The Asterisk War

Episode 22

So what did The Asterisk War decide to do with its remaining (presumably) three episodes now that the whole Phoenix Festa business is concluded? Drop all sorts of hooks for new arcs, of course!

The most prominent of these concerns planning for next year's Gryps Festa, which is a five-member team event. Claudia had formerly invited Ayato onto her team for that, though he had said at the time that he'd only participate if Julis did. Now she's also inviting Julis, as well as Saya and Kirin. She claims it's because she doesn't think that she's strong enough to win without a capable team around her, but given how powerful she looked during that one scene in the first season, I'm not buying it; requests in this series are rarely innocent ones, after all. That would seem to be planning for something that's a long way off – certainly beyond the scope of this season, anyway – but a well-mannered older gentleman also shows up on the scene when Ayato is only with Kirin and Saya and without weapons (any time a situation in anime requires a hero to leave his weapon behind, you know that he/she is going to need it) and in a well-mannered fashion warns them off of having anything to do with Claudia's team, then in well-mannered fashion dumps a chimera on them before exiting. Trained Festa champions and semifinalists cannot be caught defenseless that easily, but the old man's out-of-earshot comments indicate that we definitely have not heard the last of him. But can the series tell a fully story arc about what he's up to in only two more episodes?

The other side of the episode is Julis's invitation to the whole group (acting on behalf of her brother) to join her in returning to Lieseltania for winter break. Sadly, that means that the Most Annoying Voice in Anime has more screen time, but we do get the requisite “embarrass the hero/heroine with a lavish display of affection” routine. (At least this time it's warranted, since she is a champion about on the level of an Olympic athlete.) Quite surprisingly, we don't also get the standard accompanying teasing of Julis from family members over her relationship with Ayato; it just seems to be accepted at face value. This whole scenario does provide the series with a convenient excuse to info-dump further details about Lieseltania's tenuous existence, Julis's seemingly-lackadaisical brother and his veritable harem, Claudia's family, and how the Integrated Enterprise Foundation fits into the picture, details which probably would have come up many episodes sooner if not for the massive distraction of the Phoenix Festa. Again, it feels more like building up for another entire season rather than just a couple more episodes.

That scenario also gives an excuse for the episode's visual treat: getting to see Ayato and his harem all dressed up in finery for a ball in Julis' honor. That doesn't, however, mean that the series has kicked its persistent problem with keeping characters smoothly on-model, but the swift, efficient action scene against the chimera reasserts what the series can do visually when it isn't bogging down its fights with lots of talking.

So overall, nothing too spectacular but no big problems, either. I just don't understand why an episode like this is coming up this late in the season given the pacing the series has used so far.

Rating: B-

The Asterisk War is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.