English Dub Review: Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor “The Fool and The Star”

Yandere is ANGRY!

Spoilers Below

The class arrives at the subject of the field trip, a White Alchemy Laboratory hidden in the mountains of the island. Here, they combine the pure, constantly refreshing mana with alchemy and white magic spells to create animal hybrids known as Chimeras. This lab is deep in the study of living beings and biological processes. Sistine asks about a project from a long time ago that would have fit into this place’s wheelhouse nicely. “Revive: Life” was intended as a means of bringing back the dead. However, the fact that it only created a clone of the deceased, and it cost the lives of additional people to cast the spell, made the project unsustainable. It was completely dropped. However, there are some rumors that the dark mages known as the Researchers of the Divine Wisdom (Hint: They’re the bad guys we’ve been fighting through the whole series) have acquired the research materials, and may be searching for the answers themselves. Through all of this, however, Re=L has been extremely moody. She’s snapped at anyone who even talks to her, and keeps to herself. Even the sweet-hearted Rumia has gotten on her bad side. Re=L blames the two girls for taking Glenn away from her. Then, as she laments this under the starlight, a new figure appears… her long lost brother.

But all is not as it seems. Albert has been waylaid by the evil handmaid that put the cursed neckace on the queen. Using barriers, fire magic, and zombies, she holds him in a fight while Re=L’s “brother” convinces her to help him in his mission. If he succeeds, he will be freed from the organization’s control. Then again, his mission is to kill Radars and capture Rumia. As if on cue, Radars appears to Re=L’s aid. He tells her this man isn’t who he seems to be… and gets stabbed right through. Re=L has switched sides! She runs off with her “brother” and kidnaps Rumia. Now in critical condition, Albert needs Sistine’s mana to pump out enough healing to save the teacher. As he puts together the spell circle, Glenn stops breathing. Sistine has to give him CPR. Her first “kiss” to save his life? Seriously? This is a question?

Yes! Finally! We get a glimpse into what the baddies are after! Piecing it all together, we can see that the Researchers are wanting eternal life by constantly reviving themselves. But, they need special magic to do it. Rumia’s ability to dump tons of mana into people and heal them should be just what the doctor ordered. This is why the last few plots have been all about capturing her. Of course, Radars foiling them as just landed him on their kill list. Once the combat kicks up, the episode moves into full gear, and is really fun to watch. Albert cuts loose on her for a spectacular battle, and I’m surprised nobody noticed the giant fireball. That will probably burn down that forest since nobody put it out. The animation and art in these scenes are nothing to really write home about directly, but it is choreographed well enough to hold your interest. Now, looking for nice art, go on back to scenes of the Laboratory. It’s beautiful there.

Leah Clark did a great job with Re=L in this episode. The way she screamed at people when upset was not your typical anime-high-pitched-girl-screaming-like-a-whistle. Nope. She opted instead to go deeper and more gutteral. This not only set her apart from legions of angry girls, but also made her screams more raw and pained. They sounded more angry than hurt, which was where the character was at that point, lost in berserker rage. There’s a