7th Time Loop – 10 – The Harbinger of Death

Rishe is practicing her sword alone in the training yard when Lawvine approaches her, and notices there’s hesitation in his strikes. Rishe admits that she’s terrified of a future where everyone will have to go to war, fight, and die. Lawvine thinks she’s right to fear that future.

The future of his own son was taken in such a manner, and while he’ll always be proud of him for fighting, he wishes he had lived. He tells her not to neglect her own hopes and feelings, for when the time comes they’ll help her move forward in dark times.

Rishe wants to move forward, which means surviving longer than her past time loops. That’s why she’s a knight candidate; because it’s the only way she’ll get the unvarnished version of the training regimen her fiance has designed for the other would-be knights.

But one day Arnold visits a training session, and immediately recognizes Rishe. Fortunately, he doens’t have a problem with her training as long as no one else finds out and she makes sure to get proper rest. As for her overhearing him rejecting Prince Kyle’s offer, she thinks he’s putting up a tough, cruel facade to hide his fundamentally kind nature. Arnold disagrees.

Rishe manages to prepare another medicine she believes will help restore Kyle’s strength, and also tells him she overheard him asking Arnold for an alliance. She offers a modest alliance between them in his place, as she believes she’ll need Kyle’s help to convince her fiancé that war isn’t necessarily the answer.

As for Professor Michel, after hearing how Kyle’s request was shot down, he’s now convinced he’s found the royal he’s been looking for who will accept the gift of black powder, i.e. explosives, which will certainly be a game changer in any future war, not to mention a decisive advantage over any of the empire’s enemies.

Michel had a fucked-up childhood, with his father blaming him for his mother’s death, and telling him he had to atone by finding and realizing his calling. That Michel’s calling ended up being designing weapons of mass destruction doesn’t matter. Fulfilling his calling, even one that throws the world into chaos, is all that matters.

This makes him as dangerous a threat to Rishe as Arnold, as it increases the chances a horrific war will claim her life once again. The episode ends with her having arranged to use some of Theodores retainers for some purpose, but otherwise she has no idea if it’s possible to convince Michel not to present Arnold with black powder.

In that regard, the more lightweight half of Arnold discovering her disguised as a knight candidate clashed with the sudden existential crisis of her former mentor whom she had a falling out with over this very same matter.

Even if she told Michel the truth about her loops and he believed her, it wouldn’t change the fact that he believes with absolute certainty that he must bring about the destruction of the world so a new one can rise in its place. And that’s a bummer, because it’s pretty standard villain thinking.

7th Time Loop – 09 – Branching Point

Prince Kyle didn’t arrive from Coyolles alone: he brought his kingdom’s foremost scholar, Michelle Evan. Evan was Rishe’s sensei in the life she lived as a scholar, and here he approaches her of his own accord, fascinated by her herbs and her painted nails. After just a few minutes of chatting with her, Michelle wants to recruit Rishe as his apprentice.

Rishe is happy to receive instruction from him for the duration of his stay. Michelle also deduces that she is preparing to present the prince with a medicine made from herbs from her garden. She later meets with Kyle and Michelle, who vouches for Rishe on the potential efficacy of her medicine. Kyle admits he’s always been ready to do whatever is necessary to improve his condition, which includes enduring the medicine’s thoroughly disgusting taste.

Prince Arnold surprises Rishe by arriving as her escort home, perhaps due to his discomfort with her hanging out with Kyle and Michelle, two not unattractive men. Then the soiree celebrating Kyle’s visit arrives, and Rishe puts her focusing ability to detect Count Lawvine. Fearing he’ll blow her cover, her goal is to avoid him without looking like she’s avoiding him.

When she sees Arnold and Kyle heading to the balcony, Rishe follows them and listens in. Kyle gets down to brass tacks: he seeks a military alliance with Galkhein, in exchange for all the gems and metals Coyolles can provide, with no regard for profit.

Arnold sniffs out Kyle’s weakness and desperation, and rejects his proposal out of hand. He also correctly presumes that Coyolles’ once vaunted mineral reserves have already dried up. Kyle knows his request is foolish, but not knowing how much longer he’ll live, he’d do or say anything to secure the future of his kingdom.

Kyle thought Arnold would at least listen to an appeal based upon the welfare of the people, since his research into Arnold revealed a prince who through his deeds truly cares about his people. But Arnold, perhaps set off by the praise, reverts to his Bad Boy persona, telling him it would suit him better to simply invade Coyolles than extend a helping hand.

Kyle’s proposal of an alliance never happened in previous loops; once he rose to Emperor, Arnold invaded the rest of the world, including Coyolles. Rishe identifies this as a “branching point” in the history of this loop that will change the course of the future.

It’s the first sign that a war gripped by war that claims her life within ten years may still be on the horizon. But while still likely, that future isn’t set in stone, and there’s still time for Rishe to work to avoid it.

Shin no Nakama – S2 09 – What Love’s Got to Do With It

The gang has a meeting to discuss Chaos Reignsborough’s Blue Boy, specifically how they’re going to go about protecting Ruti and Zoltan from his hyper-zealous, destructive whims. Tisse provides well-drawn portraits of Van, Lavender, and Ljubo. Ruti declares that Van’s world is tiny, allowing him to trust his beliefs without conditions.

Van will disguise himself and reach out to Ljubo, but Lavender is the problem. Mystorm warned to Yarandrala that despite her tiny cute fairy appearance, she’s actually an extremely powerful monster they should a avoid a direct fight with. Rit decides she’ll try talking to Lavender, since both of them are madly in love.

Red sees Tisse out on the deck looking troubled. Her issue is not just that he’s powerful, but also a “terrifying human being.” She just can’t fathom how different he is from Ruti, despite them both being bona fide heroes. Red lays it out: Ruti is an indomitable hero, while Van seeks to be an invincible one.

Van is also little more than his blessing, which he levels up with everything he’s got. Ruti is more than her blessing, thanks in no small part to her brother’s careful guidance, and love. Tisse is glad Ruti had someone like Red, and now understands better what a disadvantage Van has.

After a tense introduction in a dark alley, Rit manages to get to Lavender’s tender side by basically baring her heart to her. She doesn’t want to talk about anything with her but love, and once Lavender can tell she’s sincere, learning that Rit gave up everything to be with her love, she’s happy to drink mead with her.

While they’re able to find common ground through the love they have for their partners, Lavender disagrees with Rit fundamentally on one thing: the ability for love to grow or change. Ever since she met Van, Lavender has been all-in on her love. It’s a feeling she’d destroy the world to preserve, and never wants it to change.

It’s hearing this that makes Rit realize Lavender’s love is not only one-sided, but entirely selfish on Lavender’s part. She doesn’t really care about Van’s feelings, which, if we’re honest, he doesn’t really have, since his world and his almighty are his entire world. Lavender is, at best, a tool to help him carry out the will of Demis, like everyone else. She’s only “special” insofar as she’s completely loyal to him.

Rit is wise not to bring up the contradictions or limits in Lavender’s love, but does warn her that at some point she’ll have to choose between Van changing and Van dying. If that time comes, Lavender promises she’ll simply die with Van. When Rit asks Lavender to ask Van to leave Zoltan, she refuses, and Rit doesn’t push the matter. Instead, they toast one more mug of mead to hopefully having more peaceful talks like this.

While Rit must by design wear her heart on her sleeve and exhibit extreme honesty with an entity like Lavender who could quickly sniff out her lies, Red takes a different approach with Ljubo, one that exploits Ljubo’s vices, specifically money (which he wasn’t born into) and gambling.

Red, slumped over, hooded, and with a purple face tattoo, goads Ljubo into betting on a fat dragon that ends up winning and earning him a bunch of cash. There’s no better way for him to ingratiate himself to the cardinal than by lining his pockets.

With Ljubo’s lust for gold sated for the day, Red shows him where he can spend some of his winnings on some quality wine and seafood. Yarandrala in an anachronistic bartender’s uniform assists Red with this, and Ljubo is impressed that a backwater like Zoltan has such good fare.

With his pockets and belly full and a nice buzz from the wine, Ljubo is sufficiently prepared to hear Red out. Here, Red weaves the story of ancient elven ruins around Zoltan being full of advanced biological weapons. Some are monster form like the dead Ogre King he shows Ljubo. And some have human form – like the girl Van fought.

Red tells Ljubo that the girl is the ultimate elven weapon to be used against the demon army. If Van fights her, and either or both of them die in the ensuing mayhem, it will be a huge blow to mankind. Ljubo agrees, and vows to recommend to Van that he give up on fighting the girl. That said, Van’s obedience cannot be guaranteed.

The bottom line is that Red, Rit, Ruti & Co. don’t want to kill Van if they don’t have to. They want a peaceful solution, and that may require them to deceive Van. That’s a risky prospect, especially with Lavender discovering that Esta and her new Squire seem to be friendly with the apothecary who fought Van.

Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy – S2 08 – New Students

Makoto leaves the Demiplane to head back to Rotsgard, and while Tomoe is eager to determine the precise ways mist gates have affected the weather, Mio is simply sad to see the Young Master leave again so soon. But teachers have class, and he’s got three new students: Sif and Yuno Rembrandt, who he saved last season with judo and ambrosia, and the more mysterious Karen Force.

He has one of his blue lizardman friends fight his existing students (urging him not to use his breath and fight at no more than 20 percent), and they get trampled, but surely learn valuable lessons through their failure. Meantime, he has the three new students come at him at once with everything they’ve got, instructing them to adjust their tactics on the fly.

After the battles, the existing students are surprised the infamous Rembrandt sisters are so … nice. Makoto is more concerned with Karen Force, and takes her aside after class to learn more. Because she’s far more powerful than the real Karen should be, he suspects, and is quite correct, that she’s an imposter. Shiki confirms she’s actually Rona, a general in the Demon’s Army who specializes in … seduction.

Naturally, neither her magical nor feminine charms have much effect on our young heartbreaker, who is already more than neck-deep in lovely ladies to whom he doesn’t give the time of day. Over lunch, he makes it clear he and Shiki are netural and have no immediate quarrel with Karen/Rona as long as she doesn’t disrupt his business. Karen, in turn, tells him the purpose of her disguise: she’s investigating rumors of demi-human trafficking in Rotsgard.

Makoto pays the Rembrandt sisters a visit at their palatial dorm, and they receive him in lovely Renaissance-style dresses bearing their family crest. They express their heartfelt gratitude for him saving them, but he assures them he didn’t free them from their curses so they could live their lives indebted to him. Like his other students, he has high hopes for them.

After bribing the ogres with bananas, Eris and Aqua are all too eager to assist Lime Latte, now Tomoe’s spy and apprentice, in the investigation Karen/Rona mentioned. We later see Lime taking the initiative, roughing up people until he finds signs of trafficking on a still under-construction part of the academy. There, he puts his sword to the throat of someone wearing instructor’s robes. Looks like the darker corners of the academy are as rotten as Mio’s potatoes.

7th Time Loop – 08 – Ice, Ice, Baby

Rishe calls in a favor from Theo to get on the list of knight recruits, training as a man under the name “Lucius” so that she won’t get preferential treatment. One of her fellow recruits is Fritz, from the Kingdom of Coyolles, who greatly admires Prince Arnold. The two also meet Count Lawvine, an important northern retainer who Arnold executed as a traitor in Rishe’s previous loop.

The day of their secret jaunt into town arrives, and Elsie makes sure Rishe looks as lovely as possible without looking like the crown prince’s fiancée. Arnold expected her to show up in far plainer clothes, but it’s not like he minds how magnificent she looks. They tour the vast and lively marketplace, where Rishe has Arnold taste a scary-looking but healthy fruit.

Arnold then swiftly leads Rishe to an unassuming store that happens to be one of the finest jewellers in town. They have a test for Rishe to identify a fake among three gems. She says she cannot tell, but then asks for appraising tools, and determines that they are all imitations, thus “passing the test.”

She then learns the purpose of their visit: she is to choose a stone for the wedding ring Arnold intends to give her. When the proprietor asks her favorite color, she gazes into Arnold’s deep icy blue eyes and asks for a gem of the same color, not realizing how romantic and lovey-dovey she sounds making such a request.

Rishe and Arnold view the sunset from the top of one of the gates to the city, with a view of everyone entering and exiting. Combined with the fact Arnold is no longer periodically looking at his watch, Rishe has deduced that he is here waiting for someone to arrive, which is correct. That person happens to be someone who cannot make their wedding, but is coming to celebrate and offer congratulations beforehand.

That someone is no less than Prince Kyle of Coyolles, the very same prince Rishe served under as an apothecary in a previous loop. He’s a hottie like Arnold, but much fairer of skin and frailer of constitution; indeed, Rishe developed medicines to help him in that loop, and intends to help him here as well.

In that loop, Arnold destroyed Coyolles and everything in it, and in this loop, Coyolles is just as wealthy but militarily weak. When he meets Rishe and gives her glowing praise, Arnold flashes a look that could kill, but not because he thinks Kyle is up to something. He’s simply being jealous.

Arnold is hoping a meeting between the prince and Count Lawvine will help shed some light on Kyle’s true intentions. That would be fine, except for the fact Lawvine has already met “Lucius” and will see a lot more of “him” during knight training. Will he recognize Rishe and blow her cover?

7th Time Loop – 07 – A Matter of Pride

With the diligent work of the novice maids (including a reinstated Elsie), Rishe is able to prepare a room for Prince Arnold right beside her own in the villa. While he thought she wanted to live alone, her intention all along was for the two of them to live together. Not only is he pleased with the room, but also the fact Rishe is so good at bringing out the best in people (see also: Theo, who is recommitting himself to helping the slums).

Rishe also asks if she can take up Arnold’s offer to spar with her, and the next thing you know they’re standing in a yard together with wooden swords, sensible clothes, and one hand tied behind their backs. Arnold also has an eye patch and weights on one leg in order to simulate battlefield conditions, when a knight must keep fighting even when one or more limbs or eyes are gone.

While Arnold is clearly holding back, his skills are still plain to behold, as are his real-time instructions to Rishe as she comes at him. Since she already has quite a bit of combat training, this serves as an advanced lesson. He also comes at her with the same combo that kill her in her past life, and the way she dodges it makes him think she knows of someone more powerful than him.

He’s right, because the him of five years from now will be stronger than he is now, but she can’t say that. Ultimately she impresses him by making him take a step to dodge her last strike before he disarms her; he had planned not to move at all but he underestimated her.

When she can’t get up due to her arms and legs shaking, he gathers her into a princess carry, as he wasn’t about to just leave her out there in the yard. Since she agreed to do one thing he asks if she lost, he asks her to keep her schedule clear in two days so they can go into town. She also learns his birthday: December 28th.

Whether that trip is postponed or takes place off camera or is yet to come, the second half of the episode consists of Rishe trying to get a sleep-deprived Arnold to relax. To that end, she sets him up in his darkened room and employs the little tricks she used when she was a maid to help him sleep.

While she’s not particularly embarrassed to lay beside him in his bed, she does get flustered when he looks at her with those deep blue piercing eyes. She’s seemingly successful in getting him to rest a little, but she’s the one who ends up nodding off, which speaks to her trust in him.

But while Rishe insists she’ll be lazing around at some point, she has obtained a wig from Aria in order to pose as a candidate in the imperial knights. It will be an intensive ten-day training period that will no doubt polish her skills and also help acquire more stamina and endurance.

She’d be the first to admit her body isn’t in the same shape it was in her knight loop, but she seems determined to return to that condition, thus eliminating as many possible threats to her survival as possible. That said, I do hope we get to see her and Arnold out on the town at some point.

7th Time Loop – 06 – The Princes Who Wanted to Disappear

I figured Theo using Elsie and Kamil to kidnap Rishe wasn’t going to go well for him. What I didn’t necessarily see coming was Rishe facilitating cathartic reconciliation between the two brothers, estranged on purpose by Arnold.

But I’m getting ahead of myself! I can’t tell you how cool it is to see a smiling Rishe barge in on Theo, just when he thinks he has Arnold on the ropes, not five minutes into the episode.

We actually began back at Rishe’s villa. She was only pretending to feel the effects of the sleeping drug, and confronts Elsie and Kamil. She realizes they’re not doing this because Theo threatened them, but because Theo is the slums’ top benefactor.

Then the episode uses Rishe’s detailed 3-point lesson in how to properly imprison someone to Theo as a framing device for showing her totally badass escape, which was inevitable considering her past lives’ experience and Theo’s failure to check any of the necessary boxes for a successful capture (including breaking the captive’s limbs and keeping at least two sets of eyes on them at all times).

Theo may have though he had this grand plan, but seeing it all turned to dust so quickly should be a hint to quit putting on the Unhinged Evil Younger Prince act. Rishe has already seen through it, just as his brother has: Theo doesn’t hate his brother, nor does he want him to suffer.

Rather, this whole overblown act was to create such a commotion and disgrace himself, giving him cover to abdicate his place in the line of succession. She’s done a little research, and can tell while his public acts of charity in the slums have cease, he continues to funnel his own money there. The Theo we’ve seen isn’t the real Theo: a kind an generous prince who also has a major brother complex (okay, that part we saw).

Ise Mariya does phenomenal work voicing the young prince as he insists that his brother hating him, despising, him, casting him out, even killing him is preferable to not being accepted. To this, Arnold only coldly repeats what he’s already said: he doesn’t care about Theo one way or another.

After Theo runs off, it’s time for Rishe to call out Arnold’s BS: he does care about his brother, otherwise he wouldn’t have ordered her to stay away from him. She also finally understands what he meant by her not needing resolve to be his wife—he intends to abdicate and disappear.

Arnold finds it “adorable” that Rishe can’t read his intentions, and that he’s better off not understanding, but whether he likes it or not, Rishe is someone who will never seeking understanding. She asks him to consider a possible future in his brother disappears, and to live a life where he has no regrets.

As for her, she fully intends to live her life (even if it’s her last) as his wife, with no regrets. And while her body is starting to give out after all that running and fighting, she still feels she has one more thing to do before going to bed, and climbs to the top of the tower where she finds Theo.

Theo was thinking about the one time Arnold praised him, after he used his own body to protect his vassals in a field hospital. Arnold is proud of him, but warned him never to put his life at risk like that again. Rishe confirms her suspicions to the one who has watched Arnold more closely than anyone: he’s trying to leave the throne to Theo.

Ever since that time he was praised, Theo watched his brother for the express purpose of determining the best way to be useful to him. He believes Arnold disappearing rather than ruling is a mistake. Even if it means disappearing before Arnold can, he’ll do it.

Rishe doesn’t believe that, and says she’ll need his strength as Arnold’s only little brother to keep Arnold from disappearing. But Theo’s mind is already set, and he falls backwards over the tower. Rishe lunges out to catch him, but her muscles finally gives out. It appears that Theo will fall to his death, but his brother catches him.

Once Theo is safe, Arnold slaps him, then repeats what he said in that field hospital: Don’t put your life at risk again. That his big brother remembered that moment brings tears to Theo’s eyes, and he reverts to a sobbing mess.

When Rishe sees that all is now well with the brothers, she finally lets herself pass out. Theo is concerned, but Arnold simply smiles as she rests in his lap, the scar from the wound he sustained saving Theo’s life fully exposed.

Moments after Theo sees his brother looking happier than he’s ever seen him look, he also gets to hear his brother say “I leave it to you,” referring to arranging the carriages. Becoming his big brother’s strength starts with making sure his fiancée gets home safe.

When Rishe wakes up the next morning, Arnold is writing at her desk, having stayed with her the whole time. He delivers a letter from Theo apologizing for how he treated her and telling her he’s in her debt. He’s also agreed to join forces with her (with the power of the slums at his back) her in ensuring Arnold doesn’t fuck off somewhere, but ascends to the throne, because he’s the best man for the job.

The episode ends on a cute romantic note, with Arnold asking her to think of something else he can do for her since he couldn’t resist kissing her in the chapel. This makes a flustered Rishe retreat within her sheets, and Arnold thanks her for looking after “his little brother.” Rishe smiles and tells him not to worry about it, since he’ll be her little brother too.

This was another fantastic midpoint episode that gave Theo a lot more dimension and further deepened Arnold and Rishe’s bond. We also got to see Rishe not only be a badass fighter, but use the interpersonal skills she’s learned to mediate the conflict between the brothers. All of this bodes well for a future where she’ll live beyond the limit of her past lives.

7th Time Loop – 05 – Chipped Nail

Theodore invited Rishe to the chapel to tell her that her brother is a murderous monster who even killed his own mother, and his killings aren’t limited to war time. Rishe responds that she’s “fully aware of the facts” and has still chosen to be Prince Arnold’s bride. Before Theo can protest, Arnold arrives, no doubt tipped off to the meeting by Rishe.

Arnold shoos Theodore away, then tells Rishe he warned her to stay away from him. When Rishe asks why everyone says he’s so cruel when she’s only seen him as a kind and considerate man, Arnold hisses that he’s looked after her too well. Putting his hand around her throat, he orders her to disabuse herself of that false notion. But she won’t. She trusts what she’s seen, and can’t see him as a cruel person.

Arnold sees in Rishe’s eyes the resolve of someone on the battlefield, prepared to stay true to their convictions even if it leads to her death. He’s killed others with that resolve in the eyes of others, and they’re the ones he feared most. Rishe decides to frame her situation as having dreams that she’s been killed, and the lingering fear she’s already dead and just living in a long dream after her death.

She tells him that whether this life is a dream or not, she’s not running away. If there’s resolve in her eyes, its the resolve to live as his wife. Stunned by her words, Arnold moves his hand off her throat to her chin, pushes her close, and kisses her, saying “there’s no need” for that kind of resolve.

The meaning of those words eludes Rishe, who is working herself down to the bone developing the product she’ll use to win over Chief Tully and Aria Trading Company. That product is nail polish that protects and strengthens nails. Her maid Elsie is enchanted by the look of Rishe’s sparkly, smooth nails, and Rishe applies some on her hand as well.

While doing so, Rishe learns that Elsie can’t afford to live her life for herself; it’s all she can do to put food on the table for her poor family. Poverty seems to be a deep-seated problem in the empire; Rishe wants to do something about that, and being the crown princess-to-be, she actually can.

In the meantime, she offers Elsie a bottle of the polish in whatever color she likes. Rishe’s kindness brings tears to her eyes. They’re tears she insists are of happiness, but we learn later it’s more than that.

Rishe knows going into her meeting with Tully that simply presenting the product of nail polish won’t be enough to persuade him. She’s not a fellow merchant but a customer, and Tully says the finest merchants choose their own customers.

Rishe proposes building upon the prince’s establishment of a minimum wage and hiring labor from the slums. Tully dismisses this as needless charity, but Rishe uses his own words from one of her previous loops to ask him why simply choose customers when they can produce them.

Giving the poor jobs will give them money to spend, thus making their employees their customers as well. Inspired by Elsie’s story, Rishe is determined to turn the slums from a place of despair to a place of hope and opportunity, where the common folk don’t have to give up their dreams, big or small.

When Tully sees how badly Rishe wants to work with him, he tells her he could use that fixation to wring her dry, but that’s when she whips out her trump card: she knows that Kaine’s little sister Aria, namesake of his trading empire, has an illness, just as she did in her previous loop.

In loops since then she’d become a skilled herbalist and scholar, and discovered a medicine that can cure Aria within a year. When Tully bends to one knee and basically surrenders, Rishe tells him she’ll give him the ingredients and formula for the medicine without conditions.

Rishe would only ask that Tully consider that the families in the slums care about their families as he cares about his, and humbly asks if he’ll help her. Tully again bows and tells Rishe that her words have moved him to think about the people of the slums for the first time. If he can help their families as Rishe is helping his, then they can do business together.

Rishe should be proud for finally defeating Tully in a business negotiation, but she’s not one to rest on her laurels. A lot of logistics and planning will be needed, both for the nail polish concern and her wedding. But as was previously established, Rishe had barely slept for days. When she collapses out of apparent exhaustion, it comes as no surprise.

What very much does come as a surprise is the fact that once she collapsed, her trusted maid Elsie and her guard Kamil, two of the people she’s come to trust most, betrayed her by kidnapping her and handing her to Theodore in those very slums. Perhaps Elsie’s tears were more about guilt than happiness.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Theo threatened her and Kamil’s families in order to make them work for him. If he didn’t, then even someone as shrewd as Rishe wasn’t able to see the traitors among her. Regardless, their betrayal is a brutal gut punch after such a well-fought victory.

7th Time Loop – 04 – Tricks of the Trader

Despite knowing Aria’s Kaine Tully in a past life, he sees right through her entreaties for procuring her wedding, turning her down flat with the excuse that his wares are not becoming of an imperial crown princess. While initially bewildered by such a stonewalling, Rishe remembers the opening Kaine gave her before departing. Kaine said he and his men will remain in town for a bit, so Rishe dyes her hair and sneaks out of her villa.

Rishe drinks all of Kaine’s men under the table before he even arrives, leaving the two alone for negotiations. Rishe obviously can’t tell him her overarching plan to prevent her death, but she can tell him she wants to be a trading partner and ally, not merely a customer. Kaine agrees to give her a week to come up with a business plan that’s worth his while.

She sneaks back into her chambers to find Prince Arnold waiting for her. He’s not mad—he made clear she can do what she will with her time—but isn’t enthused about her going out alone in the dead of night unescorted. If she has future business in town, he’ll accompany her, without interfering in that business. She prepares him a midnight snack of soup with medicinal herbs, lamenting that she’s a terrible cook, but he enjoys it and they eat it all together.

Before bidding her goodnight, Arnold asks Rishe if she’s met his younger brother. She hasn’t, and he warns her not to entertain him if he shows up. One minute we see this brother smirking in a seedy tavern, the next he’s waking up in Rishe’s garden plot. Introducing himself as Theodore, he has the face and voice of an angel, but gets close to Rishe and tells her he intends to “save” her from her hostage status.

Rishe would like to dig further into what exactly Prince Theo’s Whole Deal is, but she only has a month to come up with her business idea for the Chief, so she tables that for now after her bodyguards are unable to even tell her how the brothers get along. She does accidentally walk in on Arnold ordering the armies be brought into the city to protect the commoners. She notes that this Prince Arnold, who seems to be forcibly enacting policy to benefit the commoners, isn’t the same prince who killed her.

Upon retiring to her chambers, Rishe finds a sealed note ostensibly from Arnold summoning her to the chapel at midnight to “tell her a secret.” But Rishe wasn’t born yesterday, and when she arrives dressed down in mourning black, she fully expects Theodore, not Arnold, to be there.

Honestly I would have been content to watch Rishe get into the nitty gritty of researching the capital in order to develop the most profitable plan, but Theo makes for an enticing wild card, adding palace intrigue to what has so far become a not-very-laid back seventh loop. But let’s be real here: Rishe isn’t one to just laze about, as much as she says she might want to.

Spy x Family – 32 – Bread and Circuses

Due to circumstances outside her control, Yor is forced into a fierce battle with Barnaby, who wields an unusual sickle-and-mace weapon that won’t let her close their distance. Worse still, there’s a crowd forming wondering what the heck is going on. And worst of all: Yor spots Miss Anya in that crowd!

Anya saves the day by playing dumb, applauding the “circus performance,” and the rest of the crowd buys it and becomes a rapt audience. Yor, bless her, actually thinks Anya doesn’t recognize her, and decides to not only end this battle quickly, but put on a show doing it.

The result is Thorn Princess at her absolute best. It’s one thing to dodge that ridiculous weapon, it’s quite another to rush at Barnaby like a missile, causing his arm to shake. She anchors the chain in the floor, deflects the weapon back at him, leaps behind him, then leaps over him while tying him up with the chain. She knocks Barnaby out with some well-placed pressure point hits, and ends up right beside him, giving a curtsy to an impressed and entertained crowd.

With Yor victorious, Anya hurries back to the store just as Loid comes out of the dressing room looking as lame as anyone who draws breath has ever looked. He’s dejected for having come so wide of the mark, but the first day of their cruise ends when a punch-drunk Anya smacks her head into a shelf and falls asleep. Loid carries her to their room, looking determined to do better tomorrow.

After inspecting their new room, Yor advises the “Greys” to get some rest. “Mr. Grey” remains gobsmacked at the sheer extra-ness of the assassins going after them, betraying that at the end of the day he’s a bit of a scaredy-cat. But when Olka asks him why he’s even still with her, he remembers a day sometime after the war when he was starving.

The black market run by the Gretchers provided food for those who had none. A cheerful girl, who was none other than a young Olka, gave him a loaf of bread. She’s the reason he’s still alive in the first place, so there’s nothing he won’t do for her, even if he is scared.

And interacting with people like Yor and the director, he’s plenty scared. He should be! He thought the war was over, but the war has essentially been going on ever since in the shadows, and people like the director and Yor are the soldiers. The director checks in, arms himself, and leaves, warning Yor to stay focused or they’re all going to die.

But as Yor guards the door all night while the Greys sleep, it occurs to her she never did contact Loid and Anya or get to spend any time with them. She believes her legs were heavy in her fight with Barnaby because she was afraid of getting hurt, especially hurt in a way she wouldn’t be able to explain away to Anya and Loid.

Yor tells herself (by name) that she needs to “get her priorities straight” … but before she knew it, her priorities had shifted. Instead of soberly considering Loid and Anya nothing but “camouflage”, she’s questioning what she’s even doing in that dark room, away from them, putting her life at risk for strangers. The scene in her mind’s eye of meeting them topside broke my damn heart, because it’s a scene we may not get.

The next morning, 20 hours from the rendezvous, Franky is cursing the fact that he has to be a “kiddositter” and “doggositter”, right up until a cute young lady compliments Bond, chats with him, and departs hoping they’ll meet again. In response to this Franky considers keeping Bond as his pet. What can you say? Bond’s a ladykiller.

Back on the Lorelei, Loid has a very serious monologue like Yor’s, but the great “unknown” of which he speaks and which tests his training to the hilt is nothing more than being able to be a good dad and ensure Anya has fun on Day Two. For her part, Anya is determined to help Mama by keeping Loid occupied, but she ends up getting frustrated with her mini golf game.

After golf the two have lunch, hit the library, do a puzzle, go roller skating, and attend a magic show. It’s a full, fun day, and Loid can tell Anya was having fun, which makes it doubly inexplicable at dinner when she looks so grumpy. The truth is she’s frustrated she forgot about Mama and enjoyed herself. But when she reads Loids mind and knows she’s worrying him with her looks, she reiterates out loud that she’s having a good time … she just misses Mama.

I just hope she doesn’t end up missing her forever. Night arrives, and as the passengers go topside for an imminent fireworks show, an entirely different kind of fireworks are about to go off. Only four hours remain until the rendezvous, and enemies are closing in on the Greys’ new room, so they have to abandon it again.

As they head out in fresh disguises, all of the assassins are looking for them and ready to strike when they find them. I know Yor is the shit, and she dealt with Barnaby without too much trouble, but I’m still extremely anxious, because while I don’t doubt her physical abilities, her head isn’t 100% in the game. Her legs aren’t going to get any lighter.

Spy x Family – 31 – Choppy Seas

The first night aboard the Princess Lorelei seems primed to end without incident, as the “Greys” have a nice dinner in the first-class restaurant. McMahon order Yor to take Shaty and her son back to their room and remain on guard. Shaty, for her part, would prefer to believe there are no enemies on board, and even hopes Yor will be able to see her family, who are availing themselves of the third-class buffet.

McMahon smells a assassin and gets to him first, breaking his arm and leg to get answers and then killing him and tossing him overboard with grim efficiency. There are many assassins aboard, and they know Olka’s alias and her room number. But the next assassin is already at the door before McMahon and Mr. Grey can get there. Fortunately, the Thorn Princess is ready for “room service.”

The remaining assassins aboard, numbering well over a dozen, have a little confab topside, with their ostensible leader suggesting they all work together to take out Olka without commotion and splitting the reward. When one assassin asks why they don’t just kill every mother with a child on board, he is promptly killed. These are assassins, not murderers.

With Room 3048 compromised, Yor leads the Greys to their new second-class cabin, but before that they head to a bustling masquerade ball while wearing masks in order to blend in. Yor can sense the bloodlust from two of the assassins embedded in the party, and knocks one out with a button and the other by pretending to reject his offer of a dance.

The next assassin to approach Yor and Olka doesn’t care about causing a commotion, he simply wants to kill the target and her babe as soon as he sees them. Anya picks up on his thoughts, then spots the owner of those thoughts, “Sickle-and-Chain Barnaby”, approaching Yor with the intent to engage.

While Anya initially begs for a weird skeleton keychain to the point she has Loid wondering what he should do to look more like a normal dad—buy it or refuse to buy it—she’s certain if Loid sees Yor fighting an assassin he’ll divorce Yor and she’ll end up back in an orphanage. So she has Loid try on every article of clothing in the store—which happens faster than she expected thanks to him being a master of disguise!

As for Yor, she only senses Barnaby’s murderous intent a second or two before he strikes, not giving her much time to ensure Olka isn’t beheaded. This guy is strong; perhaps the strongest person she’s gone up against. But as always, my money is on Yor to sort him out.

Kimizero – 06 – Shooting Her Shot

Well now, our boy Ryuuto ain’t as stupid as he looks. Maria’s ruse doesn’t last more than a minute from the moment he enters the gym storage room. When she hugs him, he knows immediately she’s not Runa. Thus caught, does Maria quit right then and there? Unfortunately not.

She insists on having sex with Ryuuto, telling him they can keep it a secret, and that unlike Runa he’ll be her first. Ryuuto quite sensibly separates himself from her and tells her no, he’s not going to do anything to hurt Runa. He could have said a lot more.

Frankly, Maria needs someone to tell her that it’s simply not all right to disguise yourself as your fraternal twin sister and try to trick her boyfriend into sleeping with you! But because Ryuuto is an uncommonly kind fella, and has also felt the sting of rejection (from Maria!) she’s feeling now, so she lets her cry on his shoulder.

Big mistake! The next day at school everyone is atwitter about Ryuuto cheating on Runa with Maria. A photo taken from the bushes shows the two on a park bench. He confronts Maria, who denies she had anything to do with it, and for once I actually believe her. She also agrees to deny the rumors. I hope she learned her lesson.

She also makes a remark about whether they’d still be together if only she’d said yes instead of turning him down, before saying there’s no point dwelling on the past. Unfortunately, Runa and Nicole hear this while they’re in the hall. Runa drops her phone, then runs away upset. Nicole slaps Ryuuto across the face for breaking his promise to her.

Unfortunately, that’s the last Ryuuto sees of Runa that day, and indeed for the first two weeks of summer break. She doesn’t respond to his messages telling her she’s sorry and asking for an opportunity to explain himself. He comes close to ringing her doorbell, but doesn’t have the guts. He’s disgusted in himself.

Fortunately, his nerd friends decided to go to the exact same beach in Chiba where Runa is (where all they do is watch game streams), and snap a photo of her with some hot tanned dude when they spot her. While I’m most certainly not a fan of them taking a photo of Runa without her permission, they save Ryuuto’s summer by doing so.

Ryuuto jumps on the next train to Chiba and finds the beach hut where Runa is there with Nicole and still clinging to the hot tanned guy, who is the first of them to notice Ryuuto is there, assuming he’s a customer. When he realizes he’s Runa’s BF, he introduces himself … as Runa’s hot tanned uncle, Mao.

That aside, Ryuuto is there to apologize to Runa for making her worry. When Nicole has to head off to work, Mao assures her he’ll be sure to kick Ryuuto’s ass if he makes his dear niece cry. Ryuuto proceeds to tell Runa everything: how Maria was the girl who turned him down in middle school, and how the night they came back from the beach, Maria confessed.

While he turned her down flat, he knows there’s no excuse for not telling Runa everything sooner. But to his surprise, Runa isn’t upset. She never responded to his texts because her phone broke when she dropped it, and she hasn’t had the opportunity to get it fixed.

But more than that, Runa gets why Maria fell for him, and also that whoever he turned down, he’d do it gently and be kind to them, just as he always is with her. Because it happens to be her little (presumably by a few minutes) sister, she’s grateful Ryuuto turned her down softly.

While Runa ran off upset, she soon calmed down, realizing she’d fled a situation without getting all the facts, and after some thought, decided that she not only still trusted Ryuuto, but wanted to stay his girlfriend no matter what. That he showed up to talk to her before her phone got fixed only reinforces her trust in him.

The question is, who took that photo in the bushes? Couldn’t have been Maria, and we don’t know of any friends she has who would do something like that on her behalf. I also doubt it was Nicole, as she doesn’t seem like the voyeuristic type. It will be interesting to see if we ever learn their identity, and if they cause any more problems for our lovebirds.

Until then, all’s well that ends well, as Runa invites Ryuuto to her granny’s house and asks him to spend the rest of summer break with her, working at the hut and having fun on the beach on their time off. Uncle Mao is cool with it, and Ryuuto can’t very well decline, especially after two weeks of wallowing in despair!

Spy x Family – 30 – Cruise Control

Yor is assigned a new mission by the “Shopkeeper”—someone with skills comparable to hers and who was possibly her master. He tests her by distracting her with his lovely garden, but by dodging his surprise attack Yor proves that she’s ready to not only defend herself from attacks, but to “end any evildoer at any time.”

In this case, Yor is not being tasked with ending anyone, but with protecting the last surviving member of a mafia family, Olka Gretcher, and her infant son.

Olka is seeking asylum in another country, but the man who took over the crime family is sending all manner of bounty hunters her way. Olka will be traveling via luxury cruise liner, which just happens to be the exact same cruise Anya wins in a raffle by reading the mind of the official who is scamming everyone else.

It’s quite the coincidence; one that has Yor contemplating for the first time whether this will her last job as Thorn Princess.

Yor, Loid, and Anya take a train to the port town from which  the Princess Loreliei cruise liner, pride of Ostania, will depart. It is a massive ship, close enough in size to the much older Titanic, and while Yor, Loid, and Anya are aboard, so are a number of people seeking to find and kill Olka.

Yor must undertake a job in the same venue where her family is taking an ordinary vacation by sheer coincidence. With all the unknown variables in play it already feels like it’s not going to be smooth sailing.

When Yor meets Olka, she’s in full-on disguise as Shaty Grey, wife of a department store magnate. Her “husband” takes one look at Yor and is skeptical that she’s enough to protect his “wife”, but Matt from City Hall assures him that Yor is strong and more than capable of protecting “Shaty”.

That said, Yor is weary of undertaking this mission in such close proximity to her family, which she’s come to see as not fake.

While Yor is aboard the Lorelei under the auspices of “advanced urban planning”, Loid and Anya are simply there because she won a raffle, and accept that Yor will be busy on official business. Olka, meanwhile, dresses Yor in one of her leisure dresses in order to blend in more.

While Yor manages to gain the trust of both Olka and her young son Gram, the cruise ship is essentially a den of vipers, with one particularly focused individual listening in on multiple conversations on the ship via strategically placed bugs. As soon as Yor and Olka are speaking plainly to one another, this person picks up on it and zeros in on “Shaty Grey’s” cabin.

No doubt Yor will have to flex her not inconsiderable skills to defend Olka and her son, while also trying not to expose her skills to Loid and Anya. At the same time, I have no doubt that both Twilight and Anya’s ESP would come in handy for Yor, so we’ll see how successful she is in keeping her mission a secret.

At any rate, I’m just glad we’re finally getting a Yor-centric story that explores whether she even needs to keep killing now that Yuri is largely self-sufficient and she has a fine husband and daughter.