“I’ll use you to make Nue stronger, and you’ll use me to get your revenge.”
What they say: Yukimura is tasked with protecting a woman known as The Treasurer, who knows a lot about her past. later, Nue is assigned the task of eliminating a traitor known as The Cleaner.
The Review:
Content (Please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
If episode one was about presenting a bunch of questions, episodes two and three are all about answering them. In episode one’s review, I left feeling thrilled but curious, especially since it ended on a cliffhanger. Right on cue, these next two episodes provide a lot more context and foundation for the story at the expense of a loss of action scenes. There’s a lot to digest in these episodes so I’ll go over the important bits in each episode and try to chronologize it.
In episode two, Yukimura and Hanakaze are tasked with protecting a woman known as The Treasurer. She has an uncanny memory and knows a lot of secrets about the Shogun, Janome, Yukimura, and more. Particularly, she can be precise with financial documents and dealings due to her memory of numbers and exchanges and does a lot of shadow financial work, hence her nickname. She tells Yukimura that if she can guarantee her safety and particularly the safety of her son, she will tell her all she knows about her family getting killed. However, despite making it to an escape port (and battling through a Changeling to get there), the Treasurer is killed by Hanakaze, which the leader of Nue, Kuzuhara, ordered in secret. Again the audience is left hanging as those secrets die with her. The Treasurer simply knows too much for her own good and eventually would have become a threat to the Shogun sooner or later, so Kuzuhara thought it best to nip the issue in the bud.
What we do know, though, and what Yukimura remembers, is that her clan is special in that it has a unique blue blood. This blue blood allows them to use a demonic power, which makes them targets for people who wish to exploit it. One of those people was Janome, a former scientist who worked for the shogun. He carried out inhumane experiments and found himself attracted to the blue blood. When Yukimura’s family refused to cooperate, he killed them. Yukimura reminisces about this in episode two, but the extra context is added in episode three.
The visual flair here is particularly good, in that it opts for a slideshow format.
It’s a smooth creative choice that allows the creators to tell the story in a way that doesn’t involve characters monologuing or a flashback. It also creates some good imagery of Janome and Yukimura together. In this shot, he’s clearly imprinted on her. He watches her from a distance in the shadows (and this confirms the strange mystery fellow we saw at the end of these episodes is indeed Janome), and they have overlapping methods. Janome killed Yukimura’s family, and Yukimura killed Asahi’s family. Yukimura, though, still has some color in her. She retains her emotions while Janome has clearly cast them aside to achieve his goal (which we still don’t know at this point).
As for Asahi, we now also know how she ended up with Yukimura. Yukimura killed her family for a job and then decided to take her in as opposed to leaving her on her own. That’s why despite playing the part of sisters, Asahi has attempted to assassinate Yukimura (implicitly multiple times). However, we don’t know why Yukimura took her in. That leads to the continuation of the cliffhanger we saw at the end of episode one. Yukimura stopped the knife easily, but Asahi is still only a child and she can only sob at her own powerlessness. Yukimura keeps giving her tips, though. Maybe she seeks some form of atonement? Does she want Asahi to kill her after she’s killed Janome? Could it be guilt? In any case, Yukimura isn’t quite sure herself. When asked by Tsukishiro why, she cannot answer. In episode three’s beginning, Tsukishiro gives Yukimura a tip on a place Asahi can stay. Yukimura is clearly conflicted but reluctantly sends Asahi off with some money and directions while she goes on a job. When she’s captured by Janome, Yukimura rushes to save her.
Yukimura and Asahi both are torn between revenge and peace. It’s clear that throughout these episodes that they both genuinely care for each other, but their drives for revenge keep them from being honest with their feelings. Yukimura killed Asahi’s family, and yet Yukimura’s mercy and care for Asahi has led to her being endeared to her. But without the time to get to know these characters more fully, this conflict falls a bit flat. If I were to draw a comparison to another series with a similar theme, Fate/Zero does it well with its end and Kiritsugu adopting Shiro. I won’t spoil the ending but Joran goes for a similar narrative. But what made it work for Zero was that the audience got to know Kiritsugu through the whole story, and adopting Shiro is a powerful resolution to his character, which is absent here.
With characters we don’t know, it’s good to learn about them as the series progresses. So there are some promising signs here that we’re learning more about the members of Nue. Episode three gives us more insight on Tsukihiro, who is not only a woman but also working secretly for Janome (and her tip to Yukimura regarding Asahi was probably a trap given the ending). As for why, we don’t know. A non-trivial moment has Kuzuhara tear Tsukihiro’s shirt revealing her breasts while he says “don’t forget your place.” It could be that sexism is still an overbearing problem in Tokugawa Shinobu’s Meiji Japan and Tsukihiro has allied with Janome to bring down the Shogun (who we still haven’t seen) and the old ideals he represents. I’ll admit the twist threw me off a little bit because while this trope exists in plenty of other anime, her Japanese voice actor, Shouta Aoi, is male. While it’s common for women to voice effeminate men, we don’t hear men voicing women characters unless it’s played for laughs. So I’ll tip my hat to the crew truly reversing an industry trope. It will also be interesting to see how the series handles Tsukihiro’s gender going forward. This does mean that Nue is an all-female crew led by a man. I’m eager to see if there’s any significance to that or if the ideas are connected.
There are still plenty of character motivations to reveal and narrative threads to be resolved, but the series seems content in giving those things to us in doses. The opening song (which is energetic and exemplifies the beautiful art of the series) has “Book 1” as a subtitle, so we might get this main story wrapped up before the season ends. The art is this series is still impressive. The backgrounds of alternate Meiji Japan are gorgeous and lush with color.
However, we didn’t get as much of the unique ink-based art style that existed in episode one. There’s a scene with it at the end of episode two and it’s absent from all of episode three. It’s a shame because that style of art really helps define the series and its art style. the show’s identity is incomplete without it. The story also runs the risk of being a bit too hammy by taking itself so seriously. However, it seems to be treading a delicate line. For now, I’m hoping this series can find a good balance between action and story but am looking forward to seeing it try.
In Summary:
These two episodes of Joran The Princess of Snow and Blood are more focused on answering questions and establishing the story than spectacular action scenes. While it does establish some context, they feel a bit lacking in some emotional depth and excitement however necessary that might be. However, the beautiful background art and visual flair keep it in line. The series has all the right pieces to work masterfully. It just needs to tie them together the right way, and I’m here for the ride.
Grade: B
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
