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「石の謎)」 (Ishi no Nazo)
“The Mystery of the Stone”
Well, well, well. I did not see this one coming. Fena, Pirate Princess is potentially becoming “The Da Vinci’s Code” of the anime world. The Goblin Knights seem to be guarding a potential descendent of Joan of Arc, Jeanne D’Arc, or “La Pucelle D’Orleans.” Fena has a reputation to live up to if this is in fact the case.
With the exception of that information, there wasn’t much happening in this episode. The crew of the Bonito II made their way to the German village of Libar-Oberstein where they uncovered the origins of the stone leading to the discovery of Joan of Arc; Fena was being trained, to no avail, by members of the Goblin Knight; and the crew made a friend of Arya, the confident stone smith who helped them along the way.
I don’t believe Arya’s character holds much importance to the story (still TBD), but for the time being, her presence is enough to put into perspective the naïveté and immaturity that Fena still has to overcome. If Fena is in fact a descendent of a secret bloodline, she’ll have more to face than just falling for Yukimaru and those searching for her. I wonder if she’ll ever truly be able to stand on her own two feet or continue to stumble through to the finish line, whatever that may be.
There’s a weird sway happening with this series in regards to tonality, a lull coming in after the storm. Some episodes are bloody and explicit while others remain on the innocent, almost childlike tone that exists within anime. It’s a little jarring and it means I never know what’s to come in the next episode. So far, the series has no real cliffhangers (think Kimetsu no Yaiba for instance), and each episode seems to have its own mini-arc. While it does a great job at containing stories within each episode, it’s not doing the best job at keeping viewers wanting more.
I did strongly appreciate the detail in the episode. Once the team entered the workshop, the sound, the visuals, everything seemed to heighten the senses. The book coming off the shelf, the turning of the pages, the breath in the characters’ reactions. It all landed a little heavier than usual. It’s almost as though the episode was built to showcase some of the artwork rather than the story, or at least, that’s how it made me feel.
I’d be curious to know what you think. Are you still enjoying our heroine’s story?
Color me interested. apart from implications of La Pucelle living beyond her historical death date, I’m sucker for historical investigations, and this one seems to be done in right fashion.
At least Royal Navy involvement is easier to understand now, they might have keen interest in keeping lids on story of one of the Island Kingdom mortal enemies eluding death… though how and why of the story is remaining to be uncovered.
I’m still in.
I did actually like this episode, I previously worried/felt Fena didn’t have much to offer before (to the extent that her screentime hurt my enjoyment) so I was pleased to see her aware she needs to find a place on this ship and try her best to contribute (even when everyone just tells her its okay to stay put). I felt like the first half of this episode was needed for me to take Fena seriously as a main character.
Regardless, part of me wonders if the pacing of the show will lead to a satisfactory conclusion by the end of the series, as it is quite light hearted/slice of lifey currently (not that I dislike that as I enjoy the characters hanging out). It tends to lean towards making everything comedic (like in ep 1), so I do worry about its ability to handle more serious plots moving forward in a way that keeps it engaging. I think it has potential though. I will likely follow this through to the end.
Why not actually watch the anime?
What is the point of pre-judging and worrying about what the anime could be like in the future? Just enjoy the journey
I’m not sure what you are trying to say. I DO watch it.
This show has the best memeable faces ever.
Fena has a self-assigned rival :D. A rival that is wholly unaware she’s in a competition.
And also we get a historic twist that i admittedly never saw coming. I can’t say I know where the writers are going with all this, and in Episode 4 it is still very hard to pinpoint the genre of this anime other than adventure.
Arya to me is more of a symbolism for Fena, as seen when Arya spoke with Yukimaru on equal footing. I can see Fena want’s that same kind of dynamic with Yukimaru too and not feel so small in front of him. Though the child in me kind of wonders if these feelings of Fena wanting to be seen as reliable to Yukimaru; will these feelings grow into feeling for each other? (≡ ꙍ ≡ )
I am loving this Anime and so far it hasn’t disappointed me, quite the opposite. It’s a great show for me to watch so I can forget about work and life.
Fena won’t be a potential Joan of Arc if she can’t decipher that cryptic dream with even more confusing choices provided to Fena. Why couldn’t the voice at the beginning just say does thou want calm waters and smooth sailing or do thou prefer storm clouds and rogue waves?
Finding out that Fena may be the descendant of Joan of Arc is not reassuring at all; this means our defenseless damsel will be hunted either to be killed or for some aristocrat to do the dirty dance with Fena. (Yukimaru I want surveillance on Fena every hour at the hour.)
I liked it although Fena is still pretty useless.
Rewatched the dream sequence several times just to make sure that I didn’t hear Maaya Sakamoto who would be the perfect choice as Jeanne D’Arc lol.
Speaking of Jeanne, living in hiding just to sign a document with her name would be kinda dumb, wouldn’t it? So it was probably just someone using her name…