Tears to Tiara - 15 July 15
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Summary:
After experiencing another vision involving the little girl, with this one showing a time when Arawn departed, Riannon finds Arawn outside by himself. He tries to give back the scarf because he can’t promise her anything, but she refuses to take it and asserts that she wants to stay at his side. The next day, the group sets out to attack the Empire’s gathering forces, but they get stuck inside a dark forest, and Rathty and Llyr feel weaker because of what Ogam identifies as the strength sapping magic. When they reach a clearing, their escape route suddenly gets cut off, and a bunch of undead emerge from the swamp. Although there’s some initial hesitation to fight what have turned out to be reanimated corpses of their former friends, Arawn and company have no choice but to do so, however the undead refuse to stay down. Ogam proposes using his magic, but Arawn wants to save it and instead wants to try using a certain magic himself. With the others covering him, he initiates a powerful spell that instantly wipes out all of the undead with a beam of light from the sky.
Since everyone is shocked at what Arawn just did, Ogam explains that it was a holy spell of pure white power. The side-effect of this magic is that it also turns Arawn and his clothes white, and it also triggers a flashback in Arthur of when his father was killed. The person who killed Arthur’s father had claimed to be Arawn and had challenged Arthur to come kill him if he hated him. Driven by this hatred, Arthur now accuses Arawn of killing his father, and he points his sword at Arawn even as Riannon tries to protect him. Not listening to his sister’s pleas, Arthur charges forward, but Arawn gets between him and Riannon and takes the sword in the gut. Regaining his senses only after it’s over, Arthur realizes what he’s done, but it’s too late. Arawn doesn’t blame Arthur though and instead says that he believes in him before he collapses. Sometime later, Gaius hears about what happened, and his spies report that Arthur ran away and that Arawn escaped death but can’t fight, so Gaius gets ready to attack.
Preview
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So for a few minutes this episode, they really, really surprised me and made me think that they were actually killing off the main character. That’s the kind of gutsy plot twist that I’d love to see a series try, and everything here was setting up perfectly for that scenario. But then, right before the episode ends, we find out that no, Arawn really isn’t dead (Gaius apparently has some amazing spies), so it was all for naught, and I have to admit to being a little disappointed. After all that - which even included a slow motion collapse - the least they could have done was to pretend that he was dead as a cliffhanger and saved the Gaius stuff for next episode - that would have been a much stronger way to end the episode.
Still, this was a major step forward in the plot, and it looks like Arawn really was an angel. However, it doesn’t seem to me like the person who killed Arthur’s father was actually Arawn, despite that person saying so. I could see it all being a plot to frame Arawn by the mysterious guy who keeps being briefly shown. On the other hand, Arawn didn’t deny doing it, and he called his past self an ignorant lamb, so maybe it was him. Regardless, Arthur’s drive to kill him soured me on Arthur again because he’s an idiot (even though I suspect something was influencing his actions). Someone should have just knocked him out when he showed that he was about to do something reckless. In any case, it feels like we’re at the really juicy parts of the story now, so I’m excited to see what happens and if there are any surprises in the battle next episode.
Freya at 2:41 am on July 15th, 2009
Wow. Each time I see/read about Arthur, he becomes more and more of a douche.
TypicalMaleTeen at 3:03 am on July 15th, 2009
agreed, arthur is a douche
mangaka-chan at 3:16 am on July 15th, 2009
“…it was a holy spell of pure white power”
I’m sorry, but when I read that I totally took it the wrong way for a sec. ^^; This is what happens after you’ve just had a discussion on racism and ethnic stereotypes at school.
I hope something’s influencing Arthur to do what he did. Because Arawn was still asleep when his father died. He’d have to be completely blinded by rage or else really stupid (or both) to not realize that.
megalith at 4:23 am on July 15th, 2009
I loved this ep. Can’t wait!!!!
Chimasternmay at 4:34 am on July 15th, 2009
wow great episode.
Freya at 4:39 am on July 15th, 2009
@mangaka-chan
ROFLMAO. Took me a bit to get that lol. But yeah Arthur is both. Dumb and filled with rage=bad things to come.
jeffng9 at 4:55 am on July 15th, 2009
next episode looks good
fragbet at 5:12 am on July 15th, 2009
Is this anime trying really hard to make me hate Arthur? What an idiot. As it stands he’s the one person that’s really killing the show for me.
Venire at 6:03 am on July 15th, 2009
Jesus fuck, you people are pathetic, calling Arthur an idiot. He’s been taught a set of morals, and he’s abiding by them. And guess what you morons are doing in your daily life, huh? Exactly. Arthur has been changing his views slowly, and this event will make him practically tumble down that hill of change.
Holding at 6:38 am on July 15th, 2009
So,Arawn is still alive it seems.And Arthur was really out of his mind,but he realizes for what he’s done.Yup,and its was too late.
Gonna watch for another battle this week!
Darklord at 7:10 am on July 15th, 2009
Geez, you guys can’t expect Arthur to remain calm and emotionless when it comes to the person who killed his father. He’s been seeking him and hating him all his life.
He realized his mistake and now he’s sorry for it. If it was one of the girls who did this you would be willing to forgive easily, but you hate him only because he’s a guy.
Damn double standards…
Black_Otaku at 9:42 am on July 15th, 2009
I HATE ARTHUR!!!! He’s the biggest ass I’ve seen in anime to this date. Does anyone find it ironic that Arawan is Arthur’s killer? At first I was distrusting of Arawan, but now I think he’s more trusting than Arthur. I can’t wait for the next episode!
ShiroiRyu at 10:13 am on July 15th, 2009
I really liked this episode…
But for the cliffganger, it’s sad…
But Arthur & Arawn are really enjoyable characters !
Ninjikiran at 10:35 am on July 15th, 2009
arthur has only proven one this in this entire series, the fact that he is just a brutish barbarian =P
fragbet at 11:13 am on July 15th, 2009
@ Venire
Yes Arthur keeps to his morals. Morals that proven to be rather foolish and one-dimensional as the rest of the cast has shown. And the problem here is that Arthur keeps resetting. You’d think by now he would have gotten more mature with the development he had, but each episode makes him annoyingly stupid again.
@Darklord
When Morgan tried to kill Arawn they didn’t know each other. When Octavia tried to kill Arawn, they were enemies. When Arthur tried to kill Arawn, Arawn had been the established leader of the tribe and brought them peaceful lives and military victories as well as a mentor for Arthur. And then he just saved everyone’s lives from zombies. All of which is conveniently forgotten because of his my father’s killer issues at a critical time when they are about to battle the empire
There is no double standard here and its most certainly not because he’s a guy. Bottom line: Arthur’s an idiot and it’s fifteen episodes already. Where’s the alleged “maturity” that Arthur had? Will Arthur finally stop being stupid? Maybe maybe not, but as it stands he’s my most disliked character of this show until the show can change my mind.
Darklord at 11:35 am on July 15th, 2009
@Venure: See, when it’s a girl being blamed, people like you will always find some excuse to justify her actions, while when it’s a guy they will find one no to. When most people see boobs, they are willing to forgive anything. You are doing exactly what I expected. I can easily turn it around and say Arthur had the best reason to attack him being suspect that he is his father’s killer as opposed to just being an unknown potentially dangerous stranger or being an alleged enemy just because the Empire says so. But why bother…I will never change your mind. I am pretty sure Arthur will mature in the coming episodes, but the opinion of him won’t ever change - that’s what happens when people are so extremely biased.
Darklord at 11:35 am on July 15th, 2009
^Sorry, the above is directed to fragbet…
fragbet at 11:43 am on July 15th, 2009
@Darklord
Being presumptuous aren’t you? I hate idiocy, doesn’t matter if there a huge set of knockers. Morgan is an idiot but she has little significant screen time that has any significant impact to the plot. And I haven’t justified any girl who did something stupid.
Holding at 12:23 pm on July 15th, 2009
“…my friend…”
Is that what Arawn says to Arthur when he collapses?
Eld at 1:11 pm on July 15th, 2009
yea medieval seed mode!!