5 Point Discussions – Radiant 4: “A Meeting in the Sky -Encounter-“

Seth runs into the Inquisition. Unexpected. He casts magic in front of them and quickly learns the penalty is nothing less than a decade in jail?! Maybe the time skip’s coming sooner than we thought. Remember, if you like this article and 5 Point Discussions, please share it on Facebook or Twitter! It really helps. And if you’ve got any comments or questions, please hit me up @SageShinigami.

1. If the preview hadn’t given it away, there’s no way I would’ve believed Seth would run into the Inquisition so soon. They introduced the group in the prior episode, but you’d think they’d let that plot point simmer a little, developing the character and maybe letting him gain some confidence. But Seth’s such a goober he winds up smacking right into the Inquisition’s ship while they’re looking for him. They bring him in for questioning, and he rightfully wonders where such a large group of authoritarian dickwads came from.
It’s not that the Inquisition doesn’t have a place–sorcerers wield incredible powers, and while humanity understands where they came from, no one knows how they manage to survive the touch of the Nemesis.  Keeping track of them seems like a smart idea, but as always organizations like this always take things too far. His magical abilities activate when the group gangs up on him, and they inform him the penalty for using magic without a permit is ten years imprisonment. Even if this weren’t an absurd punishment, Seth points out he’s never actually heard of them before, and they even admit news of their rules probably hasn’t made it out to the boonies where he lives.  So not only is there no “first offense” rule, there’s no allowances made for mistakes? How does this invite anything else other than blatant rebellion against your newly established control?

2. You’re not a proper shonen anime without some sort of mascot–Naruto/Boruto has summoning animals, Fairy Tail has talking cats, and Black Clover has a sullen crow that keeps attacking the main character and gifting them with magic stones.  Radiant’s been going without, but that changes this episode when Seth meets Melie and her friend, Mister Bobrie, a bird who, judging by the goat horns on his head, appears to be just as cursed as they are. Melie managed to get caught while on her way to Seth’s home in Ponpo Hills, after being sent as an assistant to talk to the person who destroyed a Nemesis there recently.
Much like Seth, Melie isn’t especially bright–she gets caught because she’s too ditzy to lie about who she is and what her goals are, but she’s at least nice. And whatever she’s lacking, her pet friend makes up for–Bobrie flies out of the cage and retrieves the keys for them, allowing them all to escape. Not bad for a mascot. Happy would probably still be somewhere eating his spare fish.

3. Since we’re already four episodes in, we might as well get the rest of the introductions for the main cast out of the way. Melie’s boss is a man named Doc, a guy trying to work under the radar of the Inquisition in the bustling market of selling defeated Nemesis. He shows up after having visited Alma to get the Nemesis she and Seth defeated, but gets caught by the Inquisition as well. He’s smart enough to have a permit for flying, but not smart enough to have taught Melie how to lie. She snitches about him having a Nemesis’ body (illegal under their rules), and leads to all three of them being locked up. Somehow the bird is the most useful character in this episode.

4. Last week’s episode talks about how sorcerers have to deal with greater problems than gaining superpowers and being hated. The populace calls them cursed, but it turns out that isn’t just a figure of speech, they’re literally cursed, and it varies from person to person. Alma’s curse is she occasionally gets horrible migraines for using her powers.  And Melie’s curse is when she gets emotionally overwhelmed, her brain shuts down and a separate personality takes over–someone who’s the exact opposite of Melie: a clever, take no BS woman who specializes in offensive magic. She easily blows away all the Inquisition goons, and gives Seth time to find his stuff before the group escapes, heading on their way to Artemis, city of sorcerers.

5. Next Episode: From the sound of things, even the city of sorcerers isn’t much better than the mere mortal towns that have been treating our hero like crap. Alma told Seth to avoid the yellow cat at all costs, but he fails, and so he winds up owing a crapton of money to people he doesn’t even know. A young kid saddled with mountains of unreasonable debt? Wow, Radiant’s more relatable than I thought!  With an episode count as low as Radiant’s, I’m impressed our young hero has managed to get sidelined from his real quest not once but twice in as many episodes.
Radiant is available for streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.