Outside the cave, the girlies are having fun, but they’re about to find out that something has gone terribly wrong.

— Coco’s freakouts are always funny.

— Alaira’s hat finally arrives, but Qifrey doesn’t even have time to explain the situation to his apprentices before the entire snake pathway comes to life (Qifrey calls it a golem) and starts attacking. I guess the Brimmed Caps were just messing around before, because they really mean business this time. They even draw blood. Thankfully, it’s just Qifrey. The children are unharmed for now.

— Elsewhere, the rest of the kids are on the run, but Euini starts catastrophizing again. As soon as Richeh admonishes him, he suddenly realizes that he can try hiding them with his spell. He needs a new teacher when this is all said and done.

— One of the birds start squawking and give them away. Still, you get the feeling that the witch is just messing with the kids. After all, why would a Brimmed Cap with years (perhaps centuries) of experience be deterred by Euini’s darkness spell? Or by any of the kids’ spells for that matter? And yet, why play with your prey? Why not just kidnap the kids (or do whatever it is that they intend to do) and be done with it?

— For example, the kids reach a gap in the path again. Agott has time to conjure up an ice bridge that they can quickly slide on. Even so, if the Brimmed Cap was chasing them in earnest, there’s no way they wouldn’t be hot on the kids’ heels. So are they testing the kids or what?

— Euini refers to the Brimmed Cap as a he. How can he tell? They have no visible body, and you can kinda go either way with the voice.

— Euini tells Richeh to cast a wind spell so they can speed up, but she doesn’t know one. I guess she now realizes that it wouldn’t hurt to keep these spells in her back pocket even if they aren’t originals — even if she didn’t personally invent them.

— What Agott does next is kinda insane: she reasons that the Brimmed Caps must be after Coco and not them. Okay, but how can you be so sure? After all, Coco isn’t here and yet the witch is still chasing them. Doesn’t that give you a slight sliver of doubt that perhaps you might be their target? Nevertheless, Agott suddenly hops off their makeshift sled and tries to lie to their pursuer. She tries to claim that Coco had already been taken away by the Knights Moralis. Girl… c’mon, don’t you think the Brimmed Caps would be keeping tabs on Coco? There’s no way they would believe this. And sure enough, the Brimmed Cap quickly sees through her lie.

— And now the Brimmed Cap has Agott pinned down. The witch starts yapping like some kinda Sith Lord. Ooooh, the weaklings are stifling your true potential! All you have to do is join the Dark Side of the Force give in and practice Forbidden Magic! Yeah, yeah… but do I gotta look ghastly like you, though? Why is it that evil always has to be ugly?

— At the end of the day, they still just want Coco, and endangering Agott and the others is one way to facilitate that. But I mean… her mom is currently a freaking crystal. Just say, “Hey, if you follow us, you can save your mom and save her now. On the other hand, there’s no guarantee that Qifrey can help you. In fact, he’s just using you because blah blah blah.” Something like that, y’know? Why haven’t they just tried that?

— The witch was about to carve something onto Agott’s body when the ground collapsed beneath them and Agott. Apparently, the other kids cooked up a plan to save her without the witch even noticing; Euini had snuck beneath the pathway. See, this is why you don’t do an evil monologue! Even kids shouldn’t be underestimated! But seriously, I think I’ve been giving the Brimmed Caps too much credit. Maybe they’re not as competent as I assumed them to be.

— This also gives Euini a much-needed boost in confidence. But the episode isn’t over, so I fear something bad might happen to him to “redress the balance,” so to speak.

— The body carving plot device is still alive, too. I wonder if it’ll come back into play at some point in the story.

— Ah, I spoke too soon. The Brimmed Cap suddenly snatches Euini. This whole time, the girls are just waiting for him to climb back up. By the time they call out to him, well… on the bright side, he won’t have to worry about his master’s approval anymore?

— The Brimmed Cap is actually surprised that their spell turned Euini into a scalewolf. And then they just fly off. Wait, I thought they wanted to use Agott to turn Coco. She’s right there. Get her. Not that I’m rooting for the Brimmed Caps to win or anything, but I don’t understand why they would stop now. Are they satisfied with just turning Euini into a scalewolf? Why would that help? Do they think Coco is friends with Euini as well? Yeah, they definitely don’t seem competent. They’re just irresponsible jerks with a lot of power at their fingertips.

— Richeh wants to save Euini, but Agott thinks she herself is a better candidate. On the other hand, Richeh can help the birds get to their destination. Once again, Richeh is left coping with the painful reality of her shortcomings. Yeah, she’s learning her lesson, but the story is really making her swallow the bitterest pill possible.

— What especially shit luck for Euini, too. Condemned to a shitty master all this time, and now he’s been turned into a beast. Even if he makes it back from this ordeal somehow with his humanity intact, I bet the Knights Moralis would jump at the chance to erase his memories. Life isn’t fair sometimes, and Euini is the prime example of that.

— Back with the others, Coco is the first to wake up. Qifrey and Tetia are still knocked out cold. We’re almost done with the episode, too. Oh dear, they’re going to give us one hell of a cliffhanger.

— But as soon as Coco reaches toward Qifrey’s injured eye, he suddenly wakes up and grabs her arm before she could touch him. This dude is so suspicious. Buuuuuut we have bigger fish to fry — bigger, golden “fishes” to be exact. Apparently, the legends are true; the doomed nation did turn themselves to gaudy gold, and they hunger for vengeance.

— Qifrey struggles to his feet, but promises the girls that he will protect them. Like I’ve always said, he sure has a lot of aura, but this doesn’t change the fact that a lot of his actions and motives are often questionable.

— That was the last episode, right? We’re only scheduled for 13? Sheesh, what a nasty cliffhanger. Literally nothing is resolved. This isn’t an ending. We’re just cutting the story off at a crucial juncture. The thing is, however, I also can’t see them resolving this in a single episode. You can pack a lot of action into one episode, but they would also have to deal with the aftermath — the dreaded, often slow-paced and sleep-inducing denouement. I would expect at least two episodes to get out of this whole mess but three is more realistic.

— I think overall it was a pretty well-made series. Beautifully crafted and decent world-building. I’m a little frustrated with Coco’s lack of growth over the past thirteen episodes. I don’t really trust Qifrey or think that he’s much of a caretaker for these children, but this is probably intentional. The Brimmed Caps are kinda… thin at the moment. Not really much to them other than being stereotypical schemers in the shadows. The one time they have a major presence, i.e. this very episode, they seem… inconsistent. Messing with the kids when they could probably easily overpower them, trying to carve something into Agott but then deciding not to afterwards because they were satisfied with Euini…? Eh, we’ll see.

— From what I could tell, this show was extremely popular, so a sequel is inevitable. It’s just a matter of how long we’ll have to wait before we can watch it. I guess if I’m curious enough, I can buy the manga, but they’re a little too pricy.