Tenten Kakumei – 12 (Fin) – In Rainbows

Last week ended with the promise of an unprecedented duel between Anis and Euphie, to decide who will become queen by being made to suffer in one form or another: Anis having to give up everything she is, or Euphie losing everything she has. Both want the other to be happy, neither wants to hurt the other. The duel, while only occupying five minutes, is nevertheless epic in is presentation (like a great boss battle, only between two bosses!) and in the catharsis it provides.

The duel ends quickly because, well, Euphylia Magenta is the titular Genius Young Lady: even with her Dragon Power, Anis’ magicology is simply no match for its power or beauty. And as Euphie repeats when Anis comes to in her lap (a nice callback to a simpler time), she’s only this way because Anis is the one who helped unlock who she is today; someone who won’t hesitate to claim the throne.

And Anis admits, she’s not okay with being queen. She was mostly doing it out of obligation to her parents, to whom she felt she was a “useless daughter”. After the duel, Anis father is holding back tears and her mother isn’t, drawing Anis into a warm embrace and insisting that no, it’s she who is unworthy of having such a splendid daughter.

That night, Anis visits Euphie in her bedroom, and decides the time is right to tell her, and no one else, her deep dark secret. No, it’s not that she’s gay; that’s quite established. Rather, it’s the fact she recalls having a previous life in another world. When she found herself in a world of magic, it felt like a dream, but then she became consumed with fear that she’d somehow replaced the real Princess Anisphia, and was a fake.

Euphie vehemently dispels that notion in no uncertain terms. There is simply no way in her mind that an Anisphia that delivered her from the depths of despair, and showed her what true freedom and happiness looked like, could ever be called a “fake”. She then takes the initiative and kisses Anis, surprising her. Anis insists that’s only something someone should do to someone they love, and Euphie says she does love her.

When Anis tries to qualify that, Euphie says she can be her friend and confidante and comrade, but she’d also like Anis to accept her feelings for what they really are. Before Anis knows it, she’s being thrown on the bed, and the camera tastefully withdraws out of focus.

However far these two lovebirds get that night, or what nature of pillow talk they engage in thereafter, by morning they’re ready to chart the course of the future of their kingdom. Euphie has successfully contracted with the spirit, so the king adopts her and then announces his intent to step back. Euphie will be queen, and Anis will support her as her “older sister”.

For some reason I envisioned undergoing to contract to immediately cause Euphie to not only forget everyone she ever knew but forget that she forgot, but that only happens after a number of lifetimes. With that fear allayed, my original plan for them to basically rule together while keeping their romance private seems to be the one they’ve adopted.

Euphie states in no uncertain terms she’ll be the last monarch chosen by traditional means, as she intends to end the nobility’s monopoly on magic and help Anis realize the dream of magic for everyone, everywhere. That said, Queen Euphie wishes to gently disassemble those old walls, not tear them down, so she and Anis prepare a gaudy, upbeat public demonstration of both the new flying machines and dresses that can enable the wearer to fly.

This is made possible after intense negotiations with the spirit faithful (who by their own precepts must grudgingly follow the will the monarch the spirits chose) and collaboration with Anis’ commoner craftsmen. But they manage to pull off one hell of a show.

As they take flight hand in hand, strike Magical Girl poses, and conjure a literal rainbow, we can see the immediate effect it has on the children of commoners. They run along the ground pretending to fly, but when they’re old enough, they’ll be able to fly too.

Now that the promise and possibility and potential of magicology is now out in the world and Euphie is firmly installed and accepted and celebrated as the new queen, her and Anis’ magical revolution can begin in earnest. It likely won’t be quite the instant success the demonstration indicated, but after that strong a start they can take their time making the world a place where freedom and happiness are available to anyone.

They can also take their time with their romance, as illustrated when Anis looks across the breakfast table at Euphie, Alia, and Lainie, the very picture of bliss. And as they run out for their next appointments, Anis gives Euphie a chaste peck on the cheek, to which Euphie responds with another kiss on the mouth.

Led by the love in their hearts for the kingdom, for magic, and above all for each other, Queen Euphylia and Princess Anisphia a poised to create a new and better world. And if we never see them in anime form again, I could’ve scarcely asked for a better way to close the book on their story. I just hope Anis’s research into immortality doesn’t take any macabre turns!

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST

Tenten Kakumei – 11 – Can’t Throw It Away

During a lengthy meeting with the “Spirit Faithful” whose favor she must gain to be an effective queen, Princess Anisphia is praised for finally “growing up” from the carefree tomboy and dedicating herself to the kingdom. She is also treated like a heretic (for her magicology) and like a womb to be filled as soon as possible by someone of their choosing. I’m not surprised Anis has to vomit after the ordeal. But then, despite all evidence to the contrary all over her face, she looks at herself in the mirror and says “I’m perfectly fine.” Like hell, girl!

No, Anis is in a very bad emotional state, caught as she is between the responsibility now on her shoulders, the guilt of having pushed it upon Algard and all that wrought, and the fact that becoming the queen means ceasing to be who she is and who she’s always been…and even then the nobles might revolt if she puts a toe out of line. She’s wearier still when Euphie tells her she wants to meet with her, the king and queen, Ilia, and Lainie (now a maid-in-training) to tell her she now knows what it is she needs to do.

Before this meeting even began, and before I knew the true extent of who Lumi is and what that entails, I already knew it would fail. Because as much as Euphie loves Anis and wants to protect her, becoming an immortal spirit contractor who forgets all of her memories and feelings for others and becomes an ethereal husk of a person is definitely not what Anis would want! Indeed, by the time Lumi is done describing something akin to when Elrond told Arwen what would become of loving a mortal, suddenly becoming a queen doesn’t sound so bad!

Euphie is coming at this from a position of deep love and caring for Anis, but she badly miscalculates how she’d react to her requesting that the king adopt her after she enters into a spirit contract so she can take the throne instead of Anis. Nevermind losing Euphie forever; to have her birthright taken away feels, to Anis at this moment, like Euphie would be taking away the last bit of value she had. The challenges are immaterial to Anis: she is the goddamn Crown Princess, and she will be queen…or she’ll be nothing.

When Euphie offers a hand of comfort, Anis slaps it away—doing so for the very first time—and runs off in tears. She’s sulking in an alley in the pouring rain when Tilty finds her and takes her to her house to warm herself by the fire. At first Tilty goes with her usual aloof schtick but when she realizes how wounded Anis is, she too warms up, gives Anis a shoulder to cry on. She also gives her an alternative life: the two of them could travel the world plying their unique trade, free as birds. It’s sounds fun, but the bottom line is Anis can’t throw away her throne.

When Euphie arrives, Tilty gives them the room. Once again Anis slaps her hand away, and Euphie smiles softly and sadly, noting Anis has never expressed anger towards her before. Euphie worries that the nobles will never accept her. Anis tells her it doesn’t matter who accepts her, it’s her duty. She begs Euphie not to make her “somebody no one needs”, and tells her, with another face that insists otherwise, that she’s “perfectly fine.”

The two remain incredibly dedicated to one another, but neither will budge on their position. Euphie doesn’t want Anis to sacrifice herself to the throne, and Anis doesn’t want to sacrifice her so she can remain herself. However important Anis’ dream of magic is, it can’t begin to compare to Euphie’s life.

Anis is resigned to the fact neither of them will be able to convince the other with words…so she proposes a duel between them. Presumably, whoever wins will get their way…but considering both choices kind of suck, I still hope that after dueling it out these two can put their heads together and find a third way.

Tenten Kakumei – 10 – Duty and the Heart At Odds

With the big bad that was Prince Algard dispatched and MagiRevo having now fielded not one but two episodes that could have been fine finales, I was, like everyone else, wondering “what now?” At least in terms of the succession thing, this week answers that immediately: Anisphia is the successor to the throne once more. It means, among other things, she’ll eventually have to take a prince consort, despite being gay as hell.

Both Euphie and Lainie are a little unnerved not by how okay with all of this Anis is—she clearly isn’t—but how resigned she is to her new fate to ascend to a throne she had previously refused. While they are more polite and subtle in their concern, Tilty makes no effort to hide her distaste for this resignation, and almost tries to wipe that fake, sad smile of Anis’ face before storming out of the room.

That night Euphie finds Anis keeping to herself atop the castle battlements, feeling low about how things went down with Tilty. Anis soothes her bad mood by inviting Euphie on a plainclothes date into town to pick up Arc-en-Ciel, which she sent to her go-to-smith Tomas for repairs. A woman recognizes the princess, and before long she’s swarmed with adoring commoners.

Her queendom feels like a wave she’s caught in, and even if she’s able to escape, she won’t try. When asked for her unvarnished opinion by Euphie, Ilia says she knows Anis may be the only one who can unite the nobles and commoners, but the fact she’s being forced into rule may not suit her.

Ilia then shows Euphie the completely stripped down magicology lab, saying Anis likely have to abandon it forever to be “a ruler for all”. And it probably won’t be the only precious thing she casts aside for the sake of duty and country.

The thought of Anis never having a genuine smile once she assumes the throne and does her royal duty is unbearable to Euphie, who goes to Tilty for help, knowing she also objects. Tilty gets Euphie to be completely honest by saying she doesn’t want Anis to be queen, even if it’s her duty to support her with everything she has. Tilty tells Euphie there’s nothing wrong or right about those feelings; they should inform which path she takes.

Euphie marches into her father’s office and declares her objection to Anis taking the throne. When asked why, it’s because the throne is somewhere Anis will never be able to smile. She knows that smile can’t be traded for the lives of everyone in the kingdom, but she still doesn’t want to automatically accept her ascension as the only possible outcome.

Euphie clarifies that at its core this isn’t about duty or sympathy, but simply her love for Anisphia, which makes protecting her smile a hell of a lot more important than it would be to just anyone. Grantz tells her as Duke Magenta he cannot accept her position, leaving unsaid the fact he likely feels more sympathetic to her in his capacity as her dad.

Grantz reminisces on how Anis’ father Orphanse was just as much a wild child as his daughter, and “threw away his dream of happiness” to ascend to the throne and put down the rebellion, just as Grantz supported him with all his strength. His story is interrupted by the arrival of several magical spirits, which then float out the window and surround a mysterious blonde lady in the courtyard.

Grantz introduces Euphie to Miss Lumi, a spirit contractor. Spirit contracts establish authority as a member of the royal family, which means those who enter into spirit contracts can start new royal dynasties. Just as Euphie is considering this as an option to keep Anis off the throne, she learns that not only did her father consider but ultimately choose not to do that way back when, but that Lumi is here specifically to stop Euphie from doing it.

I’m torn. I want to see a kingdom ruled by a Queen Anisphia, but I don’t want her to abandon Euphie, nor her magicology studies. She could place Euphie in the role of Royal Magicologist, and keep her close as her mistress. With Algard creating a power vacuum, things are suddenly very complicated and have the potential to get messy. But the simple fact remains that Anis and Euphie love one another. I hope it’s enough.

Tenten Kakumei – 09 – A Warm Hand

It was always held out before him: an invitation to fun, trouble, or both. Algard never quite knew exactly what he’d get when he took that outstretched hand, but he still remembers how warm it felt in his, and that he knew no matter what, he wouldn’t be bored. And yet, a time came when that very same hand felt as cold as ice.

Now Al wields ice in bullet, spear, icicle rain, and hammer forms in order to stamp out the sister he loved so dearly. Never again can their hands touch; not while both draw breath. A fight ensues between the unstoppable force of a super-regenerating vampire against the immovable object of a magicologist blessed with dragon powers. It starts out a stalemate. Yet Al can tell Anis is holding back. He might be too?

All this time, Euphie, the one person who could turn the tables in an increasingly brutal duel, is still busy trying to keep Lainie from dying of a stolen heart. Once she’s healed enough to speak, Lainie reminds her healer that as a vampire, she needs blood to wield her own magic. Euphie prepares to cut herself, but Ilia stops her, bites through her lip, then delivers her blood to Lainie mouth-to-mouth, healing her completely.

Now Euphie is free to intervene in the sibling fight just when both it and tempers are getting well and truly out of hand. By continually healing the wounds Anis causes and throwing everything he’s got her way, Al gets Anis to a state where she thinks killing him for real is the only way to stop him. And yet, she’s still able to hold back her killing blow when she sees the look on Al’s fast-approaching face is no longer rage or resentment, but resignation and even relief that his wretched existence is about to end.

Anis doesn’t like that face one bit, while Euphie knows Anis doesn’t really want to kill her brother, but is just doing it because she thinks there’s no other choice. So she creates another option by plucking Anis out of midair and tacking her to the ground, tells her that she and her brother are acting like a couple of damn fools, and they both basically need a good long time out.

Anis’ attack did enough that Al is lying in a defeated heap on the ground. He recalls a beautiful day when he looked up and found Anis up in the sky above him, smiling on him, before reaching out with that warm hand. When the two of them broke out of the castle to go on an adventure, they encountered a monster. Anis told Al to run while she dealt with it, and he obeyed, hiding in a tree hollow.

Al idolized Anis more than anything at this time in his life. But then horrible rumors spread that Anis was trying to off his brother to consolidate power, and Anis unilaterally decided the best way to prove to everyone that she had no desire for the throne was to renounce it and bestow it on Al. Little did she know that was the last thing Al wanted.

Both the day he slapped her hand away in response to her rash decision, and every day since, he resented her for giving up a throne that was rightfully hers, while cursing a world for being so cruel to her that she felt she had to. He hated this world that rejected his sister so much, he believed destroying it and starting over was the only way.

But Al shot his shot and failed, and accepts the consequences. His only “defense” to his father the king is that he was a fool, straight up, and will accept any punishment. His father disinherits him and exiles him to the borderlands to work for the kingdom until he “turns to dust”. His mother tries to bear some responsibility, and perhaps she does, but he says his sins were his own. Rather than her being a bad mother, he should have been a better son.

Anis also feels responsible for creating the monster that was Crown Prince Algard, saying if only she’d “lived a normal life” in this world (which we know to be an isekai for her) maybe he wouldn’t have suffered so much. Of course, during their battle, she said all she could ever be was herself, so she’s being too harsh on herself here. This time, Al holds out his shackled hand, and a tearful Anis shakes it to make up one last time.

In the following days, Lord Chartreuse and his son are executed for their role in the attempted coup, while both Anis and Ilia remain bedridden. Lainie has fully recovered, and she and Euphie are the only ones up and about the day Algard is shipped off. Lainie takes the opportunity to tell Algard that she’s convinced there’s true kindness in him that she was lucky to experience, she also won’t forgive or forget what he did to her.

When Euphie approaches him, he tells her not to put up a front, even if it’s second nature so the duke’s illustrious genius daughter. He gets in some final, half-joking barbs about her fitness as a fiancée, and then she gives him a well deserved yet oddly formal slap across the face that Al accepts happily, as he was just as deplorable a fiancé.

Here the two are able to be simply a man and woman, realizing that they were always terrible for each other and it was a wonder they were engaged as long as they were. And then, Al asks Euphie, quite solemnly, to please take care of his sister.

Just as only Anis can be the next queen, even in a kingdom where nearly all the nobles condemn her as a heretic, only Euphie can be the one take care of her. With Ilia still recovering from her injuries, Euphie makes nursing Anis back to health her primary responsibility. When she hears Anis muttering in her sleep about Al and being sorry, Euphie tells her to dream happier dreams, and kisses her on the forehead.

Even if the ill effects of the dragon tattoo eventually clear, the fate of Algard will continue to weigh heavily on Anis like a ball and chain. In that regard, her and Euphie’s roles have now fully reversed: Euphie is now the freer one, with her clean conscience and strong sense of purpose. That’s why it’s absolutely crucial she stay by Anis’ side to help her climb out of the deep dark morass, just as Anis helped her. Euphie must take her warm hand in hers, and never let go.

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST

Tenten Kakumei – 08 – Brother’s Keeper

Laine’s life has been one ordeal after another. First she was born a commoner, hardly the most desirable station in this world. When her parents died, she was sent to an orphanage, where her unconscious power caused her to attract the adoration of some and bitter resentment of others.

Then Baron Cyan adopted her, and before she knew it she was the Crown Prince’s handpicked bride. It’s that latter part she thinks back on while looking into her tea. She saw a poor girl fall in the street and thought There but by the grace of God go I. She also remembers admiring Algard.

She admired him because he vowed that when he became king he’d demolish the walls between nobility and commoners. But now, like Euphie before her, Lainie is feeling lost and useless, and Ilia is there to give her small comforts like tea and kind words of support.

But suddenly, that pleasant moment is interrupted by one of Anis’ alarms and the lights going dark. Ilia tells Lainie that the villa has an intruder, and quickly whisks her away to the safety of the castle. I already admired the hell out of Ilia for many reasons, but add to those the fact she doubles as a bodyguard!

And she’d be an effective bodyguard against most anyone…except royalty like Prince Algard, who brutally impales her with a spear of light and then snags Lainie up like a fish on a pole. He tells Lainie he won’t apologize, nor will he seek forgiveness, before impaling her through the chest as well.

We know what he’s after: her vampire magicite. It is probably what he’s been after all this time, but Anisphila once again ruined his and Lord Chartreuse’s plans by harboring Lainie. At this point he believes he knows what must be done, but also knows he can’t do it without stealing someone else’s power.

The post-lecture gathering goes on seemingly forever, with Anis totally checked out. Then Moritz approaches her and is extremely pushy in his apologies for what went down with Euphie. Then the alarm goes off and he physically restrains her, and his friendly mask drops.

Moritz is Chartreuse’s son and Al’s buddy, and his job is to keep Anis and Euphie here while Al gets the magicite. The plan almost worked too, because Anis and Euphie took a summons that amounted to an elaborate diversion as a sincere attempt to sway some of the magical ministers.

When Moritz starts raving about Princess Anisphilia suddenly going mad, Anis says eff it and unleashes her dragon power to force him to let go of her. When a magical attack is thrown her way, Euphie is immediately there to reflect it.

Just when it looks like the two are in for a protracted fight against the guards who are swayed by Moritz’s ranting and Anis’ odd behavior, Tilty steps in and immobilizes everyone but Anis and Euphie, allowing them to fly off without delay (this time with Euphie carrying Anis). Great teamwork all around!

They arrive at the villa courtyard where Ilia and Lainie lie bleeding out. Anis assures them both they’ll be fine. Euphie starts using healing magic but isn’t sure she can save Lainie, but Anis tells her to do her best and hopefully Lainie’s vampiric body will heal itself.

That said, with the magicite now in Algard’s possession, all bets are off. While Anis had a dragon tattooed on her back, Al goes the Final Fantasy Big Bad route and just shoves the magicite straight into his chest. After a little wrenching in pain, his eyes turn red, and he looks much more like an opponent to be worried about.

More distressing than what Algard has done is why he’s done it. At the end of the day, both he and Anis have the same basic vision for the kingdom: one where everyone will be on equal ground. Except in his case that will be achieved through the wielding of the absolute power the vampire magicite provides.

A life of waiting has thoroughly curdled Al’s personality, to the point where he’s not even going to try a peaceful or bloodless path to reconciling nobility and commoners; he’s just going to kill and subjugate who he needs to until he’s satisfied a new kingdom has been born.

It goes without saying Al doesn’t believe magic should be used to make people happy. He sees his magical ability and his position as heir apparent to the throne to be nothing but curses, so of course he has no problem exacting suffering on others.

On the surface Al’s your typical deranged villain who is probably going to end up destroying himself before being beaten by our heroes. But there’s a lot more dimension to him. I still find him a pitable man (probably the last thing he’d want to hear). For someone who says they’re abandoning emotion (like his genuine affection for Lainie), he seems awfully angry!

What I can’t say is exactly how much Anisphia contributed to the creation of the present villainous monster that is Vampire Bro Prince. Al truly hates her for having so carelessly cast aside her birthright, and it could be she spent so many years buried in her magicology she neither spent enough time nor kept a close enough eye on her increasingly troubled little brother.

Now, desperate for power, Al took a shortcut and stole it from Lainie. Can we really say Anis is any better for having killed an ancient and noble dragon and taken its power? I don’t know, but at least Anis wants to make the world a better place for humans the right way, with cooperation, understanding, and rad inventions.

But at the end of the day, if Algard insists that the one with the most power wins, then she’ll indulge him by using her power—which she is confident far outstrips his shoddily stolen vampirism—to stop him. It should be one hell of a battle.

Tenten Kakumei – 07 – The Heretic’s Advocate

The writing of Tenten Kakumi is so solid I was confident I knew Euphie well enough to know that Anis bringing Lainie to the manor be a problem at all. Sure enough, after a few tense moments, Euphie makes clear to Lainie that she’s heard her circumstances, and that there’s no hard feelings. It’s such a sweet and empathetic welcome, and Lainie’s tearful relief is so pure, I gotta admit I tear’d up too! And this is before the dang OP!

As if there were any doubt, these young women have each others’ backs. That extends to Ilia and especially Tilty, who is eager to meet the girl with magicite in her body, unlike Anis, not by choice. Meeting Tilty in person (and experiencing her inherent powers) strengthens a working theory Tilty, like Anis, had already been working on.

She consults a forbidden text Anis brought from the library a while ago, one that chronicles a magician who used the lives of others to extend his life so that he could continue the ages of research needed to find the “truth” of magic. And after a procedure that “awakens” the magicite within Lainie, her eyes suddenly turn red and she sprouts fangs. That’s right, she’s a vampire…or at least the descendant of one. That’s freaking awesome!

With the eyes and fangs also comes a control over her power of persuasion she never had. Lainie is infinitely grateful to Tilty and Anis. As Euphie observes them, she wears a face of jealousy without knowing it. Tilty takes her aside and calls her out on it, asking her what she is to Anis and where she sees this going. Euphie isn’t sure, but knows it requires some serious thought, and Tilty gently warns her not to go into whatever she decides half-heartedly.

Tilty isn’t the only one who sensed something off with Euphie. That night, Anis visits her in her pajamas with the hunch that Euphie was feeling down. Euphie asks Anis why she’s so into magic, and all Anis can really say is that it’s akin to being in love; you don’t know why, you just are. Euphie says she wants to fall in love like that, and Anis takes her hand and asks if she can sleep with her tonight.

That morning, after Lainie gets her breakfast of Ilia’s blood, another side-effect of her awakening (I love how polite Lainie is in asking for it, and how understanding Ilia is) Anis receives summons she’s been expecting. It’s from the Ministry of the Arcane, insisting she give a lecture properly explaining who she intends to use the dragon materials.

To Anis’ surprise, Euphie volunteers to handle this matter, and at the lecture, we find out why. Anis is regarded as a potentially dangerous heretic, and her magicology and magical tools are considered sacrilege against the spirits and gods those in the kingdom worship, as well as the old boy network that is the ministry.

The fact she can’t actually use magic is another mark against her, but Euphie steps up and provides a passionate, full-throated endorsement not just of Anis’ broom, but of the concept for a more practical and versatile flying machine—the development of which will require dragon parts.

As a famous and established magical genius, Euphie speaks with an authority the ministry cannot challenge or throw into doubt, especially with the new knowledge that essentially exonerates her of wrongdoing in the Prince Algard affair. She also makes clear that Anis’ inventions aren’t an affront to the spirits and gods, but are in fact an expression of respect.

Anis’ talents are a gift from those very gods—like Mozart’s music—and magicology and the products it yields will make the kingdom more secure and prosperous. With her combined full-hearted defense of the princess and convincing sales pitch, Euphie wins the majority of the ministry’s hearts and minds. She also gets an impressed smirk from Tilty, and moves a grateful, blushing Anis to tears of joy.

While watching Anis and Tilty talk the other day (and inadvertently glaring at them), Euphie thought to herself “these two are incredible”. That’s true, but she is too! And now they’ve got the ministry on their side and an adorable vampire friend!

In fact, things are looking so far up that part of me worries about what Algard might have cooked up for them down the road. But really, as long as these women continue to love and support and be good to one another, I’m confident nothing can stand in their way!

Tenten Kakumei – 06 – There’s Something About Lainie

This episode wisely doesn’t attempt to top last week’s action and romance-packed dragon-slaying thriller. Instead, it does a lot of heavy lifting, plot-wise. Now that she has dragon magicite, Magical Girl Anisphia heads to Tilty Claret’s manor in order to harness it for her purposes. Euphie knows Tilty only through her reputation, which is that she’s an unstable individual who performs dangerous magic.

It’s not surprising that after supporting Anis and essentially keeping her from getting killed in that intense battle, Euphie is determined to protect Euphie from any and all threats to her person. What she doesn’t understand is that Anis considers Tilty a kindred spirit; someone just as kooky and willing to push the magical envelope as she is.

Anis presents Tilty with a proposal for implanting the dragon magicite into her body, and Tilty approves it, while Euphie is justifiably weary. But Anis doesn’t consider the dragon’s curse to be a bad thing, but rather a valuable opportunity to gain esoteric magical knowledge and power.

That venture is briefly interrupted by the king, who summons Anis to the palace where she sees that her mother the queen has returned alive and well from her travels. We don’t get a great sense of their relationship, but for all Anis’ rough edges her mom does trust her intuition and value her opinion on the matter.

The queen and king ask Anis to join them for a meeting with Lady Lainie Cyan tomorrow, in order to get to the bottom of her brother Al’s annulment. Anis agrees, but in the meantime, she has Tilty give her a totally badass giant back tattoo. I mean, as if Anis wasn’t cool enough already!

From the information she has, Anis already has a hypothesis about Lainie’s whole deal, and reveals to Ilia that her new tattoo, made with dragon magicite ink, will serve as a “countermeasure” when she meets with Lainie tomorrow. She also wants Ilia to join her.

At the royal audience, everything goes down pretty much as Anis expected. The moment Lainie opens her mouth and delcares that she didn’t have strong feelings for Al had no intention to wreck the royal wedding, everyone present immediately sympathizes with her without any further questioning.

Everyone, that is, except Anis, who uses that good old line “kimochi warui” to describe how Lainies words affect her in the same moment they charmed everyone else into siding with her. She asks to speak to Lainie one-on-one in private. When Al’s ally Lord Chartreuse protests, she stands her ground, and her parents back her—a testament to their love and trust in her.

Once Anis is alone with Lainie (with Ilia there as a kind of control) she inspects her body, and confirms it: Lainie is unknowingly using magic, because she has magicite in her heart. Specifically, the magic of fascination. It works indiscriminately, such that most people instantly like her, which often causes conflict between those people.

While perhaps not quite as gentle and caring as she is towards Euphie, Anis nevertheless treats Lainie not as someone who has done anything wrong, but as someone who has been afflicted with what amounts to be a curse. It’s a curse that has served her well socially at times, but also led to her being bullied and abused at others.

Anis relays her conclusions to her mother and father, and her mother, clearly a pragmatic sort, immediately remarks upon the great threat to the nation someone with Lainie’s power poses, especially since she’s apparently unable to control it. Anis instead says she’ll take Lainie in … before remembering she already has a pretty assistant at her villa!

Indeed, while Lainie had no knowledge of her power and meant no harm, it already has caused Prince Algard to cancel his engagement with Euphie. Does that mean that the entire incident with him publically bashing her was nothing but the result of him being “fascinated” by Lainie’s innate magical power?

Well…no, at least not entirely. Prince Algard clearly has a plan, and Lord Chartreuse informs him that Anis has discovered Lainie’s little secret, he intends to accelerate his plans. Algard is particularly villain-like in the way he looks, talks, and is lit here, speaking of Anis’ “weaknesses” he can exploit—no doubt considering Euphie to be one of them.

Is Algard still operating under Lainie’s influence? Or is he well aware of her power and thus has a resistance to it, and is using Lainie as a useful pawn—a wife who will bring anyone and everyone to his (and his allies’) side? Also, he doesn’t seem to be in charge of this plan, but is himself a pawn of Chartreuse and others hoping to depose the king.

Be it a battle of wits or magic, I’ll put my money on Team Anisphila any day. But despite her immense intelligence, her love for her brother and the sense of security her powers lend her may be causing her to underestimate him and those using him. In other words, I believe she’ll need Euphie more than ever as things look primed to get uglier.

Tenten Kakumei – 01 (First Impressions) – A Bundle of Unexpected

We start with a pretty girl who looks like she’s in trouble, surrounded by horned wolves. A young adventurer rushes to her aid, but she tells him not to butt in, then hops on her broom, whips around, pulls out her magical swords, and ices the entire wolfpack. This is Anisphia, the Princess Maurader, and no one comes between her and her loot—not even the inability to use magic without tools!

But while Anisphia’s loot is her own, she also believes it her duty to protect the smiles of her subjects. Her straight-laced royal family would disagree, and find her to be a huge pain, even if some of the court is intrigued by her  development of magical items (called “magicology”). Her tomboyish expliots are distasteful to both her father the king and her brother, Crown Prince Algard.

He is prince because Anisphia renounced her claim to the throne. The episode doesn’t go into exactly why, but the end result is clear: she is allowed far more leeway to live her life as she sees fit than if she were next in line. Far more than ruling, she’s always been chasing her dream of flying.

She also believes the kingdom is in good hands with her brother Algard, who is marrying Lady Euphyllia, the genius daughter of a powerful duke. She doesn’t share this with her goth friend and fellow researcher Tilty, but the day she met Euphyllia may also be the day she fell in love!

But is the kingdom in good hands with Algard? The sight of him flaunting a relationship with a girl born a commoner at school would suggest a lack of judgment, and when he grudgingly shows up for tea with Euphyllia, he couldn’t possibly want less to do with his fiancée, whom he describes as “so perfect it’s disgusting.”

Here is Euphyllia, established as a genius, doing her duty as a duke’s daughter and making the best of the situation to try to engender trust in her future husband and learn more about him. But Prince Algard finds his royal obligations and lack of free will intolerable, and her obedience to hers only make him loathe her more.

Algard is a huge piece of shit, as exhibited when he shows up to the big academy graduation ball with a reluctant-looking Lainie Cyan in matching white. He then declares to all assembled that he’s calling off his engagement to Euphyllia, and then accuses her of plotting a campaign of bullying and other horrible atrocities against Lady Lainie.

By assassinating an unprepared Euphyllia’s character, Algard hopes to smooth over the fact that he’s rejecting the arrangement his father the king had made for him. I could almost sympathize for Algard’s inability to choose someone he loves, and the fact his sister left him with the responsibility of the throne.

In other words, I understand his motivations and frustrations. But when he pulls shit like this, it’s pretty hard to take his side!

This sudden series of developments comes as such a shock to Euphyllia that she can do little but fall to her knees and start crying. After all, she hasn’t actually done anything wrong, and believed she was doing exactly what was expected of her. We may have just met her, but I felt horrible for Euphyllia, and hoped that she could find some comfort, even if revenge is farther off.

So color me tickled pink when Princess Anisphila, who loses control of her broom on a test flight, flies right through the window and lands between her brother and Euphyllia in a most unladylike way possible. Anisphila may be eccentric, but she reads the room pretty darn fast, and decides that the best thing to do is toss the distraught Euphyllia over her shoulder and get out of there.

When Euphyllia is done screaming from the shock of suddenly being in flight, she asks where they’re going. Anisphila told her brother she’d be reporting what she saw at the ball to their father to see what he thinks about it (thus potentially ruining Algard’s careful planning to get what he wants).

But she also wants to meet with Euphyllia’s father Duke Grantz, to ask them if she can keep her! It’s a beautiful subversion and reversal of rescuing the princess from an unwanted marriage, and the start of a revolution for both girls. After all, it looks like the wrinkles in the broom project are being ironed out.

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady is way too long a title, but otherwise, this show, and its first episode, ruled hard. It looks great, its lead is a seething ball of energy and vivacity (wonderfully voiced by Senbongi Sayaka) and her friend-and-maybe-more?-to-be equally charming, and the evil prince is the kind you love to hate.

Each of these three characters is very effectively introduced so you know their personalities and goals, which of course all butt up against each other. The animation and direction is attractive and clean, and the writing is solid. Definitely looking forward to more!