Radiant Episode 12

I’m glad to see that we are continuing down a somewhat exciting arc that exhibits some mystery and is allowing us to explore more world building. Though the pacing does kind of suck in certain places. Such as when they spent 4 minutes of the two Inquisition members arguing and when Melie and Doc were imagining what they would do once they paid off the debt. Those shots felt like they were just wasting time and could have easily been cut down to probably half a minute. But whatever. After seven or so episodes of straight filler, I’m not surprised by this series trying to waste time.

I do like how the opening narration changed to show more of what else is going on visually with that giant tree and all. Just like how the plot is slowly starting to finally open us up to more of Radiant’s world, but so are those storybook-like images in the beginning.

But man it is SO NICE to finally see some normal people actually treat sorcerers decently as if they were people. They weren’t even afraid of them which was a well needed change of pace and gave me hope. Even if the dad wasn’t all that welcoming and standoffish towards them, at least he was willing to talk to them and give them some information or at least his take on things which is a huge improvement from what we’ve gotten so far from people of this world. I am surprised to see the subject of immigration being brought up in this series and the issues that arise trying to live in this world as such. I wonder if that’s why they are a bit more hospitable and less afraid of sorcerers due to both parties being mistreated and looked down on. There is a sense of relatability. It was really cute to see Seth sharing the food with the children and them not caring it was a sorcerer giving it to them. Yes, give me more things like this!

Apparently, the oldest son came into contact with a Nemesis and was cursed, but thankfully alive. So I suppose that’s part of the reason why they weren’t being terrible to Seth’s little group. Anyways, being immigrants, the Inquisition seems to not be willing to take their claims of a Nemesis infestation seriously. And because of their son now cursed, there is no way they can press the issue in fear of the Inquisition finding out. So Seth being the shounen protagonist takes on the request to rid the place of Nemesis.

We finally get some more world building as Melie so graciously explains to the audience (and Seth) about Source Nemesis. Which are Nemesis that will curse someone if they touch them. I’m still confused by that though. Do they physically have to touch someone or do they just have to survive an attack from them??? But anyways, apparently there are other Nemesis called “Echo Nemesis” that split off from the source Nemesis that can’t infect anyone. Not only that, but Seth and company come across a tree that grows feathers. Strange that it doesn’t actually have a name. But it only grows where a Nemesis is and judging from the size of it, the Nemesis has been residing there for a bit. There is definitely a lot more to Nemesis and I’m glad they’re showing variants of them. They’re almost like Pokemon in a sense lol.

I really wish the show stop teasing the fact that Seth and company may never pay their debt. It’s really getting old and I get frustrated because that debt is just not getting any smaller. When they caught all those Nemesis alive, I had a feeling something was going to go wrong. The moment felt too happy, which almost always leaves room for things to turn sour (which it did). Though I did laugh when more Nemesis would fall in and floating +1 appeared beside them. It was so random but definitely had a cute charm to it.

This episode leaves off on a lot of questions and mysteries. ESPECIALLY with Grimm. What the heck was he doing with those guys he threw into that creepy coffin??? What did those guys do to warrant that??? Grimm is such a big mystery and I really look forward to learning more about him and his deal. And then there’s this person controlling the Nemesis with a flute who is probably going to be the main focus of all this insanity. There’s still a problem with pacing and making the jokes stand a little longer than they should, but otherwise, I’m glad that the plot is moving forward so I won’t complain too heavily.