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Last we saw, Anne was head-to-head with Jonas in making a Candy Sculpture that’ll please the Duke…
Content
Well, this episode begins with Anne trying to increase the accuracy of her sculpture, but when she shows it to the Duke, he grows frustrated, telling her that she’s not improving from her first attempt. Anne goes to check out the portraits of the fairy the sculpture is made after, and runs into Jonas, who says he’s going to quit. He has a bruise on his cheek, suggesting the Duke has hit him after seeing his sculpture.
The next time Anne shows the Duke her sculpture, he throws it into the ground, shattering it. Both Challe and Lid Pod suggest Anne quit after that, saying that the Duke likely is expecting something that can’t be replicated. Anne refuses.
Our next sequence shows Challe and Anne talking about Liz after Anne learns Challe is 100 years old. (Yikes.) Anne asks what Liz was like, and Challe says she was mature more than anything. This causes Anne to cry, likely because she doesn’t feel like she’ll ever mature as a woman. I really hated this scene.
Well, when Anne returns to her room after leaving, she finds Jonas holding Lid Pod hostage. He tells Anne that she has to “break up”, sort of, with Challe, and tell him that he has to leave the castle and never show up in front of Anne again. If she does that, then he’ll return Lid Pod’s wing to Lid Pod.
Anne does this, but doesn’t face Challe while she does it. Challe seems hurt, or at least annoyed, but agrees and leaves the castle. Jonas refuses to give Lid Pod’s wing back after that, unless Anne goes to see the Duke with Jonas tomorrow. Anne reluctantly agrees.
When they go and see the Duke, Jonas says that they both want to quit. After the Duke gets angry, Jonas begs to leave, saying that Anne can stay instead of him. Okay, dude, Anne was going to stay regardless if you quit or not, you don’t have to hold Lid Pod hostage and make Challe leave… literally, this section made no sense to me.
We cut to Challe, who runs into Hugh. Hugh is approaching the Duke’s castle with a warning that it’ll be attacked soon unless the Duke pledges his respect and submission to the other nobles of the area. It seems as though the Duke has holed himself up in his castle and is not actively participating in the politics of the area. Challe agrees to go with Hugh back to the castle, since Anne is there, and he’s worried about her.
The final sequence shows Lid Pod and Anne looking at the fairy’s portrait once again. Anne seems to have a “Eureka” moment, and tells Lid Pod to take his wing and leave the castle as well. Lid Pod says he’ll go look for Challe and tell him the truth about why Anne turned him away. Anne agrees.
Opinions / Analysis
This episode felt extremely weird. Jonas is acting a fool for no reason. There was no real reason why Anne had to turn away Challe, either — like I said, Anne had no intentions of quitting regardless if Jonas quit or not. He didn’t know that, I understand, but he didn’t exactly ask either.
Also, the scene of Anne thinking so poorly of herself hurt to watch. Yes, teenagers are actually like that, but the series isn’t showing this while saying, “Look what Teenagers are worried about” — the message isn’t, “teenagers shouldn’t worry about this kind of thing.” The message is, “Anne is worried she isn’t good enough for Challe.” She’s freakin’ 15. She doesn’t have to be good enough for anybody.
Also… one final thing. It’s weird that Japanese media has this “never give up, no matter how horrible it is” mentality… like, Anne is 15. There’s no reason for her to put up with abuse from somebody who’s supposed to be a client. Jonas lowkey has the right idea here; just leave! It’s genuinely not worth it. But for convenience, I guess it’s whatever.
It felt like this was just too convenient, and yet inconvenient at the same time. There are definitely better episodes than this one so far in the season, in my opinion at least.
