life of our main character horrible: they plan to kill her. Not just in person, but they order one of their servants to do it. The planned setting was during a school-play. The council-members selfishly took up all of the roles, and play one of the oldest stories imaginable. Though apparently, it has great value for the academy. Rosellite brings Firiel to a balcony, at which she’s supposed to commit the murder. Though then the two of them start talking, and Rosellite begins to doubt, especially if you realize that Firiel’s incredibly talkative and thinks on her own, instead of following crowds. Then, when you think the two of them made peace, an assaulter similar to the ones from episode one appears, and attempts to strangle Firiel. Rosellite gets worried now, though in the midst of Firiel’s struggle, the assaulter pushes her off the balcony, killing her. The lights were out at that moment, though the noise makes the council-members turn the light back on. There they see Rosellite’s body, and what do they do? They label her as a sacrificial offering. I know such a concept has been done before, but damn… there never was an anime so straight about this, not afraid to hide people doing horrible stuff, or saving this for the last moment.
I also loved Firiel after this. She doesn’t wait, and immediately decides to leave the Secret Garden. Then she finally manages to run into a couple of protagonists, who appear to be a huge fan of Adale. I only noticed this after taking a good look at them, but their character designs have so many similarities with Uo and Hana from Fruits Basket! Their personalities are totally different, though, but I wouldn’t be surprised whether this anime had something to do with Fruits Basket. Anyway, when the two of them try to join up with Firiel, they come to the unpleasant discovery that Firiel actually plans to leave the academy immediately. I’m also wondering why nobody blamed her for seemingly killing off Rosellite. After all, it would be a good chance to make her look bad.
It also was nice to see that the creators really planned to turn Adale into an old-fashioned fangirl. Ever since the previous episode, she’s been acting very enthusiastic towards Firiel, if I do recall because of her love for fairytales. It was very good to get my suspicions confirmed, when it became clear that she wrote a very passionate story about Roux and Eusis.
Speaking of the devil, Roux and Eusis, meanwhile, are spending the whole week that Firiel spends in the Secret garden playing chess. Roux never heard of the game before, so Eusis teaches him. It takes a week for Roux to be able to beat Eusis in a game, which is extremely good for a beginner. This also fits his personality well. Episode one really made clear that he’s a good thinker. Anyway, the reason he started playing chess in the first place was because Eusis promised him that if he won, he’d do whatever Roux asked him to. Roux actually uses this to dress up as a girl, and get a place in the Secret Garden. He takes Marie with him. I really was a bit startled at first when I saw Roux’ disguise. His glasses totally gave him away, though. XD
I like the couple of Firiel and Roux. Normally, we would have a boy, protecting the girl. At times, creators try to be a bit original, so what do they do? Right: we have a girl, protecting a boy. Talk about extra dimension. Anyway, this issue lies different with Firiel and Roux: they really protect each other. It’s not a one-way road at all. They both love each other, and they both want to protect each other at all costs.
I’m also getting curious about the coming episodes. Firiel planned to leave, though at the end of the episode, Roux shows up in his disguise, trying to enter the academy, which makes her biggest reason for leaving the Secret Garden suddenly gone. Will the two of them actually be remaining on this place, or will they move on? One thing’s certain, though. This will be one of the central places in the anime. I’m also wondering about the girl called Cisaria. She obviously has a secret. Though what could it be? I’m guessing that she’s somehow aligned with the assaulter from this episode. Also, what happened to Adale? Didn’t she say to Firiel that they’d be attending the same school together? And why does Adale think the school’s such a good place?
Overall, I like Good Witch of the West. The art is incredible, the story shows lots of potential for later, and I actually like the main character for once. In fact, all of the characters have something unique. The current episodes aren’t the best ever, though I’m fairly confident that this anime will get better and better as the episodes progress.
