Score: A-

Another really good episode for this show. In some ways it feels like they spread out the comedy a bit more this time to allow for some good character moments and some little moments of growth for this greatly skilled but utterly flawed group of characters. It actually was a good episode for Megumin’s character, showing that there is more than just her fetish for explosion magic. She has her flaws, but at her core is a good person. Both stepping up to face down the Dullahan and even being ready to go alone to his castle for the sake of saving Darkness. She may love explosion magic to an extreme degree, but she isn’t blind to the world around her. If it means risking herself for what she loves that’s one thing, but someone else getting killed for her is too much.

The show really did have me going with it near the end. Things had been so serious with the Dullahan threatening and then casting that death sentence magic. It really felt like we were heading to a serious showdown with Kazuma and the others ready to head to the castle and pick a fight…..and then it wasn’t serious any longer. Aqua who can be forgotten at times, is actually an Arch Priest. She may be an idiot with no luck, but she’s got ability. Was able to just break the spell cast on Darkness without too much trouble. Of course it utterly deflated a motivated to fight Kazuma and Megumin, but that’s just part of the show XD. It defused that tension and cleared the quest of getting rid of the Dullahan.

I will give Darkness particular credit though. She has her masochism, but she still threw herself in front of that curse to protect Megumin. I don’t think she thought too much about the consequences and just threw herself out there. Of course once she had some time to think…she acted well like herself XD. Completely spinning this elaborate setup that the Dullahan was trying to take her back to his castle to do terrible and perverted things to her. Loved seeing her make the Dullahan freak out with how extreme a masochist she is. Even Kazuma had to stop her because she was embarrassing and freaking out the guy there to threaten them XD.

This was a good chance for Megumin to have some serious moments and strengthen her bond with Kazuma. Having him accompany her daily for apparently quite a while certainly got them on an understanding wavelength. Having to go out there with her and then carry her back after she blasted away. Going so many times in a row that he could actually gain an understanding of the variations between each spell she cast. Knowing when she was in good form or when the explosion was a bit less impressive than normal. I don’t even think Kazuma would mind learning it at some point if he had the points for it. It was just nice seeing them get along quite well at the midpoint of the episode.

It was nice seeing how serious Megumin took the situation with Darkness and her willingness to head into danger to resolve it. While I’m sure she was afraid, she still walked out there to face the Dullahan. After all she only can use explosion and only use it once a day, that’s not the kind of situation you want to be in, before facing a high ranking member of the Devil King’s army. Even though they eventually didn’t have to go, it was nice to see some courage out of her. Of course it balances out with how she was rubbing herself against her newly bought magic staff at the start of the episode XD. Anything related to casting her explosion magic is something she’ll give a lot of attention to.

Nice for Kazuma that he gained so much experience through the cabbage war that he could learn a new skill. Create water is pretty basic, but helpful for having a water supply no matter the situation. Very efficient which I expect from him at this point. Also that luck of his…wow. Managing to score the best of the cabbages and thus gaining a million out of it. Let him go ahead and get some real adventurer equipment. Of course he lost some of it having to pay Aqua’s tab…Those girls know how to blackmail him effectively enough. Aqua making a public note that he was taking care of certain business….at night and thus she got her money quick enough.

But damn, Kazuma was just brutal to Aqua at times. I think the reality of what they are in for really hit him. Thus he threw it right at Aqua that they might not have a great chance of pulling this off and she’s probably stuck here. Even trying to get her healing magic and thus making her completely unnecessary to the group XD. I know some of it was fake, but I do think she was hit pretty hard by the more straight forward comments on her level of usefulness. And of course Aqua bounced back nicely showing that she can be useful on some occasions. Her healing powers are pretty darn high level. So they avoided having to fight to save Darkness, which is probably for the best right now.

Just another funny and entertaining episode. I wouldn’t say it was as funny since there was some more drama mixed in than usual, but it was still good. Was interesting seeing the real troubles for the town since the Dullahan had moved into the area. Hard for them to really do any easy quests because of it. His presence scaring off the easier monsters that they’d want to start off farming. While they did deflect him for now, I’m curious how they do plan on dealing with the problem of not having a lot of quests to take on. At least they should get some kind of bonus for ‘scaring away’ the Dullahan for the time being. But, the long term issue is them growing enough to be a real force. Well to be fair the real issue is what situations they’ll come up with for jokes XD. Can’t wait to see what happens next week.