Lifetime
An unremarkable pair of episodes before the finale, and with it, an understanding of what’s to come. We do have some pretty great shots of the girls in states of minimal (or no) clothing, so we’ve at least got that going for us.
Episode 10:
The crew arrives in the land of the dwarves, or what once was the land of the dwarves. They vanished after a particularly brutal war with the Abyssal Lord, and apparently never attempted to rebuild their civilization, leaving the remainder of their cities in a dilapidated state.
Satou and the crew encounter a “sorcerous machine,” (robot powered on magic) which were the foundation of dwarven society. The one dormant here comes to life thanks to the Abyssal Lord. This machine seems to harbor vengeful thoughts and memories from the now presumably extinct dwarves, lamenting their fate and expressing a desire for the remainder of life to be sent to the Abyss along with them. After its destroyed, Satou and the crew are shaken up, wondering if the dwarves hated the rest of the world.
The black ring on the machine’s hand disappears, which also seems to heed the return of the Abyssal Lord in his full strength. Saphir is unable to assist due to being out of her element, (no water is nearby) leaving Satou and the others to fight their way out without her. They march out to see a veritable mass of Abyssal beasts marching in their direction.
Grandpa decides that the best course of action is to send Satou back through the gates, to his world. The gate can’t be closed without him remaining behind, so the last parting shot is of Marse and grandpa seemingly about to have a last stand.
After the heroic and selfless sacrifice from Grandpa and Marse, we’re given the appropriate emotional follow-up courtesy of the girls getting naked and trying on modern underwear. This concludes the 10th episode.
Episode 11:
Strange planning on the part of the production – most of this episode is drama
Hime and Satou have a bit of trouble trying to get the princesses to properly integrate with their world, and the typical elf/beastgirl-on-earth shenanigans play out as expected. At the very least, some good potential is realized here, courtesy of the princesses wearing Earth clothes.
The crew discuss their options, but realize they don’t quite have any, at least none within their power. Magic is out of the question, as the spell grandpa used to get them there cannot be learned easily. Hoping that someone from the other world comes is unlikely, because anyone that strong is probably trying to fight off the invading Abyssal beasts. A germ of intrigue is laid here, as it’s revealed that Hime somehow has the money to cover both the clothes and the meal. This will come up later.
Not much to say here other than enjoy the view. The girls here have a bit of small talk, and Granart pressures Hime once again to make a move on Satou.
Hime reveals that grandpa had considered the possibility that the Abyssal Lord would return before the Ring King could gather the rings, so he left her some money and a letter explaining that if she’s reading it, then he’d like Hime to stay away and live a normal life.
Hime asks for Satou to stay in this world and forget the other world. I’ll expand on this a bit later, but this episode did not give a good impression of Hime. Before Satou and Hime are able to talk things out, a mysterious girl emerges from the shrine.
This shot lasts for exactly two frames which is a shame, as the artist in charge of this clearly put in a lot of time to make her ass so detailed and visible through her clothes.
The girl here is Amber, bearer of the fifth ring. She confirms that the dwarves are extinct, but before they expired, they managed to create her, a replica of the then dwarf princess. Amber reveals that she has the ability to return to the other world, but when offered, Hime rejects the proposal. Satou also looks bad by not speaking up for himself after Hime’s outburst as well.
Satou is followed by Amber, and eventually accepts her power and gains the fifth ring.
I try my best to refrain from stating my personal opinions on matters of works I review, beyond superficial observations or remarks on the quality (or purpose) of fanservice. But this time I feel compelled to point out that the two main characters come off looking very bad this episode. Hime is content to allow the other world to be slaughtered without even trying to help, and she also cut off Satou before he could answer Amber properly. I didn’t mention that she also went out of her way to keep the other princesses ignorant of Amber’s ability to teleport to the other world, making her appear incredibly selfish and cowardly, as well as removing the ability for other’s to make a choice in the matter. Satou looks bad as well by not immediately speaking up for himself, but he also doesn’t immediately inform the other princesses of Amber’s ability to teleport (seemingly going along with Hime’s decision), which he absolutely should because they have a right to know this and make a decision as well. This makes Satou come across as callous and completely uncaring towards the other girl’s feelings. Yes, if it weren’t obvious this will be resolved in short time, but incredibly grave decisions like these usually remain as thoughts, and quickly pushed aside at that. I feel that there are better ways to make your characters appear sympathetic, and that this part of the story could have been handled much better.
After a bit of a back and forth, with the stated reason for Hime’s desire to stay on Earth as being afraid to lose Satou, she agrees to return. Hime wants to make things up to Satou in the way she’s tried to several times already, but they’re interrupted again, this time by Amber. The rest of the princesses barge in as well, conveniently in their other world clothes. Satou and crew prepare to leave for the other world as the episode concludes. This brings us to the beginning of Chapter 29, setting up for the finale.
