Will they or won’t they!?!!?
What They Say:
Episode #11: “Encountering… A Color for the First Time”
After Zen and Shirayuki’s encounter at the watchtower, Shirayuki discovers feelings that she didn’t know she had.
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
It was only a matter of time before this fairy tale story collided with a typical shoujo plot line, the clueless lover. Shirayuki never really stopped to consider the affection and feelings she had toward Zen, but now she’s forced to confront his advance. Even then this story takes a slightly more charming route by having Zen immediately apologize for the unexpected nature of the kiss and tells Shirayuki he won’t touch her again without her permission. Wow.
Of course Shirayuki tries to act normal after the tower incident, but every time she sees Zen she looses her composure. The others start noticing it and Kiki accurately guesses Zen did something to her. Zen, however, is smooth…. he doesn’t act strangely at all and continues on much the same as before. Obi tries to get Shirayuki to tell him but she’s not about to admit it so easily. Zen, Mitsuhide, and Kiki accompany Kihal back to her island and leave Shirayuki alone with her internal conflict.
Zen manages to guess the character of the man who represents the people of Kihal’s island accurately and is able to create an agreement that works to everyone’s advantage. Back home Shirayuki tackles a much smaller matter of business as her, Ryu, and Obi discover a way to make medicine go down easier. However, the minds of both soon drift toward each other. Mitsuhide approaches Zen and learns of the kiss, and is surprised and amused at the reaction Shirayuki had. I have a feeling Mitsuhide would be a far more hopeless romantic than his prince. Obi tries once again to get to the bottom of what went on with Zen and Shirayuki, and almost reaches out for her again. He stops himself, but I can’t help but feel for the unrequited crush he’s developed.
When Zen arrives home Shirayuki can’t bare to look him in the eye. She runs, Zen follows, and the others leave them to their cat and mouse game. Zen calls out to her to just join him walking the forest. She agrees and the two eventually settle back into a relaxed attitude. That’s when Zen confesses his love and Shirayuki is once again on the spot. She’s forced to realize her emotions and breaks into tears. It’s a funny and honest reaction, and she admits she loves him too and was in a sort of denial (probably for many reasons we’ve already seen.) The two leave the woods together.
At the risk of sounding too sentimental, I find Shirayuki and Zen’s relationship refreshing in it’s openness and honesty. Too often romances are caught up in couples mired in misunderstanding and, especially with young couples, unnecessary drama. I’ve seen plenty of real life couples entirely too caught up in malfunctioning relationships and I know most writers add artificial or contrived conflict because it keeps the ‘will they or won’t they’ continuing forever. (Tangent time; the sitcom Newsradio once had a network directive to keep Dave and Lisa’s relationship a will they or won’t they. The writers, sick of comedy standards, obliged by hooking the two up offscreen prior to episode two.) Yes, that means that conflict is going to have to come from elsewhere, probably more tactless nobles. It’s just nice to see a couple who genuinely love each other, have a healthy relationship, and know what they want!
In Summary:
Direct and to the point, we don’t have time to sit and fret and get mired in the misunderstandings that plague romantic dramas! There’s work to be done! Zen is a man who knows what he wants and Shirayuki is no wilting flower. Even with the mutual interest there was no guarantee that the couple would make their love for each other known anytime soon. Now that they have the question will be do they make it official to anyone but their closest friends and allies? I can’t imagine Zen’s brother will be happy about this. Or most of the court, they’ve already made their opinion known about Shirayuki’s commoner status. Then again, they all think that the two are engaged anyway. A word of warning, next week is the season finale for the first half of Snow White with the Red Hair.
Episode Grade: A –
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.
