Stormy weather should be clearing in time for late day festivities.
What They Say:
Episode #11 “A Passing Wind”
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With very little recap of what happened in the previous episode, we jump right back into the action taking place. Nike, still locked in her prison and literally banging her head against the walls with Livi out there in a flooding marsh looking for the key to the tower where his princess is being kept.
Suddenly the ‘who needs saving’ situation is reversed. Nike is freed by her cousin who can’t bare to see her like that. She rushes down to Livi only to find him lying on the dock, half drowned. The whole time Nike has a running commentary in her head about her love for Livi as she starts trying to resuscitate him. It’s the exact place where you shouldn’t put the opening, and yet it cuts into Nike’s shriek of frustration with it’s happy outlook on things. Graceful is one thing this series has not been.
Livi, being only half drowned, comes to and triumphantly holds up the key for Nike’s grandmother to see. The young royal couple wins, the family is forgiven, and it’s back to a relaxing vacation. The sky even clears for a while so the royal couple has a view of the ocean while they resume their awkward flirting.
This doesn’t exactly excuse everything that has happened. There are still plenty of unanswered questions. Livi learns some of the reasons for the plot from Nike’s mother, who sneaks the young king away to have a heart to heart. Nike has inherited the greatest power, the sort that can sink entire countries beneath tsunami and cyclone. Livi swears to keep Nike safe, although you have to wonder what it would take to get Nike to use that massive power of hers. A threat to her own homeland maybe? A threat to Livi would be most likely. Considering that the manga is still ongoing and that this adaptation ends next week I doubt we’ll ever learn the full extent of Nike’s power.
Nike’s mother get’s her wish to see her daughter in wedding attire as the palace holds a wedding feast for the young couple. That means both get dressed in traditional wedding clothes, which is too adorable. It looks like this wedding will be a lot more relaxed and fun than the official one that will eventually happen back in the Sun Kingdom. However, there are two people missing from the festivities, Kitora and the Grandmother.
At least with Kitora, Livi and Nike are able to track him down and resolve the lingering situation with him. The grandmother though… I have to wonder what she sees in Nike’s future that had her so resolved to keep her in the rain kingdom forever. It couldn’t just have been politics and tradition, could it?
In Summary:
The trip to Nike’s home has brought the young couple even closer together than they were before they left. Nike’s family really does mean well, even if their methodology needs some work. I’m guessing that next week’s finale will have the couple returning to the Sun Kingdom to wrap things up for this adaptation of an ongoing manga series. This has been a wildly uneven show in mood and execution. Will it end on a high note or just fizzle out?
Episode Grade: B +
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment: 27” iMac running OS 10.9.2, via Safari 7.0.4, FIOS 15/5 Mbps connection. Your milage may vary.
