“What I Wish To Protect”
What They Say:
Philia’s family has produced saints for generations. It’s no surprise that she’s known as the greatest saint of all time—and set to marry the second prince, Julius. What no one expects is for Julius to call off the engagement, claiming that Philia’s perfection makes her charmless and unlikable. To add insult to injury, Philia is packed off to a neighboring country in exchange for gold and resources, forcing her to leave her homeland! Despite bracing herself for mistreatment, Philia finds a warm welcome in her new town, where she puts her saintly abilities to good use erecting barriers against monsters and curing epidemics. But even as she flourishes in her new life, her homeland is under threat of destruction!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This spring series is based on the light novel series, which is available in English alongside the manga from Seven Seas Entertainment. I’m always glad when an anime has its source material available for fans who discover it through the anime and can keep the story going this way. The anime adaptation has a good group behind it with Shuu Watanabe directing it and Keiichiro Ochi on the scripts. Watanabe has done a lot of episode direction and has a few shows under their belt as a full director, such as Shinobi no Ittoki and Taisho Mebiusline Chiccachi-san. Occhi’s credits are pretty expansive with a lot of time on Aikatsu properties, but also things like Girlfriend, Girlfriend. TROYCA on the animation production means expectations of a solid adaptation are in place, as I’ve enjoyed a lot of their works over the years, such as Aldnoah.Zero.
With Julius and his plans seemingly halted now, thanks to the efforts of Mia and Fernand, the focus is now able to start shifting to the larger threat to the kingdom from the monsters without. While Mia is able to start focusing more, we also see how Philia is preparing where she is as well, notably with a new device that lets her draw on others of their mana to help expand and work the protection not just of the kingdom but of the continent itself. It’s a striking display of power to help cover an immense area of land and highlights Philia is capable of, though there are definitely limits and it takes a toll on her. Though she can’t get the whole continent, she gets half of it. But it also leaves Girtonia unprotected, which even though she was basically exiled from there is something she can’t let have anything bad happen to. And not just because her sister is there, but rather because it’s the right thing to do. The problem comes in that she can’t even leave to go and help there because it would cause the protection to fail. Yet, the device might give her the leeway to do that – but at what price?
It’s a good bit of conflicting moments to deal with because Osvlat’s brother has to look at both the big picture and protecting his kingdom as well, and risking all of that on the chance that the protection may not fall is tough. What helps is that Osvalt manages to turn the situation around, even to the point where his brother is speechless, and sets off with Philia to do what they can to help Girtonia. It’s certainly going to bond them closer together, though Philia is still somewhat oblivious to these kinds of things. I definitely liked watching how the group and ruling side of where Philia is handles things as it shows some realism in thinking about the immediate and what can definitely be done, while also showing support for what an individual must do as well.
The back half spends most of its time in Girtonia, especially with the fight sequence through a lot of it as Mia and the others fight back against the onrush of monsters. It’s dark and pretty intense, in relation to how this show operates, so when Mia is actually pushed back and down for the moment where it feels like all is lost, the arrival of Philia and Osvalt works perfectly. Especially since we get such an intensity out of Philia, a real rarity in the series, that feels authentic and drives up the seriousness of the situation at hand. But again, it’s a moment for Osvalt to be what she needs and support and encourage her in the kind of calm and reassuring way he can. It’s exactly what you want to see for her after all she went through at the beginning still, and especially to protect Mia since she was unable to extend the protection far enough. It’s all very earned.
In Summary:
There are a lot of emotions running through this episode and the reunion at the end is definitely something that hits hard because of all the pain and sacrifice that goes back a long way here. The show balances the character and action material pretty well, and the result is an engaging episode that definitely works well. Of course, what we get here feels like an ending with an epilogue to come, but there are a few episodes left and that means we get a delightful twist toward the end that could make for some interesting ideas in what remains of the series. I definitely liked what we got from everyone this time around as they were all very much in character, even if it meant having to say things they didn’t want to say, and focusing on the scope and scale of what’s going on without losing their humanity.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
