English Dub Review: Knight’s & Magic “Light & Shadow”

Power-hungry jerkery has nothing against the indefatigable power of the geek.

Spoilers Below

The Telestale’s upgrades have roughly doubled its power, output, and combat potential. On the other hand, they have also made it the mecha equivalent of a stretch Humvee limo: a gas guzzler par supremo. Addy proposes that since Ernesti already proved that the Silhouette Knights don’t have to be directly humanoid to work, they could utilize extra add-ons to store mana. While they workout exactly what form these storage units should take, Ernie comes up with some improvements to the Silhouette Gears. One is a grappling gun, the other is an automatic crossbow with… impressive power. The Olter kids feel like this is the time to take these findings to their father, just as they agreed to do. The next day, the Marquis Dixgard orders all of the upgraded units, the research material, and Ernesti brought to Fort Casadesus. But why? On the road, the caravan comes under attack by a trio of Shaker Worms, set upon them by mysterious assassins. The new model of Knights takes them out quite handily.

Even arriving at the Fort, thing’s don’t look too good for Ernesti. Dixgard is a bit perturbed by the fact that a single child could do something that scores of manpower over several generations couldn’t do. Further, Ernesti has thrown out every tradition in Silhouette Knight design. Dixgard hates Ernesti for this and has decided, after the boy gleefully explains all of his upgrades, to take credit for them himself, bringing them to the King. Little Ernie, he doesn’t care. He isn’t interested in fame or riches. He just likes the work. It’s his hobby. Oh, and those aren’t even the end of his concepts. He’s got a ton more in his little blue book. The Marquis relents. Even if he stole all of Ernesti’s work, the kid would just surpass him anyways. In the meantime, those assassins are back, siccing monsters on a nearby village to draw the Silhouette Knights of the foot away. What does the Order of the Bronze Fang plan to do?

So, we have established the formula of the series thus far: Show off a bunch of new upgrades Ernesti developed, then see some political intrigue go down. Throw a fight somewhere in there. This isn’t a bad formula since showing the updates at the end would make for a pretty lazy plot arch. This also makes the story draw out over a longer period of time without losing your attention. I’m always interested in whatever new junk he comes up with, even if it is based off existing concepts in reality and anime. I also like how his exuberant spirit just quashes any attempt by the political bureaucrats to take advantage of him. I’m starting to think, though, that the Order of the Bronze Fang is part of the same kingdom, and are planning a coup. Just my feeling, though.

The art and animation in this episode follow the standard. No errors I can see, and on medium-to-high quality for the traditional animation. The CG is excellent, though it is the same models we’ve seen from previous episodes. Well, except for the monsters. Those weren’t bad. Kinda basic, but they wanted to keep in the style of the other animation, so putting a bunch of detail in there would have been odd. The Voice acting wasn’t wow-you-so-stellar, but it was exactly what it needed to be for the kind of episode it was. Chris George as the pit boss David was fun to listen to. He did a great job with the sarcastic asides he made about everything. There was also a scene where the Olter kids and their older half-sister confront their father over telling Dixgard about everything. Stephen Fu, Jeannie Tirado, and Tia Ballard each did a good work making their characters stern, but also empathetic and approachable. I continue to enjoy this show the more I watch it, and I can sense interesting stuff coming up on the horizon. I give this episode eight stolen accolades out of ten.