© 佐竹幸典・講談社/ 「魔女と野獣」製作委員会
I bet this episode will end with Ashaf and Guideau sitting about 20 feet from where they started. That’s not to say nothing happens, but you can feel this arc spinning its wheels as the Witch and the Beast get into a massive brawl between the beast-mode Guideau and the unshelled Ashgan wrap. Instead of surprising the audience with unexpected developments, the plot progresses by reinforcing and reiterating what we already know about these characters. Helga is a sympathetic loser, the Executioner is a real bastard, etc. This is a good arc but not one of the best of the series.
Sarcastic humor still helps a lot. Guideau noticed Ashaf looked like an ice cream and bitterly called him an idiot, to which Ashaf responded by shaking off the ice and lighting another cigarette. Their bad cop friend continued to seduce me. That consistency also makes for scarce moments when Ashaf loses his ability to calm down, such as when Helga was stabbed this week. When his eyes widened, you knew it was about to come true. Elsewhere, I like the sword staircase that Helga uses to get to the roof. I don’t think it was intended to be funny, but I found humor in the contrast between the destructive power of the summoned weapons and the practicality of their application. Furthermore, I loved watching the mortally wounded Guideau angrily drag himself toward Helga’s adolescent pain in the final scene. Once again, TWatB knows how to arrange yuks next to each other.
Those laughs are necessary, too, because this episode is one of the darkest and harshest of the series. A flashback to Helga’s witch family shows the Executioner burning, brainwashing, murdering, taunting, and torturing his victims with a villainous taste. That’s a bit much. To be clear, I like that TWatB doesn’t shy away from gore and exploitation, but these efforts feel a little emptier than its previous promiscuity in the trash. We only get a minute with Helga’s council before her mother turns into a daughter-killing puppet. It feels lazy instead of feeling tasteless. The Executioner isn’t a very fun or unique villain either. His design is forgettable, and his speeches are clunky and cliché. His nasty Frankensteined mind control gauntlet is the closest thing this rude guy has to a cool gimmick.
Cugat, on the other hand, handled his heel turn with aplomb. Perhaps most importantly, he looks much hotter without his mask and taking tons of damage in battle. The sleazy chic bishounen is strong. We know that his sense of justice was more than just institutional. Even though he was betrayed by the Paladin Corps, he mourned his people when the merciless Executioner sacrificed them to advance his nefarious plans. In contrast, Cugat sacrificed his limbs to his element to protect Guideau, Ashaf, and Helga. While he may not be a complex character, he fits the part well. When he gets low, he doesn’t double down. He reassessed the situation and adjusted himself accordingly.
This makes Cugat the perfect foil for the Executioner, whose tragic flaw is his arrogance (though one can hardly call it “tragic” when he deserves what is coming to him. ). His unwavering belief in his strength and intelligence came against Ashgan’s true nature as a mindless and uncontrollable avatar of destruction. The executioner responded by refusing and doubling down. And in terms of showing off unmatched strength, Ashgan splitting a floating castle in half and watching it fall to the ground was pretty cool. Unfortunately, the anime fails to capture the gravity of this moment as the two halves of the castle move like pieces of clipart you’re trying to align in a Microsoft Word document. In order not to repeat myself, I try not to harp on the show’s limited production values, but that was an especially egregious (and funny) case.
This episode ends on a high note, to say the least. Helga has her first kiss and Guideau prepares to step out of his coffin for the first time since the premiere. I appreciate the series’ restraint in coming up with their beast mode. Sure, it’s more fun to see Guideau in angry female monster form (especially when they’re munching on dog treats), but that restraint also makes the character more interesting.
Rating:
Witches and Monsters is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Steve is on Twitter while it lasted. He can be your wizard or your beast. Or none of the above if that’s interesting. You can also see him chatting about trash and treasure on This Week in Anime.