Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout

Episode 6

The last few episodes of Atelier Ryza have been much stronger than usual—focusing on Ryza, Tao, and Lent's weaknesses and growth. Unfortunately, about half of this episode feels like we're back to spinning our wheels. This episode largely centers around the three renovating their own little house on the mainland near the beach. However, not much is said about why this is important to the trio. This is a shame because there is something there based on what we've seen in past episodes. Ryza wants to be free of her nagging parents, and Lent is tired of being his drunken father's nursemaid. As for Tao, I have no idea why he cares about this new house—he already has his own home filled with all the books he cares about so dearly. Going a bit more into their personal feelings about the house could have taken this episode to the next level.

Despite the wasted character-building opportunity for the trio, the episode does a decent job of developing Klaudia a bit more. As the daughter of a traveling merchant, it's clear that friends are a luxury often beyond her means. Thus, she wants to be part of Ryza's friend group more than anything. Her role in this episode is all about her going above and beyond to prove herself useful—agonizing about creating the perfect pudding recipe in exchange for the lumber needed to repair the abandoned house. It's clear, however, that she is pushing herself a bit too far. Everyone was satisfied with her first attempt—despite it using ingredients not commonly found on the island. Yet, she has to make it perfect—has to show she is valuable to the group in a significant way.

For the same reason, she also decorates the inside of the renovated house. However, she finds herself left behind again as Ryza and the others head out into danger—just as it has always been the case so far. It doesn't matter that this is the right call—that someone needs to stay back and inform Empel and Lila of the looming threat in case they need backup—she feels that she has still failed to become part of the friend group.

Of course, the trick here is that she is already a part of it. Ryza and the others almost certainly don't initially ask her to help with the renovations because they assume that, if she is down to help, she will. They don't want to force her to do anything she doesn't want to do. Likewise, they've never asked her to come along on their adventures because she's never expressed any interest in going. It's likely the trio simply thinks she doesn't want to go.

So what Klaudia needs to do isn't to prove herself useful—Ryza, Lent, and Tao would be her friends regardless of whether she was useful or not. What she needs to do is learn to be more assertive—and not just with Ryza and the group. She needs to be able to tell her father about her love for music as much as she needs to tell her friends she wants to go on adventures with them. Unfortunately, Klaudia has yet to realize this, and so her efforts continue to be placed in the wrong area. Hopefully, she'll figure out her true problem soon.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• I would love to be in the writers room when they plan out when to show shots of Ryza's thighs. I need to know the rationale as to why it's more important to see how her thighs react to new and important information than her face.

• I'm interested as to why the monster allowed Ryza and her friends to live. It's a good little mystery.

• “Hey Ryza, nice house. I can see you put your all into renovating it. Mind if we move in? Oh, and also you're not allowed to come here anymore. Kthxbye!” - Empel

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.