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「フラワウの花は悪意の香り」 (Furawau no Hana wa Akui no Kaori)
“Furawau’s Flowers Smell of Malice”
Wow. By ACCA‘s standard’s, this episode was almost… exciting. That’s not to knock ACCA or anything, just that full action-mode is not really in ACCA’s character, so… My word, I think I’m coming down with a case of the vapours. Contrast the hit on Lotta, which was almost polite. When it comes Jean, the male heir and the real prize, it’s no-nonsense. Just the golden gun, and bullets.
And it says something about the way ACCA has attuned us to the ways of its cast that even as the gun was raised we could be absolutely sure that Crow would intervene. Because, of course he would. Nino’s loyalty to Jean is absolutely without question, because we’ve seen how it formed firsthand. Speaking for myself, not once did I actually fear for Jean’s life, not only because he’s the protagonist and can’t really die at this point in the story, but also because his protection is guaranteed. Surely, Crow must fall before Jean does. And so I feared for his life more than any other, because a heroic sacrifice would be in keeping with his family history.
Of course, Nino doesn’t actually die, but ACCA has been so very mellow thus far that even the sight of his bloody body (and Jean’s stunned reaction to it) was rather shocking. This was a wake-up call. It’s ironic that this is what drives Jean to act. I get the impression that he wasn’t really enthusiastic about the coup, preferring to skirt around any commitment while probing the situation, but now he’s fully motivated. The assassins, so keen on taking him out of the game, have driven him into it. The plight of the people and the future of the country, while heavy, are still somewhat abstract. But now, it’s personal.
Prince Schwann is certainly poised to fall, what with even his closet aide turning his back on him and all of ACCA (except, perhaps surprisingly, the representative of Suitsu) united against him. It would be annoying to see everything go the Lilium family’s way so easily, though. Lilium has fast cemented himself in villainy. He speaks a language few in ACCA do, one of arrogance and lust for power. I wonder if he can succeed, though. I have no doubt that the oil-rich Lilium family has both money and influence, but to have such confidence that they can install a puppet king and control the whole country? Every district may support Jean, but as we’ve seen, they all have their own reasons to do so. And while Lilium may have played his hand, I’m sure Jean still has a card up his sleeve. And maybe Grossular too.
But really, you two… are you alright?
One episode left, looking forward to how they plan to wrap things up but really don’t want this show to end.
There were a lot of scenes about Branch Supervisor Canary that were cut out that also hint at what kind of place Furawau is. (Not really spoilers but block of text) Show Spoiler ▼
Another detail from the manga left out would be the fact that in the Inspections Dept, the only ones at Branch Supervisor level who know of Jean’s identity are Rocksterra (Pranetta) and now Warbler (Suitsu) who was informed by Rocksterra. When Warbler confronts Jean about the coup, Jean mentions to Rocksterra that she was the only Branch Supervisor to know about his lineage. (She informed Warbler on the assumption that everyone else in the department knew about Jean’s identity)
Read over what I wrote and realized one other point that I wanted to mention about Canary that I forgot.
As we’ve seen so far with a lot of the other branch supervisors and other dept members, we can see that people sometimes get influenced by the district they’re assigned to in some way or another. (Ex: Gaining weight from eating the giant food in Jumõku, getting hooked on fishing / gambling in Peshi / Yakkara, growing hair out long in imitation of Rokkusu men, etc) When assigned to other districts, Canary was the type to never change or get influenced at all by any unique aspects of the districts compared to his fellow dept members which speaks all the more to how unsettling and somewhat terrifying Furawau is given its influence on him.
You know who else isn’t alright? Kanban-chan
Sorry, but since y’all aren’t covering it I figured this was the only place to put it 🙂
1. What? Only one episode left?! Then there isn’t enough time to ship Jean and Mauve. What a pity. Mauve is one of the very few anime/manga characters who are really, really charming.
2. Is the mysterious man who talked on the phone in last episode Jean’s boss? The room looks quite like the department’s meeting room as depicted in this episode. I have long suspected that it was the Chief who shelved Jean’s transfer applications. If he was the mysterious man, are we wrong that Grossular is Abend?
“the Chief who shelved Jean’s transfer applications”
Wait, so Jean really did submitted transfer applications? Ooooh…
“Saudi Arabia’s princes are the problem.”
Makes you think, right?
My bet is that at the end, Jean stays with ACCA and Lotta becomes Queen.
In this world there are no such things as Queen’s with power so Lotta can’t become Queen. It’s the whole reason why the silly prince is being considered at all!
My guess is that Jean will offer the country a choice, stick with the current crown prince, or accept him as king, with the condition that he will be the last King as he will form a republic. Doing that will avoid the control of the Lilium family.
As there is only one more ep, I went and checked the status of the manga. Turns out, it is 6 volumes long and completed. I can’t believe Little Witch Academia has two cours, while this only has 12 episodes.
I think Passerby has mentioned next episode so perfectly I totally agree. I don’t think a district rich in fame and power will be able to take over the nation. Besides, the noble intention of keeping ACCA alive is dominating the puppet regime scheme too. Glad that Lilium is honest about it though.
Also, the King and Nino aren’t technically out yet. No one said anything, you know. I doubt anything will happen here, but still. If the King did a fake out I would want to watch.
‘Passerby’ and ‘perfect’ in the same sentence? I’ll take it.
This series is so good..
Just got to Ep. 11. Some minor issues here and there along the way, but this series is doing a good job of maintaining my interest. Kudos for that. One does raise the proverbial eye-brow about Lilium so absolutely sure that nothing can possiblyy go wrong with his plans. Jean doesn’t strike me as one to make an easy puppet out of. Also, yeah, I wouldn’t count out Grossular either.
Looking forward to next episode.
What is missing is why Lilium thinks it can control Jean or the ACCA. Grossular is under control but the act they had shows the other three chiefs probably independent.
They sort of hint at it but the biggest reason for such high confidence of having complete control is because Lilium family is very powerful itself considering Lilium (of the 5 chief officers) is in a high position and has his older brother as Furawau district chief and younger brother as Furawau’s ACCA branch chief. Furawau itself is in a powerful position considering they provide over 90% of the oil used in Dowa Kingdom so one can’t make an enemy of Furawau and those from Furawau easily. Even in Ep 4 when Chief Officer Pastis chats with Lilium’s older brother, Pastis mentions that it’s common knowledge to not make enemies of the Lilium family and to build connections if possible.