Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor

Episode 8

This episode reinforces both that this is Re=L's feature arc and Rumia is by no means out of the woods yet; once again she becomes the endangered princess of the story, and the Researchers of Divine Wisdom are back to kidnapping rather than killing. Hopefully the presumed last arc of the series will try something different.

At least this time we get an inkling as to why the Researchers want Rumia so badly, which has always been left vague in the past. The episode ends before revealing any specifics, but what is said during the class tour of the alchemy research facility, combined with a reference to the Amplifier at the end of last episode, strongly suggests that Rumia's peculiar magical trait – which got her exiled from being a princess via fake death – is a necessary component in a forbidden form of magic that can effectively clone a dead person. Rumia's reaction indicates that she has probably pieced this together too. If that is the case, then the looming question is who the Researchers of Divine Wisdom are so keen to clone. The mage responsible for the floating castle, perhaps?

Regardless, the episode doesn't dwell on that for very long, as the focus is more on Re=L. She blew up on Glenn at the end of last episode and now seems to see Rumia and Sistine as stealing Glenn away from her, which has led to her being childishly angry at the girls who tried to befriend her. This makes a bit more sense when Glenn's comments indicate that she may be at an intellectual disadvantage, having the mind of a child in the body of a teenager. It's either that or her apparent age doesn't equal her actual age, but Glenn's comments don't suggest this so much. (The last character in an anime to be named something similar to Re=L did turn out to be a simulacrum of another person, so I've been wondering ever since if she was named in reference to Ergo Proxy.) If this does prove to be true then seeing that played seriously rather than as a joke is a nice change of pace. The later revelation that she's actually a convert from the Researchers adds an additional but unsurprising twist to the situation, allowing a way for her to be turned back and convinced to skewer Glenn and kidnap Rukia.

Anyway, this time other characters – most notably Albert – get in on the action with some impressive results. I also don't have a problem with Sisti being trigger-shy; after all, she's not conditioned to fight, and firing on someone she regarded as a friend is bound to be troubling. Still, this is all falling into a fairly standard anime pattern, so while this episode is fairly well-done overall, I'm longing for some fresher twists.

Rating: B

Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.