Ryousuke takes the fight to Galdarblog even as he’s shown a different way his life could have gone.

What They Say:
Galdarblog and Ryousuke finally get a chance to clash swords; each strike puts one closer to their goal.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While the approach to the series has been haphazard at times, I do continue to enjoy the show as something that’s just kind of old school in a way where it doesn’t try to make perfect sense of everything and just have fun. And throw a lot of amusing fanservice our way, though sometimes the censorship arrives before the naughty material even arrives. With the previous episode focusing heavily on Lisara and Iria working together, then not, then working together again while also giving us some sweet, sweet Ryousuke and Quele time, now things are progressing forward again as Galdarblog is advancing his own plans with Mina while Quele and Ryousuke are en route to make sure things don’t go south too quickly.

Unfortunately for them, Galdarblog seems to have the upper hand for the moment, and the most clothes compared to Lisara, as his use of Mina has given him what he needs, leading to quite an intriguing show of power as all the events go his way. Of course, he’s not going to get everything easily as there’s a complication involving Mina that he wasn’t aware of, her provisional contract with Quele, which keeps her at least temporarily safe. But what it doesn’t protect is Lisara and now Galdarblog is intent on beating the snot out of her. Which would be more enjoyable in a way if there weren’t huge blocks of censorship across the screen. It’s not that I want to see her topless, but I want to see the actual action.

While there’s some good action to be had in the first half, things step up more so in the second half with Ryousuke there, something that makes the situation worse since he came with Quele and that’s who Galdarblog needs. But it turns more to the two men going at it with their powerful swords, but with Galdarblog working things so we see various alternate realities that could exist for Lisara and Ryousuke, something that forces him to see it and break through it in order to truly fight back against his powerful opponent. There are certainly some very charming slice of life moments in seeing how the pair lives in this fantasy world, and some very sexual moments as well. There’s some other less than subtle moments that comes from it with Mina, but as a whole it hits some really good notes overall and there’s some more back story revealed that only adds to the intrigue of the series and how everything is connected.

In Summary:
While it’s been a little circular in getting to the point of this otherworldly arc, the series does bring things to some decent conclusions here as the main cast of characters goes head to head with Galdarblog. The character side of it works well here throughout as everyone gets their moment to shine and there are some really fun slice of lice teases that come into play as well. But it all builds up in an epic way, has a conclusion and hints at more potential and danger for Ryousuke. And it also drops in a little end of the world action too which should make for some real fun in the next episode. The little twist, while not entirely unexpected, is handled well in the final minutes and makes you grin, even through the censorship.

Grade: B+

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.