Okay, that was a surprisingly dark episode! Especially at this stage of the anime, you wouldn’t expect it. If the creators were to make this into a main storyline, things would turn really awesome, though it seems like this is just a two-episode arc. Still, I really loved this episode. And Randagio comes in action!
As the episode was so serious, the downfall was that I had extra trouble trying to figure out what was being said. Still, I did get the overall picture. We start the episode with Shirayuki, walking to a children’s playground. She then tries to fire a blizzard at a random direction. That, or she tries to establish a connection with Fandavere. This, however, fails. She wonders why.
Ringo, meanwhile, is extremely happy because Summer Holidays started. Summer Holidays mean camp, and it seems that Ringo likes camps very much. Souta will probably go as well, though he’s got some unusual plans to do there. After all, he’s isolated, he has hobbies nobody else has. He really likes doing so, but he’s the only one in that, and he isn’t able to see it.
Souta then gets the feeling he’s being followed, which appears to be Hansel’s servant from the previous episode, spying on him, trying to figure out the location of the barrier. This doesn’t work the first time, though and it loses sight of Souta. Akazukin and Baru, meanwhile, try to wake up a sleeping Ibara. They indeed know how scary she can be when she wakes up. ^^
Shirayuki then returns, and tells them what happened. Something could have happened to Fernando. Shirayuki wonders about Souta’s safety, though he then enters the room. He also tells them about the fact that summer holidays have started, which means that he doesn’t have to go to school. His mother and father will be away, so he either has enough time to spend at home, or he plans to go to the camp. One of these two, no idea which is the right one.
Then, a discussion follows in which Shirayuki and Akazukin explain that they have to go to Fandavere, in order to check up on Fernando. Akazukin then suggests to take Souta along with them. After all, she’ll protect him if something happens. Ringo, however, is not happy with this. After all, she wanted to have fun with Souta and her friends at camp, and now she hears that he’s going to another world. She also really worries about his safety. I guess we can now safely say that she’s in love with him. I have no idea whether this will turn out to be good or not, though this episode definitely turned out in the right way.
Souta, however, plans to go, no matter what Ringo says. The fact does remain, indeed, that Souta’s mother might be there. I nearly forgot about it, but she indeed also has to have some kind of part in the story. Ringo then starts to ignore him. Souta gets a bit worried, and heads home. This gives Hansel the chance to find out the location of the barrier, and he grabs it, with success. He then sends Randagio to get them. Strangely enough, he doesn’t decide to invade Souta’s home. I guess he has to find more about the barrier in order to be able to do that.
In any case, he doesn’t send Gretel, as she has failed too much. Gretel, however, wants to be acknowledged by her brother, so she makes plans of her own. Randagio, meanwhile tries to find some suitable Nightmarians which could do the trick. I like him as a villain. ^^
The next day is the day of graduation, and Souta overslept. Ringo didn’t wake him up, and she continues to ignore him through the ceremony. Afterwards, she stares evilly at him. That night, Souta’s packing his stuff, while he has a call with his father. Surprisingly, he’s lying about his plans for the holidays. That, after he claimed that he doesn’t like lying in the previous episode.
Then the serious part of the episode really begins, when Souta is in his room, along with Akazukin and Shirayuki, who seem to have taken his bed. Akazukin actually talks with a concerned voice for the first time ever. She wonders if it’s really okay with Ringo, though Souta believes that it is. She’ll understand him soon. Akazukin then goes to sleep, while Souta attempts to finish the homework he got for the holidays in one night, so that he can use his full holiday time to go to Fandavere.
In the end, he succeeds, though I doubt that he got any sleep. The next morning, Ringo is working at a festival, serving some kind of stew. Her friends then come by, and notice that her cooking isn’t as good as usual. I guess that it’s because she didn’t make it for Souta. Ringo then makes it again, with the plan of offering some to Souta, and it tastes good again. Souta, meanwhile makes a video for Ringo, in order to apologize, while Shirayuki, Akazukin and Baru try to wake up Ibara.
That night, Ringo finally has time to go to Souta’s house, though it’s already empty. She then sees the tape, and plays it. It was very funny to see Ibara trying to strangle Akazukin and Baru on the background, while Souta was sincerely apologizing. Ringo actually cries when she finds out. It seems that Souta and the others have just left before Ringo arrived, as they’re still in Erude. Ringo then calls Souta, yelling certain things I couldn’t understand at him. Then some nightmarians cut Souta off.
Randagio then comes in action, after insulting Baru for a dog. The catch with this week’s Nightmarians is the fact that they’re like mutated moles, so they soon hide in the ground, digging many holes. In the end, they still proved no match for Ibara and her vines. Randagio then escapes through one of these tunnels. While this was light-hearted, the thing that follows absolutely was not.
Ringo, worried about Souta, rushes over, when Gretel appears, knocking her out and taking her as hostage. The episode ends. The next episode might actually be a very important one, as it’ll show how far the creators are willing to go. We’ve got three options:
– The simplest is that Ringo will be saved in the next episode, and go along with Souta and the others to Fandavere. I’m actually not hoping for this option to be chosen. Not because I dislike Ringo as a character, but the other two options provide so many possibilities.
– The second option is that Ringo will be saved, though she won’t go along with Souta. This means that she’ll get worried about him during her entire time in camp, while Souta has to learn to rely on someone else than Ringo. Either Akazukin, Shirayuki or himself.
– I’m actually hoping for the creators to go with the third way: The Three Musketeers attempt to save Ringo, but they fail, making her a hostage for Hansel. So many awesome things are possible with this. I know, this option will probably not get chosen, but it would be awesome if it was.
Memorable Moment: Akazukin and Baru trying to wake up Ibara.
