Radiant Episode 20 Review: Omen – Sign –

We’re at the second to the last episode of Radiant, and things couldn’t have been more peaceful! Which is unusual for such an action-packed series, I know. But, based on the title and some of what happened this week, these peaceful things seemed to be just on the surface. Better enjoy it while we can!

Plot

Due to the destruction caused by the riot in Rumble Town, food shortage was unexpected. Dragunov, being the saint that he is, decided to donate their team’s provisions to help the people out some more. But without much food, he and his subordinates will starve to death, so they set off to hunt down their own meals. Meanwhile, in Artemis Academy, prices of certain products skyrocketed, also because of the incapacitated Rumble Town. Now Miss Melba couldn’t afford to buy coffee beans to brew coffee, and without coffee, Doc and Devi were in trouble! Seth was also in distress, but more due to a scary dream that he had.

Episode Highlights

Nightmare or omen? I still feel so sad for Seth. Life surely isn’t easy if you feel like a ticking time bomb, not knowing when you might go berserk again. The dream he had was surely a reflection of his worries that he might hurt his friends one day, or worse! But the most worrying part about having such scary dreams related to reality is that you start thinking if it’s a premonition of what’s to come. Unfortunately, they still don’t know a lot of details on what exactly triggered his rampage, so the chances of his nightmare happening are still pretty high. He’s been fitting in so well in Artemis and enjoying the company of his friends, so I hope he gets to protect all of it from himself!

Team Dragunov’s troubles: Guess having an ideal, responsible captain is both a boon and a bane for Dragunov’s subordinates, huh? They got to serve Rumble Town’s people by donating their food to them, which ended up with them suffering in trying to look for their own supplies. They could have died protecting that town back in episode nine from the Nemesis and Captain Edmund, but thanks to that, the citizens gladly granted them food to show their appreciation! Dragunov didn’t even want to hold that against the people! I just love how he’s setting such a good example and doing the right thing, even if it means taking the hard route. The best part is that fate was rewarding him for those decisions eventually! Well, except for one decision…

Punishment: I can’t believe that, even though Dragunov was able to save a lot of citizens thanks to his presence in Rumble Town, he was still going to get punished! And of course, being the ideal leader that he is, he decided to protect his subordinates by taking the blame and punishment by himself! I wonder what it is, though. His only fault was not informing the Thaumaturges about Konrad’s misdeeds, so I hope they’ll be more forgiving of him.

Coffee bean shortage: Rumble Town’s fall ended up being way worse for everyone, even the ones outside the town! Why did Konrad have to be in charge of such an important trade route and impose his wrong ideals on it? I was sincerely hoping that Seth and Melie would find alternative coffees for Doc and Devi, but they still ended up getting more debt for a cup. A cup! How will they keep that coffee-loving kraken alive in the next few days until the price of coffee beans goes down?

Themes & Trivia

Coffee alternatives: A lot of people absolutely love coffee like Doc and Devi. Some even claim that they can’t start their day without coffee. But what if we also find ourselves with expensive coffee beans? Then, maybe we can find alternatives, like chicory coffee, or matcha tea! Surely they won’t be able to replace your beloved coffee beans, but maybe they’ll still become your second favorites?

Comments

This would seem like another average, light-hearted episode if you look at it at face value. Yes, it was enjoyable and entertaining. But I appreciated it a lot more when I found out that this was basically a filler episode! It’s not in the source material at all, which I would normally not appreciate. But I’m sure a lot of you would agree that this was actually a very informative interlude! Any enjoyable episode that would give me more info on what happened to a character after an arc, and what effect that arc had on the whole world in general is an episode I fully welcome! I’m actually wondering if the author had a hand in this filler story.

Then again, during my research I also found out that the anime has been leaving out some pretty important info. That got me kind of worried for the final episode. Will they serve us an anime-only conclusion? Or will they mix it up? We can only hope that they’ll make it a good one.

Protect those within your reach!

Looks like Seth’s going off on another adventure! But before he leaves, he’ll run into more Nemesis? And he’ll go berserk again? Oh dear! It certainly sounds like an explosive finale, but it’s also pretty worrying!

Do you have any predictions or expectations on the last episode of Radiant? Please share them in the comments! Also, read our reviews on the other Winter 2019 shows!

NEXT TIME: In Search of the Future – Utopia –