I’ve been debating whether to call this episode of Radiant a recap episode.  I suppose in all fairness I can’t, because the vast majority of it was new material.  Still, I find it odd and more than a little irritating to have two recap sequences of considerable length inserted so early in the series – I don’t know whether it reflects a budgetary or scheduling problem or was something planned all along (f0r some reason).  In any event I’m not a fan of that, though there are plenty of shows that commit the far more egregious offense of having an actual recap ep in their first cour I suppose.

In any event this amounted to pretty much a breather episode, even the parts of it that weren’t recycled material.  More Master Lord Majesty (and thus more Yamaguchi Kappei) is always a good thing (especially after a hiatus week for Gegege no Kitarou).  But the topic at hand was a breezy throwaway, a broom race at the matsuri Master Lord Majesty throws (which he does every few months).  Indeed, the most interesting part of the episode was Doc’s dissertation on the economics of why M.L.M. throws a festival regularly – and it ain’t because he likes yakisoba and goldfish scooping.  Naturally that lesson is lost on the kids, but that’s not really something they could be expected to understand at this stage in their development.

As for the race itself, it finds Seth (thanks to Doc putting up his entry fee) going up against a rich boy named Nick who’s the kind of cartoon villain we see in Radiant a little too often.  Seth is more than a match for him (as Yaga reassures Doc he will be), even when Master Lord Majesty intervenes to make sure a 10,000 to 1 shot doesn’t pay off and eat into his profits.  But Seth throws away his chance to win when Nick’s two flunkies need saving (it’s not like he was about to do it).  It’s all fine and good but I think Radiant is better served when it follows the course it set last week – the politics of sorcery and the world around it are the most complex and interesting part of this premise.  And happily, it does seem like that’s going to return to the forefront next week with the arrival of Grimm (Koyasu Takehito), who may represent the other side of sorcery just as Dragonov does the other side of the Inquisition.