English Dub Review: Tales of Wedding Rings “Episode 12”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Satou and his friends return to Arnulus among countless corpses of imperial soldiers and monsters. Satou encounters the Abyss King in a hopeless situation. Using the Ring Princesses’ power, he challenges the Abyss King in a confrontation to save Arnulus!

Our Take:

We finally reached the end of the season, but from the looks of things, the journey itself is far from over. With the five rings at his disposal, Satou and his five wives, including Amber, are able to return to Arnulus. More importantly, he’s gathered enough power to go toe-to-toe against the Abyss King, who is on the verge of ruling over Arnulus. Unfortunately, the finale showcases that it’s far from an easy fight, as the Abyss King possesses the cursed rings that revived him, meaning he’s impervious to death. Not even a good old slice and dice from Satou’s sword isn’t enough to defeat the ruler of darkness.

The episode showcased how formidable the Abyss King is during his fight with Satou. However, it’s not just from the abilities and rings he inherited. It’s also from a mental perspective, with him torturing Satou, even in his dreams. Afterward, we later learned that the princesses played a much more significant role in the Ring King’s legacy. Besides being his wives, the princesses, including Hime, fought alongside the Ring King, serving as another source of his power. So, it appears that the second season would focus on Satou training his wives to fight to gain a massive advantage over the Abyss King’s immense power. Of course, he’ll need extra help from Alabaster, Marse, and even Hime’s young sister Morion, who shows up at the end of the episode.

The season one finale of Tales of Wedding Rings concluded its first chapter of Satou’s journey with a pretty mild dud regarding its stakes. It admittedly offered something fans can look forward to in the second season, including the appearance of Hime’s sister. But regarding my experience with this second-rate harem fantasy series, it’s something I’m looking forward to the least. While the show had its moments, like its characters, it lacked the narrative strength to overcome its middling quality. Until the series can find a solution to improve itself in season two, I might be better off with the other anime harems.