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Thanks a bunch, Kami-koto!

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The series ends with the note “The Story Continues,” which is vague enough to leave uncertain whether or not more animation will be made. I, for one, will absolutely be back if a sequel is eventually announced. The story may be condensing and skipping over content from the original novels, but even so, the world-building presented here has been a joy to watch and review.

Not to mention, seeing our favorite characters animated is a treat.

Before I get into this, I just wanted to say that the invocation for restoring the mana to the land was so beautiful. Really a cut above so many similar rituals we get. Smile

Key wrote:

Gina Szanboti wrote:

My only real quibble with this episode was the return of the "Let's adopt out Main without asking her or her family first" storyline. It'd be one thing if she were an orphan, but she's not. It'd be fine if they had gone down this route either with getting her into the Church OR protecting her from beboy kidnappi'n nobles, but doing both just makes them seem like ridiculously contrived drama, even when both situations had good reasons supporting such a strategy.
...
I just wish the whole thing had played out differently, because it came off as both heavy-handed and repetitive the way they did it.

Wholly agree with what Hiroki said on this.
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The one factor Hiroki didn't bring up, which I believe was briefly mentioned in the episode, is that Myne's family, by extension, might not be safe once nobles get wind of her. Doing something to Myne's family in order to force her cooperation is not, unfortunately, at all out of the realm of possibility. Hence Ferdinand really does have both Myne's and her family's best interests in mind, too.

I don't disagree with any of what either of you said. I tried to get it across that I accept that the characters' reasoning is sound, but I guess it didn't come through.

It was the execution I was quibbling with. We know that Ferdinand the Stone King actually likes Main, but the demonstration of that just prior felt like it was immediately forgotten about during his conversation with Karstedt (although the latter at least commented on it). His facial expressions didn't match a man who cared about her as more than a tool, and their words failed to acknowledge that they'd need to convince her of their plan. The way they talked, it amounted to them kidnapping her before anyone else could.

Even a line or two that Main (and her family) would take some convincing would've helped me, or barring that, just a shot of his face or eyes that showed he was concerned about her more than how to use her. But the tight closeups of his face, where interior emotions are usually revealed or at least hinted at to the audience for such impassive characters, only occurred during his dialog about her value as a resource. Moreover, I believe it was deliberately done this way to artificially amp up the sense of danger to Main, by making it appear that Ferdinand's true colors are cold-hearted and manipulative. Maybe that's why I choked on how this played out.

Btw, I don't recall them mentioning danger to her family in this episode (that was last time we did this Wink

). They weren't brought up in the scene where they discussed this plan.

So it's not that I necessarily object to the story spiraling up the same staircase or feel it's unjustified. I just wish they'd handled it in a way that didn't make me immediately go, "Again?" when they ended this season with essentially the same threat that served as the climax for the first one. Smile

And just to clarify, to me that threat is not, "Main will be kidnapped and abused for her power unless she's protected." It's "Main will be separated against her will from her family." The former is Perils of Pauline stuff. Any peril could substitute. The latter grips the heart.

They have succeeded in humanizing Ferdinand a bit. But I have two strikes against him. He failed to protect Myne's family against High Bishop (?) and read Myne's mind without asking permission. His failure to stop the High Bishop is his most egregious failure, and the one most concerning for the future. If the King ordered Myne's execution solely because she is too powerful to control, would Ferdinand do it. I think the answer is yes.

If you read the titles of the Japanese Light Novels you'll find spoiler[she does get adopted by a noble. Hopefully it is done with Myne's and her family's acceptance, and that she is not isolated from her family.] Cause if it isn't, I wouldn't mind a bloody purge of Ferdinand and the nobles from the city.

TarsTarkas wrote:

They have succeeded in humanizing Ferdinand a bit. But I have two strikes against him. He failed to protect Myne's family against High Bishop (?) and read Myne's mind without asking permission. His failure to stop the High Bishop is his most egregious failure, and the one most concerning for the future. If the King ordered Myne's execution solely because she is too powerful to control, would Ferdinand do it. I think the answer is yes.

Episode 25 put that into better context, I think. The situation between Ferdinand and the High Priest could well be similar to the situation between Damuel and Shichicoza. That being said, I do agree that the scene in question is the weak point of Ferdinand's portrayal.

TarsTarkas wrote:

He failed to protect Myne's family against High Bishop (?) and read Myne's mind without asking permission. His failure to stop the High Bishop is his most egregious failure...

There are reasons why Ferdinand did not stop the High Bishop when he threatened Myne's family, aside from the fact that the High Bishop outranks him in the Church hierarchy. However, they might not be revealed in a future season since it takes a while before they're revealed in the LNs.

Did I step into a time portal? I'd swear it was June, not December.

Last edited by LegitPancake on Tue Jun 23, 2020 2:14 pm; edited 1 time in total

Clematis wrote:

I wanna continue reading, too. Anyone got a nice link where I could order them from? Possibly one that ships to EU.

Also, does anyone know exactly which volumes the anime skipped entirely?

Book Depository has worldwide free shipping, and the first 5 volumes (up to Part 2 Volume 2) are available in paperback, which is exactly the same amount of volumes that the 26 episodes adapted. However, the next volume to come out in paperback (Part 2 Volume 3), that would adapt beyond where the anime stopped, doesn't ship until October/November. So if you want to read ahead, you'll need to order the ebooks (available on Kindle, Google Play Books, Bookwalker, iTunes, Kobo, etc), of which 2 volumes (P2V3 and P2V4) have been published in English so far in ebook beyond where the anime is. Volume 8 in the series (Part 3 Volume 1) releases in ebook this August.

The anime didn't skip any volumes, per se, but it did skip a lot of scenes in them that are definitely worth reading. I recommend reading from the beginning, and only read the manga as a supplement for the nice art.

HannoX wrote:

TarsTarkas wrote:

He failed to protect Myne's family against High Bishop (?) and read Myne's mind without asking permission. His failure to stop the High Bishop is his most egregious failure...

There are reasons why Ferdinand did not stop the High Bishop when he threatened Myne's family, aside from the fact that the High Bishop outranks him in the Church hierarchy. However, they might not be revealed in a future season since it takes a while before they're revealed in the LNs.

Ferdinand seems to be quite influential himself. I find it hard to parse the Ferdinand from the closing bell of the season, from the Ferdinand from his introduction. I am caught up on the licensed english language Light Novels and really haven't seen any additional explanation other than shock of the situation and the noble hierarchy. Ferdinand had plenty of time to intervene while Myne's father was fighting off the first wave of priests and even as the second wave of priest were filtering in.

To be honest, I am judging with my modern sensibilities. In this world, Ferdinand would be perfectly in the right to allow the High Bishop to execute Myne's mother and father. But this is the Myne show, not the Ferdinand show. So we can be judgy over Ferdinand's actions. But within the anime, it should be apparent that Ferdinand's benevolence towards Myne only goes so far and he couldn't be considered a real friend. At least not yet.

TarsTarkas wrote:

HannoX wrote:

TarsTarkas wrote:

He failed to protect Myne's family against High Bishop (?) and read Myne's mind without asking permission. His failure to stop the High Bishop is his most egregious failure...

There are reasons why Ferdinand did not stop the High Bishop when he threatened Myne's family, aside from the fact that the High Bishop outranks him in the Church hierarchy. However, they might not be revealed in a future season since it takes a while before they're revealed in the LNs.

Ferdinand seems to be quite influential himself. I find it hard to parse the Ferdinand from the closing bell of the season, from the Ferdinand from his introduction. I am caught up on the licensed english language Light Novels and really haven't seen any additional explanation other than shock of the situation and the noble hierarchy. Ferdinand had plenty of time to intervene while Myne's father was fighting off the first wave of priests and even as the second wave of priest were filtering in.

I'm going to put my reply behind a spoiler since I don't want to risk anyone who hasn't read the LNs available in English finding out what's coming.
spoiler[If you have read all the LNs out in English, how did you miss the part about the High Bishop being the son of the last archduke while Sylvester is the grandson? The only reason Sylvester is archduke now is because the High Bishop has only a little mana. Additionally, Sylvester's mother (whom he seems to love) has been protecting her little brother and Sylvester admits he has let the High Bishop get away with his crimes for too long because his mother intercedes for her brother.

As for Ferdinand not intervening while Myne is under attack and her father is fighting, that's something else you seem to have missed. Ferdinand says he was in his secret room, which blocks all outside sounds, and he had told his attendants not to disturb him so they didn't dare try to call his attention to what was going on. A classic case of taking order TOO literally. ]

@HannoX

I rewatched the High Bishop and Myne fight.

Ferdinand is quite clearly sitting at the table with the High Bishop, when Myne and her family walk in. Two separate scenes show him sitting with the High Bishop, before the physical altercation with Myne's father happens.

^And Ferdinand explains later that he did not foresee Myne's parents defying a noble, so yes he was present and not going to do anything if Darth Myne hadn't made an appearance. However, I believe his further explanation was a way of stating that he realized he made a mistake and was wrong not to step in when the Priest pronounced the death sentence on them for doing so.

TarsTarkas wrote:

They have succeeded in humanizing Ferdinand a bit. But I have two strikes against him. He failed to protect Myne's family against High Bishop (?) and read Myne's mind without asking permission. His failure to stop the High Bishop is his most egregious failure, and the one most concerning for the future. If the King ordered Myne's execution solely because she is too powerful to control, would Ferdinand do it. I think the answer is yes.

If you read the titles of the Japanese Light Novels you'll find spoiler[she does get adopted by a noble. Hopefully it is done with Myne's and her family's acceptance, and that she is not isolated from her family.] Cause if it isn't, I wouldn't mind a bloody purge of Ferdinand and the nobles from the city.

It plays out somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. Personally I think it makes Ferdinand look really bad, as he winds up essentially spoiler[creating a scenario where Myne's family could be brutally murdered just to set a trap for the High Bishop.]

Of course, Myne also comes across as a bit of a garbage person w/r/t the whole devouring friend thing, so there's plenty of disapproval to go around.

Fluwm wrote:

Of course, Myne also comes across as a bit of a garbage person w/r/t the whole devouring friend thing, so there's plenty of disapproval to go around.

What is a devouring friend thing?

Hiroki not Takuya wrote:

^And Ferdinand explains later that he did not foresee Myne's parents defying a noble, so yes he was present and not going to do anything if Darth Myne hadn't made an appearance. However, I believe his further explanation was a way of stating that he realized he made a mistake and was wrong not to step in when the Priest pronounced the death sentence on them for doing so.

Hah, Darth Myne - love it! Laughing

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