Note: Reviews of Episodes 1 and 2 will be posted by the end of next week

While this series got off to a relatively poor start, the second episode provided a big improvement which continued with the third episode. This turned a series which appeared initially to be a generic fantasy comedy with a silly name into an intriguing dark fantasy with political intrigue and occasional lighter moments that is worth writing about.

Following on from the revelation from the tied up Brophs that Sion is heading into a trap and has a traitor in his group. Ferris is surprised when her brother appears and kills Brophs causing her to rend Iris unconscious so she wont see Brophs severed head.

Ferris then asks what’s going on and her brother reveals that he wants to see if Sion is capable of becoming a suitable king which could be the case if he survives the trap. Ferris’ brother then fades away before her eyes.

An interesting start to the episode that demonstrates that Ferris’ brother Lucile is very dangerous and even at this point appears to want Sion to become king for reasons that are as yet unknown, I also get the sense that he is a chessmaster type character and despite appearing to be on Sion’s side could turn on him at some point.

I also found it amusing that despite being willing to have Iris take part in torturing Brophs, Ferris seems to have a problem with her seeing a severed head, though it could just be she did not want her eavesdropping. However, given Lucile’s comments about Ferris spoiling Iris I am in favour of Ferris not wanting Iris to see the head.

At the border area Sion’s group are setting up camp, with Ryner being lazy as normal causing the rest of them to ask Keifer to speak to him. However Kiefer is out of sorts and ignores them, leading Ryner to go speak to her.

Keifer then asks Ryner to run away with her and says she cares for him and has fallen for him. Ryner laughs her off and she then says she cannot protect him and sends a magical flare into the sky before running off. A moment later he sees Tahile’s body thrown into the air and land next to him as the Estabul Magic Knights launch their attack killing several of Sion’s squad in the process.

It was a good bet after seeing how Keifer acted towards towards the end of the previous episode that she was the traitor in Sion’s group and this scene (from out perspective) confirms it with her sending out a signal and running away a moment before the enemy attacks.

It is also clear though that she is very conflicted about what she is doing, in a large part due to feelings she has developed for Ryner though for reasons that will soon become clear it is not sufficient for her to switch sides.

Ryner meets up with Sion in the forest and they both decide to hold off the Estabul forces while the rest of the survivors head deeper into the forest. Soon after that Sion and Ryner come under attack with Ryner rescuing Sion from a Magic Knight using the Knights type of magic.

This surprises both Sion and the attacking Knights, with the Knights realising that Ryner is a bearer of Alpha Stigma. As the Knights hesitate about their next move, Ryner uses his power to kill them. This angers Sion as he thinks Ryner could have used his power to save everyone who died, Ryner responds by saying their where only 3 of them and he hadn’t used the power for 7 years. He is then knocked down by the chief Knight who arrives with the rest of the Magic Knights.

The Chief Knight then decides to taunt Ryner with Sion and Keifer who are the only survivors. The Knights then start to assault both Sion and Keifer. This causes Ryner to lose control of his power which appears to have a will of its own and he proceeds to completely destroy the remaining Knights in a demonic fashion.

The possessed Ryner then walks towards a cowering Sion and Keifer and starts to strangle both of them. Ryner then starts to fight back by trying to close his eyes to stop himself, this gives Sion a chance to forcibly shut them bringing him back to his senses as (friendly) reinforcements arrive.

What is good about this scene is that we see what Alpha Stigma can do in both the good and bad sense. On the positive side it allows you to read and copy an opponents magic but on the bad it can lead to you going out of control. Given how Ryner nearly killed Sion and Keifer I think it is a fairly safe bet that something similar to this happened 7 years ago but that time he was unable to stop himself in time.

I also liked how being called a monster due to possessing a power could very well be justified in the case of Alpha Stigma, since Ryner did turn into a monster once he let loose the power and it was a near thing when he approached Sion and Keifer. It also seems likely that this is what causes his lazy behaviour at this point in the story

One thing that I found slightly surprising is that Keifer actually lived through the attack as her character had a lot of “death flags” raised, Keifer also appeared to be disposable to the Estabul forces as they where more than willing to assault her to taunt Ryner. The timing of the reinforcements was also suspicious and I suspect that unless Ferris sent them they where originally meant to arrive “just too late” to save Sion and perhaps bring Keifer back as the sole survivor to report his tragic loss.

Sion is welcomed back as a hero, but Ryner is imprisoned and beaten as a monster. Ryner is then told that Keifer is imprisoned and was not meant to come back and her younger sister was being held hostage to use against her but is now dead (Keifer unaware of this). Despite being beaten Ryner is still able to mock his captors and is told the king will grant one request of his before he is imprisoned.

He is then taken to see Keifer where he tells her about her younger sister being dead. Keifer initially thinks Ryner is a pawn of Roland and is there to torment her and breaks down in tears. Keifer then lets her know that is not the case and he just wants to get by without hurting anyone, he then pushes her out the cell as his wish was for Keifer to be set free in exchange for his imprisonment.

Keifer then wants to know why as it is her fault that everyone was killed. Ryner responds by saying that people don’t kill people but monsters do, and that while he is a monster she is a human being, before he can finish talking Keifer kisses him and tells him the reason she fell in love with him is that because he is kind and strong and is in no way a monster before she is taken away and released.

Later Sion goes to see Ryner and wonders why he volunteered to be imprisoned. Sion then hands him a lock pick and tells him he has a horse waiting outside. Ryner refuses the offer saying he is enjoying his afternoon naps too much. As Sion leaves the prison he reaffirms to himself that he will not go astray any longer, while Ryner rests in his cell thinking that not much will happen tomorrow and that he has a lot of time.

We finally get to see who appears to be the mastermind of the current plot to kill Sion and he appears to be responsible for putting both Ryner and Keifer into the school but as part of separate agenda’s, with Ryner being placed there to keep him out the way and Keifer there to act as a mole.

The reason for Keifer’s betrayal is also revealed in that she was part of a family of spies that were caught and re-educated and her younger sister being kept as a hostage against her. While I did find it a bit far fetched that they would tell Ryner this information, it does seem that they expected Keifer to either be killed or go back to Estabul with the Magic Knights.

Another thing I found strange was that Ryner was going to be imprisoned but also had one request to be granted from the King. The only way I can make sense of this is if due to his actions Ryner had to be granted any reasonable wish within the Kings power and so they imprisoned him and expected him to use his wish to be released rather than using it to free Keifer.

On the topic of Keifer it is clear that Ryner has some level of feelings towards her, though I doubt it is on the same level as hers towards him. Going from Ferris’ snarky comments about Milk’s feelings for Ryner it appears that women falling for him is a common occurrence so perhaps Alpha Stigma should also be called Alpha “Pimp”ma. Her actions also become all too understandable and tragic given she believed she had to do it or her sister would be killed, I still get the impression though that she could be killed off at some point in the series which could be in the process of protecting Ryner or to provoke him.

In terms of the episode as a whole my overall impression was along the lines of “I cant believe this is the same series as the first episode” and I am left wondering why unless its part of the light novels they chose to have the first episode set part way through the story especially since it was quite a weak episode.

This difference is most apparent in how the battles are portrayed, in the first episode the battle scenes were essentially played for laughs, while this time around it was deadly serious with only 3 survivors and people being killed in fairly horrific ways though the deaths themselves were presented using silhouettes. The scene where the true power of Alpha Stigma is unleashed in particular turned this series for me and made me sit up and take notice.

The first episode flash forward was also a bad choice on a dramatic level since we know that Sion becomes king and Ferris and Ryner survive up to that point and are (begrudgingly) acting under his orders. This means there is no tension about will Sion succeed or not as we know he does. Given the difference in tone between the first and third episodes it will be interesting to see how this series progresses, but I suspect that it will keep the darker tone for a few more episodes at least.

Rating

9/10 – After a poor start the series comes into it’s own with an episode that left me feeling that no character is safe