This show got dark really fast. I’m sad. Very sad. The lack of care for their lives, knowing that one day they’ll die soon, just…wow. They really are just disposable lives. The way they set up the tone from lighthearted to serious and melancholic was done so well, and the whole time I just did not want the episode to end.
And this. Was. So. Cute.
The episode started off adorable and sweet, making me smile and giggle. Willem is introduced to all of the girls during breakfast, and throughout the day whenever he bumps into the girls they scream and run away, thinking Willem is going to kidnap them or something. Nygglatho explains that they’re not used to being around a grown man so they’re a little freaked out to be near him. Willem likes kids and it depresses him that they don’t like him, so he comes up with a way to make them have a change of heart. He makes them all dessert! And they love it. Next came scenes of the girls running at Willem asking for seconds, laughter, smiles, cute moments and whatnot. We also get introduced to Ithea and Nephren, the two other girls that look to be around Chtholly’s age who are probably going to become the other main characters since they’re the ones that are probably fighting along with Chtholly, while the younger girls are chilling for now.
Things start out fine with the little girls playing with a ball outside and Willem watching, but then it turns bad quickly when one of the girls goes after the ball and falls off the cliff. Willem is immediately concerned and runs after her to see if she’s okay. She basically smashed her head open from the fall with blood streaming down her head. Like any other person, Willem is terrified for her. But it just gets worse as the other girls call for Almita to hurry up and get the ball, and Almita gets up and gets the ball as if nothing bad had happened. We saw before when Willem went after her that the other girls looked confused like, why’s he freaked out about? This whole incident horrified Willem. And to be honest, I was horrified as well. I couldn’t help but wince when I saw her bloody head and watched as she got back up and hobbled to the ball, the other girls showing no sign of concern as well as Almita.
This is when Willem demands Nygglatho to tell him everything about the girls. We got a lot of exposition, and even though it was pretty much everything we read in the show’s synopsis, it was still very interesting. The girls are Leprechauns and they wield certain weapons that are used to fight against the seventeen beasts, so they can protect the world. Using up a certain type of magic and amount (if I understood correctly) makes the user explode along with the weapon. The Leprechauns are beings that are born to wield these weapons and so from the start they know what their future entails. That’s why they show no concern for their own lives. They don’t care. They’re so indifferent to themselves that it creates a whole new mood to all the slice of life moments. It brings a major shift into the show seamlessly, creating now a bittersweet to the scenes we had in the beginning. Because now we know these girls are going to die eventually. I like how we got the exposition this episode. They could have just spoon fed the info to us with a character just explaining it in a room, but the set up for the exposition was done smartly with Almita falling off the cliff. It was a shocking moment made to make us feel concern, but it also made us uncomfortable and horrified to see the indifference to it all, which then led up to this explanation. That in turn also did well in changing the overall mood.
Willem picks up Chtholly and Ithea when they return from their battle. Willem and Chtholly’s chat was rather heartwarming, but again it was very sad. Chtholly explained that the beasts are going to attack an island and it’s Chtholly’s role to go down and explode with her weapon. She explains this to Willem, saying she’s ready for this to happen in what she predicts will be five days.
And she asks for a kiss from Willem as a last request before she dies. And it just broke my heart. The way she spoke proved she doesn’t care about her life, but she still wanted to create final fond memories before she dies, that she wants someone to remember her with a lasting impression. The last bit right there made her sound very human who did in fact care. And it makes me think that maybe she might be a different case, and maybe she’ll change her mind about the upcoming mission. Willem is having a huge impact on her, and it’s obvious that she has feelings for him already. Willem doesn’t kiss her on the lips but on the forehead instead, but he only did that so he could turn her on her back and give her a massage to get rid of poisoning. In any other anime this scene would have seemed lewd, and it kinda was, but the fact that Willem is super chill and mature it was actually pretty funny. Plus they have a cute and innocent chemistry. I love Willem by the way. I’ll make sure to say that every week.
We got tiny hints of Willem’s past but it still hasn’t been too clear yet. Again, this episode was brilliant. It really set the tone for the rest of the series and we should all be prepared for a lot of tears and deaths. This is definitely not a happy series, and even though I know that I’m still going to be pulling my hair out later from the pain.
