Hello and welcome to Anime Rants. I’ve been in a good mood lately and feeling a bit better about life. So, despite being a little bored with this anime at the moment, hopefully I can still write an engaging episode review. I guess that remains to be seen. Let’s talk about RekiAku episode 12.

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Episode 12: The Villainess and the Saint

Episode Rating: 7/10

In the first scene, Mel tells Alicia that she has discovered the secret of the Saint. She also acts very gay toward Alicia, hugging her and sniffing(?) her – until Duke forcefully pulls her away, lol. What is it with overbearing lesbian side characters in anime comedy? I love them, don’t get me wrong. (Chinatsu from Yuru Yuri is my personal favorite of this character type. Hilarious lesbian yandere. She looks similar to Mel. Sorry, random.)

Mel explains that the Saint is the only existence in the world that is capable of using “Charm Magic.” (Remember that in this world, schools of magic are divided into categories and usually mastered by an aristocrat family. Alicia’s family controls Dark Magic, for example, while Duke’s family line uses Ice Magic.) The Saint uses this to control those around her, but may be using it unconsciously.

Nobody doubts that Liz deserves the benefit of the doubt here. They figure that if they just talk to Liz and tell her the truth, she’ll realize she’s using magic for the first time and immediately want to stop. However, talking to Liz proves difficult, since her brainwashed henchmen see Alicia as a bully who wants to mess with Liz’s head. In the end, they have to trick Liz into coming to talk things out.

How did they trick her? Well, Duke basically seduces her, flirting with her intensely and then leading her to believe that he wanted to be alone with her. Liz is clearly head over heels for Duke, and it’s so adorable that I almost feel bad for her. Instead of taking Liz to an empty private room, he brings her to the room where Alicia and Gill are waiting. Meanwhile, Mel and Henry are encouraging the other followers of Liz to eavesdrop on the talk. They want everyone to know the truth.

As Alicia starts to explain the charm magic, Liz grows increasingly uncomfortable. She reads about the charm spells in the book that Alicia hands her, but says there’s no proof she’s been using it. Alicia then bursts her bubble by telling her that her followers are brainwashed and have been making all her wishes come true because of the magic. That explains her incredibly good fortune, too. Liz looks absolutely horrified. For a normally earnest person like her, it’s hard to accept that she only got this far by manipulating others.

Liz questions why her supposed charm magic doesn’t work on Duke. She says she loves Duke and gets coldly shot down. Duke only has eyes for Alicia. After hearing that, Liz starts to get angry, saying that she often wished Alicia was no longer around. At that moment, Alicia’s older brother Albert – a brainwashed follower – came back to his senses. He’d been eavesdropping, along with most of the other boys who worshipped Liz. Albert stepped in to protect his little sister, meaning that the charm magic is starting to wear off. It’s probably because everyone heard about its existence.

Unfortunately, Liz is still upset and magically unstable. At one point, she starts radiating negative energy, but it gets absorbed by the book she’s holding, for some reason. Still, Liz complains and makes excuses. Despite her whining in this scene, I still feel bad for Liz being under so much social and political pressure. It must be difficult to pretend to be Saintly all the time.

Alicia realizes this too, which is why she has a serious and honest moment with Liz. She tells Liz to follow her own values and pave her own path rather than fitting in the mold prepared for her. Her own individual identity is more valuable than the social duty of being the Saint. I love this theme. It’s quite feministic. Alicia’s identity as an empowered young woman is beautiful, so it’s no wonder Liz starts to desire the same. I think she was lowkey inspired by Alicia in that moment.

Not long after, Liz leaves, finally dropping her Saint façade and promising to improve enough to continue her rivalry with Alicia. Speaking of Alicia, she suddenly feels highly awkward due to the fact that Duke declared his love for her moments before. Alicia isn’t sure how to respond, but Duke leaves the subject alone for a bit. There’s something else that he and Alicia need to prepare for.

That night, Alicia and Duke bring Will into the palace, where he is reunited with his brother. The King may have hated his older brother at one point, but that’s all in the past. Both men are happy to be reunited. Also, the King offers Alicia a reward. She’s probably going to ask him for some time off as Liz’s watcher so Liz can grow on her own for a while. I expect she will also ask for permission to leave the country and explore Laval.

Before leaving for the night, Duke takes Alicia’s hand and asks her to respond to his love confession. Alicia still doesn’t know how to react, but is blushing intensely. Duke tells her she doesn’t need to decide right away – just as long as she answers at some point. Alicia’s blush is very cute.

The next day, Alicia is thinking to herself that she almost certainly likes Duke back. She then sees him in the hallway at the Academy and says hello. Duke turns to her coldly and says, “Who are you?” And the episode ends on that unexpected cliffhanger. I’m quite glad I watched and reviewed this episode after all. It had at least one really good moment with Liz and Alicia.

~Thanks for reading~

Written by 7Mononoke

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