Otogi Juushi Akazukin 7
Gretel brings Ringo back to onii-sama, Hansel, but he doesn't understand why -- she thinks she can lure the Key of Erde that way, and she's not giving up yet.... Meanwhile, Val-sama sniffs out the potato stew Ringo had made for Souta (that nose of his is good for something..) and finds both that and her phone. Behind them a light shines on a small box with a cutout of an apple tree on top -- one of the apples turns into Ringo and is taken away. They hear Gretel's voice -- she's waiting in a "steel forest" for the Key of Erde.
Akazukin leaves the group, making up an excuse so Souta won't know Ringo's in danger. Shirayuki and Ibara do the same, leaving Souta only with Val-sama. Souta tries calling Ringo's phone -- it's inside the pouch Val-sama is carrying. Something's happened to Ringo.. he tries to leave, but Val-sama stops him. Souta looks at his cellphone -- wallpaper is of him and Ringo, of course -- and remembers. Little Ringo's too cute. "da zo~!" :) Souta tells Val-sama he's going to the bathroom.. but Val-sama knows that's not the case and stops him not far away. Souta can't just leave Ringo by herself -- they've always been together. Val-sama tells him to jump on.... very cool for once, Val-sama ;)
Val-sama and Souta arrive where Ringo is being kept and find Akazukin and Gretel going at it, along with two nightmarians and Randagio. Gretel uses her gravity magic again, but Ibara and Shirayuki show up just at the right time (as usual). Hansel finally shows himself and brings out a dragon. Gretel takes Ringo, holding her blade to her neck, and demands Souta come. Ringo manages to break free and run away, but Hansel pushes her off the edge, and... Souta's hidden power finally manifests itself -- the dragon is destroyed and Ringo is safe... so that's the power of the Key of Erde...
The portal to Fandevale is going to close soon, so Akazukin and the others have to hurry back. Ringo thinks she's going to be left behind, but Souta tells her to come with them. Completely out of the blue, Souta's father shows up. Souta's father tells Souta to go on ahead... he seems to know quite a lot about things... with a "Jusiii!", everybody slides down and goes into the portal to Fandevale.
Well, that was quite sudden (^^;;) I wouldn't be surprised if Souta's father is actually from Fandevale or is off there doing things when he's away from home. He seems to know too much for it to be otherwise... Souta's powers finally showed this time. I knew it was coming since something similar happened at the end of the OVA. Now he's more like a hero than just a kid that likes talking to flowers ;) GJ inviting Ringo to come along this time. Now if you would've done that last time... anyways, it's good that Ringo's coming along. She's only reasonable person in that group (^^;;)
Animation quality was not good this time, not good at all. Character design wasn't stable, so it was obvious when it switched from one animator to the next, especially at the end. And this time all of the genga and douga were done in Japan (some "Studio Angle" helped out this time), so goes to show it doesn't much matter where it's done if you don't give enough time or whatever was the problem here. sakkan (animation director) and everybody else, ganbatte! I normally wouldn't complain this much, but it's a bit early for this, and in the first place, if it's not cute it's no good (^^;;) It stands out even more since recent episodes of Futago Hime Gyu have had excellent animation.
Anyways, complaints aside for now, the gang arrives in Fandevale, and there are some new characters to meet. Hopefully it'll be fun :)
I remember thinking "...and you call yourself a father?" at the end of the episode.
I agree with the animation opinion- Ringo's eyes seemed to be just a little too widely spaced apart at times to be disturbing.