Recap: The Ulga Sorority suspends Incognito for their failure to stop the princess but Variation refuses to wait and do nothing. While on the journey to Jugglabark, Kon, Sainglain and Marian contemplate Ecarlate’s decision and the end of their journey.

Jel’s Thoughts: While this episode may have been entirely predictable, I love the more plot driven direction Ixion is headed towards. I’m finding myself actually invested in some of the political intrigue, and the bond between Kon and the others is really starting to shine through.

Happily this doesn’t mean Ixion has lost its sense of humor, highlighting Kon and Sainglain’s weird personality quirks and skewering a classic cop out plot device you almost always see in episodes like this. I thought the whole “I JUST HAPPENED TO HAVE THIS RANDOM OBJECT TUCKED AWAY” thing was dumb at first but I have to admit I was laughing pretty hard by the time we got to Pet and his Sheriff badge. You could debate that Ixion was using it as a cop out as well, but having Ecarlate call out Variation (and the writers) on their cliché methods totally made up for it.

If there’s anything you could pick on it’s how mature Ecarlate is for someone who is supposed to be eight years old. Considering she is also some kind of horrible were-monster thing I guess our disbelief should stay suspended, and incredibly mature children are certainly not new to anime. Still, she gives some very insightful, adult reasons for her decision that go well beyond her years, so it does raise an eyebrow. Variation’s decision not to kill her along with Incognito’s suspension brings us one step closer to ED joining the Good Guys, now it’s just a matter of how long it will take to expose Lord Evil Fiance as the villain. Next week looks like we finally get some explanation about Alma and Hyperions and what not, and so long as Ixion can keep giving us plot and background information while staying funny I’m all for it.