It’s the final episode and it’s definitely been a long road. And unlike the last season, they definitely ended it a lot better. I actually went and read the corresponding manga chapters to the episodes and dang… they left quite a bit of things out. But I’ll address those things in the final impressions. Before I get into the nitty gritty… CAN WE ALL JUST CELEBRATE THE FACT THAT DRACOON IS STILL ALIVE?! I legit thought he was dead, but it looks like he was just severely wounded and is thankfully all patched up. But to be honest, I’m kind of disappointed he’s actually alive? If that makes any sense. It feels like I got emotional and cried for nothing… Though I am also thankful he’s actually alive. I feel very conflicted lol.
Anyways, we find out that Myr is actually half human. Interesting how he left out that little tidbit when he first introduced himself as a pixie. But I found it excruciatingly sad that Myr couldn’t return to the world like his brethren because he’s half human. Especially since he couldn’t follow after all his friends and family, basically being left behind. After cross checking with the manga, I noticed that the anime left out some pretty big storytelling details… which I’m sure they’ve BEEN doing with this series since the beginning. But in the manga, it showed blood stains in several areas around Myr, basically showing that he had tried desperately to become one with the earth again, even going as far to basically smash his head into the ground. That’s…. just so much more depressing and just hit a little harder.
It was also interesting how Myr’s story as Merlin was contrived by a bunch of misinterpretations of what happened when Myr was just trying to stop people from coming to the forest. Guess it just shows that not all history is correct and should be trusted. As people will either twist what they witnessed or mistake it for something completely wrong. Considering Merlin’s legend was derived of miscommunication is rather sad, especially with how strict Cyfandir’s values had been upheld. It’s as if they were upholding a lie in a sense. Everything they had faith in was nothing but something humans put together. Even Myr’s name was remembered wrong.
I’m still shook at how the children were still alive, but also extraordinarily relieved. Though I’m still depressed over Jill’s death, I have to hand it to Radiant to actually have the guts to have a true and permanent casualty in the war. However, it seems like the babies will be just fine as the Queen steps up to take them into her womb to allow them to grow. I just felt so happy for Myr to know that there was still hope for his children.
Dragunov also seems to finally be putting his foot down against the Inquisition forcing the infected to become their slaves. I respect Dragunov so much after doing this, especially since it shows that he upholds good morals and an honestly good man when it really comes down to it. But it looks like he’s going to confront Torque and find out his true intentions, to which I’m looking forward to seeing since I feel like it’s been a long time coming. Especially since how Torque went about things, I couldn’t really see him as a trustworthy type of guy. So I never really saw what he had planned as just, especially with Piodon doing rather shady things under him.
Change seems to be happening in Cyfandir after what transpired. I’m glad to see that the Queen is taking active steps into doing things differently, especially since she recognizes that if it had not been for the help of some outsiders, they would have lost Cyfandir. At the beginning of the series, I did feel like the Queen was a bit too nonchalant about certain things and wasn’t really taking action to make things better. So I’m glad to see her taking action to be more open to actually listening to the concerns of her subjects and learning from her mistakes. She even goes as far as to lift the law to not keep curses hidden any longer. What basically boils down to an open confessional was rather hilarious when Brangoire follows Ocoho’s lead and reveals that he has six breasts. WHERE DOES HE KEEP ALL OF THEM?!
Speaking of which, I didn’t expect to like Brangoire as much as I do. He was kind of annoying at first, but over time, he is just a really great dude. He went above and beyond defending Ocoho’s actions and even praising her abilities. It was rather touching because all he did was yell and criticize Ocoho at the beginning of the season. However, now he’s willing to take her in as his heir, even going against the Queen to argue on Ocoho’s behalf. He listed basically everything she did, which showed that he was watching her closely and even recognized why she had done those things and what good it had brought to the particular situations. Brangoire basically became like an adopted father to Ocoho and it’s just so heartwarming to witness. UGH, things like this make me weak!
However, I think the most shocking thing that happened was that the Queen defied Brangoire’s proposal to make Ocoho queen instead. I think everyone’s reactions best represented how I felt when this happened. My jaw dropped. I literally did not see this coming. However, when the Queen brought up when Ocoho went against her for the good of the people, it definitely could have been interpreted as a very “queenly” move. So I guess that’s why that happened despite it being a rather weird scene and it seems like the Queen wasn’t even mad over it and instead was proud of her. I’m proud of her too, YOU GO OCOHO! And to think, she probably would have never gotten to where she is if Seth hadn’t dropped that advice of helping others despite going against orders back in episode 2.
And while Ocoho being crowned as the next ruler was great, the episode still holds a bit of melancholy for what was lost in the war, especially Jill and the forest. Sadly, the forest lost it’s magic and is now permanently stuck in the same time as the world. It’s quite a shame really, especially with how untouched and beautiful the forest was. It was a place of refuge for magical creatures and the Inquisition basically burned it all away. However, with the hope that Myr’s children represents, I’m sure that they will bring back the forest somehow. Myr’s final song about Jill was very sad and held lots of emotion behind every word. I do wish Myr the very best and I hope he can find happiness in his children someday.
It also looks like Seth has gained quite a few new party members now with the addition of Ocoho, Dracoon and even Grimm. And let’s not forget the Sorcerer Knights that Doc accidentally swallowed. I am surprised that Ocoho has become a permanent party member, but it seems like the Queen wants for her to go and learn more about the world, taking in all of her experiences and one day bring it back with her to Cyfandir. I appreciate that the Queen recognizes that her perspective was too narrow to see everything that was going on around her and wants Ocoho to be different. I also couldn’t help but notice that if Brangoire became somewhat of a father figure to Ocoho, the Queen had also become something of a motherly figure to Ocoho, which is really sweet. Her send off was freaking adorable, UGH. MY HEART. Ocoho basically got herself surrogate parents through this whole ordeal lol.
This season definitely ended on a much more positive note than the first season in more ways than one. This episode was a nice little wrap up mostly and definitely left a lot of room for more to happen. Hopefully this will eventually get another season since things are getting pretty interesting with Dragunov on the move and Seth acquiring new friends. It was also very heartfelt to see Myr wave goodbye to Seth and reassuring him that he’ll be there to look after his kids. Just a pure and hopeful sendoff to a well done season.
Final Impressions
Wow… just wow. This season was SO much better than the first. I’m just shocked by the quality of it all. The pacing, the story, the characters… everything was just so much better compared to the first season. I’m so glad I got to cover this series instead of Seven Deadly Sins, especially seeing that Radiant does have the potential to be engaging and interesting.
I definitely fell in love with a couple of the new characters. Ocoho was a wonderful addition to the cast and I like that she is different enough from the other characters to shine on her own. She’s a good balance of adorable and awesome. I mean, just look at her… SHE’S FREAKING ADORABLE. Brangoire is another character I came to love over the course of the second half of the season with him being a stern, yet nurturing father figure towards Ocoho in the end. Even going as far as to warn Seth not to make a move on Ocoho or he’d kill him. Sudden overprotective father I see lol. I also came to love both Myr and Jill. At first I thought Myr was super unnecessary with his fart jokes and strange demeanor. But after he became Seth’s mentor, he mellowed out and I began to feel for him after learning more about him. Jill was basically a mom and I love her for that so it was hard to see her go.
While the war arc felt like it dragged for a bit, I can’t complain too much since the pacing was so much better than last season. Almost everything had a purpose and I couldn’t help but go “oooooh” during certain scenes because they had actually been built up prior. The plot overall in this season was just leagues above the first and I appreciate that there was little to no filler this go around. I was honestly pretty wary about there being a bunch of filler episodes again, but I’m glad that those feelings did not come to pass.
I’m also impressed that this season actually straight up made me cry at times. I like to think I don’t cry easily in anime, especially if it’s just an average one. However, this season hit me pretty hard with certain not deaths where I just couldn’t help but get emotional. Two scenes that were probably the best Radiant has offered this season was Seth’s fallout and reconciliation with Melie and Seth bringing Myr his children. Heck, Dracoon pulling Ocoho out of her curse was super emotional. If this season was trying to pull at my heartstrings, it certainly succeeded. Especially with that soundtrack that accompanied that last scene in episode 20. It was PERFECTION.
And while this season was definitely a step up from the first, it still had it’s problems. Like say, the animation in episode 15. WOW THAT WAS BAD. That had to be straight up Seven Deadly Sins season 3 animation levels of bad. Radiant never had the best animation, but at least they always managed to make it look decent most of the time. And while they never made up for that travesty with really great animation, at least they never went back down to episode 15 levels.
I was also not a fan of the narrator telling me things. I’m like: I’m not stupid, I can see what is happening.
They also left a lot of plot points hanging. Like what the heck were those Faithful to the Hermit people? Was Sagramore really okay with letting loose those Spectre Nemesis on innocent people like that? What happened to Mordred? And also… why is no one concerned about Diabal’s fate??? Seth, go find your brother! I’m actually a little offended that Seth didn’t go searching for him after his attempt to help, even if he doesn’t know that Piodon got to him. At least give us a hint at to what happened! He wasn’t even MENTIONED in the last episode!
Also after reviewing the manga chapters that coincided with the arc, I couldn’t help but notice that the anime basically watered down the manga’s contents. Such as characters’ personalities, reactions and also took away some nice storytelling details that could have added so much without explicitly telling the audience. I don’t know if it’s Lerche just taking creative license, but a lot of the story events happened differently than in the manga or got moved around. Like Ocoho being a lot more harsh towards Mordred and Dragunov actually meeting up with Melie and accompanied the ground into the forest rather than just meeting them there. So I can see why the manga readers are a little unhappy with the adaptation as a whole.
Despite the negatives, overall, I did have a fun experience watching this season. I laughed, I cried, the whole package. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected and it did give me a taste that Radiant can deliver on its story, despite Lerche not putting a whole lot of love into it. However, if it does ever come out with another season, I’ll definitely be watching because I want to see more of what this series can bring to the table. I’m also interested in learning more about Seth’s “brothers” since there is something peculiar about them. I had hoped this season would redeem itself and it definitely delivered.
I’ll give this series a solid 7.5/10. Thanks for a great season, Radiant!
