Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 3: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke

Episode 12

This last episode of Ascendance of a Bookworm for the season (before it rolls right into the next one) seems to answer several of the questions about where the story was going to go as it sets up its new status quo. Technically, that's great for closing the loops of the plot and reassuring me that it will continue to be a critically solid series set to ascend to new, intriguing places as it goes on. Unfortunately, Bookworm does all this while being yet another instance of a Christmas(-adjacent fantasy holiday) episode aired in June. So I've got no choice but to knock some serious points off its score. Sorry, that's just the way things have to be assessed—Rosemyne is rocking her cozy little red-and-green holiday ensemble while I'm sweating buckets in the California streets this June. My suspension of disbelief can only keep up so hard with my dehydration.

For real, the big winter holiday social and debut is a natural spot to arrive at for a mid-series break. And after so many odd skim-overs and questionable prioritizations, it's nice to see the show treat something of social import like this as an actual event. Speaking of priorities, it puts my questions about Wilfried to bed as well. He's here, having his debut at the same time as Rosemyne, making the full significance of the event clear. And he succeeds well enough, but isn't the focus of the segment in the episode. Rosemyne steals the show, both in universe and out, and that, alongside Wilfried's progress, informs where all this has really been going: Rosemyne might accidentally set herself up to compete with other Archduke-kids for the title of Aub itself.

Rosemyne's magical musical showoff during her debut isn't a massive animation showcase—running out of gas as Wit Studio has been at the end here, hopefully the week off before the next season refreshes them a bit. But it's still a sudden enough deployment with the right amount of awe inherent to get the point across. It's a nice reminder that for all their machinations, Sylvester and Ferdinand can't plan for everything, and will be forced to improvise with Rosemyne on their schemes sometimes. That it throws a wrench into Rosemyne's own plans to stick it out and merely become a librarian just adds an even funnier dimension.

It actually helps form some neatly solid theming through the whole episode as well. Rosemyne's next archduke-ly arc includes her having to take some retainers. In between interviewing eighty young candidates, the conversation turns to how these noble kids decide on the paths they want to take. They have some leeway, after all, especially in being able to use the retainer position to make early progress. Even in simply selecting between the diverging paths of knight and scholar, each has its own points of prestige, and Rosemyne learns why her knight attendants had their own reasons for choosing. Angelica, it turns out, did it purely because she hates studying. I like her.

The background plotting fills in this theming in its own ways. On the scheme-y side, the audience is informed of different factions maneuvering behind the scenes to place their own candidates as Aub. This naturally includes Wilfried, which shows how Rosemyne's accidental miracle has thrust her unwittingly into this plot (likely as a major element of the next season). But it also highlights how, even as he thought he was growing and coming into his own, Wilfried's path is more laid out for him than he might be aware of. Helping him and others break free of that could be part of Rosemyne's own path, and would fit with her revolutionary efforts through so much else in this society. Meanwhile, the conversation between Cornelius and Lamprecht highlights how other nobles really do have a good amount of agency over who they want to serve, how, and why. Everyone has their own reasons for pursuing things, and it seems only fair that everyone should get that opportunity and not be pushed into things, especially at such a limiting young age.

It's a tight thematic work that smooths over a lot of the unevenness of the previous episode, and does what a mid-season setup episode like this should: lay out potential paths for the rest of the forthcoming series. It's also a dense episode that finds time for at least a little fun along the way. It's cute to see Rosemyne keeping the noble kids in line with games of Karuta and storytelling. That's the power of literacy, baby, and it even extends to a new girl named Philine who's seemingly inspired to make her own picture books. It's a sweet little way to show how Rosemyne's influence grows even further. Also showing that Rosemyne worked secret origami Ferdinands into documents to keep selling bromides to thirsty noblewomen is a great gag, and it just might allude to how she has more ways up her sleeve to get out of complicated situations? I'm not going to take it as direct foreshadowing, since there's just so much going on in Bookworm. But it was a nice reminder, as this whole episode was, that I can't ever count Rosemyne out, no matter how uncertain the situation looks.

Rating:

Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 3: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Chris is back to hit the books. You can see him posting about anime, transforming robots, and other quality reading material over on his BlueSky.