TV Recap: Disney Twisted Wonderland: The Animation Episode 5 — Temper Flares, Tart Troubles, and Darkening Blots

Tensions continue to mount in Disney Twisted Wonderland: The Animation as Riddle Roseharts becomes increasingly angrier about students breaking the Queen of Hearts’ silly rules. The fifth episode of the anime adapts the next three installments of the manga (Chapter 9: “A Lunchtime Chat!”, Chapter 10: “A Beastly Spat!”, Chapter 11: “Bad Boy Sepia!”) into a story that gives a brief glimpse into the pasts of both Riddle and Deuce Spade. And it picks up right where the previous episode left off, with Ace Trappola in hot water when Riddle hears him complaining about how he runs Heartslabyul House. 

Episode 5: “A Mealtime Chat” - Written by Yuka Yamada, English Adaptation by Madeleine Morris

Cater Diamond (Tatsuyuki Kobayashi/Michael Sinterniklaas) tries to cool the tension as Riddle Rosehearts (Natsuki Hanae/Paul Castro Jr.) reprimands Ace Trappola (Seiichirō Yamashita/Max Mittelman) in the cafeteria. Riddle reveals that he was coming by to remove Ace’s magic-binding collar when he overheard him whining. He has decided to leave it on, since first-year classes are more about lectures than practicing magic. Riddle warns his charges to leave their table within fifteen minutes of finishing their meal, another one of the Queen of Hearts’ odd rules.

Riddle takes his leave, heading to the store to buy sugar cubes for his post-lunch lemon tea, fuming that the cafeteria ran out, and this is the way the Queen of Hearts demands post-lunch tea be served. As he moves through the tables, he observes students from other houses drinking milk tea, fuming at their disregard for these rules. We see Riddle’s magestone, with a black blot cloud starting to grow inside it.

Ace vents that rules shouldn’t be more important than a student’s well-being when he sees another Heartslabyul housemate frozen in fear because they are eating hamburger on a Tuesday, which is against the rules. Trey Clover (Ryōta Suzuki/Johnny Yong Bosch) comes to Riddle’s defense, sharing that Riddle became Housewarden less than a week after starting at Night Raven College. “It’s out of a desire to make things better for the house,” he defends. “He’s not a bad guy.”

Next, Ace complains about needing to buy a slice of tart to make amends with Riddle. Cater tells him one slice won’t appease the Housewarden, who will want a whole tart so he can enjoy the first slice. Ace can’t afford a whole tart, but Cater reveals that the strawberry tarts were actually homemade by Trey. Ace begs Trey to help him. Trey was going to make some chestnut tarts for the Unbirthday Party, and agrees under the condition that the boys gather chestnuts and help turn them into paste.

Ace, Deuce Spade (Chiaki Kobayashi/Hunter McCoy), Yuken Enma (Yōhei Azakami/Jonathon Ha), and Grim (Noriaki Sugiyama/Ben Diskin) go to the school’s botanical garden to look for a chestnut tree. Splitting up, Yuken and Grim end up in the back half of the greenhouse, where Yuken accidentally steps on someone’s tail, which was strewn over the walking trail.

The tail belongs to Savanaclaw Housewarden Leona Kingscholar (Yūichirō Umehara/Major Attaway), who was taking a nap in the foliage. Crabby Leona sniffs Yuken, recognizing him from the Entrance Ceremony and commenting that he doesn’t smell any magic on him. Yuken apologizes for stepping on Leona’s tail, but Leona wants a token of his sympathy — a tooth! Leona is about to kick Yuken in the jaw when his friend, Ruggie Bucchi (Aoi Ichikawa/Zeno Robinson), comes looking for him. Leona skipped his morning class, and Ruggie worries Leona will get held back again, dragging him to his afternoon class. “The next time you herbivores want to enter my territory, you better be prepared,” Leona warns.

With Ace and Deuce having found and collected chestnuts, the boys meet Trey in the kitchen to help boil, peel, simmer, and press the nuts so they can be mixed with butter to create a paste. Trey then reveals a secret ingredient for his tarts — Walrus Brand Young Oyster Sauce. Ace is about to add it when Trey laughs, saying it was just a joke. 

The last step is to add cream, but Trey realizes he doesn’t have enough. Deuce offers to go to the store and Trey gives him a list of other ingredients he needs, including eggs. Yuken and Grim tag along to help carry things.

In Mr. Sam’s Mystery Shop, they meet the shop’s namesake, Sam (Subaru Kimura/Corey Wilder), who tries to sell them on all manner of mystical items. They leave with just the groceries they came for. On the walk back, Deuce carries several heavy bags, refusing Yuken’s offer to help carry more. He shares that he is the only man in his family and often had to do the heavy lifting for his mom.

Two students run by, bumping into Deuce, causing him to drop a bag and crack some eggs. Deuce’s tamper flares, becoming aggressive with the students and asking them to pay him for the eggs and apologize to the chickens who laid them, ranting about how these eggs will never be tarts of chicks now. Yuken warns Deuce that he could get expelled, talking sense into him. He lets the boys go.

“I swore that I was gonna be an honor student this time,” Deuce panics. He shares that he was a bad kid in middle school, skipping class, talking back to teachers, and starting fights. One day, he overheard his mom crying on the phone to his grandma, asking where she went wrong in raising him. When he was accepted into Night Raven College, he vowed to be an honor student to make his mom proud. “Everyone experiences setbacks, Deuce,” Yuken tells him. “It doesn’t mean you’re a failure.” Yuken motivates Deuce not to give up, and then drops a truth bomb that rattles Deuce - the eggs weren’t fertilized, so they wouldn’t have become chickens.

Back in the kitchen, Deuce is in a daze as Trey finishes the tarts. They all sit around a table, enjoying a slice of their hard work. Trey beams with pride, and he has a flashback — Young Riddle (Miyuki Satō/Liam Karlsson) taking a bite of strawberry tart, looking ecstatic.

Cater encourages Trey to show off his signature spell. It’s called “Paint the Roses,” and it allows him to temporarily change the flavor, color, and smell of an object. He does it with the tart, making it taste like each of their favorite food. Grim thinks it’s cooler than Riddle’s “Off With Your Head” spell, but Trey says it’s child’s play in comparison. As Ace and Deuce leave with Yuken to sleep over at Ramshackle Dorm, he warns them not to be late to tomorrow’s Unbirthday Party.

When Trey and Cater return to Heartslabyul House, they find many of the freshmen with locks around their necks. They were caught drinking lemonade after 8:00 pm, another silly rule. One of the students is so upset that he wants to try to change houses. Trey offers to speak to Riddle. Cater goes to prepare a cup of tea for the Housewarden, and Trey warns him to make sure it’s herbal to avoid another infraction.

The episode ends with Riddle in his office, fuming at his desk. His magestone continues to darken.

Bonus Short: Twisted Wonderland Mini Theater

We see the Ramshackle Dorm sleepover. Deuce wants to get a good night’s sleep before the Unbirthday Party, but Ace wants to stay up and have fun. They play Rummy with Yuken and Grim, with the ghosts (Takuma Suzuki/Danny Kramer, Nobuaki Kanemitsu/Jacob Carlson, Toshitaka Hirano/Khoi Dao) snickering each time someone holds a joker, making it hard to win.

To be continued in Episode 6, streaming December 3rd on Disney+ and Hulu.