Last week, we finally met the mysterious Pokota, the culprit responsible for destroying the Ruvinagald Kingdom's magic tanks (and, indirectly, for framing Lina by using the Dragon Slave spell to do it). Pokota got away, leaving Lina on the hook with Wizer determined to arrest her.
As for this week, however, we now have something completely different, something that Lina's simple recap hardly belies. But what else is new?
(Title card)
We open to a shot of a peaceful lake, a dignified older woman (who kind of looks like a fish), and a poodle named Sebastian that looks about three times too big. Yes, she calls him Sebastian, even in the original Japanese. When Sebastian mysteriously starts swimming in the lake, making a beeline for the absolutely not suspicious island in the middle, the scene is punctuated with, in terrible Engrish, "KOUMU BAAKU TO MII!" ("Come back to me!"). Nothing like a little cross-cultural hilarity to start the day. I'm sure the French laugh at us equally hard whenever we butcher a phrase borrowed from them.
Anyway, cut to the final round of Lina vs. Gourry, eating wars! Last person to finish a 10000 calorie meal pays the combined bill. This is, of course, an ongoing gag, justified in that both Lina and Gourry expend tremendous amounts of energy (how else would Lina maintain that dainty, underdeveloped figure, eating like this?). Of course, Amelia and Zelgadiss are never seen exercising any such gluttonous instincts. At any rate, we catch a very unsubtle shot of a wanted poster with poorly drawn renderings of Lina and Gourry. None of the patrons notice this, but that'll soon change. As Lina prepares to finish the last bone and win the contest, a pair of handcuffs, separated by a long chain, shoots in from outside the establishment. Catching Lina on the wrist is Wizer, who promptly attaches the other end to his wrist, binding the two of them together. Pay attention to the wanted poster—it's clearly written in a runic language, further emphasizing the catch-all fantasy nature of the series.
Once again, mention of the name Lina Inverse inspires great fear and terror in the bystanders, something Wizer takes credit for as having spread the "undeniable truths" about Lina to the public. Lina, predictably, is not happy. Amelia's defense: "Lina-san is technically a genuine human being!" It's definitely in vogue to consider Lina only slightly better than a malevolent force of nature. Anyway, not all is the same today, campers. The great inspector Wizer Freion has a new charge to hold Lina to:
Serial petnapping.
Were you paying attention to the background? While everyone else is focused on Wizer, Gourry's steadily going through the rest of his food, and hence, as the shock of Wizer's accusation wears off, he can thoroughly catch Lina off guard and finish his meal, winning the contest from before.
Lina unsuccessfully tries to take a hammer to the chain and break free of the handcuffs, but Wizer explains they're "special-alloy" handcuffs that not even a dragon can break. Feel free to set odds on when, if ever, we'll see such materials again. This is a comparatively poor writing trick, necessary in the sense that it makes Lina stick around and listen, but given what happens later, it seems greatly mismanaged. Eventually, it'll be in Lina's indirect interest to stick around, so why the cuffs from nowhere whose properties will never be used again?
So now, we get to theories. Zelgadiss observes that Pokota has probably framed Lina for this too, and Wizer is of no help, claiming that the only proof he needs is that Lina is Lina Inverse. This earns him a punch through the roof, but it takes Lina with him as the chain pulls taut. Conservation of momentum is a bit inconvenient at times. Don't you think so, too, Professor Newton?
What we find out is that several pets have all gone missing, leaving their owners. And yes, they're all named in English: Tom, Bob, Jessie. Lina, of course, is not at all sympathetic to the plight of rich old women whose pets are missing. Zelgadiss ponders the case seriously. Amelia is almost brought to tears thinking of the poor animals. Wizer insists that he will reach Lina's twisted heart to get her to reveal what she's done with the pets, even if she's so indifferent to the animals' plight or the outrageous rewards these rich old women will offer. Naturally, it takes Lina only about half a sentence to process that, and her eyes light up:
Money?
It's settled then, Lina will do everything she can to "prove her innocence." Making a lot of money is, of course, just a fantastic bonus. Yeah. Amelia and Zelgadiss see through that right away. Lina's gonna need that money, though: she still has to pay Gourry's bill.
There's a sudden cut here as Lina's speaking right away, trying to get a handle on this "case" of sorts. As the gang start at the top, Lina mentions the "ABCs" of investigating. Listen closely to the Japanese audio, and you can tell she's saying iroha—the first three syllables (strictly, morae but see The Other Wiki about that) of a Japanese poem that goes through all the syllables of the Japanese language and, thus, is sometimes used the same way we would number, order, or alphabetize objects. Hence, the translation here is actually quite apt, and it's interesting to note that, just as we use "ABCs" to mean fundamentals or basics, so do the Japanese.
Curiously, though, whenever the group goes to ask about suspicious activity, they're totally shut out—hilariously, even by the whole town all at once. Lina is the first to suspect this is no coincidence; someone's threatened the townspeople not to talk. Wizer, unhelpfully, notes that he hasn't bothered to question the townspeople anyway, so fixated on his instinct that Lina is the culprit. Lina's irritation at this is interrupted by the discovery of footprints, which lead to the island we already saw. Lina puts it together pretty quick (though it acts wholly as recap for anyone who missed the opening scene). And, we get another Running Gag in Lina punching Wizer to the sky, only for the 3rd Law of Motion to catch up to her and yank her with him.
For no explained reason, it's night by the time the group can find a boat and row to the island. Wizer wonders if Lina's lured him to the boat to corner and trap him, and Gourry sees fit to start fishing, for no apparent reason. It's only when the sounds around them are surely not from Gourry's line do we find ourselves facing the first line of defense: a BFJ—big freakin' jellyfish. Even worse, as Lina prepares a fireball to scare it away, Wizer stops her, thinking she's pulling a massive trick to convince him she's not the culprit. Seriously. So the group are forced to fly and abandon the boat, and Lina, cleverly, throws the jellyfish Gourry as a distraction. Zelgadiss is right on this one, Lina: saying you won't let Gourry's sacrifice be in vain is a bit thin when you're the one who threw him over.
Once the four remaining make it to the island, they find a group of lesser demons waiting for them as the next line of defense. Amelia, of course, boldly shouts that the demons are doomed, for they can't stand up to her and the might that she wields in the name of justice! Lina's all too happy to leave her and Zelgadiss with the demons while she and Wizer make for the petnapper's hideout. Amelia, however, is less than enthused.
At last, we get a glimpse of our petnapper, who seems to have some sort of laboratory with People Jars, only mutated, animal creature-thing version.
(Eyecatch)
Lina and Wizer make their way to the hideout, with Lina clearing a path through demons with a Dug Haut. She blasts her way inside, and set of four Elemekia Lances wipes out the last of her enemies. Wizer, at last, seems convinced. Lina is nothing like what he thought. She can only be the leader of an evil organization, for how else would she have a facility like this? She must be trying to take over the world!
For that, Lina gives him a spin, using his weight like one would a ball on the end of a string, whirling him like an Olympian at hammer throw. The handcuffs slip off, so this time, Sir Isaac's laws don't apply as painfully. Wizer's momentum carries him through a wall, and at last, Lina confirms her suspicions: taking pets, making a facility like this—the only reason is to make a chimera, and this place is a laboratory. On meeting the hooded figure who's responsible, Lina tries to point this out to Wizer, but he claims he's passed out.
Clearly there's nothing wrong with that logic.
We get a bit of exposition on how chimeras work, how Lina deduced the petnapper's intentions from what he took and how it would benefit the making of several chimeras. This may not be obvious to the viewer, but it is worth noting how Lina puts this together very quickly and from little information to boot. If nothing else, Lina Inverse is clever. She may not always make the best decision from that cleverness, but it's a recurring point—that Lina will put information together and get closer to the big picture before anyone else does.
Anyway, we need to get back to our confrontation. Our mysterious petnapper and chimera scientist is fully prepared to use the animals he's stolen, now that they're rabid and huge and have red eyes. He thinks that Lina Inverse can be dissuaded from attacking because she'd have to harm some animals? Really? He thinks he can tell a sob story about how he left his family for magic research, so he must see his work come to fruition? Pathetic and pathetic. This villain is pathetic. Calling his new pets Rover, Spot, and Fido is pathetic (the original Japanese, for once, doesn't dip into Gratuitous English here). Lina's not at all hesitant to throw Fireballs and Flare Arrows at these ravenous beasts, stopping short of slaying them just to make sure she can cash in the reward (awesome priorities there, Lina) so what's left?
As it turns out, there's still the Death Chimera. And this one shrugs off a Flare Arrow with ease. As the big beast stomps toward Lina, we cut to Amelia and Zelgadiss outside. Having defeated the demons, the giant jellyfish bears down on them. Just as Lina starts to get busy and prepare a truly destructive spell, there's something best described as a yodel instead of a battle cry. It's Gourry, and the giant jellyfish busts into the picture, slapping down our villain and his death chimera in a single blow. Gourry and the jellyfish have made friends, and for once, as the villain attempts escape, Wizer does something competent and arrests him! Is the world backward now?
Well, it seems our villain petnapper thinks so, too. The appearance of a special investigator catches him off guard. Ostensibly, he has protection. His work is sanctioned, of all things, by a marquess of the Ruvinagald Kingdom. No such lawmen should be snooping around, but Wizer is insistent, and Lina pays very close attention to this conversation. She accosts Wizer gently for having her be part of an act, deducing that he needed Lina involved to justify his investigation, despite the backing of a marquess that would otherwise shut him down. Wizer downplays this notion with a smile, and Lina observes that Wizer is actually quite clever himself.
As the opening bars of Revolution play, the giant jellyfish happily licks Amelia and Zelgadiss, and the rich old women get their pets back, albeit with chimeric "improvements" they didn't expect.
Owari wa shinai...
By itself, this episode is somewhat weak. The plot about kidnapped pets seems entirely unconnected to the search for Pokota or clearing Lina's name, and in the second half of the episode, things take a serious turn, but the villain is one we can hardly take seriously. He fails to convey any sense of threat or danger, and moreso than usual, since we're all a bit Genre Savvy here. So, what's the point of this episode?
Quite a bit, actually. This is a vital setup episode, as it paints Wizer in a very different light and hints at important elements to come. The marquess our villain was working for won't be forgotten, nor will these chimera experiments. Wizer, we see, can't be entirely stupid but rather is capable of extended deception via Obfuscating Stupidity. The episode could've been done better by itself, but this is no mere piece of pointless filler. Its existence is evidence of a long-range, coherent storyline, one that shouldn't be ignored.
The art in this episode is consistent with others', but pay attention to the color of the eyes and how it varies between close and far shots. Amelia's in particular seem to vary between darker blue (close-up) and light blue (group shots). Nevertheless, we can see the power of modern technology in play. In this close-up of Lina, we see that Gourry in the background is out of focus, a simulated camera effect that could only be roughly approximated by hand.
Overall, this is still a weak episode but important if you want to put the pieces together before the reveal later on in the series. Just who our mysterious petnapper was working for and what they're up to will become clear soon enough, though.
Next time: "Drifter! Who's Chasing Whom?"
