「覚醒」 (Kakusei)
“Awakening”

If last week was too much sad and not enough cute, never fear, because Sei is here. Quite literally in terms of plot too considering the new bits of magic she’s now displaying. Sei may not yet officially be the Saint – but I think it’s not long now before that’s publicly set in stone.

Although I was expecting Sei to finally go on her expedition sometime before season’s end, I didn’t anticipate it happening so damn soon, especially in light of Aira’s moment in the spotlight. With all those reveals from last time you’d honestly expect a measure of conflict to sprout, for Sei to face down Kyle one last time and bring about a resolution regarding her and Aira. And then, you know, get an expedition for some paradoxical stress relief. It does make some sense though to play it up now; Sei’s Saintly powers are now blatantly obvious, they’ve been witnessed firsthand by both Albert and Yuri, and they’ve been manifested in a setting where their veracity cannot be doubted. Sure, it may not have been the most exhilarating bit of action to ever grace such awakenings, but given the accompanying scenery, I’m willing to overlook such things.

What intrigues me most outside of Seis’ burgeoning Saint powers though is her personal growth. We know full well how mature Sei is in relation to Aira for example, but this episode in combination with the last highlights well how open, willing, and eager Sei has become to embrace and accept her new life. There’s been a shift on Sei’s part, a loosening of her reserved nature that while deceptively subtle is now easily noticeable at certain moments. It’s nothing major when you get down to brass tacks of course, but the chemistry Sei has with the likes of Albert, Johan, and Yuri (particularly her romantic chemistry with Albert) yields a degree of character development which just feels natural and appropriately paced. Seijo no Maryoku does many things right, but it is its treatment of its characters which I think may be its main selling point.

We’re also well-set to see more of that treatment soon too, because once Sei returns from her adventure, courtly affairs are guaranteed to get a little hectic.

 

Preview

8 Comments

    1. Feeling-wise without a doubt. If there was a definitive structure or method to it Yuri would’ve filled in Sei on it to see it in action, but his uncertainty firmly suggests it’s unique to the Saint, and thus emotional or feelings based.

  1. >We’re also well-set to see more of that treatment soon too, because once Sei returns from her adventure, courtly affairs are guaranteed to get a little hectic.

    I have now a little Fear, that our Prince want to Show them that Aira is the “true” Saint and go with her into some other Woods to kill even a stronger Enemy. But as you can guess it all goes wrong because of the Prince arrogance

    Sei and her “bellowed” Commander rush to the scene and want to Save them. It all happen so sudden that the Commander hijack an Horse and pull Sei up and they Ride to the Scene, so that the Grand Magus fall a bit behind

    But, lets see. Perhaps i am also totally wrong here

    Worldwidedepp
    1. The Prince isn’t that stupid. Despite his misjudgement during the first episode, he is intelligent enough to know when he is wrong, and he has chosen just to keep acting this way.

      Tegual
  2. I dunno if I’d concur about Sei’s growth or character development. I’d characterize it more as her responding to her environment. You put a wasting plant in some fresh soil and feed it water and sunlight… before long you have growth and eventually flowering. It’s not really noteworthy.

    As to accepting her new life, it hasn’t really been much of a competition so far. Her old existence lacked joy, passion or purpose, and was maybe without a single positive element in it (at the very least, any are hidden to us). In contrast, in this world the highest, mightiest, most powerful, most dashing, most everything men in the world are climbing over each other to pay attention to her. Her wish is their command. They vie to give her unique and precious gifts. Her days are spent doing important and meaningful things — not only to them or the populace as a whole, but as with all the healing she does, to her as well. She’s where she wants to be and with the people she likes most. Instead of working 15-hour days which go unnoticed and unappreciated, and going home to an empty, silent house, here they chide her (gently) for working too hard and show gratitude for every effort she makes.

    While the story may change, at this point it’s Salutania 100, Earth 0.

    Mockman
    1. Yeah it can be classified as response as well. I was honestly hard-pressed describing it (lack of sleep not helping XD) because her change has been subtle, but tangible and somewhat different than the usual sharp bursts of development other isekai protagonists usually receive.

      Regarding her new life I’d be hesitant to say there’s no competition. While undeniably better, it still wouldn’t be an immediate adaption even for Sei given how abrupt and different the change is. I think the time skips the series has utilized are a good way of showing this as it’s been months since she arrived but the past couple of episodes are now where she’s openly in love with this world.

      1. It took a while to come up with a word. I wasn’t sure at first what the distinction I wanted to make was, just that one needed to be made 🙂

        As to her past life, while we’re only shown what the creators want us to see, we do know that Sei hasn’t expressed any interest in returning anywhere once they let her out of the box. Offhand, maybe since the first episode. Human nature is that we feel nostalgic from time to time but if all it takes is a couple of months to obliterate her connection to her past, she doesn’t have anything to return to. And it’s likely the feelings you refer to are only going to grow deeper from here on out.

        Mockman

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