Rating: B+
Elsa is among the most popular supporting characters in the whole franchise, and this episode beautifully shows why. This may be Lawrence and Holo’s show, but Elsa is the true star of this arc’s climax.
While Lawrence came up with the basic idea and Holo’s abilities as (effectively) a harvest goddess made the miracle possible, the way this plays out is Elsa’s plan, and she’s the one who has to pull if off. She has to be the one to do the talking if it’s to work at all, and she’s the one who has to phrase things in a way that convinces the bishop without alienating the villagers, so Lawrence is really just relegated to a clean-up role this time. She performs with such calm, clear conviction that Lawrence not having to step in to help is the least of her accomplishments; she’s so overwhelmed the bishop that she’s in complete control of the narrative here. Even if he realizes that she has boxed him into a corner, he has no way to deny the evidence before his eyes without looking foolish. Total victory: Elsa!
The matter of the Church trying to throw its weight around was only half of the problem, though, so Lawrence has to finish the job. He’s clearly showing off here, but that can be forgiven because he needs to manipulate the decision every bit as much as Elsa did, just in a different way. Whereas she bowls everyone over with a trick of faith, he does it with twists of economics, including the bold declaration that the agreement set up by Father Franz has to go. It is the root of the conflict, after all, and Lawrence isn’t wrong that ending it will greatly lessen any chance of a stunt like this happening again. But even with the money matter resolved, there’s still a matter of what to do with all the wheat. (The adaptation doesn’t bring up here a key point in the novel: that the bountiful harvest of wheat has saturated the market in the region, hence making selling a large amount of it difficult.)
Why the solution works only only kinda-sorta makes sense in the adaptation alone. The adaptation does point out that biscuits (the English translation of the novel uses “cookies” here, but this is simply a “what’s cookies in one country is biscuits in another” situation) are essentially unknown in the north but common in the south, but the clue which tipped Lawrence off to that – mentions during the meal three episodes earlier that Elsa and Evan were unfamiliar with southern bread varieties – is difficult to notice the first time around and reference is not made to it at all in this episode. The episode could have also stood to emphasize a bit more that Lawrence selling his wheat to villagers at profit was his promised reward for helping solve the problem. The timeline doesn’t exactly work out here, either; if Lawrence and Holo are only around for three more days, how did they already know that the cookies were a huge hit in Ernbech? The turn-around is rather tight there. This is a flaw in the original novel, though, so this point isn’t the anime version’s fault.
The episode ends with Lawrence and Holo setting out on the next leg of the journey, this time to the port city of Lenos, after learning what they could from Father Franz’s books. Though Elsa won’t pop up again for quite a while, this isn’t the last we’ll see of her if the animation continues, and apparently it will; a second season of this adaption was greenlit as this episode’s broadcast concluded, one that will likely cover four of the next five novels. (Novel 7 is a short story collection which has already had one entry adapted, and this series has bypassed a chance to adapt another.) When that will come hasn’t been announced, but I expect the Summer or Fall season of next year is probably reasonable.
On the whole, this adaptation hasn’t been perfect, and you can quibble endlessly about whether or not the character design tweaks are an improvement. However, as a long-time franchise fan I have generally been satisfied with the result and look forward to watching more of their adventures in animated form.
USA Anime 