Radiant Episode 4 Review: A Meeting in the Sky – Encounter –

With how Episode 4 went, I’m expecting that Radiant is gonna be an even wilder and sillier show from here on out. Three new characters have been introduced (at least the ones who were named), and they were all quite amusing! This totally made me look forward to what awaits Seth as he presses on his journey!

Japanese Original Episode Title: 大空の出会い -Encounter-

Plot

We got more details on what Seth’s adventure is all about! Turns out he’s actually not finding Radiant blindly, or at least not that blindly, because Alma told him to start off by going to the city of Artemis. Unfortunately, he crossed paths with The Inquisition, an organization who keeps tabs on sorcerers, and so he was captured! There he met Melie, a sorceress like him, and Doc, a Nemesis researcher. They were also taken by The Inquisition for collecting the corpse of the Nemesis Seth defeated earlier!

Episode Highlights

Nemesis research: I thought the world of Radiant was just going to be focused on magic and melee, so I didn’t think there’d be actual research on Nemesis! That’s smart! Wonder how far these researchers have gone on their discoveries…

The Inquisition: Why did it seem like Seth didn’t know anything about the sky police, I mean, The Inquisition? Did Alma not tell him beforehand? Or is he really just stupid as Dragunov said? Man though, when the group was first mentioned, they did sound like law enforcers, but I wasn’t expecting them to be super strict and condescending as if they’re the law! I can still somehow understand why they arrested Melie since she blabbed about retrieving a Nemesis corpse, but Seth? They stopped him just for crashing in their ship and assuming he’ll be trouble somewhere else! (Though they’re not actually wrong.) I’m quite curious about Dragunov though. Doesn’t he seem too laid back for a captain? Was he underestimating them? If so, then it serves him right that they got away.

Doc and Melie: These two sure were surprising! Melie’s sweet and charming, but is also a total ditz! Yet more than that, who knew she’d have that yankee personality lying underneath thanks to her curse? She even specializes in defense and offense depending on her personality, which should be a force to be reckoned with if she could control it. Meanwhile, Doc was just a normal dude like the rest, but he didn’t seem to have a dislike for sorcerers. Instead, he was even involved with Nemesis research, which people would normally avoid entirely. I quite like these two already! I hope they’ll stick around with Seth on his quest after gathering info in Artemis.

Bye-bye corpse: Oh my, did you guys notice that Doc’s airship accidentally let go of the Nemesis corpse as they propelled forward? Doc’s not gonna be too happy when he finds out… There goes his reward…

Themes & Trivia

Inquisition: This is a perfect name for their organization because in real life, The Inquisition was established by the Roman Catholic Church to thwart public heresy committed by baptized Christians. In Radiant‘s case, the sorcerers are heretics for being different.

Magic and curses: Certain things have gotten a bit clearer with this episode’s dialogues! Dragunov said sorcerers gain their curses in exchange for being able to use magic. And since Melie’s curse resulted in her getting somewhat of a split personality, seems like curses take different forms.

Ignis Rumpere: Yankee Melie’s offensive spell, when translated to Latin, means ‘fire burst‘.

Comments

What a riot of an episode this was! The events were crazy, but they weren’t confusing, which is great! Things still did seem to be more light-hearted for now, but I wonder if the story will get any darker sometime soon. The new characters caught my eye already as well, even though we don’t know a lot about them yet. I especially like Melie! Her character design really stood out, and I’m quite glad she’s not just the ‘air-headed female character’. Instead, there’s a twist to her that adds to her charm.

I probably still have to get used to the pacing though. When I first watched this episode, it felt like something was off, like it’s handled differently from other anime shows so it gives off a different feel. But when I watched it again, it started sitting right with me. I wonder if I’m making sense, but maybe some of you also feel the same?

Only idiots call people idiots!

What kind of things await Seth in Artemis? With how clueless he is about things, though, it won’t be surprising if he gets into another mess, like falling into a massive debt? What did the preview mean? We’ll just have to find out in the next chapter of the story!

Let us know what you thought of this episode in the comments! Please also don’t forget to check out our other Fall 2018 episodic reviews!

NEXT TIME: A Paradise of Wisdom and Hope – Artemis –