Review (spoiler heavy for the episode – don’t read if you haven’t watched yet):
I said on my Twitter feed at the 30 second mark of Izetta that I really wanted Jonas to get shot. Here’s the problem with Izetta as a show. It started out serious and did that just fine for a few episodes. Then it became two girls on a road trip with one of them so overpowered there was no threat. Then we became cute girls running around a castle with a war backdrop. A little bit more serious and now we spend most of episode 6 with the cute girls again. Only… The start and end of this episode beg us to take them seriously and go back to being all about the dark things that happen during war. Not to mention, the writers clearly felt that they had been too soft and sweet for a number of episodes because that final shot of Jonas was definitely a retaliation against all the pie eating that had happened earlier in the episode.
I’d seriously stop now if you haven’t watched the episode.
Killing Jonas at the start of the episode would have made sense. He overheard something he wasn’t supposed to and he was clearly a danger as it was obvious he could have blurted it out at any moment. But instead of that, we get that moment where he rushes back to camp and blurts out just enough to draw attention to himself (raise your own death flag much) and then we watch Izetta and Fine eat pie.
At the end of the episode, his death is meaningless. They already know about the Germanian spy and either Jonas has already spilled the beans (in which case killing him is pointless) or he kept his silence (in which case killing him is pointless though you might want to put him under closer supervision).
I don’t mind killing off characters when it serves a purpose but Jonas’ death only tries to recapture some of the drama from earlier in the series but ultimately does nothing except make you wonder if the fates of these characters are being decided by lottery. If they wanted us to think Sieg was cold and calculating, we already knew that. Ultimately his death only works if thematically this show is going for a no-one wins in war message and that doesn’t actually seem to be the case.
Okay, totally blew my 100 words but I kind of feel that this is the episode where I finally put my hopes for this series aside and now I’m just going to watch it to the end and hope if remains decent. The shiny first and second episode have passed us by and we are left with events that are either generic or lacking in emotional punch.
Izetta: The Last Witch is available on Crunchyroll.
It seemed like such a cynical ploy just to inject some dramatic tension – bad writing will tell.
I pretty much agree with you on Jonas. A pointless character with a pointless death – i suspected he had a thing for Izetta.
That’s what is so sad though. Jonas could have been a really good character and his death could have been meaningful (or at least thematically interesting) and they more or less threw that away.
Jonas… RIP. Hahhaahhaahhahahhhaaaaaa…
now the show’s just messing with us
I’m just here for the cute redhead girl.
But yeah they need to get back to the war and focus on that for a while.
People watching just for Izetta will get that but I think those of use who signed up for something else based on episode 1 are starting to get a little tired at this point in the series.
Thanks for your thoughts on the episode! My husband said part-way through Ep 6 that he found the ‘Germanians’ more interesting and better as heroes right now. All the tech they’ve got going on seems kind of mysterious and cool. I’m sort of inclined to agree with him.
There’s some really good aspects to Izetta, but unfortunately they seem to be mixed in with a lot of stuff which is more… mediocre. I’d like the show more if they had less light-hearted everyday life stuff and stuck to being an action/drama with some supernatural elements.
I agree with you and the first episode kind of promised us more action/drama and then it has continued to pull away from that. It’s unfortunate because the audience this show attracted in its first episodes isn’t the audience that are going to enjoy most of what this episode offered.
Thanks for your comment.