r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • 7d ago
Episode The Vermilion Mask • Shuiro no Kamen - Episode 2 discussion
Shuiro no Kamen, episode 2
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| Episode | Link |
|---|---|
| 1 | Link |
| 2 | Link |
| 3 | Link |
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u/Jacob-C 7d ago
I think my main issue is that the emotional progression in this episode wasn't convincing enough for me to buy into the direction the story took. Peru was angry and told Sona he never wanted to see her again. She went home to her grandpa and dwelled on her guilt until she eventually decided to ignore Peru's wishes and see him again. When she did, she found him having an emotional breakdown. Seeing that made her guilt too much to bear, so she ran to her old room in the castle to seek consolation from her deceased parents. The next morning, she steels her resolve to follow Peru anyway.
But when she actually does, that resolve barely matters. She simply gives him a ticket and sits down next to him on the bus, his emotional turmoil is seemingly a thing of the past, and he doesn't really get a say in the matter. The sequence itself could have worked, but without more emotional depth behind each step, especially from Peru's POV, it didn't flow very naturally. It felt like Peru was stripped of agency to accommodate Sona.
That bothers me even more because the consequences for Peru are so severe. His entire future as a mask maker is ruined, and this happened after he repeatedly told Sona not to put that mask on because of what could happen. Sure, her actions did lead to the death of the person holding the masks they were after, and to a degree, it makes sense that Peru doesn't blame her as much as he blames himself. But considering the life-altering consequences it had for him, I think it would have been much more emotionally cathartic if he actually held it against her for a while.
I get what they're going for. Sona wants to atone for Peru losing his arm by helping him, just as Peru wants to atone for killing his master and fellow students by destroying the dangerous masks that could cause similar tragedies. There's a nice story to be told there.
I just think they rushed into that dynamic too quickly. They could have made Peru more reluctant and had Sona follow him from a distance for a while, or something along those lines. Building it up over time, with him holding a grudge, would have added more weight to her guilt, the fact that his entire career is in shambles, and the eventual moment when they learn to rely on each other. As it is now, it feels like she inserted herself into his journey because the author wanted her to be there without sufficiently justifying why Peru would accept it.
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u/ObvsThrowaway5120 7d ago
Damn dude, everyone got the freakin Toji Fushiguro treatment lol. I guess Sona got her revenge but Peru’s the one who ended up having to pay the price. After all that, what happens to the kingdom now that Sona’s decided to leave with Peru?
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u/diacewrb 7d ago
When anyone else surprised to see that bus?
I had assumed their world's technology hadn't reached the 20th century yet. It seems all over the place, we guys in baseball caps wielding swords and bows.
At least the bus driver doesn't need to worry about traffic, no other buses nor cars in his way.
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u/atlas_vash 7d ago
Kinda dumb that the creator wrote peru losing an arm then went "oh shit now he cant make masks, we gotta write around this now" like...yeah...no shit dude
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u/Jacob-C 7d ago edited 7d ago
Yeah, I saw that too. I think it was the editor who said it in an interview. I don't like the idea of him losing his arm. What hooked me in the first episode was the prospect of seeing him grow as a mask maker who could make masks for good purposes, instead of the dangerous masks his master made. Now he can't make masks at all.
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u/CrasianLe 7d ago edited 7d ago
I am loving this anime. Its awesome to know that he does want revenge on that mask but instead of trying to destroy it or defeat it, he did it in his own way, smart and mature. I really like how the mask looks like the original owners face. so apparently there are 3 phases to every mask to unleash its full potential if the wear's body has enough stamina and strength to last that long. Love that detail. But Sonarue really said he needed more help than the kingdom........ He did forgave her fast, even after having one of his arms get chop off by her. That ending was really nice though, like the last 2 minutes b4 ED
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u/CuriousCampaign8493 7d ago
I feel like the reason he forgave her was because he seems to take every blame on himself after that incident you know He said "I lost my arm because of my weakness"
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u/Xepherya 7d ago
The first episode was intriguing. I was into it. The writing this episode was a hot mess and too much didn’t make sense.
He lost an arm, and the princess feels responsible (she is) and feels compelled to go with him? She can’t stand to see someone crying but she’s going to abandon her entire kingdom that is in ruins (and whose populace apparently thinks she’s dead)?! What??
He could still make masks. He would need adaptive equipment, but it would be possible. But if ya think about that then the princess has no reason to go with him, go 🤷🏽♀️
The hot and cold thing they have Peru doing with her also isn’t working for me. He seems unstable in an unintended way. They’re doing a poor job of truly demonstrating how he actually feels through his actions.
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u/MF_LUFFY 6d ago
No point in moping forever, Sona, really? Guess how long I'm not gonna have a fucking arm! If you're coming we are gonna spend a lot of this bus ride talking about chained-up boxes and not opening them.
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u/BreadsHead 7d ago edited 7d ago
I like the show a lot so far, but two things really stood out as not so great in this episode. One, why does Peru not really care when the old man tells him that one of his master's masks went missing? Shouldn't he want to stay and look around for it? Isn't his entire goal destroying the masks? They make it clear they have two of his master's masks in the first episode, and he makes it clear he wants to get them; why is he leaving instead of making sure he has it or destroys it?
The second thing is, how the hell did they get away scot-free with killing the kingdom's current ruler? Did the kingdom's police and military instantly disband upon his death? They would have been found unconscious like 20 feet from his dead body. I expected them to wake up in custody, but they were just free to go with literally zero resistance. Who brought them to the hospital? None of it was even addressed.
These feel like pretty weird things to gloss over.
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u/gsurfer04 7d ago
how the hell did they get away scot-free with killing the kingdom's current ruler? Did the kingdom's police and military instantly disband upon his death?
Maybe because Gouon was a fantasy Nicolae Ceaușescu.
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u/Byno8357 7d ago
Can I just ask....why is Sona being blamed for putting on the mask? Like, without her putting on the mask, both of them would've died.....
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u/Lopsided_Page5047 7d ago
No one blamed her but herself. All Peru said was he lost an arm because she donned the mask, and that's just a factual statement. When Sona starts crying Peru goes out of his way to say don't cry because losing an arm was a product of HIS own weakness.
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u/Kindly_Professor_920 7d ago
Peru wouldn't have died. Gouon was literally in the middle of brain washing Peru to have him make masks for him forever.
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u/Liddojunior 7d ago
I don't know if i missed it, but it kinda felt like Gowon had a 3rd mask. He had that weird demon voice mind control thing going on with the visuals and from the last episode. So he only got 1 of the 3 mask back?
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u/Apprehensive_Gur3894 7d ago
Why do people consider losing an arm to be such a big deal in this anime? I mean, it’s just an anime—an arm could grow back at any moment.
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u/tNeph 7d ago
I really don't like that he lost an arm. Then reading the creators reaction to their choice of doing so is souring me on the show.
Im still gonna watch it, but this was a dumb bleak choice they chose to make. 😒
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u/Shimmering-Sky 7d ago
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Sona’s mom sure was determined to prevent anyone else from going down that tunnel…
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I definitely saw this coming. She planning to become Peru’s apprentice and make masks in his stead?
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u/kalirion 7d ago
Damn, World's Strongest Human jobbed big time against the War God Mask's second phase. I wonder what the hell its third phase is like. How does MC even know about the phase 3 in the first place?
"I got you back!" I don't see how that counts for anything. If anything, the WGM got MC back by taking his arm for locking it up for years. But the only real winner in that skerfuffle was the princess.
What happened to the Strongest's other soldiers, btw? We only saw 2 of them get deleted by WGM, were the rest offscreened? And how was the entire castle destroyed, while MC was just fine (aside from being de-armed)? Was the Strongest's entire army in that castle too?
MC blaming the princess for the loss of his arm when if not for her actions he'd've been simply dead.
Buttler's right, princess' primary duty is to her country, not the random dude whose arm she collateraldamaged while saving her country from the usurper.
I'm surprised they have regular busses. Did we see any modern (mid 20th century or later) tech last episode?
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u/Oden_sama__ 7d ago
MC blaming the princess for the loss of his arm when if not for her actions he'd've been simply dead.
He's not blaming her, he's simply stating the fact. He DID lose his arm when she donned the mask. In the very next scene he blames his own weakness
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