English Dub Review: The Kingdoms of Ruin “Heavenly Fire”

Overview:

Adonis has been released, and he finally enacts his revenge plot against mankind.

Our Take:

Now that Adonis has been accidentally freed from his shackles, he goes on a rampage to avenge his fallen master ten years after her execution. Doroka knows that she has made a huge mistake in releasing him, so she goes after him. Meanwhile, the military is also after Adonis with a plan to kill him.

I can understand why Adonis wants to wipe out all humans, but his revenge plot starts in a city called New Nightmare. He absolutely decimates it and kills many innocent people. He’s not starting with the kingdom’s capital, which is where Chloe was executed. He hates all humans, but it would make more sense for him to go after the one who directly killed his master first.

This episode’s opening scene is reminiscent of Elfen Lied‘s opening scene. In fact, I can see several similarities between The Kingdoms of Ruin and Elfen Lied. The tones are both grim and the main characters are hell-bent on revenge and carnage.

This episode introduces some new characters, the designs of which are strange. I didn’t mention the outdated, and arguably offensive, stereotypical gay character from the previous episode, but I’m not a fan. That character gets killed i this episode though, so at least we won’t see him again. There are a couple of military officers who have odd designs as well. General Yamato has ridiculously large ears, and his sister looks like a living doll. I expect these kinds of character designs in shows like One Piece or Fairy Tail, but not something like this. They feel a little out of place to me.

This episode’s final scene is interesting. Doroka reveals that she’s a witch, and she also tells Adonis something that he never thought he would hear. What happens after that is shocking, but I have my doubts that it’s how that chapter ends.

The quality of this episode is a little more inconsistent than the previous one. However, I ended up warming up to a little by the end. I’m still intrigued how this story will continue, especially with the new information we have.