Score: A-

This was a fun episode to let the cast unwind after the hypnosis incident. Just a bit of light fun with someone trying to scout Goa and an excuse for a series of 1v1 fights. If nothing else it was a good reminder of how comfortable this cast has gotten with each other. There was a bit of attempted seriousness in Anemone and Ciel working to get Goa removed from the party, but nothing too serious. I won’t complain either about the chance to throw the main girls into swimsuits for an episode. But the main focus was just in letting the characters have fun in their own way.

Anemone’s image of Goa is hilarious

Trying to outplay Goa is a recipe for disaster. Anemone’s attempts to get ahead of her failed in hilarious fashion. I think her biggest mistake was straight up telling Goa her goals. I suppose Goa is smart enough to realize it anyways, but Anemone didn’t need to tempt fate. But I guess she just wanted to smugly rub in that she was going to cause some trouble for Goa. The hilarious thing is that it wouldn’t have really mattered. Goa can break people on a whim so if she’d want to get out of that situation she could. I suppose as an assassin Anemone doesn’t get a lot of chances to really rub it in that she’s won. Most times she’s just going to kill someone with a degree of stealth.

I found it amusing that Anemone dragged Ciel into this to try and get rid of the person least in their way. Ciel (kind of) still wants to kill Toto. Anemone still (kind of) wants to kill Toto. But Goa’s never really wanted to “kill” Toto. She started out with the expectation to add her into the list of pets she has. But I don’t think she kills anyone she does that to. Though I guess she might leave them so broken that they are effectively non-factors in the world going forward. Getting rid of Goa is probably just to get rid of someone who has a skill that’s dangerous for them.

Goa’s plans went well!

Goa just was on another level though. She never showed any concern about how it’d go and for good reason. Toto is absurdly strong so he’s not losing to anyone outside their party. And she knew how to handle Anemone so that she’d win the tournament even if she stopped Toto’s run. Even managed to use the whole kiss on the cheek thing to get Anemone distracted which likely let her sabotage her swimsuit in the confusion. Goa is just too strong on the mental game.

The emotional side is where Anemone is the most vulnerable. She didn’t like losing to Goa so she went way further with Toto than she intended to. Same goes with not wanting to lose to Ciel so she refused to lose right away. Her pride sunk her there. If she’d lost right away then Goa’s plan would have flopped. But she kept in the fight and all that high speed evasion was too much for her swimsuit to handle.

Embarrassed Ciel is a treat

Ciel once more was purely hilarious in this episode. I feel bad that she seemingly didn’t get to go fishing despite her being hyped for it. Her adorable excitement for going sea fishing was beautiful. But so was how she kept getting swept up in the moment. She didn’t want to participate in that tournament. And yet she put up the best fight out of anyone! It shows how well-rounded her grueling training was. She could fight against a B-rank hero using purely physical skill. The only magic she seemingly used was at the end when she got way too into the fight. Ciel is pretty tough even without magic. It would’ve been hilarious if she did win that fight and then Anemone’s plan completely went up in smoke! The icing on top was her cute blushing over Toto’s praise.

This guy was alright

This episode was just fun. Toto got a kiss to the cheek due to Anemone’s plotting and jealousy. Even though part of the reason Toto was still fighting was because he didn’t want Anemone to be in danger fighting Fresnir. In the end though everything worked out well. Fresnir wasn’t even a really bad guy. Just charmed hard by how attractive Goa is. And he was sharp enough to appreciate how Toto was way stronger than him and changed his tune in a hurry. I’m not sure how things will play out for the rest of the show, but it should remain fun to the end.