Wistoria: Wand and Sword

Episode 10

It only took nearly the whole season, but Wistoria has finally delivered what I would consider the platonic ideal of a solid episode. As far as I'm concerned, we've got a solid balance of character development, plot development, entertainment value, and the raw animation spectacle the show has staked its reputation on. Throughout the last ten weeks or so we have gotten episodes that skewed very heavily toward focusing on some of those categories, but “Our Dream” is the first time Wistoria has reached a sustainable equilibrium of style and substance. Better late than never, I suppose!

What I appreciated the most about this episode is how we're finally developing our side characters into people who exist beyond merely supporting or bullying Will. The absurd lengths to which this entire world has gone to label Will as the ultimate underdog is a main selling point for the story. Still, we were eventually going to have to meet other characters who could do magic and feel the pangs of limitation and unfair societal expectations, since it would become patently absurd if the only peers capable of sympathizing with Will were only ever the ones who actively want to bone him. With Wignall and Lihanna, we have two mages who are objectively quite good at magic…but not good enough to fulfill their dreams or live up to what they feel are the lofty standards laid out for them by their betters. Whether it is Wignall mourning the loss of his connection to his childhood friend or Lihanna simply crumpling in the face of her inferiority to the likes of true geniuses such as Elfaria, it is important that Wistoria continue to establish that Will is not alone in his struggles with self-doubt and frustrated ambitions.

Splitting the party has been a good way to help Will and Collette shine a bit more as individual personalities outside of their usual dynamic together. Don't get me wrong, none of these characters are especially complex, but simply getting to spend time with them as they interact with literally any other character goes a long way toward helping the world of Wistoria feel more alive. Even Sion and Julius benefit from getting paired up, since their mutual hatred for both Will and each other is pretty funny. The multiple simultaneous story threads give this Praxis arc some much-needed structure and variety, and it helps sell the dire atmosphere that these episodes have been going for.

The action and drama are both equally bolstered by the show's strong production values here. It helps elevate “Our Dream” from an empty spectacle to an actual story worth engaging with. The monsters are dangerous, the spells are getting wilder by the minute, and that freak-ass Headless Guy and his mysterious partner-in-crime continue to make a strong impression as antagonists. It's a shame that the show couldn't have been more consistent with its storytelling up until now, but a strong finish to a season is never something I will complain about, so consider me eager to see what happens here in the final stretch.

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Wistoria: Wand and Sword is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.