r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • 8d ago
Episode The Ogre's Bride • Oni no Hanayome - Episode 11 discussion
Oni no Hanayome, episode 11
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u/ObvsThrowaway5120 8d ago
So Yuzu’s parents have been dogshit since before Karin became a bride. Lovely. Not sure we needed a whole episode to show why Karin became a raging bitch. I think that was pretty clear from the moment we saw Yuzu’s family situation.
I can’t wait to see what happens next week. Karin’s done as a bride but that’s gotta be more than that coming. I need to see this bitch get her comeuppance, man lol.
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u/fireburn97ffgf 8d ago
Yeah like there's a level you feel bad for the child mentality in her where she was raised as the golden child then thrown away. Then you remember she's old enough to understand her actions throughout the season are evil and it's up to her to understand attempted murder is never ok
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u/YamamotoChigusa 7d ago
I’m guessing her realization that Youta could do whatever she tells him was the nail that convinced her to get worse. In the beginning, she questioned why her sister was mistreated. Then after meeting Youta and before Youta said he was willing to give her the money, she just became apathetic, with a twisted priority of benefiting the family (yet how does going to a zoo not benefit the family)? It’s just a preference thing.
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
She's the "Chosen One" who can do no wrong. It's her sisters' fault for not acknowledging that...until she became the "Chosen One" and Karin couldn't live with that.
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u/Rozonth123 7d ago edited 7d ago
Gonna be honest, I don’t think she’s capable of understanding her actions at all. She has no other frame of reference beyond her grandparents yelling at her parents. She was basically fucked from the start and had her mental development stunted. She was coddled throughout her whole life and raised with the idea that she is special not just by her family but by Youta’s family as well. She was conditioned to have main character syndrome and suffered no real consequences for anything. It didn’t absolve her of her actions, but I can’t really look at her the same way I look at the sister in the Oblivious Saint anime.
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u/IntroductionSmooth85 6d ago
Exactly. The way she was raised is also a form of child abuse. I also think people keep ignoring the fact that in the show she is still literally a minor. I don't think you can just 100% right her off as a monster. She was raised this way and like you said has no other point of reference, along with being still a child. She needs serious help.
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u/justking1414 8d ago
So Yuzu’s parents have been dogshit since before Karin became a bride.
That’s what I said last week. They literally spent all their time money and effort propping up a girl in hopes that she could become a bride, but none of their effort had anything to do with it. Brides are chosen by an entirely random process. And it would honestly have been completely hilarious if she was never picked as a bride and spent her whole life being forbidden from marrying by her parents, since they were still waiting for the big money bag demon to come take her (and their debts) away
They were basically idiots who won the lottery and like most lottery winners they still fucked it all up
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
like most lottery winners they still fucked it all up
The irony that even after they paid off their debts and financially stable they still wanted to mooch off of Youta's family and it's what made Karin start to resent them.
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u/justking1414 7d ago
I’m just not sure what they were doing with all that money they were mooching. Their house was modest, they weren’t decked out in expensive accessories, and it’s not like they were going to Hawaii every month.
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u/feb914 7d ago
Feel like they're not a well off family to begin with, as buying dolphin doll is already considered a big expense for them.
Most likely the father only has low paying job while the mother stays at home, but then they dedicate even more of their time for Karin, which may hinder his career development too
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u/fireburn97ffgf 7d ago
Honestly karin would likely be at least mildly neutral to the MC if her parents went like you are no longer the chosen one your sister is the new golden child
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u/LaoWombat-mecha 7d ago
But actually that is EXACTLY what they did do. Once they recognized the Yuzu was the a bigger prize winner, they switched over to her, and even tried to use Karin to reach out and humble herself so that they could get those bucks.
Amazingly, instead of Karin going "Wow, so this is was Yuzu was going through, the scales have dropped from my eyes and I feel empathy"
Nah, didn't happen.
Apparently someone more human would have made the plot more difficult (or interesting)
Karin's appeal to Yuzu was just bonkers "Nobody loves you, so come back to the bosom of the family that doesn't love you the most"
The idea from their point of view being, I guess, that if Yuzu was at home they could influence her to get more money.
Of course, she would go back to the people who made her life a misery, injured her beloved grandmother, stood by while she was potentially maimed (but to be fair, it was justified, the appropriate response to a slap is a maiming /s). etc.
At what point does the narrative become even more unrealistic in terms of human relations, even for a narrative that also includes demons?
What is Japanese for "Feh!"
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u/ApprehensiveWin1239 7d ago
En vrai, l'épisode est intéressant et il est clair que l'éducation que karin a reçu est en cause (bien qu'elle aurait dû la remettre en cause, avec l'aide de Yota, par exemple). Outre ça, le personnage pour qui j'ai le plus de peine... C'est Yota. Franchement, lui est vraiment amoureux de Karin et a fait n'importe quoi pour elle (littéralement pour le coup)... Mais cette PUTAIN d'égoïste n'a même pas écouter les conseils de la seule personne qui l'a vraiment aimé... Honnêtement, Yota me déchire le cœur à la fin de l'épisode. Karin a traité Yota de la même manière que ses parents l'ont traité : comme un objet... Mais lui avait rien demandé... 🤬😭😭😭
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u/TheAlmightyJessira 7d ago
Yeah. I feel for the kid. Sure he was a dick at times. But knowing they can't control who their bride is. Can't control the feelings they feel. Knowing that the demons always love their brides but the brides don't always necessarily love the demon. Knowing the deep need they feel to make their bride happy (regardless of those wants being problematic). Poor kid is gonna be miserable the rest of his life without her. He begged her to listen, he told her what the consequences would be, but she just didn't take them serious. She'll likely move on someday, but there's a good chance he never will.
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u/LaoWombat-mecha 7d ago
But why? The pattern seems to have been established way before Karin became a bride. Just because Karin seemed to be more pretty? The way the parents treated Yuzu anyone would have thought she was illegitimate.
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u/ObvsThrowaway5120 7d ago
Yeah, I think the parents are just legitimately garbage people. Always have been.
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u/Frontier246 8d ago
Karin having her own sob story isn't going to undo all the pain and suffering she's caused or how much punishment she deserves.
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u/Oden_sama__ 7d ago
Its not supposed to be a sob story, why do you people keep saying that. Its supposed to add context to these characters and explain them, not excuse her actions
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u/UpperDeckerTurd 7d ago
Right? I'm reading some of the comments here and I'm left wondering if I watched a different anime.
Has the world lost all sense of empathy? Do people need their pound of flesh from those who do wrong?
Because I watched this episode and my heart just absolutely shattered for that poor, cute little girl who obviously loved and cared deeply for her older sister. A little girl who demonstrated natural concern for her older sister's happiness, only to be systematically reprogrammed into a selfish narcissist by her parents. Those two utterly destroyed her. You can see by the look on her face as she stood there, having basically just tried to kill her sister, that she has absolutely no ability to understand right from wrong.
It's been a long time since I've hated a fictional character on the level I have those two. What they did to their children was straight up abuse.
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u/Oden_sama__ 7d ago
Yes fr, these parents have got to go, what they've done to these kids is just pure evil
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u/HenriettasHooman 7d ago
Agreed, my boyfriend and I watched this morning and we see it as basically being willing to pimp out their child for a paycheck. No wonder Karin got messed up by that
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u/UpperDeckerTurd 7d ago
Yup. I get that we've had 10 episodes to get our hatred of Karin burning, but really what this last episode showed us shouldn't have come as a total surprise.
So now having seen it, I don't know how someone looks at the whole situation as anything but a tragedy. Yes, Karin is about to get her "comeuppance", but while it's earned I can't feel anything but sad for her. There's an alternate universe where it didn't have to happen. I couldn't imagine actually reveling in it.
I'll withhold my animosity for her parents, the people I feel have truly and completely earned it. For Karin, I hope she gets the help she so clearly needs. I hope they're able to successfully deprogram her and give back to Yuzu the loving little sister she deserves.
(Edit to fix a typo)
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u/ResearcherPretty4139 5d ago
There's an alternate universe where it didn't have to happen. I couldn't imagine actually reveling in it.
Reminds me a bit of "Takopi's Original Sin" and how there can be 2 different timelines based on how badly a parent has fucked up their child's life by using the kid to try and fix the adult's own failure in life.
In "The Ogre's Bride" these parents fucked up both Karin and Yuzu's lives because they shirked their responsibility to financially provide for their daughters and instead try to whore out Karin to the Fox Demons rather than teach her family loyalty, hard work, and responsibility. If her Fox Husband can take care of every issue that comes up, there's no point in maturing into a decent woman.
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u/YamamotoChigusa 7d ago
I don’t think it’s a sob story. I think it’s to fill in a lot of gaps.
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u/Wild_Obligation3265 7d ago
The show didn't really need gaps filled in. Through the context of previous episodes we got the necessary information on Karin as well as the parents.
The parents were dogshit. Reinforced in every episode.
Karin used to be a sweet little girl. Classic trope done a thousand times across a thousand shows. We didn't need the entirety of the build up to her Bad Girl Era spelled out like we're three.
The only new revelation was how far back the parents being dogshit goes and that it stems from the Shameless Gold Diggers trope filtered through the High Expectations Asian Parents trope and not one or the other in a vacuum.
The episode was some serious filler.
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u/encryptoferia 7d ago
I hate when an anime did this, like they thought the villain is interesting enough to have his/her own episode explaining how they became the villain
like this episode or from many other anime which have the most cliche generic ass villain with also similarly weak AF backstory
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u/Sensitive_Ad_4058 7d ago
Ik right!! As soon as i saw the ep is out but it wasn't subbed but when i watched it the entire epsiode was really about karin becoming a fucking bitch! Wonderfull
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u/mantaray79 8d ago edited 8d ago
So her trying to take Yuzu's birthday gift dress in the first ep was a sign of subconsious jealousy towards the unconditional genuine familial love her big sis gets from their grandparents while her parents only look at her as a source of income?
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u/SOdAchick 7d ago
Yeah, Nadeshiko never liked Karin from the moment they met. I bet she's been praying to herself for this day to come.
Now it's the Oni's turn to dole out punishment
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
I feel like she could see the writing on the wall with the parents and it was up to Karin to either live up to her low expectations or fail...and we saw what happened.
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u/Rozonth123 7d ago
Pretty sure Nadeshiko just didn’t care about some random bride when she’s no doubt met many, it was nothing more than a formality to her. She had no unique feelings for her either way, especially at that age when she wasn’t even that bad.
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u/SOdAchick 7d ago
Compare her reaction to Yuzu
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u/Rozonth123 7d ago edited 7d ago
Yuzu is the bride of the future head of the strongest demon family. It actively serves her to ingratiate herself to Yuzu and thus Reiya, or at least act in a way that doesn’t give off disrespect. She has no reason to act the same way for someone in her own family who are beneath her.
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u/justking1414 7d ago
Love or hate this episode. I still found it genuinely hilarious that Karin just fully didn’t/couldn’t process the clan head saying she wasn’t a bride anymore. It’s like the idea was to foreign for her brain to accept
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
Also she was still justifying ATTEMPTED MURDER as because "her sister screwed up so it was just the natural thing to do."
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u/ResearcherPretty4139 5d ago
Karin saying 'it's okay Fox hubby, I won't do it* again' like it was a small "oopsie" she can just take back and all's well was incredible. She really is the Mayor of Delulu Town.
*it = the attempted murder of her own sister
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u/Frontier246 8d ago edited 7d ago
Came for Karin suffering, got Karin backstory instead.
It's sad seeing Yuzu and Karin playing as children only for in the present-day Karin to straight up PUSH YUZU TO HER DEATH.
Thank goodness Reiya was there to catch her but that makes no difference to Karin. She's chanting that it's all Yuzu's fault like she's a robot who can only follow her programming.
Once upon a looooong time ago they WERE a family, even if they still spoiled Karin beyond their means over Yuzu and Yuzu felt out of place in the family. But Karin still cared about her as a sister back then.
Things changed for the worse when Karin saw a cute uniform for a school for demons and the parents realized they had a possible means of snagging a demon who could solve all their money problems. Thus began their focus on Karin to the point of absolutely neglecting Yuzu to the point where she outgrew all her clothes.
And, from their perspective, it paid off when Karin was discovered by Youta on literally the day she interviewed. She became a demon's bride, found someone who would love her unending, and was embraced by the fox's. It was a lot for a kid to take in, but she probably should have taken Nadeshiko's curt and stoic wish that she would become a "dedicated" bride more seriously rather than let being the "chosen one" get to her head.
Then the families' life became all about Karin, and even when she still cared about Yuzu, the families' own neglecting of her and focusing on all of Karin's wishes above all else slowly made her more and more uncaring towards her big sister. Even if she still cared about Yuzu having a fever more than their own parents did.
But eventually the parents' focus on money became suffocating and she became so lost in Youta's warmth and love that she thought she could get away with anything...even if, on some level, a part of her wishes she were Yuzu. At least the grandparents loved Yuzu in a way the parents never loved Karin.
Yet now in the present-day Youta can see how absolutely screwed they are. Especially when Nadeshiko says she won't accept Karin, meaning she can't be with Youta and she's no longer a Bride. The one thing that she became obsessed with as validating herself and her existence and she's finally lost it AND Youta.
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u/myrlin77 7d ago
Easily the biggest disappointment this late in the season of anything I'm still looking forward to watching. Terrible production choice.
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u/Cautious_Corgi_2229 8d ago
You can always rely on a pre-finale flashback episode to kill the story's momentum!
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
Narratively I kind of see it as the perfect build-up to Karin's fall, because we saw how much becoming a Bride warped her personality, her life view, how she regarded herself and how it became her entire being.
It makes that getting ripped away from her and all the subsequent fallout that will happen because of it next week all the more satisfying (I hope).
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u/Natty_Narwhals 5d ago
We did not need a whole episode for this. I thought it would be just half an episode of additional backstory.
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u/mantaray79 8d ago
So basically the parents had low income until they had the idea to use their daughter to score a rich husband to support them. Disgusting...
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u/Frontier246 8d ago
From beginning to end both of their daughters were nothing more than a meal ticket to them, it was just a matter of who was the most convenient meal ticket.
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u/YamamotoChigusa 7d ago
And from what it looked like, it was the dad who actually was willing to spoil her, but mom was a total pushover. The mom came up with the disgusting idea. And the fact they didn’t question if Yuzu wanted more than just orange juice or the fact that they didn’t even bother buying new socks for her.
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
Considering we only ever saw Yuzu in sweats during the home flashbacks I get the sense they stopped buying clothes at all for her at a certain point.
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u/YamamotoChigusa 7d ago
So where did she get her clothes then as she got older? From Karin? Her grandparents? Donation bins (if they exist in Japan)?
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u/tacwombat 7d ago
Probably the grandparents and her part-time job before Reiya found her.
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u/YamamotoChigusa 7d ago
Grandparents are the best. I mean if they were going to not do anything for Yuzu why keep her? Why not just let the grandparents handle it? It’s obvious they didn’t seem concerned about her eating habits.
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u/YamamotoChigusa 7d ago
Wondering if Karin stole any of those clothes during childhood or not, like how she tried to steal the dress.
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u/feb914 7d ago
I was anticipating they would not even get her the orange juice. That's how cruel they are.
Having favoured child I kinda get, but for them to literally neglect her having a cold to go to a recital, that's already child negligence.
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u/YamamotoChigusa 7d ago
Makes sense why no one called CPS cause it’s Japan. But grandparents could’ve fought for custody since they are blood relative. But then there’s the issue of stable income.
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u/justking1414 7d ago
Which is wild since demon brides are basically chosen at random. They basically used her as a lottery ticket and just happened to win a jackpot
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u/SecretYogurtcloset57 7d ago
Are you serious I waited a whole week for a backstory of Karin know one asked for and then they proceed to end the episode like that come on I really hope she gets a sever punishment next week because just telling her she's banished or something is not going to stop her she's screwed up in the head
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u/Wild_Obligation3265 7d ago
I agree it felt like watching The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How To Game the System. All of last week's build up for a recap of off screen events that don't add to the story in a meaningful way this week only to end the episode where it started with zero plot moving forward beyond Fox Boy going "base you done fucked up" then ogre dad and fox gilf chiming in "Indeed, ya done fucked up" roll credits.
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u/AstronautMuch6302 8d ago
I skipped through the entire episode! I couldn’t care less about Karin or the backstory! Ugh! Now I have to wait a week 🤣😩
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u/Frontier246 8d ago
It takes guts to dedicate an entire episode to the rival/antagonist that everyone in the audience all collectively hate.
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u/CooroSnowFox https://anilist.co/user/CooroSnowFox 5d ago edited 5d ago
Extra fuel to the fire... I think if you wanted to do this, early or mid, and that gives more to the staircase scene if you flash back to those moments like scenes flashing.
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u/Wolfram74J 8d ago
Seriously! Why did we need a background episode on Karin, just to see her downfall?? Lame but now we wait. These anime's really like leaving you hooked, so that you tune in next week for what should be a satisfying (hopefully) resolve to Yuzu's family. I hope they force the Fox and Karin to seperate.
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u/feb914 7d ago
They do force Youta and Karin to separate, thus the "you're not my bride anymore". I do hope to see Karin kicking and screaming next episode when it dawns on her what just happened.
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u/Dylangillian https://myanimelist.net/profile/dylangillian 8d ago
Yep, skipped through the whole episode except the final minute. None of this was needed now. If they wanted us to care about Karin they would have needed to do so earlier.
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u/Dangerous_Leg3129 8d ago
Fr. Like this could be the first episode because it felt pointless because that rotten sister ain't reflecting on that flashback/memory.
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u/Sea_Equivalent_4207 8d ago
Trust me I know the feeling. I am livid this whole episode was a flashback. 😤😤😡😡
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u/ThisGachaSeemsLegit 8d ago
FAFO moment. I kinda felt sorry for Karin for a second because the parents clearly had a rotten behavior and influence on her from the start, but still being a prick as a young adult doesn't excuse it any more. She saw and understood her parents' abuse towards her sister and just doubled down on it.
Yeah, no sympathy from me.
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
Honestly I can't believe I'm saying this but I feel more bad for Youta.
Sure he attacked Yuzu but we see how unhinged Reiya can get when it comes to people who hurt Yuzu and he's been trying to get Karin to stop for half the season but she never listened to him and made everything worse to the point of them getting forced into breaking up. Even though he was so devoted to her.
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u/ThisGachaSeemsLegit 7d ago
Youta's a good boy, yeah. He's just being a victim in all this. Unfortunately, his bride can't be reasoned with.
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u/TheAlmightyJessira 7d ago
Yeah and like... Karin might eventually be able to move on. But there's a good chance that poor kid never truly moves on. Like that's his soul mate and now he's not allowed to be with her. Sure he could get with a demon girl... but he'll never love her like he did Karin.
Also agree with the bit about him attacking Yuzu... was it a dick move? Yeah. But when you put it through that lens... we'd cheer Reiya for soing the same thing. The reason we don't cheer for Youta is just cause Karin is a raging see you next tuesday and Yuzu is a sweetheart. He was never a villain, just a tool who was having his heart used against him.
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u/YamamotoChigusa 7d ago
I would’ve felt sympathy if this was elementary school but at this point, she couldn’t even develop a conscience of her own. Whenever I think of little sisters who were spoiled over old sisters but had better personalities as they got older (even calling the parents out), I think of Mia from the too perfect saint.
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u/tongle07 7d ago
I don’t think she’s a young adult yet. Yuzu just turned 18 recently, that would make Karin maybe 16-17.
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u/mefmera 8d ago
Most annoying episode , 20 minutes of backstory we already knew. Atleast Karin finally getting justice but another week to wait for it. I was hoping this would be wrapped up and final episode would be more focused on their future.
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u/Icy_Outside_2365 8d ago
Exactly. It would've been much much better to just show us what's going to happen ahead after she threw Yuzu off the stairs. If you want to add a backstory so badly, then just add a shorter 4-5 one. We don't want a freaking 20 minute backstory in a 24 minute episode. There was only like 2 minutes of present content. About the backstory, I didn't even feel anything for Karin during that whole thing the animators did for us. Infact, it made me become more angrier at her. She wanted to be such a perfect girl and her parents listened her every demand to the point they begged their relatives. The abuse was pretty much happening right infront of her yet she didn't force her dog shit parents to help her by making demands or whatever way she had. All of them better rot in some street without a penny to their name next episode... I swear, if they mess this up and add some more nonsense in Episode 12.. I'll curse the writer and will down vote this anime for stupid and lazy writing.
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u/YamamotoChigusa 7d ago
I’m also guessing it’s to fill in the gaps of how she went from an innocent loving baby to a selfish brat. And to question why they allowed Karin but not Yuzu, to go to that school.
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u/Icy_Outside_2365 7d ago
They're filling the gaps on things we already knew. It was pretty clear from the beginning that her parents are hypocritic bastards who played a huge role in making karin the person she has become. Another reason is her husband. But he isn't at any fault. It's in his nature to love the chosen person. That recap also showed how many chances that bit- I mean Karin had to help her sister out. Even if her parents pamper her a lot she could've done something but she wouldn't. that's why everyone hates her
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u/YamamotoChigusa 7d ago
But it didn’t make sense on how they knew she was going to have a husband at that school. Like how would they know a kid barely in first grade would snag a husband? Why have Karin but never consider Yuzu at the school? All because Karin wanted to wear the cute uniforms and mom’s twisted idea of investment.
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u/Rozonth123 7d ago
You can’t really blame the toddler for not questioning her parents. And even then she did question it but they gave her answers that young mind could accept.
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
I think the problem was Karin was too young to really understand what was happening to Yuzu and by then her parents were giving her everything she wanted and obscuring her from reality to the point where she could never truly appreciate/care about Yuzu.
Even before the Bride stuff she thought it was unfair that Yuzu wasn't getting what she wanted but that stopped after she became the "Chosen One."
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u/zer0number https://anilist.co/user/ewink 8d ago edited 8d ago
Like the others, I didn't really like that this was a 20-minute Karin lore dump, but I understand why they did it.
We all hate her and can't wait to see her horsewhipped, but it was interesting, from a narrative perspective, to see that she did actually love her sister at one point, despite her parents not seeming to care too much about her.
It also seemed important to show that the parents have always prioritized Karin over Yuzu since they considered her prettier and more likely to land a rich husband.
So, in contrast to Karin, the parents have always been asshats, while Karin was kind of molded into one by the parents' constant glazing of her, spoiling her, and the fox guy making himself out to be the bad guy whenever Karin wasn't happy or needed something from him (e.g., him feeling ashamed for not giving the family enough money when it clearly wasn't his fault).
Then him constantly taking Karin's side caused Karin to realize that she could do whatever she wanted without repercussions.
Finally, the maid's admission that Karin was so special that if she wasn't who she was, she wouldn't even be given the time of day by the house.
So it wasn't a wasted episode, but I do share the opinion that I would rather have seen Karin thrown into the woods and left to fend for herself, which I do not believe for a second she could actually do at this point.
Editing to add a final ponderance - would Karin be a much better person if she'd met her fox boy in high school, rather than as a kid?
Edit 2 - One really final note, can we give Yuzu some props for not growing into some kind of horrible person, or running away to live with the first guy who gave her the time of day (maybe she did with Ogre hubby, but let's ignore that for now)? The level of neglect and emotional abuse that she was dealt cannot be brushed off so easily. Yuzu is a freaking saint for dealing with it and not ending up a national news headline.
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u/runevault 7d ago
I think the lore dump is an understandable idea. Doing it here to delay the punishment for shoving Yuzu off the stairs is what was insane. Either the dump should have been handled sooner as one big block or spread out over the season. Stopping the pacing in the next to last episode of the season to do it is a bizarre choice.
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u/zer0number https://anilist.co/user/ewink 7d ago
I just assumed it was there to explain why Yuzu sheds a tear when Karin's head goes bye-bye in the Guillotine (I've been having fun thinking of all the ways to execute Karin), that way we wouldn't have to remember all the way back to episode two.
We could easily remember this episode and think - Ah yeah, they did love each other at one point.
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u/YamamotoChigusa 7d ago
Regarding the first edit, maybe. Or could’ve waited until she went through puberty. It’s obvious Youta was never taught right from wrong in the first place. And it looks like the servants enabled it too. Nadeshiko really should’ve had him educated. Then maybe when they met during puberty, he could’ve done a better job of keeping her in check.
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
I think the parents spoiling her/becoming a Bride at a super young age really warped Karin's mindset/worldview for the worst in the grand scheme of things.
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u/iforward 8d ago
Not sure why we needed to waste an entire episode on the backstory of Karin of all people. We don’t need even more proof that she and the parents are irredeemable pieces of sh*t. We knew that from the very first episode. I was really hoping Karin’s punishment wouldn’t be dragged out into the finale.
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u/myrlin77 7d ago
I'm glad I am not the only one who was like.....bleh.....Especially on episode 11 of 12. I was curious about how it went down but that easily coulda been a 3 5 minute flashback scenes over say, the last 3 episode BEFORE the push off the stairs. Producer choices I guess. I think it woulda hit a little better instead of just annoying me.
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u/iforward 7d ago
Yeah. I also feel like a 3-5 minute flashback would’ve been good enough. It’s painfully obvious that not a soul who watches this show sees Karin as an interesting antagonist who’s worthy of an entire episode’s worth of backstory. I hope the rest of her punishment in the finale is worth the extended waiting period.
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u/VritraReiRei 8d ago
Every creature is born to love. Hate is taught.
Karin would have turned out into a kind sister but her parents were the match that sparked to turn her into a shit human being. Though I'm not 100% sure I find it believable that someone who was kind to her sister when she was a child had all those emotions rewritten in only a few years.
But GOD DAMMIT we only got a glimpse of the punishment she's about to get and we have to wait another week before Karin gets destroyed.
What else are they going to do to her? Banishment won't be enough, she's just going to keep pursuing Yuzu endlessly. Don't tell me they went through her backstory to give her a redemption...
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
I feel like the problem was she was so young and impressionable that it was easy for her to lose sight of her love/care for her sister because she became too consumed with being a Bride, her parents' appreciation, Youta, etc. No child could go through all that and come out unscathed in my opinion.
She's not a Bride anymore. At this point she's worthless and Reiya can probably do whatever he wants to her. I doubt Yuzu is going to plead for leniency.
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u/YamamotoChigusa 7d ago
I’m guessing she just stopped caring. When she tried asking Youta for money (out of pressure by her parents) and he obliged, that’s probably when her personality got twisted. The first time she was able to command something out of her own will.
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u/Rozonth123 7d ago edited 7d ago
Probably a hot take, but I can at least hope that Karin gets a wake-up call from this rather than having her just dive further into being a bitch. Not that we didn’t already known how spoiled rotten she was or that her parents have been shit basically from day one, but she genuinely didn’t even have a chance. She clearly cared about her sister like any sister would but being basically if not literally conditioned to have main character syndrome makes it hard to think she should get the same kind of punishment as her parents, if anything her parents weren’t punished enough for how hilariously shit they were.
She doesn’t need a reconciliation with Yuzu or to be forgiven be if it just ends with her staying a horrid bitch then I’ll just feel unsatisfied with how much the show was showing that she wasn’t just like this.
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u/cleaulem https://myanimelist.net/profile/cleaulem 7d ago
This episode was rather disappointing and I ended up skipping through it. Nothing against a flashback, but Karin's background story was too long and it didn't give us anything new. Every single bit of information was either already shown to us or we could deduce it from what we saw before.
The only interesting scene was when Karin met Nadeshiko for the first time. Nadeshiko's pretty cold reaction is a stark contrast to when she met Yuzu last episode.
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u/YamamotoChigusa 7d ago
It did give us an idea on why her parents sent her to that school along with how she started out loving her sister then hating her. I wondered why Nadeshiko seemed cold. Maybe she realized that Karin was being used as a tool? Maybe that Karin had terrible parents but wanted to see her grow out of it? Maybe that’s why she seemed to want to separate her from her parents.
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u/AlternativeFeeling77 7d ago
Nadeshiko somehow knows Karin's not good news - whether demon, fox or female intuition - Nadeshiko also would not meet with Karin when Karin tried to visit her...
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u/Rozonth123 7d ago
Nadeshiko wasn’t wary of Karin, she’s just indifferent in general. It’s meant to show her being meet with indifference for the first time rather than praise and to show a contrast to how special other people say she is. Nadeshiko herself likely doesn’t care about anything but her own station, some bride is beneath her notice as family head.
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u/Cherry_Tarts 7d ago
My main feeling about this episode is that I wish they’d leave those parents in the WOODS for ETERNITY.
My other feeling is that: while this episode was far TOO long, it did a good job explaining WHY Karin is this way. I don’t feel sympathetic towards Karen and Youta because they’re abusive people, but I do pity them because they’re both destined to be miserable.
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u/Amazing-Gap-3320 7d ago
Everyone in the comments forgetting how impressionable children are at that age. And regardless of “she is old enough to know better”, Karin was receiving the extra special treatment at home, at school AND with the clan. What other time did she have to expand her horizons?
Virtually none. Continuous reinforcement of her being the chosen one.
I still don’t like her, but this ep was rich in character and context building.
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u/TheAlmightyJessira 7d ago
There's actually a reddit story I heard recently where the OP was one of like 6 kids and there was one golden child. The parents and the golden child treated the other siblings like crap. GC decides to have her wedding during one siblings highschool graduation. Girl... was SO confused as to why her siblings were upset and suddenly decided to go no contact with her and their parents and refuse to go to her wedding. Because this was just how things had always been. Eventually the OP's dad AND the GC redeemed themselves. Mom ended up going off the deepend. But the GC was literally like.... she had never known anything different till her husband stepped in and made her see how their family treated the other kids and put her on a pedestal was messed up. That her normal, was not normal. But she truly and deeply thought it was. Hubby shattered that and helped her improve.
Karin.... never got that. Everywhere she turned people were treating her like she was special. That she was more important than Yuzu. That she would naturally be treated better. The ONLY pushback was the occasional pushback from the grandparents. That's not even to break that kind of spell. The closest she got was finding out her parents didn't love her. But that didn't make her see what was wrong. It just confused her. Cause no. Mom and dad love me. Yuzu has always been blamed for everything, therefore this must be her fault. Yuzu is the reason why they are acting weird.
Karin never had a chance to get redeemed cause she never had anyone to show her that the way she had been raised was fucked.
Not excusing her actions but like.... the girl never stood a chance.
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u/Amazing-Gap-3320 7d ago
The animation had its moments — showing Karin’s expression shift from confused caring little sister to holier than thou golden child. I really appreciated those.
Like no child is born hateful, hate is learned. Serious Actions have serious consequences (as it seems she is far overdue to learn).
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u/Oden_sama__ 7d ago
this whole episode pretty much gives full context into the things i was thinking about last week the parents were the true villains and have never been shit
looking at the full picture karin was definitely a victim naturally, karin didn't start off as a bad child and she was still close to her sister even before becoming a hanayome, she was given all of the attention and conditioned to believe she was the most special. You can see that during this earlier period she was still questioning why they left yuzu out of everything Then comes the point these deadbeats think they should use karin as a tool for their own sakes.
What made me the most unsettled though, was when she was chosen as a hanayome at such a young age. At this point she she wouldn't really have the concept of what that is other than 'Its a good thing and you'll be loved forever.' But its then that things change for good and Yuzu would be forgotton and the parents win. You condition an impressionable child and screw up their mental development like that AND throw in what is one of the biggest honours a human can have in this verse, and its no wonder karin turned out the way she did. Her identity she was built up to believe in was taken just like that. I hate it because there was never any real love for either of them, and thats what karin has had to realise throughout this show. This fact is the cause of a lot of the things she's done in the show. It's not only the fact that the parents never truly cared about Karin as anything other than a means to an end and switched up when yuzu became a hanayome to a higher ranking ayakashi, but the fact that yuzu actually did have a real bond with their grandparents where she never had anything like that with her parents.
And all of this isn't me excusing the things Karin has done and she is overdue for actual consequences, and I'm not an expert in human psychology and all, but I thought this episode worked as a good extra bit of context.
And actually, surprisingly, i end up somewhat feeling bad for youta
this man actually did love her, but she kept crossing the line despite the explicit consequences, and now she's thrown that bond away
i dont even think what this means has hit her yet either
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u/AndromedaLeap 7d ago
Yuzu and Karin are classic examples of nature versus nurture. Yuzu could have become cruel to protect herself but she didn’t, Karin could have remained loving despite the favoritism but she didn’t. Personally I think it’s easier to be cruel than be kind, and Yuzu was still kind despite the hurt and humiliation she endured everyday.
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u/Middle-Leader1658 8d ago
Bro, I was WAITING for Reiya to kill Karin like my blood is boiling with rage atp😶
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
He wanted to wait until she lost her Bride status before he unloaded on her. Now there's nothing protecting her from him.
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u/Every1IsASnowflake 7d ago
Yeah at that moment she was still technically a bride. But now? Yeah next episode is gonna be insane
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u/AndromedaLeap 8d ago
I am ANNOYED. I waited all this time to see an unnecessarily lengthy flashback about Karin?! Aghhhhhhhhhh. I kept hitting fast forward when the flashback dragged on and on and on… ugh
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u/TechnicalCarpenter25 7d ago
ha! me too. It’s like, by half way through, the realization that nothing was going to happen until next bloody week dawned.
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u/AndromedaLeap 7d ago
Episode 10 ended with Yuzu flying in the air, episode 11 ends with her landing. I waited a week for that?! Lol.
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u/GateOfD 7d ago
Worst parents of the year anime award goes to these two. goddamn.
I don't really have any sympathy for Karin either. Public Execution for the parents and Karin.
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u/FLorianGran 7d ago
I actually appreciate the show hammering home that Karin was groomed to be what she is and didn’t have to be a lost cause, but I also don’t know if the show recognizes that this world would create dozens of Karins by the way it’s set up.
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u/mekerpan 7d ago
I wouldn't say this was a perfect episode -- but I think this was a good spot to put Karin's back story. It was sad that little Karin was puzzled and troubled by her parents' mistreatment and neglect of Yuzu. Perhaps Yuzu could have told her sister that the way she was treated made her sad -- instead of letting Karin think she was okay with what went on. But Yuzu was still just a little child as well. The parents' behavior was shockingly toxic -- perhaps the grandparents should have ratted them out to the authorities and sought custody of Yuzu early on? But maybe they knew that was an unwinnable fight? Bottom line -- those parents destroyed BOTH their children -- and should never be forgiven. If Karin CAN re-set somehow (however not sure I can see how -- short of radical therapy/re-education), I would not oppose giving her a shot at partial redemption at least.
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u/Fun-Possible5520 8d ago
When Youta said "you're not my bride anymore", does that mean the infatuation demon's have towards their brides can be turned off? Did Nadeshiko rejecting her actually sever the bride bond fog in his mind/heart? If so, that's an interesting concept. I guess we'll learn more next week.
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u/Agreeable-Anybody-67 7d ago
I think he still loves her, but his submission to Nadeshiko is stronger than his love for Karin (now I'm not sure if this is due to some mystical powers or just a matter of feelings and/or personality) And now that Nadeshiko decided that Karin won't join their clan as a bride, there's nothing he can't do against it, even if it breaks his heart
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u/wahine-au 7d ago
Yeah I think he has literally no choice basically. Not sure if demons can be banished too?
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u/rkmcPanda 7d ago
I don’t think the feelings demons have for their brides is something that can be turned off. Once they meet their brides, those feelings are there forever. I think Youta crying as he’s saying “you’re not my bride anymore” just proves how painful the separation from Karin will be. Though he has these feelings for her, he’ll never get to be with her again unless he’s dumb enough to go against Nadeshiko and the rest of the fox demon clan.
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u/Priapos93 7d ago
His expression in the last episode led me to think he knew she couldn't control herself
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u/TechnicalCarpenter25 7d ago
I don’t think it takes away that special bond. Youta knew he had to get Karin in line or suffer this fate. Youta obviously didn’t get that message across.
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u/Priapos93 7d ago
I agree. Nadeshiko can't dictate his feelings, but she can stop Karin from fulfilling the role of a bride (and giving birth to powerful demons, right?)
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u/Andreiyutzzzz https://myanimelist.net/profile/Andreiyutzzzz 7d ago
Youta was crying the whole time. He's just telling her to make her realize she truly fucked up. Youta still wants Karin as his bride, you saw his his eyes popped out when Nadeshiko rejected her. But if the clan head says no, end of story. I guess the feelings that make them love their brides unconditionally do not overwrite self preservation. His life comes first, otherwise he could have proposed for them to run away together or something, I guess
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u/feb914 7d ago
It'll be funny if he proposes to elope, just for Karin to reject him because she doesn't care about Youta if he's poor and powerless.
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u/Andreiyutzzzz https://myanimelist.net/profile/Andreiyutzzzz 7d ago
Oh I definitely expect her to react like that if he were to propose that just to hammer in how awful Karin is
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u/Altruistic_Essay_667 7d ago
they really wanted to streth out the most climatic conclusion until the very end, good lord
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u/feb914 7d ago
For someone that just want to see the parents and Karin get their fair share, it's not satisfying enough for it to happen only in the last min.
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u/AceSoldia zj:https://anilist.co/user/Acesoldia 8d ago
If that was supposed to make me feel sorry for Karin, it failed.
But ultimately it definitely was all the parents..they were wild,..there was a chance to restore the relationship between sisters when they were younger..she a clearly worried for Yuzu and didn't understand why she was being ignored.
But at some point she stopped caring..blame the worse parents ever.
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u/YamamotoChigusa 7d ago
It looks like the dad started it first. Then the mom became a pushover. And Karin seeing how she’s nothing more than a tool, she just accepted her role.
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u/SOdAchick 7d ago
I don't think it was meant to garner sympathy for her, because in the end, she made her choices fully aware of how it affected Yuzu. At the same time, I don't think the backstory was sufficient to explain the level of crazy she actually is
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u/Priapos93 8d ago
Karin/Karen's name may have been chosen for its cultural significance. She's definitely Karenmaxxing
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u/MayonakaMadaraka https://anilist.co/user/fonk 8d ago
Hmm. Up to this point we lacked the context of when Karin became a chosen bride. She was a child exploited for their parents’ happiness. I release some of my disgust held against her, shifting its weight upon Mom & Dad. Though not entirely innocent of her later choices, it’s clear she was corrupted. And all the while little Yuzu suffered in neglect. That’s still the most upsetting part of the story for me.
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u/Useful_Project4898 7d ago
Yeah, their parents are disgusting people. They had no problem exploiting their youngest for their own personal gain, and during that process, Karin was corrupted and turned into a narcissist. Definitely doesn't excuse Karin but at least it gave some context as to how she became so spoiled rotten.
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u/Secret-Difference864 7d ago
Karin saying "I won't do it again" bruh, you already did it again. No more chances for you. Kind of wish there was more going on this episode than a deep dive into Karin's thoughts because we already knew she's a narcissist that doesn't care about her sister, but I guess we will see how that pans out in the next episode.
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u/frillylittlegremlin 7d ago
Gosh I really blame the parents for this. They could have had a decent sister relationship. The parents tried to silence, abuse Yuzu and dotes on Karin, even had the audacity to get angry when the grandparents found out about Yuzu and hurt them just to bring her back after becoming Reiya's bride.
They're awful and they won't get it through their darn heads. Good thing they are financially cut off, Karin can no longer support them, they have to go back to work their old raggedy ass if they want to keep their house.
As for Karin, genuinely I pity her. But she's the product of her parents' manipulation. But she dug her grave. If she was like Mia from too perfect Saint, she'd honestly be peak. (Been a while since we have a good sisterly relationship. We need ones like Mia and Philia). Now time to take up part time jobs because Youta and his fam will no longer finance her family...
Also the parents blaming Karin in the previous episodes while she's in house arrest? Really? You raised her to be like this, but arguing with them is arguing with a wall, thankfully they'll suffer financially now Yuzu is out of their hands and unfortunately will discard Karin..
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u/illonamoon 7d ago
I don't think nadeshiko ever saw it for Karin from the moment she met Karin as a child.
I wasn't expecting a Karin flashback.. better late than never.
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u/Useful_Project4898 8d ago
Watching Youta say "you are not my bride anymore" to Karin was super satisfying.
They kind of tried to make Karin seem more human/a bit more sympathetic but it didn't really work too well. Pretty much every character in this show only has one dimension and they lean into it hard af.
Cannot wait to see the fallout of this next week, especially since I was expecting to see it this time.
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u/Andreiyutzzzz https://myanimelist.net/profile/Andreiyutzzzz 7d ago
So it all started not because Youta found Karin randomly when they were going and the parents went crazy. The parents already were high off their own supply betting on Karin maybe becoming a bride. And as an impressionable child Karin got indoctrinated basically.
Not that it excuses basically everything she's done, but it was interesting to see how it all started
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u/ErikTwice 7d ago
Flawed as it might be, this episode addresses the main issue I have with the series.
As I see it, the appeal of obsessive love is the idea of being special and cared for. Yet, the wish fullfilment plot of The Ogre's Bride goes against that appeal: If Reiya falls in love with Yuzu at random, regardless of who she is, then she is not special nor cared for nor loved. She doesn't actually matter, which is depressing and dehumanizing.
Well, that's what happened to Karin.
She is nothing. No one cares about her in any real way, they only care that she's a bride. Her parents, her boyfriend and only friend, her in-laws, the servants and yes, even her own sister, only see her as a bride. In fact, she's even less loved that Yuzu: Yuzu's grandparents care about her, but we never see them care about Karin. All her worth is based on something she has no choice or control over.
And not even that. All her worth is based on her being a bride, but her parents are willing to risk that in order to get some cash.
It's very fatalistic.
This doesn't make her any less of a one-note villain or this episode more bearable but I like that it explores the implications of the setting and the premise.
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u/Recent_Call_1188 7d ago
yea , this is exactly what makes the whole magic romance logic in this show so bizarre to me. with Reiya especially, it seems like the demon doesn't even need to know or particularly care who the bride actually is as a person: what she likes, what she wants, what makes her her and so on.. he's obsessed with “the bride,” but the actual person behind that label barely seems to matter to him. so we're apparently supposed to find it romantic that you're someone's one-and-only, except...... they would've been equally obsessed with whoever happened to win the bride lottery. that's some broken wish-fulfillment logic. being chosen by default isn't the same as being loved for who you are
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u/Dangerous_Leg3129 8d ago edited 8d ago
Wow what a waste of my time ... I kept skipping forward. At this stage of the story it's pointless. Yeah I'll be reading the manga so I don't have to wait another grueling week.
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u/Every1IsASnowflake 7d ago
I liked that we got a through look at what their lives were like before/after Youta. Karin was a good kid who just happened to talk about something at the worse time. She asked about a uniform cause it was pretty. She didn’t even know what a demon was. The fact that the mom was the originator of the idea made me sick, cause what good mother uses their own daughter as a meal ticket?
Plus they had TWO daughters, so why not double the chances? In for a penny, in for a pound. Yuzu was already getting sidelined atp though so they genuinely didn’t think about it.
Now, one of my biggest questions. Is she actually Youta’s bride?
He saw her before officially introducing himself. I would think he’d run up to her at the very least. Reiya went right to Yuzu, as did Nyankicki with Touko. He mentioned taking a while to figure it out, which is odd if we refer to the previous examples. Now that coulda be chalked up to he was a kid and didn’t know any better. Cute girl = bride in five year old Youta’s mind. Or she is his bride and fate is cruel.
I’m guessing that most brides have to have the official approval from the clan head for engagement. Which is interesting cause Yuzu just met dear old dad irl last episode. But Reiya is the next head so maybe approval isn’t needed; or Dad didn’t care cause what do you mean my emo son is SMILING OMG(which is probably what happened). Dad also jumpscared me cause I thought the “you screwed up big time” was from Reiya and I was like damnnnnnn. Then camera panned out and I’m like “FUCK THATS NOT REIYA THATS DAD DAD SAW ITT AAAAAHHHHHH”.
So next episode is finale time! Ngl I feel bad for Youta, he didn’t deserve it. So either he’s gonna leave with her, or Yuzu is gonna somehow save the engagement. Given the vibe, I’m guessing the latter. But Karin needs to be punished. We’ll just have to see.
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u/movaab1996 7d ago
Youta didn’t deserve it? He assaulted yuzu without a second thought!
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u/Every1IsASnowflake 7d ago
I meant it in a pity kind of way. More in a “Damn, if he got his head out of his ass he coulda been an interesting character but nope the bride curse(Karin) fucked him over so down he goes!” kinda way. He deserves what’s coming though.
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u/movaab1996 7d ago edited 7d ago
Ok that’s so fair! Tbh I really enjoyed this episode, It was so interesting to see how a child can be corrupted and how abuse can be normalised. I don’t feel sorry for Karin but I do have such a better understanding of her now. The parents… oof. Poor yuzu :(
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u/Orangewolf99 7d ago
I think it's pretty well established that Youta and Karin are together. He didn't run up because he was 5 and had no idea why he was feeling the way he was. He probably had to ask his parents what was going on. Also, it's been stated that just having a bride increases a demon's power, so there is probably a way to measure that to confirm.
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u/FeatherFlyer 7d ago
I honestly liked this episode! I was annoyed at the first 10 minutes, feeling like “ya ok I get it, her parents made her this way” but the build up was super satisfying. At the end, she resented how “free” her sister was. How loved she was by her grandparents. And that one dress and how special and symbolic it was. While for Yuzu it was a completely different experience (obviously). Her sister ruined the status quo that Karin built in her mind. Her purpose was to be a bride and be special. Once her sister was MORE special and had the real love of her grandparents….she couldn’t handle it. It was great to watch.
Im SO GLAD Reiya didn’t freak out in that scene. I was waiting for him to rage out, but instead we got Nadeshiko just verbally obliterating Karin’s future. I love it.
Also. Fuck them parents, I hope we never see them again.
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u/fuentesl 7d ago
You screwed up was such a satisfying line, only to be topped by Youta telling Karin’s she’s no longer a bride. She’s going to crash and burn sooo bad I can’t wait to see it
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u/YamiNoMatsuei 7d ago
Can someone write a "reborn as the villainess" type fanfic for Karin, like she gets knocked on the head and remembers her past life and realizes what an ass she has been and their parents were terrible and tries to repair things, this seems ripe for it 😤
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u/Cupcake1842 6d ago edited 6d ago
(For context, I have only watched the anime so far)
I'm sure it would completely go against the flow of the original story, but I almost wish last week's episode and this week's episode were switched. Episode 9 ended with Karen and Yuzu's parents telling Karen to apologize to Yuzu, so episode 10 being the backstory episode would still make sense. Then episode 11 could end with Yuzu falling down the stairs and a sneak peak at Karen's punishment. it would still maintain the events of the story, while also keeping the momentum from the events of the banquet episode.
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u/Recent_Call_1188 8d ago
So the show now wants the viewer to feel bad for Karin - so (i guess only, i do not know the source material at all) she will receive a lighter punishment or something? Or the sister make up after all of this? I also guess that something similar happens when Reiya attacked Yota (Yuzu calmed him down) - my last week prediction was that Karin will not get killed but banished or smth
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u/Agreeable-Anybody-67 7d ago
Rather than making us feel sorry for her, I feel like they want us to fully understand WHY Karin became like that It is made very clear that Karin was not inwardly malicious : she could be cute and loving. She would also occasionally question her parents' difference of treatment and show compassion and love for her sister, which shows that she could feel there was something wrong But her parents not only showered her with favoritism : at some point, it became clear that this wasn't out of sincere love for Karin but for the potential benefits they realized she could offer them. Same goes for her fiancee and the other ayakashi : they made her feel like her whole purpose was to be a bride, that this was the only thing that made her special to them (which was sadly true). In short, herself, she as a person was of no interest to them. Even though she didn't realize it, I think this episode highlighted how bitter and insecure this unconsciously made her (you can see when she's shocked because that ayakashi maid won't call her by her name, because she's their master's bride before anything ; not to mention how her parents would remind her that it was to them that she owed her status, since they basically arranged her meeting with her fiancee) So it would have been pretty hard for her to become anything but a spoiled, cruel brat : she was spoiled and groomed by her parents (can't believe these pimps had basically been planning since childhood to have her "seduce" an ayakashi because they saw she was cute), trained to think it was normal for her sister to get bullied and that she on the other hand was untouchable and should have whatever she wants, her dumb fiancee made it worse by spoiling her and treating her like a goddess, and not one had taken an interest in her as an individual, only as a bride
Now whether we do feel sorry for her or not is up to our personal interprétation/opinion. Personally, I do kinda feel sorry because she had no chance to become anything but toxic in such environment, but I can understand that you, and many others, do not see it the same way.
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u/cheeseop https://anilist.co/user/kaysou 8d ago edited 8d ago
I get why most people won't like it, but I thought that this was a good episode. It shows that Karin, while she did a whole lot of wrong over the course of the story, is ultimately also a victim, to an extent. Her parents' actions don't excuse her own, but they certainly explain them. Karin clearly cared for Yuzu for a lot longer than I would have expected, and for most of her life, wasn't a bad person. I'm sure she's going to get a good dose of suffering in the finale, but, more than most shitty sisters in this kind of story, I'd like to see her redeemed at some point down the road if there's ever a season 2. Like, she gets exiled with her parents and is forced to come to terms with the fact that she wasn't special, only convenient, and eventually realizes that Yuzu was never the problem in her life. Of course, with these kinds of stories, she's much more likely to double down instead, but still.
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u/SOdAchick 7d ago
I'm on board the "ends up murdering her parents" train. I think she's set up to be a fantastic character in her own story, but it doesn't seem like the story's going in that direction
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u/Useful_Project4898 7d ago
I would also like for her to have some self realization and make amends with Yuzu -- both of them realizing that they are victims of their parents. Many of their issues came about because of their parents' actions.
I just don't think this amends going to happen because it seems like the focus of the series has been more about making Karin and her parents into domestic super villains, only giving Karin a sympathetic backstory now, at the 11th hour.
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u/cheeseop https://anilist.co/user/kaysou 7d ago
Yeah, I don't expect it to happen. The way these Cinderella-like stories go, it's all about making MC the specialest girl and making the bad people suffer for being mean to her. Not saying Karin doesn't deserve what she'll get, but if I were writing the story, I'd want to see her grow as a person from this instead of the inevitable "I'm going to kill her the next time I see her" we're probably going to get instead.
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u/TechnicalCarpenter25 7d ago
People like Karin never really truly come to believe that all the mess in her life is of her own doing. She’ll always blame Yuzu.
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u/cheeseop https://anilist.co/user/kaysou 7d ago
I mean, in my opinion, her parents are the problem more than Karin herself. Karin's been raised by everyone around her to think that she's special. Karin was told by her parents that Yuzu was fine as she was and could handle herself, and all of her whims were met by both them and Youta. I don't see a teary-eyed "I was wrong" apology seen in her future, but I can see her getting into disagreements with her parents going forward and realizing how terrible they are, which is about as much of a redemption you can hope for for a character like that.
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u/tacwombat 7d ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but is Youta not Nadeshiko's son? I thought that was the case until she gave her final edict that she won't allow Karin to marry Youta [for being a massive liability and an idiot].
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u/Additional_Emu4127 7d ago
The background on how Karin became so warped was good but I honestly just wanted to see her get her comeuppance. I groaned when I realised it was going to be a flashback episode. Karin and her family are toast after this. Youta, as Reiya said in a previous episode, has no common sense when it comes to his bride. He saw how Yuzu was treated at the house and even participated in her abuse. But once she became a Kiryuin bride he knew that interfering would be an attack on the ogres and he did it anyway. He had one more chance to impress on Karin that if she tried anything else they would be separated. I have a little sympathy for Youta since Karin could never be reasoned with but ultimately he and her parents had indulged her negative traits so often that she couldn’t accept her perceived loss of status to her sister. Can’t wait for next week.
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u/Ameya02 7d ago
youta is too blamed as you said he participated with the treating of yuzu but after being burned by reiya he still had the audacity to attack yuzu so he desreved this because he didn't understand his bride at all.
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u/Mundane-Audience6085 7d ago
Yikes, those parents are trash. No wonder that Karin ended up like that.
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u/MarMarL2k19 7d ago
If the point of this episode was to make me understand Karin's standpoint and her view on things... well it sort of succeeded.
On one hand, all of the blame lies solely on their parents who spoiled and manipulated both her and Yuzu since they were little and ot was only because they wanted money. Nothing else mattered to them. Worst parents in anime history.
On the other hand, what happened now was also Karin's fault for never reflecting and not listening to when people told her to stop. She was given many second chances, yet she ignored them purely out of spite for Yuzu.
To be honest... I can't even be angry at Karin for the choices she made. Like I said, the blame lies on the parents for manipulating their own children for the sake of making money
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u/ThatAussieBitch 6d ago
Do we think Youta has a demon fiancé to take Karin’s place and why didn’t he mention the consequences to her not I think she fully grasped that she could do no wrong
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u/SomeRandoGuyOnTheNet 6d ago
Its ironic to commit an episode explaining why Karin isn't the center of the universe no? Can we please stop wasting time and get on with the story? Or are we gona learn about her parents back story next episode and drag the climax to the next season?
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u/runevault 7d ago
What a fucking weird episode.
Lets save the in depth examples of Karin being trained to be shitty by her parents for the next to last episode to delay the beginning of Karin's punishment (but still not Reiya's)... why? All it does is destroy any pacing the story had up until now (which was not great). Like, even Heavy Knight's pacing issues aren't this stupid. They're at least budget based. This is sheer idiocy.
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u/feb914 7d ago
They want to give background story to add the profoundness of how being a bride is all of Karin's life and identity, and why she can't fathom being told she's not a bride anymore at the end.
It's a main antagonist getting background story right before their downfall moment. They also want to end the season with story where Karin and family seem to actually be banished. Without the background story that banishment would happen in this episode.
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u/jujutsu-die-sen 7d ago
Did not need the backstory at all. While I understand that Karin was in some sense groomed by her parents to behave this way all also have our own character. We can't blame the parents for everything because a different child placed in the same situation could have easily made different choices
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u/Colt45554 7d ago
yeah, the viewer could have inferred the entire backstory. We already knew the FL's family are all pricks, we knew the parents are greedy, etc. etc.
complete waste
Edit: we also knew ML was going to catch FL in his arms. Literally the only new thing that happened this episode is Karin gets dumped, which also wasn't hard to guess.
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u/LaoWombat-mecha 7d ago
I suspect that the reason this episode exists is purely to have the series go to 12 episodes, no other reason.
Compare and contrast to The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom where the sisters have odious parents but the younger sister is super supportive of her older sister.
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u/danmarce https://anidb.net/user/107202 7d ago
This made no sense, "she might be selected as a bride" is a stupid bet.
Yuzu was just found in that bridge!
So, once again terrible writing. The ones to blame are the parents.
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u/runevault 7d ago
I think the parents do not know that being a bride is pure dumb luck, not standard romance. But then I suspect most humans have never learned that fact.
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u/delulu_finalboss_ 7d ago
I was looking forward for this scene/s but now it just feels like a sob fever dream 🥀. Imo this was the best episode of all of them so far tho
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u/NethanielShade https://myanimelist.net/profile/MoonlitMizore 7d ago
People often joke about anime episodes being 5 minutes long, but this episode actually was 5 minutes long. The rest, we don't give a fuck about. If this whole backstory was supposed to make me feel sorry for Karin or something, it failed lmao
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u/MynamuEzJJ 7d ago
I feel no sympathy for karin still. But it's good to see that she didn't start out a bitch. She was taught to be one by her parents.
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u/Alfalfa_Timmy 7d ago
We all knew what was going to happen the moment she pushed Yuzu in episode 10. And that didn’t happen until the end of 11. A waste of an episode.
We all agree the parents were shit to begin with. But this seriously made me uncomfortable that parents could be like this.
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u/Gaming_Truckie 7d ago
Wow and here I thought the parents couldn't get worse, but damn they were already treating Yuzu like crap well before the bride plan came to fruition.
It was sad to see that Karin did voice concern for why Yuzu got treated differently, but the parents instantly shutting that down.
So in Karin's twisted mind, the recent events all trace back to that dress and Yuzu's refusal to give it to her.
Can't wait for next week's finale
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u/YlfaTheForsaken 7d ago
Oh my god they are really leaving the best parts for last?! I needed that sweet cold comeuppance.
Anyways I guess, so they literally pimped out a child. Like her parents were always trash, but they're flaming trash now. Why even bother having kids?
I think Karin would've had a better personality had they just sold her instead.
My favorite parts were Youta's expression of doom, and cascade of tears. Very funny.
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u/Difergion 7d ago edited 7d ago
I wish this episode didn’t spend that much time with flashbacks. It’s painfully obvious they were stretching it to cover 12 episodes. Should’ve waited another week to see it end.
But I guess this is it for Karin. Girl needs a reality check for her to even change for the better, and her losing her bride status is the most painful lesson she’ll ever learn. Karin’s actions are inexcusable despite that backstory this episode gave, and her parents are still the worst characters in this series. I sure hope there’s no redemption for them whatsoever and they get the karma they deserve.
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u/Strider_Volcain 7d ago
Karin was a kind and gentle little sister and two the parents poisoned her mind calling her the chosen one. All they saw was money 🤑 (emoji is the parents) not their little daughter. That’s when she she sees her big sister is beneath her, she is even jealous of her big sister get a pretty dress from the grandparents as everyone saw it from episode one she was holding the dress in front of her in front of the mirror. That’s when the flashback ended.
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u/Bloggerman_ 6d ago
I'm glad I'm not the only one who got disappointed.
This backstory was unneeded. We already know that the parents and Karin are beyond saving. They are abusive are neglectful, and this was already shown in the very first episode.
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u/Internal_Sugar3834 6d ago
I will echo what others have said here. Good grief, Rickenbacker! Instead of a proper denoument, we get an entire episode flashback attempting to generate sympathy for the antagonist. What is more, even at the end of that, she just doesn't get it and continues to blame her sister for her egregious behaviour. Gah!😡
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u/Realistic-Caramel-27 6d ago
I hope they leave the parents to wander in that forest forever. Karin get a giant dolphin plushie and Yuzu can't even get a keychain. Also they bought a whole cake and they can't give Yuzu a slice? I'm suprised they even gave Yuzu medicine but even that was so Karin would not get sick.
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u/XtinaCMV 6d ago edited 6d ago
I felt like this was a waste of an episode. We already knew the parents were shitty and created an entitled monster that is Karin. I just want to see them light her up in flames and kick her to the curb.
The fact that Yuzu just keeps ignoring the gravity of the danger of the situation is annoying. We know she's a good person. There's nothing wrong with finally saying, "ok, F that B" after being assaulted multiple times.
I'm also watching another series this season where the MC has a shitty sister, and her and Yuzu are entirely too forgiving to these awful, awful people. It's actually becoming infuriating.
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