「聖夜の鐘は刻を追いたてる」 (Seiya no Kane wa Koku o Oitateru)
“The Bells of Christmas Eve Toll at the Heels of Time”

It was rather genius and slightly baffling that a part of the answer to the mystery had been shown to the audience for years as a play, and no one had any idea. No one ever questioned why Coco Rose had two actors. Of course the other half of the truth is that Coco Rose is still alive (so they should’ve had three actors 😛). While the mystery itself was relatively straightforward to figure out, there is a question of whether or not Rupert (the king) knows Coco is still alive. Despite Rupert having that extra ticket he gave to Sophie, if he knew he killed the maid afterwards, he would have used the real Coco as a replacement. Personally, I believe Rupert eventually did find out that Coco was still alive, hence the ticket, but will most likely never see her again. Talk about coincidence in running into them when heading back home though. Either way, by the looks of their last words, neither Coco nor Rupert seem to regret their decisions. I’m more irked by Coco, because she cheated on her husband, had a baby, and doesn’t regret it. Talk about a homewrecker. Then again, Leviathan’s side of the romantic story isn’t told, but I’m assuming he mostly used her to get what he wanted. Lest we imagine rape again, I’ll happily assume that initially he wanted to use her, but eventually fell in love with her.

So after refusing to tell Albert who the actual killer was (who probably knows already anyway), as well as the fact that Coco Rose is still alive with her son, the situation diffuses and Victorique is returned back to school. Not what I expected. I guess this was an example of Albert’s “usage” of the Gray Wolf power. I’m still not sure though, because he could’ve just kidnapped a Gray Wolf to solve things for him instead if that was the case, rather than raping one, getting a baby, letting it grow, then talk about filling it with emotions for some reason still untold (is it really just to help solve mysteries? to have empathy?). Regarding Jupiter Roget, he didn’t seem to be too worried after confirming that Victorique has his secret. And the dual Roscoes are still a WTF, while giving yaoi vibes now. Three episodes left, and the next has costumes. Looks like a long arc finale is out of the picture.

 

Preview

37 Comments

  1. Poor Cordelia, having to handle 2 men at the same time. And being mini sized too. Poor woman must be exhausted.

    Victorque with the oversized crown was cute and Kazuya showed much better reactions when covering up the theft of the paper

    Zaku Fan
  2. This arc was a bit of an anticlimax to be honest, it was dragged out and the ‘bad guys’ were kind of pitiful, they just crowded round her like ‘who’s the killer? who’s the killer? who’s the killer?’

    Although Albert, what with the rape and dungeon thing, is an obvious villain he’s quite disappointing at the moment. He just has a vague goal and sits there looking evil. Not impressed.
    Where did all the tension and excitement from the first few episodes go?

    Echo
  3. …wow…talk about value dissonance here.

    Coco Rose is directed responsible for the murder of two women. One who was a loyal servant that had to even abandoned her home for her and the other was a women completely innocent of and unconnected to anything relating to Coco’s sordid actions.

    All because she can’t keep her legs closed.

    She had choices. She could have ran away, she could confessed her mistake, she could have, I don’t know, actually not betray the man who loves her so dearly.

    And yet the story tries to paint her as a tragic heroine. She isn’t.

    But then everyone seems to think that love can excuse the most monstrous behavior.

    But in the end Coco’s just a utter bitch.

    Zzz...
    1. You’re right on the servant but she can’t really be blamed for the 2nd double since that was a plot hatched by Jupiter. Still she has the death of her friend on her conscience and though its not shown, the old woman probably is still carrying that weight and will carry that weight to her death.

      Zaku Fan
      1. To even out the argument slightly, weren’t coco and rupert in an arranged marriage? not to mention leviathan actively seducing coco (well, it was implied anyway since he “used coco”).

        coco’s not really a bitch. she’s just weak-minded.

        as for albert, i really do want to know what his plans for victorique are. the first thought that ran through my head when it was implied that albert knew how rupert was involved was that he was looking for a scapegoat and a quick rise to more power, since the people seem to love coco more than rupert. but that doesn’t really make any sense, so meh on that thought….

        dalman
      2. Sorry, an objective analysis agrees with Zzz that Coco was a bitch. This is the same standard that many managers apply, ie you can have excuses spewing out of every orfice you have but results are all that matter.

        The result is that Coco caused the death of her servant and friend. As noted by Zzz, she had many choices prior the affair, during the affair and after the affair.

        She chose the combination that would result in the death of her double which are “willingly accept relationship with the alchemist”, “willingly have sex with the alchemist and retain the baby”, “run and hide, leaving the baby to her double despite the obvious skin colour betraying his origins”.

        Zaku Fan
      3. Agree that in _retrospect_ Coco made poor choices.
        Do not agree that an objective analysis suggests Coco was a bitch. I don’t know the actual definition of a bitch, but I assume it means you make negative choices with an idea of the consequences.

        The empathetic view would be that Coco made the choices without a complete understanding of the consequences.
        – She did not fall in love to cause deaths, but purely because she couldn’t control her emotions.
        – She did not have sex to spite the king (as far as we know)
        – She retained the child… you could say maybe she was hopeful that it was the king’s child? It’s not like you have evidence to suggest she knew otherwise, they were married after all.
        – The run and hide thing… Well the situation does not warrant objectivity since we lack the fragments of chaos. You have no evidence to suggest the servant was forced into the situation. I could say that the servant was an ultra-bro and sacrificed herself for what she believed in; in fact, SHE FORCED COCO TO RUN AWAY AND STOOD TO FIGHT THE INCOMING DARKNESS, and you would have nothing to argue against that other than lil’ ol’ Victorique’s vague summary.

        Personally, I admire her courage in being able to strive on and be who she wants to be in the wake of these events (from what little I’ve seen of her).
        If Coco starred in a different series, they could have developed a character that’s crying and whines about what happened to them = someone I’d want to punch for being cowardly, but instead Coco is shown to be able to face up to the events in front of her child.

        Hrmmm
      4. @Hrmmm
        “She did not fall in love to cause deaths, but purely because she couldn’t control her emotions.”

        An excuse. Taking action due to your emotion is a choice. You are free to feel something but does not mean you take action based on that something, or else the entire idea of marriage would be stupid as it should be acceptable for men to be “taking action due to emotions” even while married

        “She did not have sex to spite the king (as far as we know)”

        At no time did i say she had sex to spite the king. The fact is agreeing to sex is obviously different from flirting and she agreed to fuck

        “She retained the child… you could say maybe she was hopeful that it was the king’s child? It’s not like you have evidence to suggest she knew otherwise, they were married after all.”

        Unless you have really lousy memory, you will likely remember when you fucked while having an affair. Since you know roughly when the pregnancy occured, when you choose to take the risk it could have been a result of the affair, you are responsible for your choice to all parties involved including the baby

        “The run and hide thing… Well the situation does not warrant objectivity since we lack the fragments of chaos. You have no evidence to suggest the servant was forced into the situation. I could say that the servant was an ultra-bro and sacrificed herself for what she believed in; in fact, SHE FORCED COCO TO RUN AWAY AND STOOD TO FIGHT THE INCOMING DARKNESS, and you would have nothing to argue against that other than lil’ ol’ Victorique’s vague summary.”

        Irrelevant. It is up to Coco to choose to accept any offers of help by her maid.

        As can be seen, the simple yardstick is the word “choice”

        Zaku Fan
      5. I agree with Zaku Fan for the most part. My question is how did Coco even know she was going to be murdered. This may have been explained. I don’t know I got pretty lost with all the exposition in this episode.

        Byakusei
    2. I seem to have value dissoncance with you as well.

      You can’t blame an unfaithful woman for her husband going berserk and killing two women afterwards. That’s firmly HIS responsibility. I know some think differently, but being betrayed in a relationship is NOT a good enough reason to excuse violence and murder. You can only really blame her for being unfaithful.
      If you then add the fact that she probably was not at all happily married like the play goes, but in fact just part of an arranged marriage, I’d think she really is a tragic heroine, looking for love with terrible consequences.

      Zreon
  4. I’m guessing Albert has a more far reaching plan for Victorique, not to solve mysteries but for her to possibly figure out which way the world is going (WW2), or another endgame mystery that has world wide consequences we have not seen yet. I’m sure its more then just a rich guy collecting gray wolves like Jay Leno collects cars.

    Karmafan
  5. I can’t believe what I’m hearing 0_0 the king beheaded two women to cover up a crime of passion!! why is everything falling on coco I mean yes she did cheat on her husband but you guys have to keep in mind they are royalty if she was open about it there would have been terrible consequences. Even when he found out he first instinct was to cut her with a sword 0_0 instead divorcing her, imprisoning her, etc but no he killed her himself. That is sick compared to her cheating on him. Yes she had various options but who really thinks about all that stuff when they are in love. I got the impression that coco and Leviathan loved each other by the way she was talking about him in that final scene. I think what is worst is that the king doesn’t regret committing murder against two women and one who had nothing to do with this. The relationship between her and the servant is still sort of unknown even victoria didn’t understand the full length of their relationship but it seems it happened sometime before the murder. All I’m saying is if we are going to rant on the terrible decisions that she made we need to rant on the king as well who has no regret for killing two women.

    liz
    1. I agree we do not know the circumstances and I am sure Coco did not immediately think death. For all we know the maid came up with the whole thing to impersonate Coco and to protect her dearest friend and Queen. At the end of the day she decided to live and raise her son. She could have turned a way from that baby. In that romanticized way it is quite noble but the unfortunate aftermath. From the kindness in the womans face I assume she lives with the guilt. She does not seem to be an utter bitch.

      KiyoneSaya
      1. I agree with you I think she does live with guilt for the death of these two women. I’m sure she realized that the love she and Leviathan had was wrong but never did she imagine that this would be the consequences of their actions (of course there was going to be consequences but she never thought to this extreme). In a way its interesting how the Leviathan legacy has been carried on through Coco by giving birth to their child and evidently raising it with love. Leviathan went through terrible times when he was alive and in a romanticized way I’m happy to see he found love and left a loving family behind. Overall I think the King here deserves much hate because the first death was a crime of passion (really the dude couldn’t tell the difference between the woman he loved with other look alikes?) and his first instinct was to kill her as oppose to the other options that were available to him as well? the second death was uncalled for and what amazes me is that he killed again. All to cover up what he did and to perserve their “pure love” It really makes me wonder here who is the true villian.

        liz
      2. “I’m sure she realized that the love she and Leviathan had was wrong but never did she imagine that this would be the consequences of their actions ”

        Impossible, it would have occured to her. Note that the monarchy depicted had political power. The shame incurred by the wife of the king having a child of an obviously different race would have rocked the image (and hence support) of the monarchy.

        Being the queen, she would have known that death was a possible consequence. At the very best, she would be exiled or placed under permanent house arrest quietly. There would be no chance her baby would be spared as it was the obvious evidence

        Zaku Fan
  6. I was almost correct.. but, THIS COCO ROSE Mystery WAS AWESOME!

    XD Anyhow, since Coco Rose and Rupert are still alive, along with the African child… does Albert want to bring them together[NOT THAT I BELIEVE ALBERT IS SO GOOD; But maybe he wants the people to lose respect for the royal party?]?

    And… the King himself was responsible for the murder, right? So Victorique could have said that… but maybe she is holding on to an important fact to save the country?

    There is some huge significance to this mystery.
    I CAN WAIT FOR THE NEXT EP!

  7. me loves anything to do with Decapitation!!!!! 1920’s Huh??? the more things change the more they stay the same, there still be racist papi’s even around my hood that would decap a chick if she had some black dudes baby. Good ep, but realistically in early 20th century theres NO WAY that baby would have been spared!

    BROOKLYN otaku
  8. I only recently go around to watching this but an obvious question comes to my mind. If the real coco had already left the castle and the maid impersonating the queen had the african baby when the king came in, how did coco get the baby back? Was there a doppleganger for the baby also?

    Rayzakk

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