Sekai Saikyou no Majo, Hajimemashita Ep.04 - Zarichè's voice is impressive!

Episode 4 of Sekai Saikyou no Majo, Hajimemashita was probably the best episode we've gotten so far, featuring an over-the-top series of events revolving around a mysterious disease affecting a remote elf village. Rona managed to gain a cute elf friend and her attractive mother in the process!

Taking it step by step, this plays out like your standard RPG story: the hero spots a beautiful elf about to be killed by monsters and leaps in to save her. The elf immediately recognizes the hero and begs for help to save her village. Except in this case, the hero is Rona, and she was only there out of curiosity toward a "side quest" marker on her walkthrough website's map.

Honestly at times I felt bad for Zarichè, she went with all those preparations like a good villain and then...

Rona changing her persona the moment good food is mentioned. Easily swayed!

I like how Rona's motivations are usually completely self-serving. She wasn't into the idea of doing a complicated quest for the village, that is until she learned about the specialty food that only THAT village can produce. At that point, she completely shifts gears and becomes a ruthless min-maxer preparing to demolish the enemy.

Zarichè, as an antagonist, was absolute gold, and I have to praise her voice actress because she delivered the quintessential female villain voice, perfect down to the smallest detail. Her seiyuu is Azusa Tadokoro, who voiced Shinku in Neverness to Everness and Mifuyu in Princess Connect. Honestly, the vocal range across these roles is incredible!

This episode also confirmed that Rona's family will be among the primary villains she needs to defeat. They were the ones conspiring with Zarichè to wipe out the elf village for their own profit. Of course, Zarichè tried to double-cross them, but that doesn't excuse their guilt in the slightest.

Will Rona be forced to clash directly with them later in the story, and what will their reaction be when they see that the daughter they discarded has become a literal war machine with all her buffs and endgame stats? A bit of retribution is definitely warranted, even if I doubt Rona herself would go that far...

Honestly I hope Zarichè appears again in the future, maybe as a recurring fun evil character.

Erna is cute and all that, but her mom? Damn, that's a great looking elf!

So what should we expect from the next episode? Another heroine introduction, or just more whimsical adventures for Rona? We still have two sets of heroines incoming: the twins, and a blue-haired girl named Bluemoon. Honestly, I'm hoping to see more of Elimina, but I wonder if it's too early for her to return...