I couldn’t tell you when the last episode with absolutely no Elias was (maybe the dragon arc?) but I feel like it’s been quite a long time.  We seem to be zipping back and forth between Hogwarts and “classic” Mahoutsukai almost weekly now – and the preview indicates we’re switching back next week.  That may work quite well, I don’t know yet, but it’s certainly unusual given that we basically have two separate casts with only the mains generally overlapping them.

The pacing continues to be quite deliberate, to say the least.  This episode was about fleshing out more of the students, starting with Lucy.  Who, I have to say, is getting more obnoxious every time we see her.  She should be happy – she got a roommate who never sleeps over – but all she does is complain about Chise (and everything else).  Jasmine lets the words “Webster tragedy” slip out, apparently a topic that’s not to be discussed, and later on Lucy says that people like Philomela are responsible for her family dying.

Lots of info drips out this week, in fact, about lots of people.  The school was founded by seven elite sorcerer families who still wield considerable power.  Rian is from one of them, and so must Philomela be if she’s his cousin (she’s also an information gatherer by clan tradition, apparently).  So are Violent and Jasmine, the older twins.  This gap in standing is apparently a big deal, at least judging by the resentment Lucy holds over it (but then, Lucy is resentful of seemingly everyone and everything).

Another kid who gets a major level up is Zoe Ivey, the green-haired boy with the girl’s name (which makes at least four boys with girls names in the cast now).  Chise has lamped that he’s avoiding her (it’s not subtle) and when he ignores her when she asks about it Lucy gets pissed (very ironic) and takes his ear muffs.  Which he rather needs, as he’s a (half) gorgon and his hair turns to snakes without them.  He also has incredibly sensitive hearing (and smell) and freaks out when he can’t block out sound.  He flees to the secret garden, but can’t escape Ruth’s nose once it gets a Chise power-up.

Life for gorgons sounds pretty rough – inability to communicate with humans, eyes that turn humans to stone, hunted like Kurta for those eyes.  Ivey keeps referring to Chise as a monster but he doesn’t mean any harm – as a gorgon, anything dragonish puts him off.  His father is human, and was the one who sent him to school to help him adapt to being with others, and hopefully find someone who thinks he’s beautiful.  Which Lucy says she does (his snakes, anyway), after she actually apologizes for taking his ear muffs.  Rian keeps suggesting a contract to make sure his secret is safe, but that becomes a necessity after Philomela is caught spying on them by Ruth.

It’s interesting stuff, all this – the most atmospheric and interesting school-based episode so far, probably.  That continues a positive trend over the past few weeks, but I do wonder where all this is going with the season only being one cour and so little actual plot movement so far.  Ultimately this is a diversion for Elias and Chise, and my assumption is that when the season ends they return home.  That doesn’t leave that much time to execute an entire story arc, especially if the narrative keeps weaving back and forth between settings.