Queen’s Blade Utsukushiki Toushi-tachi OVA 2

Traveling back to the forest after the tournament, Allean berates Nowa for being overly excited simply from looking at the scenery as they hitch a ride on a cart. When Nowa falls asleep with her head on Allean’s lap, the elf doesn’t know what to do, soon blushing beet red.

Gazing at Nowa’s sleeping face, Allean remembers the young girls’ infectious enthusiasm at all the wondrous things they saw on their voyage so far.

Passing near the coast, Nowa’s glee at seeing the sea for the first time in her life gets the best of her and she throws her clothes off to dive straight into the water.

Enjoying the sandy beaches, going for a swim in the ocean and facing off against two other girls in a beach volleyball duel, Allean and Nowa have a wonderful time.

Looking back on such a fun filled day, Allean wonders if they should really head back to the elves’ forest, if she would not rather enjoy spending more such time with Nowa and begins to ponder what Nowa really means to her.

Remembering a tale Allean once told her when she was young, Nowa heads out into the sea by herself that night, hoping to find a precious stone as present for her cherished teacher. But the currents near the cliffs prove too much for the young girl and she gets dragged away.

Feeling something is amiss, Allean wakens from her sleep and notices Nowa is missing. Worried, the battle instructor sets out in search of her pupil and faces off against Funikura on the nearby beach, the evil sentient staff having attacked their earlier volleyball opponents.

Allean dives into the sea in search of Nowa, but the young half elf has already washed ashore where she is rescued by Nyx, who gives her some hot soup to warm up. Finding the two, Allean is uncharacteristically cold, swiftly ordering Nowa they are to leave for the elf forest at once.

Before they can depart, Funikura takes control of Nyx and attacks the two elves. However, Allean quickly defeats the now maniacally aggressive girl, but in her own anger, she forgets about Funikura and is entangled by the evil staff.

The staff’s malicious will being injected into Allean, the elf feels as if she is disappearing into nothingness but as her conscience is about to fade away, she finally realizes what truly is important to her. Luckily, Nowa rescues Allean in the nick of time, smashing Funikura and fast catapulting it into the sea.

Watching the sunrise together, Allean listens to Nowa’s desire to set out into the world by herself. Even though the elf has realized that in the thousand years she’s been alive, the happiest days have been those spent with Nowa and she must now let go of her treasured pupil.

Thoughts on this episode~

Allean being my favorite “Queen’s Blade” character, I adored this OVA and almost wished they would have cut out the second half with Nyx in favor of continuous focus on Allean and Nowa.

Of course, the battle with Nyx and Funikura was a necessary plot device to move along Allean and Nowa’s relationship, allowing Allean to realize what Nowa really means to her.
This also makes their later parting more bittersweet, although Allean finally realizes how precious Nowa really is to her, that she is actually the one who needs Nowa the most and not especially vice versa, she must come to terms that Nowa sets out into the world by herself.

Featuring plenty of fanservice as we are used to by now from “Queen’s Blade”, this OVA didn’t exaggerate either, save for exposed chests it was the usual fare for this franchise. While I cannot deny being keen on seeing the shapely Allean bare more skin compared to other characters, definitely enjoyed the yuri centric fanservice just as much.

Especially considering they were able to play a lot with Allean’s character in terms of her interaction with Nowa, in fact her reaction when Nowa hugged her during the beach volleyball scene reminded me of Kanade from “Candy☆Boy”.

Ah… Allean making dozens of cute facial expressions, under the shower, in bikini on the beach, acting tsundere, and much more… what a great gift this OVA is to Allean fans!

Enough time is spent on exploring her character, viewers may regret though that we do not really get such an introspective look into Nowa, whose major change is her desire to set off alone into the world. Allean’s evolution, or rather realization what Nowa means to her, does seem more profound.

The next OVA will feature another of my favorite “Queen’s Blade” girls, the ghostly maid Airi. Although I heard that if they follow the original story, Airi will receive severe punishment by the swamp witch for having disobeyed. Will Airi’s character disappear from the series? Guess we’ll see!