天下制覇

Empty brains.

Impressions:

A very slow episode that really didn’t introduce any new or interesting elements to… well… anything. No interesting metaworld arguments, only one new murder in the last 5 seconds, and all that really happened was George joining the servants in their segregation from Rosa, Maria, and Battler. Well, and Gohda died, but after all the mewling and cowering he did through the entire bloody episode, I think that was a mercy killing for all involved. They did sort of half introduce the concept of magic having rules and limitations, but that’s such a standard trope by now that you have to wonder what the point was.

Since Maria didn’t have much of an opportunity to make ridiculous faces this episode, Deen went to town on people’s eyes. Poor Battler. Poor Beatrice. What did they ever do that deserved the removal of their eyes? Aside from being complicit in the murder of the entire family, I mean. Deen did cut out a few of the more inane things from the VN, especially with the metaworld, so I’m somewhat pleased about that at the very least, I just wish that they hadn’t dragged the hell out of everything else.

Brief Summary:

The servants try to explain what happened, but since they left Gohda to do the talking, and most of what he’s communicating is "I HAVE NO IDEA" and "BLUBBER BLUBBER BLUBBER," Rosa is less than impressed. The only thing successfully communicated is "Kanon wasn’t dead and he killed the other two." Great work, doofuses. When they go to check out the room, the bodies are gone, which just makes Rosa even more suspicious of the servants. Maria starts in on her HAIL BEATRICE routine and almost gets slapped, but Battler stops Rosa and comforts Maria, telling her in tears that he believes in her now. Maria gives him a kiss for good behavior.

Rosa takes the keys from the servants and goes off with Battler and Maria, convinced that the servants are still lying. They head back to the parlor where Maria explains the ‘risks’ (they mean limitations) of magic to Battler. George decides to stick with his ho and abandons Battler to the crazy women. The servants remember that Natsuhi had a mirror like the one Shannon broke and think that it might help them, so George, Shannon, and Gohda go to retrieve Natsuhi’s roomkey from her corpse while Genji stays behind in case a servant is needed. He also spears a butterfly as soon as the others leave. The trio gets the key from Natsuhi, but are ambushed by Beatrice while George struggles to unlock the door. Deadbolt vs George… my money’s on the deadbolt.

They finally escape and make it to Natsuhi’s room, but are immediately trapped by Beatrice’s goatmen. As George struggles to open Natushi’s box, Gohda is attacked by a stake through the door. The goatmen and a cackling Beatrice enter the room.