×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Snow White with the Red Hair
Episode 5

by Rebecca Silverman,

How would you rate episode 5 of
Snow White with the Red Hair ?
Community score: 4.4

Almost from episode one of this shoujo manga adaptation, it's been clear that of the two leads, Zen is the one with his heart on his sleeve. While we as viewers have been reasonably certain that Shirayuki likes Zen as well, she hasn't shown much of those emotions with the major exception being last week when he caught her crying over his medical history. Whether it was because he saw that moment of emotion or because he's been getting increasingly obvious about his feelings, there's some payoff this week at the end of the episode, and it made this romantic fool's heart go gooey. It's very understated and sweet, which both fits the overall mood of the show and helps to make their budding relationship one facet of the story rather than the overwhelming whole. While it's a bit early in the game for the romance to take off in a non-romance plotline, I'm not concerned about this one small moment wreaking havoc on the pacing...especially since it looks like Zen's older brother is about to come striding (or perhaps strutting) in next week.

The main plot of this episode is that Zen, Mitsuhide, Kiki, and Obi are off to make an inspection of a mountain fortress that has stopped sending regular reports. Shiryuki has been assigned an errand in the town near the fort, so they drop her off on their way there. Once at the fort, however, they discover that they're going to need her with them: all but one soldier has fallen terribly ill. The survivor attributes it to an evil spirit, but Zen wastes no time in sending Mitsuhide back for Shirayuki, who sets to work with her typical aplomb. The resolution here is never really in doubt since we've been shown over and over what a good herbalist Shirayuki is, so the main draw here is how Zen copes with Shirayuki endangering herself in order to save the soldiers, as well as Shirayuki's total devotion to her duties. The two are slightly at odds with each other, and I'm honestly not sure if Shirayuki understands that her relative carelessness with her own well-being distresses Zen to the degree that it does...although it does seem possible that she's simply choosing not to see it in order to be able to do her work at all. It will be interesting to see if those roles get reversed in the future, with Shirayuki fretting as Zen does something she perceives as dangerous.

The main issue with this episode, apart from an off-model shot or two of Shirayuki, is that it tries to cram a lot in. The mystery behind the soldiers' illness involves plotting by a third party, which has to be resolved along with the sickness itself, and the two aren't particularly well-balanced. In fact, the resolution of that plot feels quite rushed, even though the fight scene itself is pretty good, with a variety of moves employed to take down the bad guys. (I personally enjoy when Obi throws a guy on the campfire, extinguishing it.) We also don't see the herbs behind the cure, which is a bit of a change, although we can probably assume that they're common, given that no gathering scene is present. On the other hand, watching Obi make little snowmen and line the ramparts with them makes up for a lot of ills. That the show could also throw in a “Sleeping Beauty” reference (the castle-like fortress with all its residents “asleep”) adds to the fun, as does the Disney “Cinderella” visual reference at the very end when the round carriage pulls up at the palace.

Despite its packed plot, this meat of this episode is found in the emotion it's dealing with. It may seem a little too convenient that Shirayuki is right there when Zen needs her, but it was also important for their relationship to develop that they be somewhere official (ie not camping) but not too official; proper but not overly supervised. The meat of the episode is really the last few minutes before the ending theme (and presumably just after; I'm really a bit nervous for Izana's entrance), and if what leads up to it isn't excellently done, it still makes for a good watch.

Rating: B

Snow White with the Red Hair is currently streaming on Funimation.

Rebecca Silverman is ANN's senior manga critic.


discuss this in the forum (256 posts) |
bookmark/share with: short url

back to Snow White with the Red Hair
Episode Review homepage / archives