After careful consideration, I’ve decided to pull the plug on The Saint’s Magical Power. Even for an ostensible comfort food pick, it has proven extremely pokey and uneventful. The lack of progress on the Sei x Al front has been particularly disappointing and I don’t expect the slow-mo wheel-spinning to cease anytime soon, so farewell Sei; good luck in your future ventures.
As the eighteenth prince, Ten’yuu never harbored any delusions of rule, but he loved his mother, and was devastated when she came down with a wasting illness that would eventually confine her to her bed. When he heard a rumor of a high-grade potion Sei gave the sea captain, he hurried to Salutania as a transfer student so he could investigate.
While he initially believed Sei was the alchemist he sought, he apparently no longer does, but asks her to relay his case to them. The task of crafting a cure is further complicated by the fact that Ten’yuu doesn’t know what precise ailments his mother is suffering. The alchemist can very well travel to Zaidera, while his mother is too weak to travel to Salutania.
It’s quite the pickle, but Sei, who feels guilty for having to continue to conceal her true identity, tells Johan she intends on developing a panacea: something Ten’yuu can take to his homeland to cure any ailment his mom might have. Johan is supportive of the idea, as long as Sei remains careful and discrete.
Sei soon hits a dead end, Al returns from his home, and kept his promise to see and greet her before anyone else. Not only that, he’s brought Sei a rare gift as a token of his affection: a jar of apple blossom honey, which is perfect for her tea.
This might’ve been a perfect time for Al to finally tell Sei straight up his feelings for her, but she’s vibing on the apple honey so much it not only refreshes her after being stressed out about the dead end to her research, but actually progresses said research. She never thought to use apples in her panacea.
Johan manages to procure an apple sapling, which he has planted in the royal conservatory, out of sight. Sei works her magic to accelerate its growth and induce it to fruit out of season, producing all the apples she’ll need to complete her panacea. I do wish they’d gone into a little more detail about how she came upon the formula, however.
Instead, in keeping with everyone’s desire to keep Sei’s hands off of this, Ten’yuu is brought before the king, who presents him with panacea potions he claims to be from the royal larder, were made by a famous alchemist, and the formulas to which have been lost to history.
Ten’yuu initially rejects the gift as he’s unable to reciprocate, but the king tells him he needn’t worry about repaying him anything right away. Sei and Jude discuss how Ten’yuu has since set off back to Zaidera…with the potions she made. In this way, she was able to help Ten’yuu and his mother without exposing her sainthood. Everybody wins!
When Sei described the apple honey in her tea as having “a gentle sweetness”, I couldn’t help but think that sounds like a perfect descriptor for herself, and show in general. Kind, gentle, sweet, and talented: that’s Sei to a T. Now, if only she had more confidence in herself as a worthy recipient of Al’s affection!
With Sei sequestered to the palace, Jude has to make excuses for her to Prince Ten’yuu, who shows up day after day asking about her. When it becomes untenable for Jude to continue to do so, Johan and Sei agree the best way to proceed is by making herself available to the prince, so they can try to learn what he’s after.
When he spots her packing up a huge amount of mid-level potions and asks how many people crafted them, Sei has to lie and say four to five, because she’d give away too much about herself if she told the truth: she made them all herself.
Lying doesn’t come naturally to Sei, but she does learn one thing: the prince knows his stuff, and seems keenly interested in high-level potions. Believing a good offense to be the best defense, Sei resolves to learn more about Zaideran medicine so that she can steer their lengthy conversations away from places where she could be exposed as the Holy Saint.
To that end, she meets with the merchants Oscar and Franz, who make the connection between the prince and the sea captain Seiran. Sei also hopes to study up with Liz in the library, but Commander Hawke shows up before Liz to tell Sei he’ll be headed home for a while and wanted to see her. Liz makes a tactical retreat, allowing Al to help Sei devise a plan to deal with Ten’yuu.
The next day at the institute, Ten’yuu comes by as usual, but this time says that he’ll be going to other facilities going forward. Then Albert rolls in to discuss, quite loudly with Sei, his unit’s need for more high-level potions, and asking if she could reach out to her alchemist friend to make some.
Ten’yuu later apolgizes to Sei for overhearing them (which was their intent), and asks her directly if he’ll put him in contact with that alchemist. Sei in turn asks what exactly the prince needs, and he tells her: he’s seeking someone who can brew a potion for muscular distrophy…for his mother.
That’s right, Ten’yuu wasn’t sent to spy on Salutania or steal its secrets, simply to to seek out what he could not acquire in his homeland. Now that Sei knows the truth, I doubt she’d hesitate to help him out. However, Johan has made clear they don’t want Zaidera to know she’s the Saint, so she may have to get a little creative to do so.
Johan and Sei receive word from the king that a prince from the distant kingdom of Zaidera is traveling to Salutania as an exchange student at the royal academy. Due to the fact Sei’s status as Holy Saint is a state secret, the king requests that Sei remain sequestered in the royal palace for the duration of the prince’s stay.
Sei bristles at this. Not only does she have work to do and rare herbs to tend, it’s a big imposition to suddenly uproot her from her daily work life. When Jude suggests that the potion she gave to the sea captain from Zaidera may be the reason the prince is coming, she concedes it might be best if she’s not around when he is.
Liz, who is vice president of the academy’s student council, jests to Sei that the prince could be a troublemaker escaping is country, or even a spy, but in all seriousness doubts that Zaidera cares all that much about Salutania’s national secrets. What she’s not so sure about is whether they care about Sei.
While Sei is to stay at the palace while Prince Ten’yuu is at the research institute, as a member of the royal court it’s her duty to attend his welcoming ceremony. She does so while wearing her saintly raiments, but also a magical veil that will conceal her face. Since the veil makes it harder for her to see, she needs an escort for the ceremony.
Enter Al, who is once again clearly overjoyed to serve her once more. Sei is working on not letting his compliments fluster her, but while she does well at first, when the maids note she looks like a bride and he calls himself her groom, she loses her composure. At the ceremony, Al is all business, and Sei could swear the prince momentarily glanced in her direction.
She stays away from Ten’yuu as agreed, and Liz reports that he is indeed a very studious, serious young man, but also one who makes friends easily and soaks up knowledge like a sponge. But one day when Sei is back at the institude, Prince Ten’yuu is suddenly there, introducing himself and asking all sorts of pointed questions about her herbs and what she does there.
It turns out his impromptu visit to the institute was neither announced nor sanctioned, and while he claims to have simply gotten lost, Sei overheard his attendant saying “it’s almost time,” which wouldn’t really make sense if they were actually lost. He’s given a warning and the king assigns him bodyguards to make sure he doesn’t wander anywhere else without warning.
Ten’yuu has almost immediately zeroed in on Sei as the “key” to his mission in Salutania. Whether he sees her as a resource for potion-making, a suitor to heighten his status, or something else, it’s clear he has all four of his eyes fixed upon Sei. It seems only a matter of time before he discovers she’s far more than a mere herb gardener…
Sei is unexpectedly summoned to the Royal Palace for not one but two official events: her official debut as the Kingdom’s Saint, and the royal ball later that night. It is reiterated that Sei can be rather insecure and unconfident about such things, as she lacks the self esteem she should have.
However, whenever Al takes her hands in his, as he does when he offers to be her escort, Sei feels a lot better. The morning after she spends the night in the palace, the maids don’t hide their excitement at the prospect of dressing her up not once, but twice.
Sei is less enthusiastic, especially when she considers herself unworthy of the intricate white robes of the Holy Saint. But once again, as His Majesty introduces her to his assembled court at the debut ceremony, Sei finds that Al is in attendance, offering her a smile of support, and her spirits are buoyed.
That’s also the case when Liz stops by to see Sei in her Holy Saint vestments. She brings along a friend, Rayne, the second prince of Salutania. He was eager to meet her, and also to apologize on his behalf of his brother. Seeing Liz and Rayne so happy to see her, Sei stops regretting going through with the ceremony.
When they encounter one another other in their ballroom duds, both Al and Sei play a back-and-forth game of who can make the most Shoujo Manga Face. It hurts a bit when Sei tells Al not to say she’s beautiful when she clearly is, and also when she’s not able to tell him how beautful he is. The two simply end up embarrassed when the royal herald and maids loitering in the hallway tell them it’s time to line up for the ball.
If I had a complaint, it’s that Sei and Al don’t actually get to dance for very long. I feel like Bell and Ais got more time. Nevertheless, the pair oozes chemistry and grace, and both Sei’s butter yellow dress and Al’s blue suit reminded me of Belle and the Beast in the Disney film.
Etiquette dictates that Sei not dance with the same partner twice, so with a lot of ball left to go, she is protected by Al and Johan from randos who might want to curry favor or even propose to her. Johan dances with her first, followed by Yuri and Erhart.
While having tea with Liz and Aira the next day, Sei mentions how she had no idea men lead in different ways, since her only partner for a while had been her dance teacher. When Liz asks her who her favorite was, Sei hesitates. She says she’s not sure, but c’mon. It was Al. I know that, you know that, and Liz sure as hell knows that!
The tension builds after the credits as Johan tells Sei that she must have received a number of fresh invitations from members of the court and nobility, but the palace likely politely declined them on her behalf. The herald once again summons her to the palace for an important matter, suggesting perhaps the subject of her future husband will be broached.
While en route to Morgenhaffen via carriage, Sei is gently woken up by Albert, and the two exchange admiring looks, all before Sei wakes up for real. Turns out Albert couldn’t join her on the trip, but she’s here with Jude and Wolff, and Oscar also shows up.
Nevertheless, the Saint can’t just wander around a foreign land in public, so she adopts the disguise of a merchant’s daughter. Anyone who hoped to see a light brown-haired Sei with glasses gets their wish this week—I don’t hate it!
The market is full of interesting wares, but before Sei can come across any rice she learns that a crew member from a ship in port was seriously hurt in an accident. We see his leg has been crushed and mangled, and potions aren’t working.
The captain—who incidentally is hot—calls out for help, and while Jude and Wolff advise against Sei intervening with her magic, she still finds a way to help out those in need. She offers the captain one of her potions she keeps on her “in case of emergency.”
It goes without saying the potion saves the sailor’s life, and the captain, one Seiren from the Empire of Zaidera, tracks Sei down and insists upon rewarding her. After they go back and forth insisting and declining, Oscar finally comes between them and suggests Seiren offer Sei a discount on the wares he’s brought to port.
The wares from Zaidera end up being the motherlode: not only do they have shiso and chili pepper and miso paste, but also rice, sweet, beautiful rice. Sei’s little Naruto run and reaction to finding the rice is adorable, and as soon as she’s home she invites Aira and the guys to a Japanese feast she’ll be preparing…just not while Johan watches intently!
While Johan waits impatiently, Albert also shows up, answering Sei’s “modest” invitation. Johan makes clear to Albert that as Sei continues to rise in the world it’s only a matter of time before she receives suitors for her hand in marriage. Al needs to make a move soon, or he might lose her.
This sudden urgency is on his mind when he joins the others for Sei’s completed feast of rice, miso soup, and other Japanese staples. You can tell both she and Aira are over the moon; now this strange world feels a little more like home with their soul food.
When Sei spots Albert, she smiles and waves with a subtle blush. There’s no way he could know she was dreaming about traveling with him to Morgenhaffen and making eyes, but that’s precisely why he has a good shot at her: she likes him too, at least on a subconscious level.
He just needs to find the right opportunity…before that hot captain tracks her down again and proposes, lol! Seiren’s already sending a letter to the emperor regarding the miraculous potion a random young woman gave him, and remaining in these lands to search for the alchemist who made it.
After a brooding, dramatic prologue elegantly cut between classi white-on-black credits involving an undead dragon in a cave, Takanashi Sei, AKA the Saint wakes up in the comfort of her bedchamber, ready for her second summer in this new world. She is greeted by a huge delivery of ingredients courtesy of the alchemist Cecilia from Krausner’s Domain, as thanks for clearing the forests of monsters and miasma.
Sei’s hobby of crafting cosmetics takes the next logical step when Johan introduces her to two representatives from a trading company. They’re getting grief from other traders for being the sole distributer of her wildly-popular products, so they suggest she start her own business.
She agrees, and the business is started…off-camera, with her only responsibility being to just keep developing cosmetics when she feels inspired. Her store is a huge success, so she and her bodyguard Albert (who holds her hand on the way) celebrate by visiting a recommended café that serves actual coffee.
Sei is overjoyed to have coffee back in her life, which is how anyone who’d ever had coffee before would feel, but what she really wants to try to find in this world is rice, Japan’s staple crop. Johan and Jude haven’t heard of it, but they think the best place for her to begin her searc is to visit the eastern port city of Morgenhaffen.
The violent, fiery stinger aside, this was another calm, quiet, deliberate episode that merely follows Sei around for some low key interactions and experiences. In other words, this second season seems poised to remain Tuesday evening comfort food for yours truly!
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