Score: B+

I was getting a bit worried about whether Sieg’s efforts would bear fruit or blow up in his face. It makes sense that he would be so over the top. The life of Liese is on the line here and taking it too passively might make her think the worst. But I had a sinking feeling early on that him trying too hard to throw affection at Liese might be too much and make her think something was wrong. Liese’s situation was looking to be an unstable one. Too much or too little might push her over the edge and let that witch take control.

Mostly handled this witch situation on her own

Hilariously it ended up that Sieg’s actions had no impact at all when it came to Liese beating down the influence of the Witch of Yore XD. It just gave me a good laugh. Liese’s near deifying love for Sieg let her just overwhelm the witch. One would normally expect that Sieg’s efforts would bring emotional comfort for Liese. That she could lean on the knowledge that he loves her in return to fight off any doubts about how he feels about her. But instead, it was just an issue of the witch stupidly insulting him too much and that angering Lieselotte.

She did take his extreme efforts in the wrong way! All she could do was see his efforts as being sourced from pity. From her perspective he’s such a good and wholesome person that the only reason he’d act that way was because he felt sorry for her condition. The characters treated Liese’s elevation of Sieg as a bad thing, but that’s what ended up saving her in the end.

A happy Liese is a good sight

Obviously, it is a good thing that these two did talk things out. But I’m also happy that it is thanks to Sieg mellowing out a bit. He was still open about his feelings. But it wasn’t over the top flirting that got through to Liese in the end. He was just honest with her about his feelings. It was more important to show the good and the bad to help bring her opinion of him back to the level of humanity. It’s fine for her to love him as much as she does. But there’s nothing to be gained by treating him like he’s too perfect. Letting her know that they are more similar than she thinks could only help make things clear.

Starting to get more emotional reactions from Kobayashi

This episode kind of showed the flaws with the over-the-top commentary from Endo and Kobayashi. They are always full energy and sometimes that makes them treat things as more positive than they are. Lieselotte turning into a full blown angry tsun wasn’t an evolution so much as…a potentially major issue. It didn’t end up being one, but I’m not sure that was something for Endo to be that hyped about. The same went for treating Lieselotte avoiding Sieg earlier in the episode as something entertaining and not something concerning. When they treat everything like a sporting event it brings more energy to a situation than it requires.

At least things between the two of them are going at the right speed. Kobayashi needs to reign in her energy a bit so she doesn’t accidentally injure herself. I’ll give it a pass this time since it was a good shipping moment though. These two are the couple with the most development still needed. They aren’t that far behind, but they do need more moments like this. I’d say this moment was the strongest in the show for establishing Kobayashi’s romantic feelings. There have been hints before, but this time she really looked rattled in the best of ways.

I’m curious about this witch

The Witch of Yore herself remains a major figure that is shrouded in mystery. Who is “that woman”? I’d even have to ask which world she is targeting since we know there are at least two of them. Odds are good that she just has a vendetta against someone in that game world, but you never know. Considering the actor is also a mysterious figure there are still questions left to be answered. And I can’t help but think if the actor has a connection with anyone in the game world it would be the witch.

Ironically, she isn’t that intelligent of a force of chaos. If the Witch had a good view of the world, it would be obvious to not keep insulting Sieg. If the point is to drive Liese to despair and make her think the Prince doesn’t care for her…why insult him? She’s only going to despair if she does love him and that love isn’t being reciprocated. Calling him a fool is just asking the girl to start fighting back against the witch and that’s exactly what happened.

Makes me wonder if anything will develop here

Props to Fiene’s mother for trying to recruit the Professor. I do think it will work out just fine even though she didn’t feel confident about it. I do agree with Kobayashi’s interpretation though. She wants his help, but she doesn’t want to take advantage of his feelings. She’s not a dumb person. It’s obvious that this kid she knew years ago was left with a powerful impression of her and that he does have romantic feelings for her. If she pushes too hard it would mean abusing that love for her own gain and she doesn’t want to do that. It’s a complicated thing too. Just because her husband died a long time ago doesn’t mean she’s ready to move on.

It does certainly turn the game route into a more unusual situation. One must presume that the Professor in that case transferred his feelings from Fiene’s mother to Fiene herself. No wonder that was the most difficult route. That’s a complicated bundle to unravel. Even more so since the guy has clearly spent years treating everyone around him as an enemy. It does make a bit sense though as to why Fiene could get through to him. That blunt personality would have the best chance and the feelings he had towards her mother would leave his guard slightly down around her.

Hopefully they don’t need to restart any hearts

This was a good episode. I had a lot of fun seeing Lieselotte just take the fight to the witch in her own dreamscape! She just had enough of this evil witch insulting someone she considers the greatest person in the world! Don’t mess with a girl in love! It obviously isn’t over, and the Witch of Yore will make another move. But I’m curious to see what that move will be. Lieselotte doesn’t seem like a good target anymore. But it should be possible to target any number of other major female characters. Presuming of course the target must be female. All the ships look promising. And we’ve even got a new ship potentially out there. There are still a few episodes to go, but I feel as if this series will end on a strong note.