Allison & Lillia – 07

「託された者たち」 (Takusareta Monotachi)
“Entrusted People”

In order to grant Fiona’s request, Allison and the others stop by the Sou Beil base to borrow some airplanes. Using his hero status, Benedict also asks for one of the latest fighter planes to be prepared, unbeknownst to the maintenance crew that Allison’s planning to snatch it for her own personal use. (i.e. sightseeing with Wil.) While Benedict feels he’s just a fake hero anyway, Allison says that he is one to Wil and her, and probably to Fiona as well.

Wil then recalls Mrs. Muto always telling him to be extremely cautious once you see that sparkle in Allison’s blue eyes, while Fiona worries about burdening Benedict with this request. After Benedict reassures Fiona that it’s fine, the two of them take off in a plane together, only to fake an emergency landing shortly after. During the commotion, that sparkle in her eyes was indeed a warning, as Allison drags Wil over to “borrow” the new fighter plane. The soldiers at the base however, give chase. Without an ample runway to take off, Allison drives the plane through the city streets and finally to the Slankalance gorge, where she plunges the plane in. Gaining speed from the fall, Allison pulls the plane up, catapulting it into the air.

With both planes airborne and heading towards Kunst now, Wil is a bit worse for wear after going through the pursuit ordeal. In Benedict’s plane, he notices how Fiona often grasps her chest, which makes him believe she’s concealing something really important underneath. While Benedict is captivated by her smile, Fiona explains that she’s an imposter and that the real Francesca died in the fire ten years ago. She plans to head to the capital now to lie about being the sole survivor of the role family.

Naturally, this comes as a surprise to Benedict and he wonders why she told him this, to which Fiona simply said she wanted someone to know. She then explains her reasons for doing this (while we as the viewer are left out of the explanation), which surprises Benedict even further, but now understanding the situation, he agrees to help. Pleased that he understands her circumstances, Fiona praises Benedict for being the renowned hero; however, Benedict reveals to her the truth about the discovery of the mural in return.

Meanwhile, Wil asks Allison what the really important thing she had to talk to him about is, which causes Allison to panic and become all flustered. Unable to tell him in this situation, Allison drops the discussion and instead asks if Wil thinks Fiona is a real princess. Wil is unsure, while Allison wonders why one would lie about that in the first place. Allison then imagines those two revealing to one another that they’re imposters and running off to Fiona’s village to live together, which makes her extremely envious. In any case, the two of them decide to find out the truth for themselves since they’ve come this far. Allison’s imagination wasn’t as wild as they thought though, as her and Wil look back to see Benedict confessing his feelings for Fiona and kissing her hand.

After taking her anguish out on Wil by flying around randomly, the four of them make their way to Kunst, where a crowd has gathered for Owen Nicht’s speech. Benedict advises Allison to remain in the air circling around, while he makes a landing right into the crowd. After declaring himself to be the hero who discovered the mural, Benedict and Fiona make their way up to the podium alongside Owen and Police Inspector Warren. Back in Fiona’s village, the chief and the others are listening to the speech on a radio.

Owen and Warren are pleased to meet Benedict, with the latter suspiciously taking notice of Fiona. Benedict then asks if he can speak to the crowd for a bit, to which Owen agrees, but he asks him to help promote opposing independence. Shocking everyone around, Benedict introduces Fiona as Francesca, the princess of Ikstova; however, before she can speak, Owen steps in demanding to know what’s going on.

 

Next Episode:
「王女様と英雄」 (Oujo-sama to Eiyuu)
“A Princess and a Hero”

Impressions:
As expected, Owen Nicht wasn’t very happy to hear the announcement that Fiona is the princess of Ikstova. What was even more interesting this episode though, was how Fiona revealed that she’s just an imposter and that the real Francesca died 10 years ago like everyone suspected. While she explains to Benedict her reasons for fooling everyone, we’re unfortunately left out of the loop for now. Given how Benedict said it was the most surprising thing to him since the discovery of the mural and how he adamantly decided to support Fiona, I’m assuming her reasons are just.

As for the Benedict x Fiona pairing, it took off a bit too fast for my liking, so it seemed a bit unreasonable. Allison’s reaction to seeing Benedict kiss Fiona’s hand and calling her “Fi” pretty much sums up my thoughts—“they just met a while ago, how can they be getting along so well already?” In any case, the story is progressing along rapidly, so I’m assuming this is one of the corners they cut for the anime. For those of you who are familiar with the novel, this would be a good time to let me know if they skipped a bunch of character development or not. ^_^

Aside from those two, I still enjoy watching the Allison x Wil pairing, given how Allison always drags Wil into such reckless and unreasonable situations. In the first half of this episode, it was just that, when Allison stole one of the latest fighter planes just because she wanted to fly it. It was a bit surprising to see Benedict help her out in her little scheme, but I guess when you’re “the” hero, you can get away with anything short of murder. Allison’s outgoing nature is so opposite of how Wil’s like, so watching Wil’s reactions to everything she did this time around was quite amusing. Personally, I think Allison should be a little more grateful with how Wil puts up with it all without too much complaining. =)

Next episode, it looks like Owen is abducting Fiona since he’s not too fond of the idea that an Ikstova royal family member survived. We should also find out more about Fiona’s past and probably her reasons for fooling everyone. As indicated by the preview, I kind of expected that Francesca was Fiona’s friend, so I’m thinking Francesca asked Fiona to do something if anything should happen to her. The two of them do look awfully alike, so maybe they’re more than just friends. Until next week!

 

Cast:
– Allison (アリソン) / Mizuki Nana (水樹 奈々)
– Wil (ヴィル) / Kumai Motoko (くまい まとこ)
– Benedict (ベネディクト) / Yamadera Kouichi (山寺 宏一)
– Fiona (フィオナ) / Noto Mamiko (能登 麻美子)
– Owen Nicht (オーエン・ニヒトー) / Hayami Shou (速水 奨)
– Police Inspector Warren (ワレン警部) / Utsumi Kenji (内海 賢二)
– Captain (大尉) / Fukumatsu Shinya (ふくまつ 進紗)
– Maintenance chief (整備班長) / Konno Jun (金野 潤)
– Sergeant (軍曹) / Shimura Tomoyuki (志村 知幸)
– Child (子供) / Kodaichi Yuuki (小平 有希)
– Mother (母親) / Teratani Mika (寺谷 美香)