Episode 19
I had a strong feeling this would happen and I was right. After that super intense finale at Rumble Town, Radiant dives right back into what it loves to do best. FILLER. With three episodes left over after the climax, it was safe to assume that the last few eps were definitely going to be filler unfortunately. While I can understand that after last episode, there needed to be some padding to all the action. But three episodes of filler? They could have just gotten away with making this the last episode of the season.
Anyways, enough of my complaining. After some unnecessary shenanigans with baby Doc, Master Lord Majesty invites Seth to a party in his honor as the hero who saved Rumble Town from the Domitor. And it’s to be expected that the fact that Artemis considers the Domitor to be the enemy, Seth wouldn’t be that enthusiastic about the whole idea. Thus we start the Seth Brooding arc.
I did feel bad for Seth though. Considering the person he came to realize he had so much in common with was viewed as a villain by everyone, including sorcerers. It must have hurt to be celebrated as a hero when Seth didn’t see it that way. I honestly wanted Seth to speak out against Lord Majesty’s words. I was getting so tired of hearing him talk like he knew everything. It felt so insensitive. Not to mention he didn’t even lower the debt despite everything that happened. Not to mention what were considered Seth’s “heroic deeds” were all pretty terrible experiences that were laced with sadness and guilt. It also didn’t make it any better when Seth declared he was going to destroy Radiant, the crowd just kind of went along with it without realizing the feelings behind it. This whole event felt so insincere.
And only to make things worse, that blond jerk from episode 10 came back. I thought he’d only show up for only one episode… I wonder if he’s even in the manga… Anyways, Nick is as trashy as ever though it seems like his yes men are nicer to Seth after he saved them at the broom race. So I guess there’s that. But it seems like Nick has developed a weird habit to talk with his tongue out. As if this guy wasn’t annoying already. He then demonstrates how completely deplorable he is by completely scoffing over Seth’s accomplishments by claiming he could have done better and then challenges him to a duel to show that he’s the greatest in Artemis. Dude, I’m tired, Seth is tired, give it a rest. Oh but the guy just keeps going, digging himself a bigger grave and broke the camel’s back when he dissed Hameline. Earning him a well deserved punch to the face. Thank you Seth. I was growing tired of just having all of these guys run their mouths without fully knowing the entire situation.
I’m glad that Alma finally shows up again after all this time. Because as much as I’m fine with Seth brooding over what happened, it can get a little tiring if it persists for too long. And thankfully Alma is able to help snap him out of his brooding faze and make him realize that there are people who are worried and have gone through so much for him. Namely Melie who was the one to call Alma to help Seth and even put off getting her injuries treated to look after him. Aaaand I’m back to completely shipping Seth and Melie again. Such a fickle shipping heart I have~
Not only that, but Alma tells Seth that things have been doing a lot better in the initial town he was living in. With the town’s folk actually treating Alma better. Even the Rumble Town residents are doing better to rebuild their city and work together. So even if things look terrible at first, it does show that Seth’s actions did inspire change in those places. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. The episodes ends with a cute moment of Seth hugging tsundere Melie and Doc. Tsundere Melie is actually really adorable when she blushes, especially when it’s because of Seth heh.
I expected this episode to be padding for the previous episode’s action so it wasn’t surprising for not much to happen. It just annoyed me by how insensitive Lord Majesty and Nick were with them acting like know-it-alls. I’m happy to see Alma again, but it honestly felt a little shoehorned in. But it would probably feel worse if she just happened to show up rather than Melie calling her.
Though my favorite part of the episode had to be the Nemesis watching and sweatdropping over Alma beating Seth up. They’re so freaking cute.
Episode 20
And the accursed fillers continue with yet another nearly meaningless episode. Radiant why do you do this? At this rate, this series could have gotten away with only 12 episodes with the amount of unnecessary filler eps they pulled. It may have been better to just have ended the series with the previous episode.
First half of the episode had to deal with the Inquisition. Apparently Konrad was arrested and would be dealt a severe punishment. But because of what he did, the public’s faith in the Inquisition plummeted a bit. Not to mention that Teppes got demoted for acting so rashly and got his face punched in by Seth. We hardly knew thee… But even Dragunov had to be punished because he didn’t consult the others, despite having helped the situation at Rumble Town. What bothers me is how gleeful and scornful two of the higher ups were about him being punished. At least one of them saw it as unfair.
Speaking of Dragunov, we get to see how he’s doing in his neck of the woods. Because of Konrad’s actions, the public seemed to have turned their backs on most of the Inquisition, leaving Dragunov’s force in great need of food and supplies. And I actually got really annoyed over that one NPC knight. He honestly seems like what Seth would be if he was an Inquisition member instead of a sorcerer. He has such a naive view of the world that just because people do the right thing, they will be rewarded or praised for their actions. He even says the same line that Seth said “The one to blame is Captain Konrad.” I’m completely convinced that this guy is literally Seth’s alternative Inquisition self and it makes me glad that Seth is a sorcerer.
But man, what irked me most was when Dragunov explained how if one member of the Inquisition makes a mistake, the Inquisition as a whole is put in a bad a light and will turn their backs on them and then the NPC knight exclaims how it’s unfair. I honestly got so heated and frustrated by the double standards of the NPC knight that I threw off my headphones and went to go play Pokemon Go for a bit. Though half of it was for Community Day but that’s besides the point… I did appreciate that Dragunov admitted that it’s the same thing for sorcerers. Now, I’m a bit torn on Dragunov because how he seems to go back and forth with semi-understanding sorcerers to viewing them as dangerous outlaws. One moment he’s cool and then the next I just want him to go away. Well, I hope that was able to change that NPC’s view a little bit…. But then I got annoyed again when the NPC knight talked about troubles almost directly relating to what sorcerers have to go through everyday. No matter what they do, the world’s view of them won’t change.
I do think it’s interesting that Dragunov is almost the opposite of Seth in a way since he doesn’t believe one person can change the world. Thankfully (kind of) his crew does end up fed after asking that one village back in episode 9 that they saved from a nemesis. But due to what happened in Rumble Town, Dragunov has to leave his crew so they won’t have to suffer his punishment with him. Certainly a father or his men. I have a feeling his punishment will have to do with him becoming higher up in the ranks of the Inquisition since earlier in the episode, he didn’t want to to be more than a captain. Not to mention there is a seat open due to Teppes royally screwing up and got his title stripped away.
Unfortunately, the last half of the episode had to do with the accursed coffee loving kraken… This was a callback no one wanted. So far, every time that kraken shows up, the episode just takes a dive in quality story-wise. It’s just pointless filler with Seth feeling dumber than he actually is by mistaking so many things as coffee. And don’t get me started on how overwhelmingly exasperated I was when it turns out that Seth plunged himself and Doc into a bigger load of debt after buying overpriced coffee beans from Lord Majesty…
Seems like Seth is doing better after his brooding period. But it’s pretty obvious he’s still pretty freaked out over his earlier dream of slaughtering his loved ones. Thankfully Alma is able to read him like a book, knowing that he was just trying to busy himself so he wouldn’t have to think about things that made him anxious. Though it is weird that he’s not asking Alma about Piodon. The guy literally dropped so many things on Seth and made it seem like Alma knew more about him than she let on. Why aren’t you asking Alma about it??? Maybe we’ll get the chat next episode. But this whole thing feels way too slow to be a series finale.
