Rating: B+
As I watched this week’s episode, I was struck by the thought that I have been overlooking one big inherent irony: Shadow Garden’s behavior is itself very cult-like, especially in the way it idolizes and even (in some cases) outright worships Shadow. That comes through clearly in the different reactions of 559 and Epsilon to Cid. Epsilon clearly loves him, but 559’s reaction to watching Cid eat the fruit she served him goes beyond that. She likened Shadow to a god last episode, and I think it’s pretty clear that she now sees him that way. Would Cid be flattered or horrified if he ever realized that?
The opening part of the episode, where Lambda is asking about Rose, also brings up another point: one of the inherent flaws of an organization built around an eminently-powerful figure is that there is no recourse to challenge that figure’s whims if a member disagrees with something the leader is doing but is still loyal to the cause overall. That’s the kind of thing which can cause schisms in the long run. We’re nowhere near in danger of this yet, even with the incident concerning Rose factored in, but the seed of it may at least exist here.
The real core of the episode, though, is about what’s going on with Rose in the Oriana Kingdom. The presumption at the end of last episode was that Rose was being coerced to cooperate against her mother’s safety, and while that proved to be true, the irony is that her mother not only wasn’t at risk, but may have even been cooperating willingly. While she’s almost certainly not a co-conspirator or Cult of Diablos member, she’s certainly acting here like Perv seduced her. However, this again raises the question about why Rose’s mother can’t just take over the throne. Why does does it have to be Rose when Perv could just marry the mother instead? It may be that the Cult wants Rose specifically because she’s a Possessed, or (less likely) that the mother is past childbearing age. A bit more elaboration on the political and succession structure in Oriana would certainly be welcome, as right now this just looks like a mechanism for putting Rose in this predicament.
The differing ways each involved party is reacting to this is also interesting. Rose feels fatalistically trapped in this scenario, while the Seven Shadows are, somewhat surprisingly, hesitant to be too judgmental since they feel at least partially culpable for the scenario. (Allowing Rose to go on this mission without informing her about her mother’s status was an uncharacteristically bad miscalculation.) Cid, meanwhile, was clearly upset at first over his plans for Rose being thwarted, but now that he’s calmed down he’s being remarkably sympathetic. His words to Rose about how he can relate to her because she’s also bucking convention (with her desire to focus on swordplay in a kingdom not fond of it) don’t sound like his normal Shadow shtick, so this might be the most honest we ever see Cid being.
Of course, this series being what it is, it can’t take things too seriously. The jokes populate the episode aplenty, whether it’s Lambda doing her best rendition of a tired tour guide, the overly-optimistic amorous guard in the garden, Cid using his powers to escape from a clingy maid or steal jewelry during his piano performance (and somehow not getting noticed at this), or Cid unwittingly filching the item at the center of the whole Oriana Kingdom scenario. The very pointed emphasis on Cid enjoying the cookies while dealing with Rose is also par for the course; Cid would hardly be the first anime character who doesn’t let even high drama stop him from enjoying his snacks, but how in-your-face the series is about it without letting it distract from the main events of the scene is somehow terribly amusing. So, too, is episode’s pointed emphasis on jiggling bosoms; how far Epsilon is going with making her falsies seem realistic is almost as funny as Cid’s dispassionate analysis of both her slime-created ones and the maid’s real ones.
So what’s Cid’s “Plan B” in this scenario? Looks like we’ll find out next episode, but I’m sure it won’t disappoint.
USA Anime 