So we finally meet the queen of this purported matriarchy and she seems to be much more reasonable and genuinely kind then her husband and daughter who she's apparently been keeping tabs on, as well as the Shield Hero. I get the sense that things would have been much different for Naofumi and company had she been there when they were summoned, although it sounds like summoning the heroes was her husband's idea while she was gone, but now she's stuck away on a diplomatic mission which limits what she can do
.
Myne/Malty definitely only seems to take after her mother in the looks department. She absolutely does not seem to have her mother's apparently genuine grace and manner (as adeptly portrayed by Kikuko Inoue)
.
Why am I not surprised the kingdom was still trying to screw Naofumi over even after the duel? Thank goodness Sword and Bow heroes were there to not let them get away with it, and Raphtalia was there to politely diss the royalty and their BS. It would be monumentally harder to take all the @#$% Naofumi deals with without Raphtalia
.
I guess as long as it's a crest in-name-only it's okay for Raphtalia to have it put back on her, since for her it's less a symbol of slavery and more a symbol of the bond and connection between her and Naofumi. I still think Naofumi shouldn't associate himself with the slave trader as much anymore, but I guess he doesn't have much of a choice since the dude seems to be his only source for party members
.
I couldn't tell if Raphtalia wanted Naofumi to look at her new slave crest or her now ample cleavage...but if it's the latter, the girl has definitely grown up a lot (in more ways then one) and knows what she wants from her Naofumi-sama
.
It's nice to see the "rising" of the Shield Hero in action, as we see Naofumi's stature beginning to grow with his heroism in Lute and his own emotional state beginning to improve through his relationship with Raphtalia, as he's beginning to soften from the person he was after the first episode
.
The only thing more adorable then Rina Hidaka's voice is Rina Hidaka doing Chocobo noises
.
It's so satisfying watching Motoyasu and Myne get put in their place. I mean, I think Myne is 100x worse then Spear Hero since it seems like a lot of it is him just going along with what Myne wants, but he's still a pompous and arrogant idiot. Good on the queen for having her ninjas there to make sure her daughter doesn't get her way this time
.
Filo won me over completely the moment she kicked Motoyasu in the crotch and launched him into some hay. Like, Raphtalia's nice enough to wish him to get better, but Filo just straight up takes him down. She's awesome
.
Thank goodness no one else but Raphtalia was there when Filo woke up in her new angel form...with his reputation as it is, I don't think Naofumi wants to explain how a naked loli ended up sleeping on his lap
.
So once again Naofumi picks up an animal-esque being from a slaver who grows pretty fast and turns out to be a pretty cute girl. I'm sensing a trend
.