The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me? (Episode 7) – No Magic? Are You Kidding Me?!

So, it turns out there’s a big martial arts tournament coming up and Well is pretty much expected to enter. The real kick is that he can’t use magic… at all! The other members of his party are encouraged to enter too!
What happened?
Several of Well’s brothers have married into Knightdoms and they are openly aware that it’s to get close to Well. Of course, Well is surprised by this matter. Even more surprising, he’s informed that he’ll need to enter the big martial arts tournament as a swordsman as there isn’t a mage category. He can’t even use magic to strengthen his body! Brantag then tells Erwin, Louise, and Iina that they too should enter the tournament to prove that they are not dead weight. This is particularly tough for Erwin to take as he’s the only member of the party with no magical abilities which means he will have to outperform everyone.

What did you think?
Just like last week, this episode seemed to focus on the less interest aspect of the story. Sure, seeing the members of the party worry about Well’s approval only to find out that they had nothing to worry about was nice, but there was a tournament going on in the background. I think we must have seen about two minutes worth of action and even that wasn’t that exciting. I like this story and the characters are entertaining enough, but they appear to be determined not to show us anything exciting. Are they worried that it will never live up to the battle with the bone dragon?

What have you learnt?
I might have said this last week, but whatever! There’s any number of angles you can focus on when telling a story with any number of points of view. Get it right and the story can be incredible, but pick the wrong thing to focus on or the wrong character to follow and it can go completely off the tracks. This instant is was more boring and forgettable than a complete disaster, but I’m still watching the OP and thinking where are these monsters and zombies that everyone seems to be fighting? Setting expectations is another of my hot topics and so far, The 8th Son is falling short.

Other reviews in the series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me?
- Episode 2 – A Succession Dispute? Are You Kidding Me?
- Episode 3 – A Loner? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 4 – Obligations? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 5 – Political Marriage? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 6 – A Bullet Tour? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 7 – No Magic? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 8 – Presumed Dead? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 9 – People Hate Me? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 10 – Toxic? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 11 – Between a Rock and a Hard Place? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 12 – The 8th Son? I Guess That’s Not So Bad!
- Bonus Posts
