In general, I wasn’t that impressed with this episode. It wasn’t that Ferris, Ryner, or any of the other main cast weren’t interesting (they were), but I just couldn’t force myself to care about any of the side plots. I mean, was I supposed to care that Fiole was murdered? The last time he had any real screen time was in the first episode and he was never going to be a main character anyways. I found myself even more apathetic when it came to the citizens of Imperial Nelpha.
Aside from Dango, it seems that sex is all she thinks about.
Though I didn’t really care that Fiole was murdered, the show has made it clear that it is willing to kill off people without hesitation. Whether or not that translates to important characters kicking the bucket, Book of Bantorra style, remains to be seen, but this anime does have its fair share of blood thirsty characters. If nothing else, Fiole’s death saved us from hearing more about Sion’s mundane tax planning problems. Unfortunately, this episode’s Sion centric story didn’t reveal anything we didn’t already know since the first episode. The other part of the episode featuring Ryner and Ferris wasn’t that much better. Save the comedic portions, the duo met Toale, a disowned heir to the Nelphan throne, and the rest of the episode’s focus was showing how good of a guy he is. It wasn’t the dullest thing I’ve ever watched, but it certainly wasn’t exciting.
If I wanted to hear about taxes, I would be working.
As indifferent as I am to Fiole’s death, I must say that I find Miran Froaude to be one of the show’s most intriguing characters after just one episode (though I think he made short appearance in episode 1). The thing I love about this guy is that he just oozes evilness, despite his ridiculous get up. His whole dark side speech along with the music playing in the background would seem to seal the deal. But all these not so subtle clues lead me to believe that he may not be so evil after all. In fact, I’m getting a sort of Paul von Oberstein from the Legend of the Galactic Heroes feeling from this guy in that /SPOILERS/ we may go throughout the entire series waiting for him to betray Sion, but in the end all he really cares about is his job, and maybe even a puppy, too /SPOILERS/. Likewise, there will likely be a lot of tension between him and Sion’s other generals, who seem to be do-gooders.
Seriously?
If I had to pick one highlight in this episode, and this series, it continues to be the interactions between Ryner and Ferris. Remarkably, I finally noticed something that is, with 20/20 hindsight, fairly obvious from the first four episodes. Ferris’ personality in episodes 1 and 5 is markedly different than the others that focused on the past. Though the pervert joke is only two episodes old you can see that the general tone in Ferris’ delivery from when they first met in episode 4 is vastly different from what it was in this and the first episode. I got the sense that being in foreign country far away from the influence of Lucile she may be a little less stiff than she would be otherwise. Additionally, I’m sure that hanging around Ryner for a while may have also contributed to her personality change. That leads me to my next point, which is to question the time frames introduced in this episode and the first, and to ask how long Ryner and Ferris have been traveling.
Ferris' beauty obligates me to include this picture
Looking back to the first episode, I am somewhat confused by the two different timelines. In one part of the first episode Sion saves Fiole, and in the other, Ryner and Ferris are fighting the rock monster. However, the Ryner/Ferris part of this episode didn’t tie up the loose ends from the first episode. Could this episode’s Ryner/Ferris story have taken place before the first episode’s Ryner/Ferris story? If so, I don’t understand why the story is so poorly organized. If it isn’t, I really don’t understand why we can’t get more continuity between episodes.
Anyway, it looks like this was the first in a multi episode arc, so I’m not really that upset at the lack of action in this episode. In fact, I don’t really mind when an entire episode is devoted to political intrigue, but it needs to be intriguing. If Sion’s only opposition for the entire series turns out to be the weak anti-king movement, this show will suffer. As unlikely as that scenario is, I would like for something exciting to happen in Roland.
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