Mini golf, crossdressing, traumatic backstories, and a deal the Duke finds hard to refuse. Looks like we have a little something cooking up when it comes to the Duke’s curse, as well as Zain’s magic.
Let’s just get it out of the way. Walter is weird and his plan to…make the Duke fall in love with him to distract him or…????? Look I don’t know, I don’t know what he was thinking but I won’t lie, it made me laugh. It was completely pointless because he’s madly in love with Alice so he just made himself look like an idiot but I couldn’t help but laugh. Short segment but it was entertaining. And yay, I’m so glad the random mini segments of songs are back. Did we need a song about how fun mini golf is? No of course not. But damn if it wasn’t catchy.
The most important part of the episode came with Zain, Cuff, and Daleth paying the Duke a visit.
I will admit, I had even forgotten what Zain’s magic was. It makes sense since he never uses it except for that one time with the logbook. Out of nowhere Daleth visits the Duke and makes a proposal for him: Get her the witch that can control time with their magic, and she can help him break his curse. We get no explanation from her why she wants Zain’s magic ability, but the only conclusion I can think of is related to Alice’s mother.
And if that’s true, I guess I can understand. It doesn’t appear that Alice’s mother is dead but in a deep slumber. Makes sense why she’d want Zain to turn back time to when she wasn’t in a slumber, but making Zain actually use his magic is a different story. I absolutely love his relationship with Cuff and the more I see them together the more I want to see them actually together. I loved their little backstory of how they met and how their personalities haven’t really changed since back then. The two of them are so endearing and their relationship is the more stronger upon learning that their families were killed by witch hunters. Zain believing he could bring her parents back to life, only for it to fail and bring him so much guilt, makes their friendship a lot tighter than we knew. I’m glad that Cuff never blamed Zain or harbored any negative feelings toward him when he couldn’t save her parents. The way she reached out to him was incredibly sweet. It’s easy to understand why Zain has such an attachment to Cuff which has now turned to love. He always wants to protect her smile and keep her happy so she never has to experience anything like she did as a child, and my heart goes out to him. But man, I wish he would just say what he feels! I can’t with the blushy hand holding moments!
But because of the trauma from way back then, I have no idea how the Duke will even convince Zain to use his magic. That is, if he even agrees with Daleth’s proposal. He doesn’t seem like he wants to and I don’t imagine he would want to sell out his friend to such a mysterious woman. I mean, who is this witch that can break curses and how does she know her? Also, from the sounds of it, it doen’t sound 100%. Her words weren’t that very convincing because she never said that this witch could definitely break the curse, but that she might. So without that guarantee, this deal is super one-sided. It also sounds like she didn’t really give him that much of a choice since she already sent the witch out to meet him. All we have is a business card with an octopus to give us an idea of who this witch could even be. I’m honestly not expecting much.
I like that right off the bat this season is going right for the drama with the curse. I wasn’t too sure how this season was going to proceed, but so far we’ve gotten the plot to move a bit as well as some history for Zain and Cuff. I’m so glad we got that too since we just got surface-level fun moments in the first season so I’m glad that their characters are getting fleshed out. While I liked them already, I want them to get the same great treatment that Alice and the Duke get in this show. Also again their romance is so freaking cute! I can’t wait to see what this witch is going to be like and how things will move forward from here.
Also again they mixed in some 2D animation with this episode, though way more than last episode with Zain and Cuff’s backstory. It’s sorta rough around the edges but it’s kinda cute. It makes it feel more like an anime with the chibi parts too lol. Though I guess it can take away from the show with the sudden 3D/2D shift. But it’s not the first time a 3DCG show has done that. Either way, looks cute. I’m just glad they’re putting more effort~
