Allison to Lillia - Episode 5

I'll be the first to confess that I've regularly been giving Allison to Lillia both barrels on this 'Blog, and (I'd like to think) with very good reason - Indeed, were in not for wanting to see how the Lillia arc which will make up the second half of the series pans out, I would almost certainly have dropped the show by now, fun though it is to bully such easy pickings.

Anyway, after the war which I assumed would take up this entire thirteen episode arc ended in the forth episode, I really couldn't see where this half of the series would go next. The answer is, however, in the direction of a new story which looks set to take up a few episodes and, in fairness, this fifth instalment wasn't all that bad.

Well, when I say 'not that bad', I actually quite enjoyed the first half of the episode, where Wil gets kidnapped on a field trip by Allison so that she can take him on a sight seeing tour, while also making a complete of hash of trying to confess to him which was actually rather cute.

After getting caught in a blizzard, the pair decide to find a nearby village to rest in until the worst of the snowstorm is over, and stumble across what I can only describe as some kind of anime equivalent to Royston Vasey ("You'll Never Leave"). This village is inhabited largely by old ladies who like to appear kind and make lovely tea for strangers, but are infact malicious and evil old crones who want to drug and shoot people because they 'look a bit suspicious'. We don't know quite why this is their reaction to anyone visiting their 'local village for local people', but I'm sure it will be explained in due course. Most likely very badly. Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I'm bullying the poor bewildered anime series again.

To be honest, I can't really criticise this episode of the show too much, as it's proved to be pretty solid - It just seems that the script writers seem to manage to create otherwise serious plots that make me laugh. In this particular episode, the idea of using an icy river as a major road for all vehicles seems a little... well, dangerous, and that's before the evil tea poisoning grannies appear. If the show didn't take itself so seriously at times I'd probably let it slide, but these things turn up with such a straight face that they become unintentionally hilarious to my admittedly twisted mind. Still, it was an improvement upon the last episode, so for that at least Allison to Lillia's fifth episode earns a pat on the back.