REVIEW: ‘Disney Twisted-Wonderland The Animation’ Episode 5 — “A Mealtime Chat”

If there’s anything that Disney Twisted-Wonderland The Animation Episode 5, “A Mealtime Chat,” proves, it is that Riddle Rosehearts (Natsuki Hanae/Paul Castro, Jr) is progressively turning to the dark side, and the students of House Heartslabyul are starting to buckle hard under his iron grip. This latest episode continues to move the puzzle pieces along for what will ultimately be a major conflict, with Yuken (Youhei Azakami/Jonathon Ha) getting placed in the background this time around.

Disney Twisted-Wonderland The Animation Episode 5 starts immediately where things left off, with Ace (Seiichirō Yamashita/Max Mittelman) talking poorly about Riddle Rosehearts, who, conveniently, happens to be right behind the student when doing so. An exchange of words occurs, with Ace mostly relegating much of his real feelings under his breath, none-too-subtly. Rosehearts, meanwhile, remains mostly calm, whilst reminding Ace and Deuce (Chiaki Kobayashi/Hunter McCoy) of the time via an arbitrary rule. 

Despite the calm, however, Rosehearts is growing weary of the continuous rule-breaking, not just from Ace but from other students like Yuken, whom he views as a slight against the Academy. More surprising is that, after he leaves the cafeteria, the power-mad Housewarden criticizes how soft the Headmaster (Mitsuru Miyamoto/J. Michael Tatum) is becoming in offering leniency to rule-breakers. For this stickler, breaking the rules is more than just a slap in the face. It’s treason and must be punished.

Riddle Rosehearts is finally starting to crack in Disney Twisted-Wonderland The Animation Episode 5.

This developmental shift has been long in the making. Riddle Rosehearts, leading up to this point, has been a stickler for the rules, annoyingly so, but there wasn’t initially any harm in it. But with little regard for leniency or others’ circumstances, he punishes with aplomb, and a weariness and frustration are growing. With a thought to take matters into his own hands if the Headmaster won’t, we see a dark blot start to form in his Magestone.

The metaphor is not subtle here in Disney Twisted-Wonderland The Animation Episode 5 . For an academy founded by the greatest villains in the Disney universe, it was a matter of time before we started seeing a magic user like Rosehearts starting to go bad. Power does corrupt, after all, and Rosehearts’ lack of care for his students in enforcing the Queen of Hearts’ rules paves an easy way for this villain origin story to unfold. 

Even with how much his actions hurt and stress those around them, Ace and the gang are convinced by Cater Diamond (Tatsuyuki Kobayashi/Michael Sinterniklaas) and the Vice Housewarden of House Heartslabyul, Trey Clover (Ryota Suzuki/Jonny Yong Bosch), to make a replacement tart for the cranky Rosehearts. This sets the gang on a mission to gather ingredients, putting Yuken and Grim(Noriaki Sugiyama/Ben Diskin) in the crosshairs of Leona Kingscholar, the Housewarden of Savanaclaw (Yuichiro Umehara/Major Attaway).

A little dash of baking never hurt anyone, but this cozy pause doesn’t help overall plot pacing.

While a brief introduction in Disney Twisted-Wonderland The Animation Episode 5, Leona is quickly established as a physical threat. Arguably, Leona may be just as hot-tempered and quick to react as Riddle Rosehearts, but while Rosehearts relies on magic as his power, Leona has physical prowess to use first. It’ll be interesting to see where this character goes and whether he, too, will develop into a villain for Yuken and the rest to square off with.

The moment passes when a classmate drags away Leona, and Yuken and Grim are distracted by Ace and Deuce with their newly acquired chestnuts. From there, Disney Twisted-Wonderland The Animation Episode 5 turns into a mini-baking show. It’s cozy and slows things down, giving a brief pause for both students and viewers, away from the drama this school environment seems to thrive on. However, when considering the entire story so far, it feels like an almost unnecessary interlude that slows the pacing. With so little time, each second spent is precious.

Pacing aside, things take a darker turn after the tart is complete in Disney Twisted-Wonderland The Animation Episode 5. It is here that Riddle Rosehearts’ descent into guaranteed villainy is pretty much set. When Trey returns to the House, he sees his underclassmen cowering and scared. They’ve been punished for the crime of drinking lemonade after a certain time, a rule that is clearly designed as a power play. Overlooking them is Rosehearts, with another dark spot blooming in his Magestone. 

Trey is the softer side to Riddle Rosehearts, but could he take the tyrant down one day?

With Trey face-to-face with Rosehearts, a look of confusion and horror spreads across his face as he realizes how far his friend is going. This is where Disney Twisted-Wonderland The Animation Episode 5 ends, giving much food for thought. Flashbacks from Trey leading up to this moment show a happier, friendlier Rosehearts. This is not how the Housewarden always was, but face-to-face with the now-temperamental control freak, Trey may be the one who has to take him down in the future.

Of course, this is all speculation. However, with only eight episodes set to air this season, Disney Twisted-Wonderland The Animation Episode 5 spends time on a side quest to make a tart that proves more vexing than not. A lot of the story thus far has been spent building up the world, an understandable issue for a series just starting. The thing is, time is incredibly precious, and these episodes are short.

With only three episodes left, it raises questions about where this series is actually going and whether we will have time to reach a pivotal point in the Riddle Rosehearts arc before the season ends. As it stands, Disney Twisted-Wonderland The Animation Episode 5 does decent work, finally pushing the Rosehearts storyline somewhere with substance. Where the storyline actually goes from here is anyone’s guess with the clock ticking down to the end.

Disney Twisted-Wonderland the Animation Episodes 1-5 are now streaming exclusively on Disney+ and Hulu.

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