English Dub Review: I’m Standing on a Million Lives: “Kahvel of Cortonel”

Overview:

When Yūsuke, Iu, Yuka and Kusue visit the town they saved previously from the troll, they find it abandoned and absolutely decimated.  Soon after, they then run into a traveler who informs them of a fighting tournament that’ll provide them with three horses should they win. They need these to reach the village of Radodorbo to complete the next phase of their quest. On their way to it, Iu gets ambushed by some bandits and captured. While Kusue and Yuka go to save Iu, Yūsuke takes it upon himself to fight in the competition and meets a new ally along the way. 

Our Take:

One of my hopes for this season is that we would get to learn more about the resident magician of the group, Iu Shindō. Seeing as her past was pretty brief, “Kahvel of Cortonel” rights that ship well. There are, unfortunately, no additional scenes added, than what was shown previously, that would have helped layer the story. Although, what more than makes up for the lack of new content is how her sorrowful childhood has molded and cultivated her into the strong character we’ve come to know. This is supplemented by the way the new fantasy world they find themselves held hostage to, has upended all of her control adding that layer of complexity to her as a whole. Jeannie Tirado gives an incredible heartfelt performance and deserves all the praise in the world for her intense, emotional range in her confession to Yūsuke. Very excited to see how she makes the role her own moving forward. 

Another intriguing aspect is how Yūsuke’s more logical way of thinking combats that of the rest of the group. Rather than waste time trying to save a single individual, Yusuke looks at things from a pragmatic point of view and focuses on the wellbeing of the group as a whole. Kusue and Yuka, on the other hand, are worried about her and want to save her. He instead tries to win the tournament in the nearby town in order to get the horses while he leaves Iu’s rescue to Kusue and Yuka. These kinds of decisions will most likely drive a wedge between them, to a certain extent, as the show goes on and it will be most interesting to see how they try to help each other in their own unique way.    

While developing our core cast, this episode also adds a brand new one along for this magical ride.  Christina Vee joins the cast as the heroic knight, Kahvel. Based off of her initial outing, she fills out the roster nicely with her great euphoria in hacking and slashing away at flesh. Her performance seems somewhat reminiscent of her role as Darkness in Konosuba (to which she always has me bursting with laughter at her absolute craziness). If that role and this episode in particular are any indication, she will no doubt be truly spectacular yet again.