Overview (Spoilers Below):
Main is living at the cathedral now for her own safety, but it’s pretty tough to keep her spirits up when she’s homesick and banned from even going to the library. She tries to keep up her energy by hanging out with the young staff members, but her guardian has to remind her not to treat them as equals in that way. Later on, Benno, Ferdinand, and Karstedt meet and discuss the danger that Wolf poses to Main because of her powerful mana and unique knowledge. In order to keep her out of danger, Ferdinand comes up with a proposal to adopt her—but Main is having none of it.
Our Take:
Ascendance of a Bookworm’s third season continues in dub form with another new episode on Crunchyroll. The Story About Winter Stays and the Future is another slow paced step in starting out Main’s journey this season. It introduces some initial conflict in the form of homesickness, and then adds to that with the threat posed by Wolf and the Ink Guild. It’s a pretty humdrum episode for the most part, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Just because there doesn’t seem to be a lot of action on the surface doesn’t mean there isn’t anything taking place underneath. Main had planned to spend the winter in the cathedral making books, but she hadn’t planned on such a sudden arrival, and she spends the first bit of the ep dealing with her rushed departure from her current family. They may not be her actual family back in the real world, but she’s still attached to them, and so it makes sense that she tries to eliminate some of the loneliness by chatting with her attendants. Gil and Lutz seem to be in a bit of a battle for her attention, though, so maybe it’s wise that her guardian advises her not to get wrapped up in that.
Basically, that’s what the first half of the ep consists of: the colder it gets, the more homesick Main becomes. It’s a nice enough sentiment, but it’s not exactly riveting cinema. None of the supporting cast members that Main interacts with at the cathedral have really drawn me in either yet, so I hope that something changes in that regard soon.
Luckily the latter half of the ep is a bit more interesting, even though it’s still just all talk and no action. Benno, Ferdinand, and Karstedt have a meeting to talk about the danger posed by Wolf. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to get in good with the nobles, apparently, and that might even involve kidnapping Main for a ransom of knowledge. Her mysterious power makes her an attractive prize for inquiring minds, and even at the cathedral she’s not completely free from potential harm.
That’s where Ferdinand’s plan comes into play. He wants to adopt her into the nobility, which could help shield her from possible attacks. And that’s where Main’s homesickness comes back into it, because even though she’s not with her family right now, that doesn’t mean she’s forgotten about how they made her feel. She’s going to have to choose between her own safety and that of her family’s…and that’s not an easy decision to make.