Saihate no Paladin – 10

「武勲の輝き」 (Bukun no Kagayaki)
“Renowned Glory”

I think one of my favorite things about this episode was the reveal of Bishop Bagley’s true nature. Reversing tropes is fun and all, but if it’s done for the purpose of just being different and with no real meaning behind, then it becomes a bit too shallow for my taste–and that was not the case with Saihate no Paladin. Bagley’s purpose is to expose Will to a different way of thinking and living a pious life. To receive a blessing from one of the gods is a particular experience that differs a lot from one person to another, given there are so many different gods to ally oneself to, and that apparently includes what sort of “job” they must do in the name of their entity. According to Bagley, people like him and Will are nothing but vessels through which these gods achieve their own goals and utilizing their divine powers aimlessly results in a short-lived abundance of blessings. Bagley is now officially one of my favorite characters in this series–Gabie Watches Anime: How To Favor Random Side Characters, A Guide.

Sworn upon the oath of The God of Justice and Lightning, Volt, it makes sense that what’s expected of Bagley falls further away from what Gracefeel expects of Will. I wonder if we’ll eventually learn more about what sort of temperament these other gods have and aside from the obvious “Justice, Nature, Commerce, etc.” ideals/concepts associated with their names, what is it that they want to individually achieve. For example, in the name of Gracefeel, who is the goddess of Death and Rebirth, Will is expected to guide souls back to her and eliminate the darkness lurking in the world.

To say Will’s alignment is lawful-good is an understatement, we should create a new category: extra-lawful-extra-good for him. Mary and Blood’s sweet child is finally knighted as a Paladin in an official ceremony and manages to assemble a small army of men–we’re finally introduced to Strider/Aragorn’s lookalike, Reystov the Penetrator. LMAOF. It sounds better in Japanese, no doubt. Man, I can’t say I’m sorry if anyone takes offense, but that translation did no favors to his character ha ha. Names aside, I’m genuinely curious to learn about Reystov’s backstory, he seems like the type of character who would have an interesting one. I love me a broody yet confident in his own skills type of Ranger/Fighter.

I suppose the end of the season will culminate in the defeat of the Demon Boss and Will garnering admiration and support from the common people. I can only assume that this will, in return, catch the attention of more important players in both politics and religious affairs and though I’m still not entirely certain of the direction this series will go, Robina’s epic about Will seems to be pointing toward that way. Will children grow up singing songs about his pious and heroic deeds? Will our young Paladin have an impact on the hearts of people, just like Mary, Blood and Gus did? Not too bad hey.