English Dub Review: Wistoria: Wand and Sword “Raise the Starting Pistol”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

With Colette’s help, Will enters the Grand Magic Festival.  The crowd goes wild watching him advance with Colette’s magic and his own astounding physical strength.  But for the third member of their team, it’s a reminder of a painful humiliation.

Our Take:

Will was going to skip this year’s Grand Magic Festival to avoid further embarrassment.  However, that one particular asshole just had to push his buttons.  If you’ve seen the previous episode, you’ll know who I’m talking about.  It’s more than enough for the sword master to enter the competition.  If not, then this would’ve been a pretty boring show.  But, as usual, it’ll take more than his strength to reach his confrontation with the cold-hearted top student Julius.  That includes having Sion join his team for the event, consisting of Will and Colette.

As for the episode itself, it’s basically what you expect from a “school festival” storyline from other magic academy anime.  It doesn’t offer much else regarding the formula, but it certainly packs a punch in its consistent action.  This doesn’t surprise me because the episode depicts the first act of the festival’s first event, the Crown Attack, where each team of three races across the zones to retrieve the crown from the stadium.  What’s also unsurprising is Sion being a raging prick once more as he challenges Will to a duel during the freaking competition!

If the previous episodes weren’t enough to make you hate Sion as much as Julius, “Raise the Starting Pistol” will surely make you want to punch the red-haired, short-tempered bastard in the jaw.  If he didn’t have his fire magic, I would definitely have the honor of delivering the first punch.  The episode has its share of thrilling moments, including Will teaming up with Colette to take down the competition’s obstacles.  However, they’re almost enough to drown my hatred toward Sion, who struggles and consistently fails to be the Bakugo of Wistoria.  I know who I will blame if Will loses the festival to Julius.