The ugliness of last week’s half-recap episode behind us, Radiant returns to full-on narrative mode this week.  And not a moment too soon, with an interesting new plot thread starting to unwind, bringing new characters with it.  Not having read the manga it’s hard to say, but I still get the sense that the anime isn’t fully embracing the harder edges of the source material – what’s happening beneath the surface of this world is hinted at but never really confronted head-on.  To the extent that the setting here is a stand-in for medieval (and to an degree, current) Europe, it’s my hope that we’ll see more of that embraced once the anime starts to track more closely with the manga (as Valente says it will).

For now, the story leaves Artemis for the first time since it arrived there (apart from the Dragonov episode).  The impetus is a job request Doc has received, one which he deems much too dangerous but which immediately catches Seth’s eye.  It comes from a place called Rumble Town (which was name-dropped in the aforementioned Dragonov ep) and asks for the capture of a Nemesis which is terrorizing the citizens – one which the Inquisition is doing nothing about.  It’s only when Melba is impressed at Doc’s bravery that he agrees to go on the gig.

I rather liked Rumble Town, which has a nice steampunk vibe to it though I definitely want to see more detail next week.  It’s the “last remnant of the Industrial Age” (which Seth assumes Doc lived through, though it was 300 years earlier) – loud, smoky and an assault on the senses.  So much so in fact that Doc taps out after a few moments wandering the serpentine streets searching for the person who offered the job – though there may be something more going on with that.  Eventually Seth and Melie do catch up with the Nemesis, which looks quite unlike any we’ve seem before – a rodent of unusual size, basically.  I’m left wondering if this is a nemesis at all – especially after it turns out there’s a whole army of them, seemingly under the control of a Pied Piper-like fellow we catch only a glimpse of.

I had actually thought for a time that the “Pied Piper” might in fact be Grimm (also a callback from the Inquisition episode), especially since the name is historically connected with the Hamelin legend – but it sure doesn’t look like the Grimm who shows up shortly afterwards.  He intercepts Seth on his way to trying to corral the rodents, and it’s obvious he’s a sorcerer himself – one a more powerful one than Seth.  He claims the nemesis as his own, though for what purpose is not yet clear.  The third artifact from that Dragonov ep is Captain Konrad, Dragonov’s former pupil and now the rising star that’s eclipsed him thanks to his anti-sorcerer fervor.  He’s in charge in Rumble Town, and sure to make Seth’s life very uncomfortable very soon.  I think the ugly side of the Inquisition is an essential component of Radiant raising its game to the next level, so I certainly hope so.