The mastermind behind the chaos is finally revealed.
What They Say:
Princess Asseylum reveals herself to the Earth forces and Slaine remembers the time he spent with the Princess whilst being tortured by Count Cruhteo.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Slaine would’ve made an excellent ally for the Earth forces, but our apparent hero seemed to have some machinations of his own in mind that could make him closer to the traitors of the Vers Empire than the ideal image of the protagonists, unbeknownst to the kind, innocent princess who continues to be manipulated every which way while she puts herself at risk to try her best to stop this war. Thanks to that, Slaine instead spends the episode being brutally tortured by the always lovable Cruhteo and his men, who try to beat out everything he knows so they can take revenge on the Terrans who keep foiling their plans and killing their soldiers. Slaine is what the protagonist should really be like, though, willing to die rather than play into the hands of potential traitors any further, true to his principles above all else, and making up for his weaknesses with sheer willpower. That means a very painful episode for him, and as it escalates it keeps up the dramatic tension for an audience questioning how he’ll get out of it alive and what will be revealed as it plays out all the while.
Meanwhile, our actual protagonist continues to be as dead-eyed as ever, with the contrast between them illustrating his inadequacies as a human being all the more, and making the fact that he’s having casual conversations with Asseylum, who doesn’t mind being called by the nickname she presented before revealing herself, an even more unjust juxtaposition to horribly beaten and humiliated Slaine. But we’ve seen more and more of why Slaine puts the life of the princess above his own as the series has progressed, and with this scene being the ultimate test of that conviction, he thinks back fondly on the rosiest memories he has with her, knowing that they may be the last images he can ever conjure up before his early demise. It’s seemed likely that he’d be joining up with Inaho and his team eventually, Asseylum included, and that would allow them to have a touching reunion that hopefully wouldn’t be spoiled by Inaho pulling protagonist powers and winning over Asselyum’s heart by doing less than nothing. But with the slightly unexpected answer to one of the bigger questions that this entire episode builds up to, Slaine’s current path may not lead him to that role quite so soon.
That question has of course been which Martians are on which side, and Cruhteo has been one of the major characters from the beginning, putting him in the position that could change Slaine’s outcome the most. How the series ultimately chooses to play at redemption and sympathy may prove questionable given the near caricatures it’s presented thus far (likely continuing with the newly revealed evil mastermind), but if it can at least enrich what seemed like a rather stale character we’d be seeing quite a bit of and add more layers to really dig into, it’s better off for it.
In Summary:
After a few episodes of big things going on at all times, this one has a little less actually happening (although Slaine may disagree with that perception), and more of building up tension, forcing the viewers to constantly wonder what truths will ultimately be revealed to themselves and to other characters. This gives the final moments a slightly cathartic feel and potentially builds up some major characters and relationships in more interesting ways than may have seemed likely before this point, as well as revealing who may be one of the major antagonists of the series.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Custom-Built PC, Sceptre X425BV-FHD 42″ Class LCD HDTV.
What’s all this talk about a reveal? He was already revealed to be the mastermind several episodes ago.
Man talk about a beating. If Slaine NTRd after all this, I quit.