Score: A

Nothing like a fresh adventuring party heading out on their first expedition! Sure 3/4 of that party want to kill the remaining member, but it’s all good! It was pure fun seeing them deal with various hiccups along the way and continue to forge stronger bonds. The assassin girls may be talking about not making this a long journey…but I don’t think they’d really hate having it drag out for a good long time. This episode was a bit more balanced in terms of focus. There was a lot of Ciel content still. But Anemone and Goa had their moments as well. It’s a group where I like everyone so it doesn’t matter how they choose to spread out the focus.

Ciel was amazing

It is adorable how excited Ciel was for this expedition. There was just pure joy radiating off her when they were heading out. Now that she’s got a bit of a relief from the stress of her home life she’s loving the adventuring party life. And fair enough to note that she’s been using magic to carry Toto around whenever he passes out while they are out and about. That is a good deal of work on her part. I’m sure she’s got the magic reserves to manage it, but the less she has to stress over the better. And it’s nice for Toto to have to keep that in mind. His passing out is a risky thing not only for his survival, but it can put a strain on others. Of course then Ciel immediately has an accidental seduction moment and KO’s Toto! Powerful because it was unintentional!

Some very cute moments in this ep

Ciel is so into it that even going fishing had her on cloud 9. She had no ability to remotely hide how tempted she was. Her cute humming just adding to the fun. We’ve seen how her life has been to this point. It’s no wonder that the idea of camping, travelling, and fishing is all so sparkly and beautiful to her. Reality of course isn’t quite the same as fantasy. The boredom of sitting and waiting for fish isn’t the same as the idea of it. But even that turned into adorable fun when they got sprayed by ink from a monster and jumped into the water afterwards. This may be a party of “enemies” but they are forging beautiful bonds at the same time. Ciel is truly enjoying herself and that’s ok. Their relationships at the start can be different from how it ends up.

This episode was a beautiful one just for Ciel and I didn’t quite expect that. We even got a glimpse at how bleak mealtime was. It was all about elegance, silence, and living up to her status. She couldn’t even truly enjoy a meal back then. But now? She’s able to truly express herself and enjoy the moment. It’s a cute sight and it’s no wonder even her allies are charmed by it. Who can deny the fun of seeing this cute mage treasuring a meal that she caught herself?

Don’t mess with the game master

Goa remains a really entertaining part of this cast. She’s scary in her own way. In some ways she doesn’t fit since I don’t see any intention on her part to actually kill Toto. But she definitely has some extreme views that extend beyond Toto to Ciel and Anemone. They are all powerful and capable. It makes them tantalizing playmates. She won’t let anyone interfere in her fun and take any of them away from her. I do think there is legitimate friendship and bonding on her part. She very much lives up to her line about them being rivals and friends.

She also remains a huge protector of the party. There may be interesting motives behind her actions, but there’s no question that she’s a great protector. Most attackers will not be prepared whatsoever for her drugs and tactics. Her party struggled right away since she was a true unknown. Guys like that bandit stand no chance. That guy had no hope. Using a skill he could barely lift something that Toto was casually carrying around. She was in control from start to finish.

Even Anemone had her moments

The shopping bit was cute. Ciel totally playing into her childish desires there with dressing everyone up in animal costumes XD. And there absolutely was no malice to it. She just really loves it! Though she did completely lose interest when the animal costumes left the picture! It was a nice Anemone show with a touch of Goa. Naturally we leave that shopping trip with the girls sticking to their established character designs. We can’t change things up now! And the honorable choice by Toto to try and work on his passing out was basically waved off! Because that would be a major problem for the girls! Time he’s passed out can be used for them to talk as assassins and would mean he’d be even more invincible!

The banter is always fun

This was just a really nice episode. It did accomplish getting the party out of the city and into the wider world which is good. They are drawn towards a mystery/issue that they’ll inevitably have to resolve too. But it mostly was just a great chance to see Ciel losing her mind with joy! I thought she’d take a step back in this episode, but it was still giving her plenty of focus. This adventure meant a lot to her and it was fun seeing her enjoy it. Loved this episode.