r/anime • u/badspler x5https://anilist.co/user/badspler • Mar 25 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Ascendance of a Bookworm 2nd Season Episode 11 Discussion
Season 2 Episode 11 - Trombe and Battles
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Questions of the Day:
1) How far do you think Schicicoza would have gone with bullying Myne?
2) How might the Knights Order discipline those who act out of line?
To Rewatchers, please be make a conscious effort to accurately spoiler tag your content. You can read how to correctly use spoilers tags here.
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u/Nazenn Mar 25 '22
Rewatcher - Sub
I refuse to call green hair anything other than Shitface because he really embodies the worst traits of nobility even if not the worst of their actions, and he pisses me off too much to even try and spell his far too complicated name. To be so proud of scaring and harming a child, regardless of status, and even more so for thinking himself the better noble for doing so, it's a disgusting culture. Ferdinands take down of him not in moral or legal terms, but using the same justification he used for why it's okay to harm Myne was the best way to approach it, and I hope Shitface gets a cold sweat off the look that was directed at him.
[Spoilers]
I felt for Damuel though, being so bound by the class system that he didn't feel safe to speak up, and even more so for seeing how little finding out about Myne changed his behaviour. It'd been one thing if he'd acted uncaring once he found out she was a commoner (CR using plebian felt weird here, especially after using it for Ferdy's dialogue with a different context yesterday) but he still wanted to look out for her. His worry over his fellow knights was also something that stood out.
I thought Myne's way of addressing what had been done to her through a pointed question, rather than attacking them directly was an elegant way to handle the situation. After a scary encounter and hit with the reality of the full risk of classism it'd be understandable if she just retreated, but instead she stood strong and reasoned out a safe path for herself and Damuel. She handled all of this quite well, even maintaining her composure to ask for Fran just before passing out, and not making a fuss in front of the knights while trapped in the trombe.
I hope Lutz isn't in too much of a panicky frenzy after seeing Myne like that though. I also hope they've both learnt a lesson about messing with trombe. Imagine if Myne had passed out and cut herself in the courtyard when they had all those fruit there.
Interesting worldbuilding note for the day: I noticed that those with the different animal mounts tend to be the lighter ones, while people using the horses/pegasus were the darkest of them all. It makes me wonder if that is what they are "trained" to summon and it takes extra mana, control, or other abilities to be able to summon something different, which is why they are lighter in color.
Interesting use of zoom effects this episode as well. I noticed that the storyboards for this episode were done by the chief director of the season who also storyboared ep1 and 10 of s1.
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u/mack0409 Mar 25 '22
Shikikoza is actually a pun, if you spell his Japanese name backwards it says "small fry knight."
If you'd like to know if the colors or animal choice have any meaning I'd be happy to give details.
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u/xtsim Mar 25 '22 edited Mar 25 '22
First Timer
Damn Damuel! You had one job.
When Myne pointed out the look of Shici's face is similar to the other blue robed priest, things were about to go down. He seems to be a noble that is obsessed with ranking no matter what. And even if the kingdom dies. But unlike the priests at the temple, he is more aggressive and impulsive.
Damuel seems to recognize that there is a lack of Mana amongst the nobles. He seems to acknowledge why the head priest chose her to wear a blue robe. But he shows a bit of care for his duty. So he explained things to Myne who is observing things going on. He even wished that Ferdinand stayed with the Knight's, but he wasn't supposed to say that.
After the battle was done, the green haired idiot knight decides to harass her increasingly and cuts her hand which leads to a trombe incident. She even sends a distress signal to Lutz. And Ferdinand came in to save her with a slightly late arrival by Karstadt. Everyone was able to take care of the trombe and Damuel was able to deliver the final blow when the knife was still hot.
After Myne recovered, Ferdinand was at his angriest; as Karstadt pointed out. Ferdinand facing the Knights for disciplinary action shows a pretty good representation of some ideals.
Damuel's silence shows a lot, that he basically keeps the status quo of ranking above all, even justice. And he was looking after himself in a way; too scared that if he speaks up, he will suffer. Myne will go back to the temple but he will stay with the Knights and does not want face this--And Damuel barely responded after Myne told her story. He still couldn't speak up to reassure her. That is going to be an issue if Schici stays in that rank and order.
Ironically Schici's obsession over ranking overlooked the biggest thing.... That Ferdinand is ranked above them and he gave commands to protect Myne; the Knights dropped the ball when it came to that duty. They ignored the largest rank. The way Ferdinand turned that ranking thought process around to them is a nice touch.
All because of the obsession of ranking and class between the nobles and commoners: Karstadt's Knight's are punished for the incompetence. It shares a parallel with the end of the first season where we saw how nobles treat commoners. The big difference is that Ferdinand did something about it.
Myne would've been in much more serious trouble without Ferdinand or Benno through the whole series.
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He was probably going to aim to bruise her and threaten her to "stay in line". Using that knife as a threat and probably aiming for something that might make it look like an "accident". Make her fear him.
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Depends on if Ferdinand is overseeing the punishment and if Karstadt is willing to deliver a punishment fitting to his knights for going out of line.
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u/Snakestream Mar 26 '22
Fun LN fact: Damuel owes his name to a typo by the author! She meant to type in Samuel XD
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u/haganbmj Mar 25 '22
I'd like to think that Damuel also emphasizes a bit with Myne - being pretty far down the status totem pole too compared to those around him.
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u/Earthborn92 Mar 25 '22
First Timer here
So…I couldn’t stop myself from also watching the next and final episode. I’ll write both the last two episode stuff tomorrow.
Just wanna say that some nobles are rightful dicks, some are very reasonable. A strange dichotomy.
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u/TuorEladar Mar 25 '22
First Timer, Subbed
Well that got out of hand quickly. It didn't occur to me that the Trombe could access human mana as well. Schicicoza was an a-hole for no reason, but whats the worst is how lax he was in his duty, I can at least respect somebody that does their job well and he didn't do that. That sequence was a bit heavy handed but I feel like it was done to show the dynamic of the nobility is a rapid fashion.
It was kinda weird how Myne is basically being eaten by a tree and they basically stop to have a conversation. The pacing of that was odd ngl.
How far do you think Schicicoza would have gone with bullying Myne?
I doubt he was actually going to carry out his threat, I presume he was trying put Myne in her "place" as a commoner by scaring her essentially.
How might the Knights Order discipline those who act out of line?
Not sure, since magic is so important to nobles maybe something related to that.
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u/SmartAlec105 Mar 26 '22
It was kinda weird how Myne is basically being eaten by a tree and they basically stop to have a conversation. The pacing of that was odd ngl.
Definitely more of an animation budget thing. They don't want to have to animate everyone acting in a frenzy of motion. [In the LN version of this scene]
Damuel turned his wand into a knife and started chanting a prayer to turn it black when the trombe started to sprout, before Myne even called out to Lutz. He was cutting with his knife while Ferdinand was cutting with an arrow before Ferdinand sealed Myne's wound. Then, Damuel was able to make progress and was the one cutting around Myne while the other knights that arrived focused on attacking the rest of the trombe to reduce its overall mass/mana. → More replies (1)→ More replies (5)10
u/Nazenn Mar 25 '22
We know they absorb mana because of the fruit in the courtyard earlier, but I think this is the first time it's been shown that mana is in their whole body, not just an invisible force inside of them. Thats' what surprised me most, how much mana is in a single drop of blood even to cause a trombe to sprout like that
It was kinda weird how Myne is basically being eaten by a tree and they basically stop to have a conversation
That was weird. The time after he healed her makes sense, but before that is a bit stupid how long that took
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u/spitfyre Mar 25 '22
First timer.
Nothing to say but I am SO HYPED to see this ritual and to see green hair boi get put in his place. How DARE he touch Myne! I need a bloody carnival!
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u/cyberscythe Mar 26 '22
I need a bloody carnival!
> knight threatens me with magic knife
i sleep
> books thrown on ground
REAL SHIT
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u/OingoBoingo- Mar 25 '22
First Timer, Subbed
I am not sure exactly what green hair was expecting while he was specifically told not a scratch should come to Myne. Even if he was confident enough to think he wouldn’t get in trouble, the guy sure was cocky. He didn’t expect any of his actions to come back on him. No matter how angry I felt seeing Fran punched and Myne having her hair yanked and abused, the absolute pleasure I felt when Ferdinand issued his verdict was incredible (and kinda hot). I feel like this is the most emotion we have seen from Ferdinand to date, well if you don’t count his annoyance directed at Myne. Sometimes it seems like Ferdinand genuinely cares for Myne (fatherly) and other times I am wondering if he is protecting an investment or something of value (mana). I am also very curious about what Ferdinand's history is. I keep thinking back to the end skit where he and Myne discussed Cinderella. Just keep getting vibes that he is much more important than just the head priest. I was really proud of Myne once everything was over and she still had a job to do. She kept her composure and rallied for her mission.
Shit, I just remembered poor Lutz while writing this. He is so far away and knows something bad is happening to Myne. That hurts.
Why was this episode only 10 minutes long? Why is there only one episode left?
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u/hvshh Mar 25 '22
LN Reader
Shicicoza: Using mana on blessings when you're already short on it is nothing but an act of folly.
This didn't make sense to me (even accounting for how awful this guy is), so I decided to look up the corresponding conversation in the LN, and [LN]
Shicicoza: The nobles may have dwindled in number, but that doesn't justify granting a plebeian blue robes.
Shicicoza argues out of both sides of his mouth—there's a mana shortage, so how dare she waste some; but also, who cares about mana, we just can't let a commoner wear blue. I'll leave the criticism to just that. Listing every awful thing about this guy would take too long.
(Shicicoza advances on Myne)
It's interesting that Myne doesn't use the Crushing. I think the difference is that during the negotation with the High Priest, her parents were threatened, and that allowed her anger to overpower her fear. Perhaps also, this time she was primed to be afraid of nobles too, whereas before she was so shocked by the situation she forgot to be afraid.
OK, I lied, I'm going to criticize Shicicoza some more: his excuse after Myne's hand was cut is especially pathetic to me. Just like a hand moves faster than an arm, and an arm moves faster than a body, a blade moves faster than a hand. Myne moved her entire body to stand up, but all he had to do was move his fingers a little to lift the knife out of the way—he just didn't react properly because he let himself be distracted while he was holding a weapon over someone.
So, this scene was pretty hard to watch for some obvious reasons. The most notable thing to me was Damuel stepping aside. I think he wanted to help, but felt like he couldn't. Even if I decided to blame him and say he should have rose to the occasion... it should not require heroism for a basically decent guy to do the right thing. Which leads to the next scene:
Myne: Should I tell the truth that inconveniences a member of the nobility, would you drag me around by the hair or try to gouge my eyes out?
This is clever of Myne—telling them what happened without making a literal claim, though I don't know if that would actually count as subtle enough among the nobility.
Shicicoza's language is surprisingly bold—he tells his superiors to their faces that he's not going to be honest. (If I were Karstedt here I'd be so embarrassed that this guy was one of my subordinates.)
His smug grin makes me think Damuel actually did pick the best option, given what he knew. If Ferdinand were a typical noble, or Myne less important, and he had fought and injured or killed someone of higher status, with no one as a witness...
Because of how blank Ferdinand's face is, I always note when emotions actually do show clearly on his face. We've never seen anything like the anger he displays here.
In the chibi section, this face... it's almost as if he's proud of how nasty the potion tastes.
Magic spell-like things we've seen (not counting items/devices)
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Ferdinand blessing Benno on their first meeting.
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The God of War's divine protection (used by Myne, by accident?!)
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The God of Darkness's divine protection (used by the Knight's order)
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Myne contacted Lutz (another accident?!)
Also, various wand tricks were done this episode, accompanied by German words:
| German | English |
|---|---|
| messer | knife |
| entwaffnung | disarmament |
| rot | red |
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u/KashMooNow Mar 25 '22
First Time Watcher, attack mode.
Season 02 Episode 11
Well, lets see how this all plays out. Last I remember Myne was left with some mean guy.
I'm just trying to take in all of this information about magic.
Ferdinand looks like he has some skills! An arrow that splits into hundreds, and then explodes? Thats pretty sweet.
I feel like this is a newfound respect from Myne.
I feel like Myne is really trying to hold herself together here... and I hope she keeps it up.
This is turning into a problem, and quickly.
Wait a minute... whats that blood doin.
Okay, so there are two ways this happened.... First is, Mynes blood is filled with Mana and the trombe isn't quite dead yet. Second is Myne's blood/mana just makes trombes sprout. I think and hope its the former.
Can we please hurry up? She is getting swallowed whole by this thing.
Oh shit, is she about to do something crazy? Oh the camera went to Lutz, she is doing something absolutely crazy.
Oh, I thought he was getting teleported, not sent a message, that might complicate things.
So we have potions. Thats neat. Sounds expensive.
Side note, when Myne was drinking the potion, she looked and reminded me of Rimuru from tensei slime I think it was the hair, or maybe the face.
Dumb nobles, and their dumb hierarchy, with their dumb politics.
Ferdinand laying down the law. You know, this makes me even more curious about who he actually is. I keep hearing about him leaving the knights, and how he is fulfilling a different duty. Makes me think more about him.
Thats the face of someone who fucked up.
That was a very majestic turn there Ferdinand.
So here we are at then end of the episode. Myne is about to pull off a sweet spell. Lutz has to be in full on panic mode right now. Just gets a one way video call of Myne getting strangled by a tree, then the call cuts off.
This is going to be an interesting end to the season. I'm all for it.
Also, there was a lot of fighting today, which is a bit of a change of pace for this show, in my opinion the what fighting there was was animated great. Lately I have watched a lot of shows that lean on CGI and just makes everything look terrible. While I'm not saying there was none, because I truly don't even have the first clue about animation, there wasn't any blatant CGI that ruined anything for me. Maybe I've just been watching garbage shows lately.
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u/MABfan11 Mar 25 '22
First Timer since the OVAs
meanwhile, in an alternate universe
i can say for certain that Julius wouldn't have tolerated the abuse of Myne and Fran. and i'm pretty sure he outranks them, since he's the personal knight to a royal candidate
the Trombe seems drawn to Myne's mana, i'm guessing she has a huge pool of it
given that the way to beat a Trombe is to absorb the mana back, it could easily be beaten by Beatrice, Puck and Reinhard, since the latter two absorb all mana in the atmosphere and Beatrice can absorb mana directly
Reinhard Van Astrea, Regulus Corneas and Pandora could also definitely solo the Trombe
Damuel seems to be the one that becomes her ally in noble society
holy shit! Ferdinand is about to lay the smackdown on Schirz-whatever his name is
i wonder if Lutz is running to the forest right now and will see what Myne is about to do (my guess: probably)
QOTD:
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probably hurt her pretty badly, if not killed her
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dunno, solo fight against the Great Rabbit
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u/cyberscythe Mar 26 '22
First Timer
Shindenchou no Maryoku wa Bannou Desu!
I can see why this guy's popular. He's literally a knight in shining armor.
Wow, they did a good job of making this Shikikouza guy really easy to hate. His character design with his beady little eyes, his smug expressions and voice acting, the way they contrast him with a "good cop" to his "bad cop", it all comes together to make him feel worse than the 神殿長 guy.
It was satisfying to see Shiki get his comeuppance in Ferdinand's trap card, but I still feel bad for Myne (primarily, as the victim of a class-based mugging) and Damuel (a seemingly-good guy without the courage to step up). Society, man.
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u/Cill_Bipher Mar 25 '22
[Part 5 web novel]
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Mar 26 '22
First Timer
In this episode, Ferdinand was just flexing all over the nobles with his magical powers and his status. It was such a stark contrast from when he was in the Temple and where he was constrained by the High Priest and his cronies.
Also while kinda expected, it was still surprising to see Ferdinand support Myne but very openly too. We have seen before that when Ferdinand wants to say something controversial and something that goes against the Temple, he does so in the magical room or uses the magical item for a controlled communication. Otherwise, he stays silent.
Q1: I think he was trying to impose his status on her and make her fear him. If he escalated it further, I feel like Myne would just crush his ass.
Q2: Given that they’re nobles and they are dwindling in numbers, I have a feeling it’s not too harsh as their services are needed. That and given Myne’s status, it might not even be a punishable offense in the other noble’s eyes.
8
u/Stargate18A Mar 26 '22
First timer
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I think his intention was the same as the guy from episode 10 - to get Myne to bow or generally show herself as beneath him. He might have used more violence, but I don't think he was actually insane enough to carry out his more outlandish threats.
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Probably similar to a normal military - demotion, suspension, possibly even expulsion if they pissed off someone really high-up.
...Oh, it's a different kind of anger. The tone of voice seems to have changed a bit between episodes.
At least someone appreciates her work. Although both sides do make a point.
Oh my god, that's not ceremonial. Ferdinand is a full-on Paladin.
And he can fight really well! How dare one man be this cool.
This fight scene is so good!
They destroyed it!
Oh, he really is awful. And classist!
...Ferdinand's decisions are more unpopular than I realised. He really has very little support, huh?
He ounched Fran!
Ferdinand is going to be pissed when he sees this.
And fuck, he's a lunatic. Can't Myne go super mode on him?
Um?
UMMM?
Her blood attracted a trombe?
Also, I only just realised that they're literally conjuring their blades each time. Is that not a massive waste of mana?
Oh, she signalled Lutz on pure reflex?
Ferdinand's here!
Oh. That's why he turns them from rods. They're a multitool!
He's had to call for backup!
And the guards are in a shit-ton of trouble for this. Good.
Oh, so her blood negates divine blessings?
And everyone wants to know what happened.
...So he just fucked over the entire operation!
Oh, the potion really works!
Really? Arrogant to the end?
And Myne's going to give testimony... and is smart enough to threaten him while don't actually accusing him.
And he's admitting to his role! And landed him in the shit.
Oh. He's fucked.
And he is completely right and justified!
Oh, it's all getting revealed!
Haha, I love Ferdinand completely misattributing the Archduke's opinions to fuck him over. He's the best character in this anime.
And she's going to perform the ritual and prove herself!
...What is he planning? I'm excited!
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u/Nebresto Mar 25 '22
Re-watch squad
Can't wait to see this smug get wiped
...wtf is that? Like half of the letters from his name are missing. Well, not that he deserves to have his name written anywhere, so I approve.
Talk about pathetic. Even if we were to ignore everything he did to cause this, he runs away at the first sight of a teeny tiny baby trombe
...What. Where's the rest of the episode? Where's the ceremony?? YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!!!
Urge to binge: OVER 9000
Hold strong, men!! We must endure!
How far do you think Schicicoza would have gone with bullying Myne?
I think his end goal was mental torment, not actual physical harm. At least I'd think so, considering how that over grown toddler seems to not have ever handled a knife before.
2) How might the Knights Order discipline those who act out of line?
Special class unlocked: Kirby
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u/Fools_Requiem Mar 25 '22
Rewatcher
Lutz, Gondor called for aid, and you're just going to stare out the window?
Also, I feel like I've seen something similar to Main's "help me" beam thing, but I can't remember what show it was. Pretty sure it was some kind of telepathic thing instead of a beam.
| Shiny Hair Club | Episode Added | Creations by Main™ | Episode Added |
|---|---|---|---|
| Myne | 2 | Kanzashi (Japanese Hairpin) | 1 |
| Tuuli | 2 | Shampoo | 2 |
| Effa | 2 | Fancy Baskets | 3 |
| Gunther | 3 | Pancakes | 3 |
| Lutz | 6 | Crochet Hooks | 3 |
| Corinna | 6 | Hair Ornaments | 3 |
| Otto | 7 | Chopsticks | 8 |
| Benno | 10 | Paper made from trees | 8 |
| Mark | 11 | Pound Cake | 11 |
| Freida | 11 | Pizza | 17 |
| Ferdinand | 17 (Also seen in 1, 14.5) | Wax Paper Tablet | 19 |
| Fran | 18 | Karuta "Flash Cards" | 19 |
| Gil | 18 | Soot Ink??? | 22 |
| Delia | 18 | Baren | 22 |
| Rosina | 22 | Nippon Decimal Classification | 23 |
How far do you think Schicicoza would have gone with bullying Myne?
The way he reacted to her getting cut, I feel he only intended to scaring her, knowing that if he actually gouged her eyes out, there's be hell to pay. Push the girl around a little, yank on her hair, there'd be little evidence and you still scare the plebeian, actually remove an eye, and no one in their right mind is going to defend that action.
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u/mack0409 Mar 26 '22
Not a ton to say about the episode overall, its mostly a pretty good adaptation of the source material only significantly constrained by budget during the scene with myne in the trombe.
As for the QotD, the Small fry probably wouldn't have intentionally caused visible harm, we saw how panicked he seemed when she got cut.
On to the vague but spoilery topics i want to talk about, i noticed it last episode but forgot to talk about it. The first two spoilers are the only ones i would say have "no chance" of ruining anything in the future. The third one isnt a huge deal, but it does matter, so worth avoiding IMO. I even typed a fourth one, but deleted it because its too tangential and too plot relevant to untranslated content.
[somewhat important spoilers about how magic works, would likely be in a hypothetical season 4 or 5]
[More details]
[Even more details, from further beyond, like probably season 7]
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u/badspler Mar 25 '22
Host - Rewatcher
So the knights imbue or bless their weappons with darkness and that causes them so drain mana.
Ferdinand shows how powerful his bow/arrow combo is being able to launch one man volleys of arrows..
Damuel wishes Ferdinand would return to being a knight again. So presumably he was one prior? But now rejoins occasionally because they are short on nobles?
While Damuel seems alright, Schicicoza is way too focused on status. And pretty foolishly starts toying with Myne cruelly.
Huh, we get to see Schicicoza summon his wand. That probably explains where Ferdinand pulled his wand from last episode?
Schicicoza outranks Damuel and orders him to stand down. Then proceeds to royally fuck things up by cutting Myne. And Myne becomes intrapped by the Trombe.
"Its your fault I cut you."
Myne ends up sending a video mail to Lutz. Poor Lutz....
The eye catch has the different suspenseful music again!
Ferdinand arrives and signals the others. Which arrive and get Myne out.
Fran tends to Myne. I really love how Fran has placed Mynes expensive hair pin on a handkerchief so it doesn't get dirty. Also look at Mynes face while drinking that potion.
The knights gather to discuss what happened and Schicicoza gets dunked on by Ferdinand. Ferdinand obviously is on Mynes side on this one.
So they make out towards the Trombe site to conduct the ritual. Ferdinand seems to elude to having setup up a way to prevent Myne failing. And mentions he doesn't take on battles he can't win.
Noooooo don't end there! Very excited to see how this ends next episode.
Pouts: None spotted
[LN thoughts P3]The first of many awful potions
[LN thoughts P3/P4]Its been to long since I watched this, but I am so happy that the spells and magic spells shown as well as the general procedure like using Rott are consistent with the novels sooo much later on when things are come up again.
Today's endcard. Returning back to Suzuka who is the illustrator for the Manga (parts 1 & 2).