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「夜霧にうかぶ真実」 (Yogiri ni Ukabu Shinjitsu)
“The Truth Emerges in the Night Mists”
ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu-ka has always been understated about all sorts of the thing, mainly because its characters very rarely ever spoke their minds in a direct fashion (except, of course, about love of food; the love even leaks out of the subconscious). But, curiously enough, it never actively hides all that much from the audience. In a full-on political intrigue or mystery story, one might expect red-herrings, false-flags, and innuendo everywhere. Not ACCA though. Where each character stands and what they’re doing there is usually clear enough, or at most an open secret. Even the most suspicious characters (by which I mean Grossular, most of the time, and also anyone with a goatee on any show) don’t actually lie, at least not to our faces. They’re just reserved. And when pushed for answers they’re awfully happy to let the secrets go free.
And thus it is this episode, where ACCA has judged that most of the audience should have figured out the mystery that the little hints and oblique lines of dialogue have pointed to, and decides it’s a good time to spill everything at once. Jean is told upfront that he’s a royal. Crow more or less confirms that he works for the king. Issues of age and ancestry are raised. The conspiracy around Jean begins to actually take shape—by which I mean it’s always had shape, and we the audience always sort of knew, but it’s now that Jean is aware of it forming around him. It’s a turning point; Jean’s never had much interest in his personal affairs before, but now that he’s forced to take a good look there’s actually a lot there. It’s not that much mystery or that intrigue; it’s just that Jean has never actually bothered to find out anything about himself. And when he does, information flows very easily.
ACCA‘s honesty serves to remove any sense of malice in much of the cast. It’s not that they’re not tricky—after all, we have the king arranging a meeting with Jean through his baker and his spy without the knowledge of his royal guard (because they perhaps answer to the Privy Council?)—but there’s no actual villain in sight. Lots of scheming, but somehow no ill-will. The closest thing we have to a chief antagonist (so far) is the prince, but while he’s clearly sharper than one may first believe, he hasn’t actually done anything yet. He does make a great foil for Jean, though. Consider Jean as a pretender challenging the prince’s claim for the throne. The prince has been sheltered in Dowa all his life, while Jean routinely travels all the provinces. The prince wants to dismantle ACCA, Jean is an ACCA bureaucrat. Jeans like wheat bread, the prince does not. Blonde-haired-blue-eyed Aryan master race though they both be, and though they’ve met only once, they’re already opposing characters. Lines can be drawn in the sand, and every player can take a side.
But, when the king was asked which portrait he liked best, he answered: all of them.
I want a portrait of Mauve to put in my wall.
What a woman.
About the twist… not really a twist. Who didn’t knew at this point, really?
Wonder what Jean will do. He could take part in the coup and be the new king. It’s the transfer that he so wanted and Lotta could eat all the sweets she wants.
Can you call it a coup if he is the legal successor? Supposedly he is the son of the second daughter and in his 30’s while the current crown prince is the son of the 3rd daughter and has only just come of age (18?? 20??). That makes Jean the rightful heir.
IMHO it’s only a coup if the King does name the current prince as his successor and Jean and cronies go against it, although perhaps the the potential threat of that happening that has stopped the King naming his successor, or perhaps the King wants Jean to be King??
You’re right.
i love mauve she’s my blue acca of this season, and mauve is already portraited in my heart.
jean got the hots for her like hell he can’t stop thinking about her just like myself.
https://randomc.net/image/ACCA%2013-ku%20Kansatsu-ka/ACCA%2013-ku%20Kansatsu-ka%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2003.jpg
sooooooo coooooooooool. mauve banzai. maybe i should start a coup for her sake.
https://randomc.net/image/ACCA%2013-ku%20Kansatsu-ka/ACCA%2013-ku%20Kansatsu-ka%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2011.jpg
Is it wrong that I’m still hoping Jean is somehow revealed as a villain who’s actually organizing the coup out of revenge for his parents or something? >_>
ACCA really surprised me, it’s quite different from other shows I’ve seen that involved politics.
I’m looking forward to re-watching it after it’s done just to give meaning to all the subtle interactions between characters, after knowing all the ‘answers’.
I love this series. It is reminiscent of The Sixth Sense (1999 movie) and Subete ga F ni Naru/The Perfect Insider (2015 anime), in which even though many clues are given early in the stories to reveal the major plots, the audience are still very curious to know about the back stories and/or how the rest of the stories will unfold. In case of The Sixth Sense, the subsequent development is emotionally satisfying; in case of Subete ga F ni Naru, the back story turns out to be interesting, but the ending, in particular the murderer’s motive, is unfortunately unconvincing.
So far, the development of ACCA remains intriguing. While the true identities of Jean and Lotta are now revealed, I’m still longing to know what exactly happened in the past and what will happen next. I hope the second half of the story is even more attractive than the first half.
Indeed, bit of a shame about how Subete ga F ni Naru ended, but it was on the whole quite interesting.
I think that in very character-driven shows like ACCA, why things happen are more important than what actually happens. The real reveals, I would say, are about character motivations and how they got that way.
I enjoy how this show is demonstrating how to have a story dependent on conflict but there is no “evil.”
It’s just ordinary humans doing ordinary, imperfect human things.
Like eating! Lots of eating. Hopefully the cake isn’t a lie.
I can’t agree more, but that there are no (major) evil characters is actually a long-standing form of Japanese drama. Two notable examples are Legend of the Galactic Heroes (1982 novel, 1988 OVA) and Atsuhime (1984 novel, 2000 TV drama). Most major characters are acting out of good intentions, but the clashes of ideals cause conflicts and sometimes tragedies. I think this is also the case here in ACCA, although the train accident was possibly really an accident rather than the result of an assassination attempt.
Its not wrong to be addicted to Mauve right? (and her seiyuu <3)
Because every time shes on screen, my eyes naturally adverted to focus only at her instead of the whole story or even the subtitles XD and i have to rewatch the same part twice to get myself back to the story…was hoping to get much info about her but too back wiki didnt say much.
And about Jean being royalty, its no surprised when plenty of fans speculated it already :/ rather than surprised, im quite disappointed because i knew it already. I was hoping it was only Lotta and Jean is acting as her personal bodyguard instead. But oh welp.
Interesting episode. It clarified a few things, but added a few more questions.
Since it clarified who Jean & Lotta really are, we get questions about their personal guard(s). One is assigned to the prince and one to Jean & Lotta’s mother. That leaves Nino as the one assigned to those two siblings. But he seems to focus a lot more on Jean, he even joined ACCA. Does that mean there’s someone else assigned to Lotta?
The description of their mother’s guard also sounds suspiciously like Grossular. Then again there are a lot of people who looks like him in his district. At least it explains where he came from.
I just rewatched the King’s dinner party and I have to ask, how many people actually know about Jean? If there is a coup centred around him, the question becomes is it really a coup? Perhaps they just have a preference on who should become king. Considering the succession rights, it really doesn’t sound like a coup at all. Though it would have been easier if they allowed a Queen and consort. Kinda reminds me of Japan.
Finally about Mauve. Damn she’s good. Doesn’t jump to conclusions and checks things thoroughly. Her assessment of Jean was practically spot on. Most of it was based on third party reports too. She seems to be one the few people that gets the plot rolling. Can’t wait to see what she does in the future.
Nino have been raise since birth to be both guard and friends of both Otus child. It’s a bit like the ‘best friend’ in Truman Show where the friend is in on the secret, but the main character is ignorant of it. It puts his relationship in a different perspective.
https://randomc.net/image/ACCA%2013-ku%20Kansatsu-ka/ACCA%2013-ku%20Kansatsu-ka%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2031.jpg
I guess Jean is assassinated by the prince. But by that time he has a child with Mauve, which follow the king on the throne. Nico will take care of the state while the child is too young to reign.
I remember Nino saying in one peisode that Jean didn’t notice anything at all in thirty years … That makes sense now ^^; …
Jean and Lotta really standout among other characters but maybe i was the only dumb enough to don’t notice the royalty matter XP … I bet that is beacause this anime doesn’t have an overthinking fandom or i didn’t read as much conspiracy theories as with other series ^^; he …
I hope that this doesn’t turn out to the prince being too nasty or whatever :/ …