The crown prince is a real hard ass, and the next in line to make Shirayuki’s life miserable.
What They Say:
Episode #6: “The Back Full of Meaning”
Zen’s older brother Izana is back at the castle, and he summons Shirayuki. What does Izana want with her?
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Back from the trip north Zen and Shirayuki return to the palace just in time for the crown prince Izana to return.
Prince Izana doesn’t resemble Zen so much as Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle. He’s about as standoffish and tricky as Howl too. He seems to be out to test Zen’s resolve in the most roundabout way. He adds about twice the number of guards to the castle as usual and waits until his brother notices before summoning him. The relationship is obviously strained and the interaction between the two stilted and uneasy. Izana rakes Zen over the coals about how he didn’t punish the soldiers for their screw up. Then he calls in Shirayuki as what can only be construed as a thinly veiled threat. It’s clear nothing escapes Izana’s notice. The passive-aggressive games he plays with Zen are infuriating to watch.
This is also the episode where it’s the clearest that Zen and Shirayuki are not quiet romantically attached yet. This is still a mostly one-sided relationship where Zen seems to be pining for her more than she is for him. When Izana invites the pathetic Prince Raj to the castle as a chance at furthering diplomatic relations the plan backfires spectacularly. Raj doesn’t pick up on the game being played and ends up putting Zen on the spot in the opposite way that Izana likely intended, blurting out that Shirayuki is Zen’s fiancee. The mistake and the reaction following it are priceless. Zen drags Raj away to correct him in private before returning to explain the misunderstanding to his brother.
Shirayuki, on the other hand, only hears the first half of the confrontation and fears she’s about to be deported back to her home country in the arms of Raj. Obi had snuck her close enough to the garden gathering to eavesdrop, but upon fearing for her future she returns to work. By the end of the day she catches a glimpse of Zen talking to Lord Haruka and decides not to approach. The episode ends with her still worrying that she’ll be driven away from the castle and her new home by Izana.
This episode is filled with some great body language and facial expressions. The dialog, however, suffers from some clunky language and vague sentiments. I can’t tell if the original script is full of flowery court speech or just needlessly obtuse. It takes away from the emotions on display when I spend time trying to sort out what the characters are actually saying.
In Summary:
Just when it looked like everyone was about to slide into an easy day-to-day life the first prince Izana returns. We don’t know why Izana is so hard on his brother, we’ll likely find out next week. Until then we only have his behavior to judge by. While Lord Haruka was all bluster and a full on classist, Izana doesn’t seem to disapprove of Shirayuki as much as he does his own brother. For once this trouble may not be about our red-haired herbalist but her budding love interest! Despite all that, this might be the situation which forces Shirayuki into a shoujo heroine miscommunication trap. Hopefully Zen can head his brother off at the pass and put Shirayuki’s heart at ease before the situation can escalate further.
Episode Grade: B +
Streamed by: Funimation
Review Equipment: 27” iMac running OS 10.10.3, via Safari 8.0.6, FIOS 15/5 Mbps connection. Your milage may vary.
Sadly, Izana does seem like he’s been brought in mainly to be a source of conflict and misunderstanding. I hope that things will turn out to be more interesting than that in the end, but we seem set upon a conventional path at the moment.
This episode was a step back in quality for me. Whenever it’s done so, its been when it retreats into stereotypical shoujo tropes. There is one issue that does provide some potential positives: WTF is Izana up to? Depending on what that answer is, I expect this episode to rise or fall grading-wise once that has been revealed.
Yes, the “vague sentiments,” as Kate says, of some shoujo (well, any relationship-based anime, I think). Either hiding something too simple, or something at least slightly intriguing–of Izana testing the mental toughness and dedication of his younger brother. But Shirayuki possibly gets used as a tool in this game in the mean time. I don’t know; a precipitous episode.