Summary:

When the news of what happened at the Gradisca mines reaches the capital, Hermione tracks down Mercutio to ask if Romeo is okay. After Mercutio informs her that Romeo is safe, Hermione wants Montague to bring Romeo back since it was originally Juliet’s fault. She then decides to go after Romeo, so she secretly sets out alone by carriage, much to the dismay of her parents who go to Montague about it. Meanwhile, the Capulet group is still on their way to Ariel’s home in Mantua, and when they stop for a break, Antonio asks Juliet if she wants to see Romeo. Juliet does, but she also knows that now isn’t the time for that. At the next town, they find a tavern with some withered roses hanging upside down by the entrance, and Curio and Antonio learn about what happened at the Gradisca mines. Noticing how concerned Juliet is, Francisco suggests that something happening to Romeo is a big deal, so he’s likely to be safe. They eventually arrive at Ariel’s house where there is also a wreath of withered roses hanging upside down by the door, and they are greeted by the elder butler Balthazar and his granddaughter Regan.

Hermione meanwhile gets attacked by bandits who take her carriage and leave her on the side of the road. As she lies there on the ground, her hatred grows as she blames Juliet for stealing Romeo from her. She eventually runs into a man driving another carriage towards Mantua and pays him with a ring to take her there. Back at Ariel’s mansion, Curio asks Balthazar about the withered roses hung at the entranceway and learns that roses are on the Montague family crest. Curio later sees Juliet praying for Romeo’s well being, and he decides to go with her when she wants to head out to do some grocery shopping with Regan. It is during this trip to town that they notice a commotion over a girl who has collapsed. When Juliet rushes over to help, she realizes that the girl is none other than Hermione, but when Hermione recognizes Juliet, she starts screaming. Her hatred boils over to the point where she picks up a rock and tries to attack Juliet with it, and even though Curio stops her, Hermione still manages to yell that she can’t become happy as long as Juliet is around. Hermione eventually faints from exhaustion, so they bring her back to the mansion and Juliet cares for her.

When Hermione wakes up, she quickly looks around and finds a knife lying on the nightstand. She attempts to stab Juliet with it, but to her shock, Juliet stops it with her bare hand. Juliet, however, isn’t mad, and after bandaging herself, she tells Hermione that hurting someone hurts yourself. She also admits to being relieved in being able to meet Hermione since they both have feelings for Romeo, but Hermione makes it clear that she was going to see Romeo, not Juliet. Hearing this causes Juliet to start questioning if Romeo is safe, and upon seeing how desperate Juliet is about it, Hermione reveals that she had heard he is. Juliet is so glad to hear this that she starts crying, and Hermione quietly says that it would have been better if Juliet was a worse woman. The next morning, Hermione demands a carriage to take her back to Neo Verona, and to her surprise, Juliet insists on treating her like a guest and wants prompt arrangements to be made. Before she heads off, Hermione tells Juliet that her coming here is going to be a secret because she doesn’t want Romeo to find out, and Juliet smiles as she watches the carriage depart.

Preview

It wasn’t unexpected to see Hermione and Juliet reconcile their differences a little, but I didn’t think that it would happen so quickly in just this one episode. I guess you could say that it shows that Hermione wasn’t a very strong antagonist. I’m not saying that they should have dragged it on further, but with that taken care of in this one episode, I am left wondering what her role is from now on. At worst she’ll treat Juliet as a rival which probably won’t mean anything since Romeo is unlikely to be swayed towards her. At best she’ll now be an ally who helps out Romeo and Juliet at a critical moment. Maybe she’ll be the one who ultimately offs Mercutio or something if he threatens Romeo, though I suspect Tybalt will still get those honors.
By overall standards, this wasn’t so bad, but in comparison to the episodes so far, this is probably the worst animated one. Almost every shot of Hermione looked off, and a few of Juliet’s did too. The preview looks pretty good though, and since Tybalt’s finally appearing again, hopefully the story can get kicked up a notch too since we haven’t exactly gone through the most exciting string of episodes recently.

23 Comments

  1. Juliet Vs Hermione this week… no Romeo T_T
    so i’m assuming next week will be the episode on Tybalt? ( since the title seems to read Tyrant ~The Pitch-Black Origin~)

    ShiningNinja
  2. So I guess Hermione and Juliet are rallying together to save Romeo? And finally some developement with Mercutio. I wonder what his role in all this will be.

    The animation doesn’t look that bad. I’ve seen much worse *The Third episode 11 coughcough*

    mangaka-chan
  3. The animation was noticeably awkward. I couldn’t help staring at their odd looking eye positions and how their faces were all different compared to every single other episode. Usually, I don’t care about the animation quality but this episode really looked off. I began to think this set of animation team is probably the weakest in the GONZO staff.

    As far as the story is concerned, I’m glad I was a bit off in my last translation. They all stayed in that town except for Hermoine. Also, glad that Hermoine and Juliet both told each other their concerns for Romeo. Now, I don’t have to see Hermoine get so angry over Juliet’s relationship with Romeo so much.

    The official site hasn’t updated their summary yet so no (semi-ok tranlated) Spoiler for anyone tonight. ^_^ But the PV did give me a sparked interest in that one scene…

    Show Spoiler ▼

    tg
  4. Just watched it…yeah, I have to say this was definitely the worst animation yet. Hope they shape up for the next episode. And is it just me or does Mercutio want to off his father. Not that I blame him…his father is pretty damn useless.

    zalem
  5. Hermione=Paris. Why else would they keep bringing her back in the series? The only reason i can think is that she’s supposed be like Paris from the original play. And really, the animation was horrible for this episode. I hope they get better in the next one

    Marie
  6. Ha. When looking at your caps, I was thinking… Why the hell do they all look different? Hermione girl looks like she aged thirty years.

    Then I see your comment about the worst animation so far. And I thought I was being crazy again. 😀

  7. Well, I think with that scene between Juliet tan Hermione they want to imply the strong feelings of Juliet towards Romeo in that kind of situation; instead of despair, Juliet sowed relief and tears of joy after Hermione’s news.

    I’m with you about the animation in this episode. Damn it, I swear they spend like 200,000 yen in this one (or maybe less). Anyway, is good to see the plot advance a little, al least with the two girls who are after their knight in blue armor.

    About the preview, I don’t like that last scene, is like Juliet being pushed down onto the bed….

    Until next week then.

    Syaoran Li
  8. Hermione really seems to be stand-in for Count Paris, and in the play Paris attempted to kill Romeo because he thought he was going to defile Juliet’s grave – only to end up slain by Romeo and dying in his arms as he begged him to bury his corpse next to Juliet’s grave. So… I’m not surprised to see her lose it (I mean, *who* would NOT lose it, in her shoes?) against Juliet, but I’m still displeased not only at the bits of Hermione bashing in the comments here, but at how hasty the “resolution” was. Pheh.

    Maria
  9. I must be crazy; Hermione looks like Rachel McAdams here https://randomc.net/image/RomeoXJuliet/RomeoXJuliet%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2018.jpg

    and yup that screencap with Hermione trying to throw the rock at Juliet is just…peh…Curio looks deformed. And I wonder whether altering Mercutio’s eyes actually mean some character development or is it that the animation team was on crack? Meh, I prefer the old look though.

    ABOUT TIME TYBALT COMES BACK!

    Aurora

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