May I Ask for One Final Thing?

Episode 13

In the end, the tale of Scarlet, Prince Julius, and the villainous Terenezza concludes exactly as we might have predicted: Evil plans are monologued, true feelings of love are sealed with a kiss, secret powers awaken at the last minute, and Scarlet punches the everloving bejeesus out of her enemies. Most important of all, though, is the fact that Morgan Lauré gets to toss one final, perfectly enunciated “bitch” into the English dub right before the credits roll. She even sneaks in a very satisfying F-bomb, for good measure. What else could you ask of the season finale? Well, given the title of the show…

Really, my only major complaint about this final episode is one that I've been echoing for most of the season's back half, which is that for as much as its characters and comedic chops remain as entertaining as ever, its attempts to tell a legitimately thrilling fantasy story filled with intrigue, drama, and high-stakes battles have not fared so well. The battle against Terenezza and Palmia could have made for a classic, rip-roaring adventure that complemented all of the gags and gave Scarlet a chance to really show off her flashy fisticuffs, but alas, the larger plot of May I Ask for One Final Thing? never really came together. There was potential, to be sure, but most of it was left by the wayside due to lackluster production values and sloppy writing.

Terenezza herself is maybe the biggest letdown of all. The idea of making the archetypal heroine of the “reincarnated by a goddess in a fantasy-romance story” cliche into the raving villain is honestly quite fun, and the prim Miss Terenezza is an obvious and ideal foe for the Lady of Beatings. Despite some token monologues and a couple of sneering closeups, though, Terenezza and her lackeys just never made an impact as antagonists. The closest the show comes to being inspired is Terenezza's sad, dark transformation into Palmia's unholy puppet at the end of the episode, but even then, the finale wastes the character's potential on some cheap-looking animation and the same old gags about Scarlet being bloodthirsty and violent.

More successful, at least, is the way Julius and Scarlet's relationship is handled. Yes, it's incredibly cheesy that his “Heroic Tale” power can only be activated by true love's kiss, but the show takes place in a cheesy fairy-tale world, so I can give it a pass. Besides, not only is Scarlet's confession and kiss with Julius a genuinely sweet moment, it leads us to the best part of the whole finale, where Scarlet realizes that Julius intentionally got himself hexed by Terenezza so he could engineer the entire climax. Homeboy was truly willing to risk his own mind and the fate of the empire to use Scarlet's love for him as a humiliation tactic. There's kink, and there's kink, and then there is whatever sick game of emotional 4-D chess that Julius is playing to ensure that his girlfriend publicly beats the shit out of him and excoriates his scoundrel soul in front of all their friends and family.

Yet, who are we to judge? Can we truly blame Prince Julius for being such an unrepentant freak? Who among us wouldn't pay the highest of prices for even the chance to be ground into a fine crimson dust under the finely polished knuckles of Scarlet's trademark gloves? I may have my reservations about the show's larger story issues, but I have to give it rightful credit for introducing one of anime's most entertaining and dazzling new heroines. I'll be rooting for a second season of May I Ask for One Final Thing? to get greenlit purely for the opportunity to hear her call people “bitch” in that funny way she does while showcasing new and increasingly catastrophic methods of turning idiot nobles' insides into sopping bags of ground meat.

Episode Rating:

May I Ask for One Final Thing? is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on BlueSky, his blog, and his podcast.