Summary of Events

Thanks to Axel, Dorothea knows that Dice’s client was Gilbert Warlock. Yet they can’t accuse him because of his political connections. In 3 days, United Zesskia’s Prime Minister will make a speech on the 10-year anniversary of the war’s end. The guards around him are supposed to be new Zern artificial fairies. But those have been malfunctioning. The Dorothea members are called to oversee the investigation into the malfunctions, as the neutral party between Military and Fairy Ministries. They meet with the fairy engineers Hans and Ted.   

Axel finds Free and takes him to Bitter Sweetie, who wants to work with Dorothea and recover the Black Fairy Four from Warlock. Sweetie is their only way to get to the powerful man, so Nein gives approval. Marlya and Klara dress as rich ladies, complete with corsets, so they won’t look suspicious. While Chase from Dorothea investigates a missing fairy engineer name Eddy, Sweetie and the girls confront Gilbert Warlock. He admits he has the Black Tome.    

After a short battle, Warlock and his mafia guards surrender. The Black Tome Four was acquired by Dorothea (I think?), but Sweetie escaped from their custody. Robert Chase suspects Hans is responsible for the malfunctions of the artificial fairies. Meanwhile, at the 10-year anniversary ceremony, the older and safer models of artificial fairies are used as guards of the Prime Minister. The real culprit of the malfunctions is Ted, who uses a secret trick to manipulate the fairy guards. The Prime Minister is almost killed, but Chase, Free, and Marlya manage to stop Ted.  

In episode 9, the emperor of United Zesskia formally thanks Duke Schwarz Diese for protecting the Prime Minister. When asked if he wishes for a reward, Diese requested one of the Fairy Weapons. There are seven of them. Free is charged with guarding and transporting the Duke and the Fairy weapon he chose, called Fratanil. The train on which the Duke and Dorothea are riding is suddenly attacked and derailed by Beevee Liscar and a small force of his allies.

A battle begins as Dorothea fights back to protect the Duke and the Fratanil. The best way to keep it from being stolen is to use it (lol), so Free wields the Fairy Weapon in a fight against Liscar. The enemy retreats after a fierce scuffle. Fratanil is stolen, and there are many casualties from the battle. That includes Oz, a quiet but strong and reliable member of Dorothea. He died protecting Marlya from a killing blow from Liscar. Everyone mourns the loss.

Narrative/Story for These Episodes

Episodes 6, 7 and 8 were annoying for many viewers because of the lack of action in comparison to the great amount of it in the earlier episodes. I acknowledge that action was sacrificed for character- and world-building, without a good balance of each component. Still, I like where the story is going, and it does a good job getting you interested in the political intrigue and tension.

Episodes 7 and 8 in particular are important for solidifying viewer understanding of the mafia groups, the military and fairy ministries, and the surviving dukes. We also saw Wolfran around, again suggesting he is collaborating on a plot with Schwarz. As for episode 9, it had some great action sequences. Important events (appearance of Liscar) and world lore (Fairy Weapons) were established, too. For these three episodes overall, the storytelling quality is satisfactory.

Art and Sound

I liked all the action scenes, and I still love the art-style and animation, including the 3D fairies. However, overall, the art for episodes 7-9 seemed a little lower quality than in episodes 4-6. Maybe it was because there was less action. There were also some awkward parts of the train derailment fight. Nothing’s changed in that the sound is still excellent. The instrumental music, the OP and ED, and the seiyuu performances were all great.

Characters

In episode 8, I like the part where Free once again states that this is a time of peace, rebellion should be discouraged, and that he has accepted and come to terms with the outcome of the war. He’s a very admirable character. In episode 7, I like all the political intrigue and tension, and how we are seeing it play out mostly from Nein Auler’s point of view. She seems pessimistic about trusting anyone, but she never voices her suspicions. I wonder exactly what is going on her head as she absorbs this information.

Regarding other members of Dorothea, it was interesting to get to know Robert Chase a little more. As usual, I think Marlya’s character is interesting, well-done, and easy to sympathize with. It was puzzling to me that virtually no focus was put on developing Oz during these three episodes. He’s always just kind of “there,” without many lines or expressions. You might not even notice him until episode 9 if you’re not paying attention. It was a mistake in character planning to make the death of Ozz a big deal without showing the audience more of who he was.

Closing Notes

Personal Enjoyment for these episodes was 8/10. Story is at 7/10 because it had some mistakes and action was lacking. Characters were still solidly good, so 7/10. Art was a little less impressive than in the last three episodes, so I put it at 7/10. Sound is still 8/10, excellent all around. Despite still being in the “Good/entertaining” category, these three episodes showed clearly a decline in series quality, at least according to my analysis. I hope episodes 10-12 are much improved.

Overall Score so far = 7.4/10.0

Thank you for joining me here at Anime Rants! Take care and stay well! Ja, ne!