Preach it, girl. Also, we skipped week one ’cause it would’ve just been links to first impressions.
I Was Reborn As a Villainous Daughter In a Reverse Harem Otome Game Ep. 2
We get a minor time skip, so Pia is now fourteen. The main crux of the episode, however, is that the prince, Rufus’s friend, wants to see her. As a result, our fossil-obsessed shut-in has to step out into the real world for once, and hoo boy, Rufus does not like that one bit. Dude is super possessive; he doesn’t even want to let people know her name. Still, our girl manages to make her first female friend. My real problem with this episode, however, is just how pathetic Pia is. As soon as she sees the prince, memories of the game come flooding back into her mind. She also remembers how she got dumped, so she starts freaking out in the middle of the party. I’m sorry, but being dumped is not traumatizing. Not only that, she’s lived years as Pia. She’s not really a 14-year-old girl. She’s a former adult woman doing college level research — maybe even graduate level! Mentally, she should be close to 30 if not over it. What do you mean you’re still hung up on some college beau from your previous life? Holy shit, get a grip, woman.
There’s a weird scene later with an Uncle Johnny. Yes, dude just introduces himself as that. When Rufus returns and sees him, he has a scowl on his face. He probably is literally an uncle. Rufus then princess carries Pia as they leave the social gathering, but she doesn’t mind it one bit. I guess she likes the infantilization. How disappointing.
Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden Ep. 2
We go from one show where a girl wants to be babied to a show where the baby refuses to be babied. Alright, fine, Nia isn’t quite that young physically, but close enough! I mean, just look at Nia! She’s so tiny! No wonder she can backflip like Yoda! I don’t love the fact that Nia has a thing for fighting and dying in battle, but at least she’s got gumption! This is what this column is all about! Whether you’re a saint or villainess, you gotta have gumption! Maybe I should demote the other show down to Romance Roundup. Anyway…
This week, Nia joins a theater group. Her costar Sharro is more than prickly, much to Nia’s maid’s chagrin, but the girl doesn’t mind it one bit. I wonder why. Does she actually respect Sharro’s drive? It’s hard to say. When she gets a chance to save Sharro’s life later in the episode — for some (plot convenient) reason, her costar gets cornered in a dark alleyway — she claims that she really just wanted to beat up some thugs. She even tells one of the assholes to bring back the rest of his gang so she could have more fun. Sharro thanks Nia for saving her, but Nia mutters, “Beating up some ne’er-do-wells, wanting to keep Sharro safe… The two things really were about the same priority level for me.” I would, however, prefer a story where Nia’s character arc has her slowly coming to appreciate her new family, friends, and life. I hope the conclusion of the story is that she doesn’t want to die in battle. Point is, Sharro could maybe become one of those friends. In my mind, the jury’s still out. Maybe Nia doesn’t care about Sharro at all, but maybe a small part of her is changing as well. We’ll just have to see where the rest of the series takes her character.
Other than that, Nia puts her all into the role. Does she really care about acting? Or does she simply want to raise her notoriety, which would in turn promote magivision and thus enrich her new family? Again, it’s hard to say. I also think she’s just really bored most of the time, so all this training — even though acting is a far cry from martial arts and fighting — gives the girl an outlet for all her pent-up energy. She is physically a kid, after all. Nia cleans the practice room day in and day out, refusing to let her maid take over. She was confined to a bed for the majority of the first episode. So like I said up top, I think she’s just done being babied. Unsurprisingly, getting to beat up those thugs really excites Nia.
The World’s Strongest Witch Ep. 2
Brainrot gets us all eventually. Anyway, Lorna finally reaches her first town, and if you’ve played RPGs before, you know what that means: joining the adventurer’s guild and taking on side quests! Immediately, Lorna meets someone who has taken an arrow to the knee. Yes, that’s a Skyrim reference. Western releases don’t normally do super well in the land of the rising sun, but I think Skyrim acquitted itself relatively well? In any case, the world’s strongest witch is here… so Lorna literally looks up the guy’s info on the internet. She learns about his bad knee and instantly cures it. Geez, games are no fun if you just follow a walkthrough!
When Lorna reaches the adventurer’s guild, a few rough and tumble jerks try to bully her, but she casually brushes them aside. To join the guild, you have to pass a test. This is pretty standard practice in stories like these. Unfortunately, Elmina, the head of the guild, is working for Guugelheits, and they’ve put out the word that they want Lorna auto-failed. Isn’t that overkill? They already kicked her out of the family for having a supposedly weak skill, but they won’t even let her become an adventurer with said weak skill? If it sucks as much as they think it does (it doesn’t), then she will just naturally fail on her own. Why bother adding this extra step?
In the end, it doesn’t matter anyway, because Elmina can identify Lorna’s massive mana reserves just from sight alone. The guild leader is now stuck between a rock and a hard place. She can’t defy her benefactors, but she also thinks Lorna will outright kill her. Wha…? Lorna wouldn’t hurt a fly! Well, no, she did take out the Lord of the Forest. But she wouldn’t just kill you randomly! Elmina, however, mistakes Lorna being bummed out for simmering rage. Still, Elmina hasn’t given up on failing our strongest witch quite yet, so she intends to send the girl into what is presumably a really dangerous dungeon. Well, I’m sure Lorna will have no problem conquering it in next week’s episode.
Last but not least, why is the apple pie filling red? Have the people behind this show ever had an apple pie before? Forget that, have they eaten apples before? ‘Cause the flesh of an apple is beige.
A Tale of the Secret Saint Ep. 3
We finally meet a trio of current day saints, and they’re not very impressive. There’s a certain trope that reincarnator shows like to invoke. Fia was super powerful in her previous life, right? Well, saints are super weak now. Something must have happened to them, oh noes! Last season, we had the exact same scenario with that lightning lord guy. I don’t even remember the name of the show anymore. It’s only been a few weeks since the summer season ended, but out of sight, out of mind. I remember the tropes, though! But while the sharp decrease in power levels had the lightning lord mildly flummoxed, Fia openly weeps instead. She realized she didn’t leave much of a legacy, but more importantly, she strongly believes saints should act as the knights’ shield and vice versa. But what can the girls do when they’re so underpowered? Also, why can only women become saints? Bros can’t heal?
A giant deer crashes the party, but all of the men are too scared to take charge. As a result, Fia has to bark out orders as if they’re fighting an MMO boss. No, seriously. She even tells them “it will do X when the eyes are red, and then it’ll do Y when the eyes are blue!” That’s literally an MMO boss mechanic. Chimera from FFXIV, anyone? At the end of the day, however, the grand master still had to show up and deal the final blow with his poorly drawn sword.
Afterwards, everyone starts questioning Fia on how she’s an expert on the MMO boss. I hope this doesn’t become a recurring pattern. “Fia, how did you do X?” “Haha, I just <insert flimsy excuse here>.” It’s only the third episode, but I dunno… I guess I’m getting kinda tired of it already. I wonder how long it’s gonna take them to realize that she is a saint. The clues are starting to pile up, after all.
There was one highlight in the episode, though. When everyone gets drunk off their asses later that night, one of the bros starts whining about how he only has a four-pack unlike the grandmaster who has a six-pack. So how does a tipsy Fia handle the situation? She whips out her flabby gut from feasting and tells the guy to shut up. In a lot of shows, you expect some kind of bullying because maybe the protagonist is a commoner. They could’ve also gotten on her case for being the only woman there. But no, everyone seems to rally around Fia. It’s a nice change-of-pace.
Romelia War Chronicles Ep. 2
The start of the episode gives Romelia a pretty strong motive for doing what she’s doing: even with the death of the demon lord, plenty of humans are still trapped behind enemy lines. A slave family pretty much sacrificed themselves for the hero’s party. Two things, though. First, I’m not exactly sure what the family did for them…? The prince said something about the demon paddles not working. Then what happened? The parents drugged the party, took the armor, and then…? Second, I’m not keen on the sort of conflict where one side is irredeemably evil. It’s not realistic nor is it interesting.
Back in the present, Romelia’s maid finally realizes that they’re not heading to Millet, a place where her lady could live out the rest of her life in peace. Instead, they’ll be living at Fort Carolus. Our heroine intends to rally the troops and save the villages on the fringe of the kingdom’s lands. Sure, Romelia can do whatever she wants, but I do feel bad about the maid. Even if Romelia cuts her free, this is probably the only job the maid has ever known. She deserved to know that they were headed for some place dangerous. It’s not like she could’ve stopped Romelia from doing whatever she wanted.
Everyone at the fort underestimates her, so naturally, she only gets a bunch of rookies. Even then, we have a good cop, bad cop situation. Ray, the blue-haired guy, seems fond of Romelia already. He probably has a crush. On the other hand, Al plays the bad cop. He thinks Romelia is ridiculous; he’s determined to cut bait and run at the first sign of trouble. But we already know she’s going to win them over. Maybe she’ll even save Al’s life in the process.
I almost wish we could’ve skipped all this setup, because we got nothing that was particularly interesting. The men doubt her, the local administrator in charge refuses to give Romelia the resources she needs, her maid continues to be exasperated by Romelia’s actions, and so on and so forth. It feels like we’re going through the motions.
And why are there no other ladies in the army? The prince’s party had women. Don’t tell me they only become adventurers and not soldiers.