Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon Season 2

Episode 12

This season's finale for Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon suffers from one problem that affects the entire episode: its pacing. From a story standpoint, this is really two episodes in one. The first is our heroes dealing with the floor boss. The second is the sudden appearance of Sulream, followed by Kikoyu's transformation. However, because they are both crammed into a single 22-minute runtime, neither has the time it needs to tell its story correctly.

In the case of the two-headed ogre, there is almost no tension. Lammis and Michelle attack once, and then our heroes run away while Boxxo uses gas, fire, and, finally, Yakiniku sauce to keep the ogre occupied. From there, our heroes brainstorm for what seems like 5 minutes and settle on getting the ogre drunk and killing it in its sleep—and everything goes exactly to plan. It doesn't get suspicious of the random rock ogre (on a stratum of nothing but sand) bringing it booze. Nor does it half-awake or something similar to give a last-minute surprise.

There's simply no excitement to be had. Think how climactic it would have been if it had woken up and Lammis had needed to slug it out with the monster at full power—something that would have made thematic sense given her growing control over her powers this season. But alas, 'twas not to be.

Then comes the back half of the episode with snow-fairy-turned-Neatherlord-general Sulream. With Sulream, her appearance is just so random that it feels out of left field. We're never told why she showed up at this place and at this time. She's just there. On a meta level, she is just a plot tool and nothing more. Through her, we see what would have happened to Kikoyu if not for the Field and later meeting Director Bear, Boxxo, and the rest. Sulream learned that humans can't be trusted. Meanwhile, Kikoyu learned that people are individuals—some good, and some bad.

All this cumulates in Kikoyu's “big damn hero” moment, where she grows up, embraces her full power, and forces Sulream into a stalemate neither side can really afford to waste time on. The problem here is that this also seems like a wasted opportunity.

Though we've known for a while why snow fairies are hunted, neither we nor any of our heroes knew that Kikoyu was at the most dangerous time of her life, where the chance of betrayal was the highest. For all her talk, Kikoyu didn't trust the others enough to tell them she was about to turn 18—not even when they were racking their brains on how to kill the ogre. (I mean, if they'd waited a day, she could have probably just frozen it and let the others smash away.)

Knowing that she was about to turn 18 would have brought a whole extra layer of tension to the story. Sure, we know Lammis, Boxxo, and Hulemy would never kill an innocent for power. But what about Hevee in the midst of his revenge quest? What about the bandits in the tower? Even if it didn't directly come into play until the fight with Sulream, the knowledge of her coming of age would have hung above the story like the Sword of Damocles.

Instead, it comes off feeling like a deus ex machina. How convenient that, moments before she would come into her full power, Kikoyu meets a twisted mirror of herself who would force her to reaffirm her beliefs at the moment she becomes an adult. Then she can save all her friends from an enemy they likely could not have beaten alone with only the bare minimum of effort.

In the end, I can't help but feel that if this were split into two episodes, the story would have worked far better—even if no major changes to the plot were made. Simply having more time spent on building up the ogre as a threat and getting more into Sulream acting as Kiyoko's dark reflection would have elevated everything. Not to mention that additional runtime could have also fleshed out the ending to Heeve's arc a bit more and filled in the little plot holes strewn throughout.

But all that said, while this episode may be a bit of a letdown, it isn't terrible. It's just simply unfortunate to end on an episode that is a step down from how consistently solid and enjoyable the series has been this season. Luckily, this is not the last we'll hear from our vending machine hero and friends since a third season has already been greenlit.

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Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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