Wistoria: Wand and Sword Episode 6 – A Quarrel in the Middle of a Duel

Episode 5 was one of the best episodes in Wistoria: Wand and Sword. There are intense action sequences, engaging drama, and even a fair bit of character-building as well. It had everything you could possibly want from a good and entertaining story. So now the challenge is to keep this formula up till the end of the series.

Episode 6 is a direct continuation of the last episode. We’re still in the middle of the Crown Attack Battle Royale with Will Serfort currently being attacked by his own teammate, Shion Ulster. So expect to see another epic battle between sword and magic in this new episode.

Is That a Threat or a Confession?

While Will is surprised by Shion’s sudden and unprovoked attack, Shion himself uses this chance to let out everything that he’s been keeping in his heart all this time. He pours out his frustration to Will and in the process proves to the world that this prodigious fire mage is actually a closeted tsundere.

Closeted Tsundere

A classic mark of a tsundere is being harsh on the outside, especially to those that they actually care about, while being super sensitive on the inside. They make it seem like they hate a certain individual and are always being mean to them while in truth, they crave the attention of that special person. Thanks to this extreme difference between what they feel and what they do or say, a tsundere is often misunderstood as a bully.

Sion started out as your usual run-of-the-mill bully. He openly shows his contempt for Will and uses every chance he gets to harass Will. However, what he says in this episode paints an entirely different picture. It seems like Shion is actually the one who secretly admires Will’s relentless nature and his unwavering determination.

But no matter what he does, the person that he admires never looks his way. That’s why his harassment escalates so that Will won’t have any choice but to confront Shion. During this fight, Shion spews all kinds of insults and threats to Will, but truth be told, the more he screams his heart out, the more it sounds like a confession, rather than an actual threat.

A Memorable Moment

Turning Shion into a traitor who attacks his own teammate while in the middle of a battle royale is already such an interesting move. But then to make him open up about his true feelings for Will while throwing high-level fire magic at Will at the same time instantly turns the whole thing into the most dramatic moment in this series. It may not be as heartwarming as a romantic confession in a romance anime, but it is still a funny and memorable moment nonetheless.

Dragging the Drama

It’s great that Wistoria: Wand and Sword finally find a way to incorporate a proper drama into the story. After all, the lack of interesting drama was pretty much our biggest criticism for the early episodes of this series. However, the drama is clearly dragging on for way too long in this episode. It’s as if the showrunners decided to use the drama to ensure this episode hit the target 22-minute runtime.

Flashbacks

This episode drags the drama through two main methods; unnecessary flashbacks and commentaries. Flashback is one of the easiest and most common techniques used by authors to add depth to their characters. From explaining character motivation to revealing hidden secrets, a flashback is a useful and quite versatile storytelling tool.

But just like in real life, everything has to be in moderation. Too many flashbacks will ruin a story or at least distract and annoy the viewers. That is precisely what happens in this episode. There are three flashbacks in this episode, all refer to the same event. There’s no reason to use three flashbacks when one should be enough to explain everything. These unnecessary flashbacks negatively affect the audience’s engagement and the overall watching experience.

Another thing that is also responsible for dragging the drama is unnecessary character commentaries. In two separate instances, numerous minor characters comment on what happens between Shion and Will. The first time is when Shion launches the initial surprise attack on Will, and the next one is when Shion casts a super powerful fire magic.

Showing other characters’ reactions is a neat way to elevate the mood and the tension of the scene. But there’s no need to waste precious air time by seeing the reactions and hearing the comments from some random audiences, other students, judges, actual commentaries, and even the scouts. One or two of them should be enough. All of them one after another are just unnecessary distractions that once again take the viewers away from the story.

Related

Wistoria: Wand and Sword – Every Main Character’s Age & Height

This guide provides details on every main character’s age and height, and a closer look into their lives as well.

Trying to Find the Balance

When it comes to having both action and drama in one episode, the most important key is finding the right balance between the two. It’s not only about how much runtime each section gets but also about the placement of each section, which I consider to be the biggest issue of this episode.

Chaotic Structure

We’ve already covered the fact that the drama stays a tad too long with unnecessary flashbacks and commentaries. But the problem actually goes beyond just that. Another big problem is the placement of the drama. In other words, the problem is the structure of the story.

Intricate drama and intense actions require undivided attention from the audience so that we won’t miss important dialog or amazing battle moves. It’s normal to sandwich an action sequence between the drama or even alternate between action and drama.

The problem arises when the fighting scene is so intense and yet a relatively underwhelming drama is put right in between the actions. This absolutely ruins what should be a thrilling action sequence. Imagine multiple commercial breaks right in the middle of an intense round of a boxing match. It will take the viewers out of the match and ruin the overall watching experience. This is precisely what happens in this episode.

Scattered Action

As mentioned above, this episode features quite a few exhilarating action sequences. Will runs through rows of trees to evade Shion’s barrage of attacks. Julius creates multiple ice clones to ambush different teams. Colette showcases her powerful earth magic. But the best one has to be when Shion conjures a giant falcon made out of fire that can hone in on its target.

Unfortunately, those exciting actions are scattered throughout the episode, which means as viewers, our excitement goes up and down until it inevitably dissipates. The next episode seems to be the climax of this arc, or at least the penultimate one. Hopefully, the execution will be a lot better than this episode.

Wistoria: Wand and Sword is available to stream on Crunchyroll.

Wistoria’s Wand and Sword

Release Date

July 7, 2024

Seasons

1

Studio

Actas, Bandai Namco Pictures

Creator

Fujino Ōmori

Number of Episodes

12