Tales of Wedding Rings – 08 – Where His New Worth Lies

Prince Marse had already been derided as a failure by his father’s court before he was given One Job, to take up the mantle of the Ring King. That he couldn’t even do that, and with Princess Saphira forsaking him, he now feels completely worthless. The Oracle taps right into that baggage, unlocks his darker desire for power and redemption, and presents him with an ancient sword that can deflect the Ring King’s power.

Satou is busy getting chaste kisses from his wives when more monsters arrive at the palace doorstep, and that’s when Marse suddenly charges and slashes at him. Alabaster holds the monsters at bay while Satou and Marse duel, and Satou isn’t under any illusions he can beat Marse in a swordfight. But he can also tell something is off. He’s in as bad a shape as he should be.

Throwing caution to the wind like the fool Saphir believes him to be, Satou leaves himself open to what should be a killing strike from Marse, but the cut doesn’t go deep. That confirms it: Marse is hesitating. Marse falls to his knees and asks Satou to cut his worthless self down, but of course Satou can’t and won’t do that. Without Marse, Satou wouldn’t have lasted a day in this new world. If Marse can’t see worth in himself, Satou will give him worth: that of a knight of the Ring King who will save the world.

Once Satou breaks the gem on the pommel of Marse’s sword, he’s freed of the Oracle’s curse. The Oracle then uses a monster to take Saphira hostage. She’ll trade the princess for the rings, but Marse won’t hear of it. Accepting his new worth and resolved to live life protecting those precious to him, he proposes to Saphira right then and there, creating a distraction for Satou to slashs the tentacle restraining her. Marse catches her out of the air, as gallant and romantic an outcome as they could have hoped for.

Again declaring her new husband a fool—but the good kind of fool—Saphir kisses Satou and transforms into a massive water dragon that noms the Oracle’s comparatively puny monster. Defeated, the Oracle vanishes into a dark portal, while Saphir returns to her human form—completely nude, of course—and Hime helpfully shields Satou’s eyes.

With the Oracle’s hold on the king lifted, it’s revealed he’s a lot more youthful and vigorous than before (again, like King Theoden). He gives Marse his blessing to marry Saphira. Watching the happy couple embrace makes Hime a little envious, and then she and Satou blush together when Marse says “your turn”, implying he and Saphira have already consummated their love.

Even Sluder leaves on good terms with Marse, welcoming his brother home when he so chooses. However, their dad would probably less enthusiastic about Marse’s return. The Oracle, who he’d been working with, tries her controlling shit with him and he cuts her down, declaring that nothing, not he Abyss King or the Ring King, will keep him from achieving global hegemony. Well, we’ll just see about that, pops! One wife to go for Satou!

Tales of Wedding Rings – 07 – Great Fool of Little Caution

Not five minutes after arriving in the remote but lively Water Kingdom of Maasa, a cloaked young lady approaches Satou, declares herself a big fan, offers him a bouquet … and then kisses him. This is no random girl, but the Maiden of the Water Ring herself, Princess Saphir Maasa.

When Satou looks down at his hand, he sees she’s already given him the Water Ring. Well that was easy! That said, she also throws a number of insults his way for being so wide open that anyone could have approached and married him.

In addition to being the fastest princess to marry Satou, Saphir also differs in her much more haughty attitude, her petite, slender frame, and, oh yes, she has a twin sister, Saphira, to whom Prince Marse made a promise to marry once he became the Ring King.

Saphira despairs that her sister married such a plain-looking man (Satou out here catching strays), while Marse broke his promise. So while there’s no actual drama about Satou gaining the powers of the Water Ring, there’s a whole lot of drama surrounding the family and kingdom he’s married into.

When the Gisaras Empire of which Marse is second prince failed to conquer Maasa with force, they sent him to court Saphira, only they fell genuinely in love. For Marse to return to her having ceded his destined role of Ring King to a stranger form another world, simply because he felt “unworthy”, is the deepest betrayal for Saphira.

There’s other issues: Marse’s undefeated general of a brother, First Prince Sluder, is in Maasa with imperial soldiers with the surface mission of protecting the kingdom from the Abyss, but it’s clear they intend to integrate Maasa into the Empire. Also, the twin sisters’ father’s mind has been overthrown, Theoden-style, by a mysterious Wormtongue-like Oracle.

But enough about all that, let’s have a pool party! Hime, Nef, and Granart show off their bodacious bods, and in a refreshing change of pace there’s no boob comparisons; Saphir isn’t shamed for her elegant slender frame, just her skimpy micro bikini. Why does a kingdom where people dress like ancient Greeks have such modern swimwear? Shhh…don’t worry about it.

The previous night, the Oracle sent assassins to get rid of the Ring King, but Granart took care of them while Satou slept. Also, because she’s a catgirl, she’s just not a fan of the water. Saphir assumes Satou & Co. are pretending to have their guards down, but they’re actually having fun.

And then there’s Marse, who as Satou says, is having a rough go of late. His father and brother haven’t forgiven him for dereliction of duty, but his serving as a imperial spy mitigates that somewhat. When Satou asks why he didn’t become Ring King, Marse’s reasoning is both simple and understandable: he saw Saphira’s face in Hime’s.

Perhaps he didn’t believe he had what it took to take on the Abyss King. But Hime loved Satou just as Saphira loved him, so in that moment he didn’t want to be the one to break Hime’s heart. Now the Oracle issues a new order for him on behalf of the empire that is his one and only home: kill the Ring King and take his rings.

But those orders are flawed, because Marse never believed he was worthy of being the Ring King. He chose Hime’s happiness over his duty before, so I imagine he’ll stand his ground and make the same choice now.

Princess Connect! Re:Dive – 01 (First Impressions) – Beautiful Candy

From the director of KonoSuba comes an anime that also takes place in a beautiful fantasy world. I’d argue it’s slightly prettier as a show, but lacks the “bite” and “spark” of its isekai counterpart. That said, there are some well-timed jokes, particularly involving two mangy wolves who can’t keep their jaws off the protagonist.

That said, the characters of Princess Connect! could easily populate the world of KonoSuba, what with their detailed and elaborate outfits. Unfortunately aside from the “amnesiac” protagonist, the “eager-to-please” elf guide, and the “space cadet” onna-kishi, there’s just not much to define these characters. They’re just…nice. Just nice people. Where’s the fun in that??

That said, it is nice for a change to have a protagonist who simply shuts up and lets things unfold around him. In Yuuki’s case, that’s because he remembers almost nothing about his first go-round in this world, and his vocab is limited. So no snarky narration either!

Mostly, Princess Connect! draws you in with its exquisitely lovely scenery and lighting. Whether it’s a grassy field at mid-day, an ornate cityscape at sunset, or forest-nestled ruins, the eye candy is strong, it is everywhere, and it screams “quality” to an extent I didn’t really get from Shironeko Project.

When things heat up, PC also demonstrates a keen eye for action, as the onna-kishi, ditzy as she is, demonstrates some awesome offensive power. She reminds me a lot of Darkness if she wasn’t a masochist and her aim was better. That the episode ends with her tripping balls on mushrooms is pretty great though!

Where Shironeko had a strong (and very urgent) narrative thrust that made its environments secondary to the characters occupying them, PC is content to relax and take its time, often pulling far back from the characters to admire their lovely settings. While this didn’t knock my socks off, I’ll stick with it for now, since it’s hard to walk away from such luscious visuals. I just wish it leaned into the comedy more.

Sagrada Reset – 08

After this week’s first act, I’m convinced this show excels at getting us to underestimate Asai Kei, at least as much as his adversaries do. Last week Eri Oka seemed to be holding all the cards, but it turns out Asai isn’t trapped in the photo for more than a few minutes.

Even though that buys time for Eri to mess with Haruki, Asai has Murase in place to mount a rescue. A rescue that occurs after Eri tries to plant false memories in Haruki, which not only doesn’t work (thanks to a little device in Haruki’s ear with Asai’s voice) but restores Haruki’s Reset ability.

It’s a great little turnaround, flummoxing Eri, who retreats for the time being. And having Asai and Haruki back together underscored how much anxiety I felt when they were apart. Of course, I’ve seen all their interactions thus far, but it’s important to remember Haruki doesn’t remember a lot of them.

That’s why she’s not keen to immediately reset; she wants to remember what Asai did for her. So instead of resetting, she saves, and Asai returns to the Sasano case, apparently confident Eri won’t be bothering them for a while.

The next morning, Asai receives a message to “come see someone”, and three photos, one of a woman on the beach, another of a blossoming cherry tree, and the third, Souma Sumire at sunset. Asai assumes it’s the “Witch” who is summoning him, so he goes to the beach.

There, he takes what he learned from his encounter with Eri, enters the photo, and converses with the Witch in her younger form. Because her ability is knowledge of the future, she knows what she’s going to do, and when she’s going to die, and wants to escape the bureau to see Sasano before that happens.

To that end, she used both Asai and Eri, but presents Asai with a choice: he can stop Eri, possibly leaving the Witch to die in confinement, or save the Witch another way (a way she may already know he’ll implement, mind you).

Asai gathers Sasano, Haruki and Murase, and head to the Bureau, Scooby-gang-style, and wait for Eri to get them inside. Sasano, armed with a Polaroid, takes photos of the building’s interior, one of which proves useful in getting one of the Bureau guards “out of the picture.”

This infiltration of the Bureau is only preparation for the next infiltration, when the actual rescue of the Witch is to take place. Asai has Haruki reset, sending him back to when they saved on the beach. He then jumps into one of the photos they took of the Witch’s room and asks her to call him.

The photos are still around because Murase had them, and her power negates reset, while his communication with the Witch of the past reaches the Witch of the present because she knows the future. It’s a complicated metaphysical labyrinth, but it checks out.

Before pulling it all off, Asai meets with a surprisingly chipper Eri, who accepts her loss but isn’t ready to give up on beating him, thus proving he’s weaker. Asai, meanwhile, knows that she won’t hurt him as long as he’s “defenseless.” Considering this is a long show, Eri is sure to be back; we’ll see whether she poses a greater threat at that point.

As expected, Asai gets a call from the Bureau, who bring him to the Witch, who asks him the same questions about “loving a stone” she asked Haruki, to which Asai answers he’d still love the stone if it was the girl he liked. But is that girl Asai…or Souma?

Regardless, Asai gives the Witch the photos she needs to escape and knock on the window of her boyfriend, just like the story Sasano told her when they were far younger. All these years, the Bureau has kept her under lock and key, fearful of her power. But after a time, or maybe all along, it was a power she never seemed all that interested in having, let alone using.

That’s why she decides she’ll leave Sakurada, forget about her power altogether, and live out the rest of her days—all seven of them, by her reckoning. But before she does, she indulges Asai by telling him his future: he will be involved in “something big”, something involving her “successor”, whom Asai correctly identifies as Souma. The Witch tells him he’ll run into her again. I certainly hope so!

Whew, what a ride. This mini-arc contained the most complicated ability machinations yet, and it was downright exhilarating watching all the pieces be carefully maneuvered into place before being set into quick, decisive motion. On top of that, we got confirmation Souma isn’t totally dead (though whether she’ll merely exist in that photo or not, who can say).

By not forgetting what Asai did for her, Haruki’s affection for him continues to grow. Murase is proving to be useful as “muscle” (i.e. putting holes in things or neutralizing abilities) while Eri has vowed to come back at Asai, insisting he should “be afraid.” One thing I’m not afraid of: losing interest in this unapologetically bizarre, engrossing show.

Sagrada Reset – 07

“Things seem to be getting rather complicated, huh?”

I could not have said it better than Tsushima myself: Things are getting complicated, and for once, Asai has a worthy adversary who manages to stay a step ahead of him the entire time, leading to even higher stakes by episode’s end.

But let’s go back to the beginning, and the photo by Sasano that entices Asai so. It’s indeed a photo of Souma Sumire, on the same beach where they first met and promised to meet again. And I suppose he could, in a way, by entering the photo as Sasano does.

Extremely unsettling metaphysical ramifications aside, we also learn something simpler: the evolution of Oka Eri. She was once Fujikawa Eri, before the hair-dye and contacts and rad clothes; the “weak and worthless” daughter who took abuse from her father.

Two years ago, Asai saved Eri by telling her to change her name and use a piece of evidence to blackmail her father if she so chose. Oka Eri was born, and I believe part of her believes that she’s paying Asai back by confirming his weakness, in hopes he’ll return to his former strength; the hero to her villain in this story of life.

Asai has moved on from the person he was two years ago, but meanwhile, Sasano is able to travel to 28 years in the past where a much younger Oracle lives inside one of his photos. The two of them have a plan, and it’s a long-game kind of plan. When Sasano tells her the Bureau is going to try to shut him down, she tells him not to resist, but to give her a certain selection of photos before they come.

Asai all but confirms how soft he’s gotten since meeting Asai by being drawn away from her all too easily by a frantic phone call from Murase Youka. On her own, Haruki does her best to get away from a pursuing Oka, but around five seconds of eye contact are all the villain needs to steal her reset ability.

After confirming she can’t reset, Haruki begs Asai to help her get it back, and he agrees. He’ll accede to Eri’s demand for the MacGuffin in exchange for Haruki’s ability back, then learns more from Tsushima about Eri’s ability and its weaknesses, which will no doubt be pivotal in his counterattack.

However, he doesn’t get to make one this week. Standing his ground on having moved on from the “hero” Eri saw him as two years ago and worshipped, he offers the MacGuffin without any resistance; his only goal to restore Haruki’s ability.

But Eri has another trick up her sleeve, which digs an even deeper hole for Asai and Haruki: she traps him in a photo of the lighthouse balcony they’re on, taken during the day, underscoring how hopelessly cut off he is from the “non-photo” world. And poor Haruki, who trailed after Asai, hoping the plan would work out, is once again vulnerable to Eri’s whims.

All in all, quite a mess Asai and Haruki have found themselves in. A satisfying conclusion would obviously get them out of this mess, but also, as with Murase earlier, convince Eri not to be a villain anymore, not because she’s being forced to quit, but because she wants to. That’s going to take some doing…

…And that’s before we even get into whatever Sasano and Oracle are planning.

Sagrada Reset – 06

Sakurada Reset continues its penchant for whimsically jumping from timeline to timeline by starting four years in the past, with Kei on the train to Sakurada. He encounters a man in a suit who hands him a phone that immediately rings, and a nameless “witch” is on the other end, telling him the “place he belongs” is the town of Sakurada, but warns him he’ll never live a normal life, as the town will “grab on to [him] and never let go.”

Well, we know how he chose, and it leads to his latest assignment: meeting with Sasano, an elderly gentleman whose ability to enter photographs (and thus, relive moments from the past his photos capture) has been taken away. He wants the MacGuffin to get his ability back, but Kei believes there’s a more surefire way: use his and Haruki’s powers to stop whoever sealed his ability before they seal it.

When Sasano insists on repaying Kei once he restores his power, Kei asks if he’ll use his ability for him, after seeing a figure on the beach in a photo that could very well be Souma Sumire, the loss of whom no doubt weighs upon Asai every day. Perhaps seeing and hearing her one last time could assuage that regret. A chat with Hitsuchi-kun reveals that Sasano was one of the founders of the Bureau.

After not getting changed in front of Haruki (who’d have been totes okay with it) and enjoying a lunch she prepared for them, Kei tells Haruki the thought experiment of the “Swampman”, and it leads to Kei assuring Haruki he’d be sad if she died and was replaced by someone who looked exactly like her. Furthermore, he wouldn’t want to go on living without knowing the truth. Both assertions please Haruki.

The two are then summoned, as Tsushima assured them they would be, and they accompany the same suited man who approached Kei on the train years ago. They’re then separated, as only one of them at a time may meet with the person who wants to meet with them.

That person turns out to be another founding member of the Bureau, or at least a facilitator. She has no name, and refers to herself as a “witch” with partial jest and partial wistfulness. In reality, she is an oracle, able to see the future, both of Sakurada, the Bureau, and individuals like Kei and Haruki.

Naturally, she cannot tell them those futures, but only offer riddles, much like the Oracle of The Matrix. Aside from educating Kei on her purpose, and the fact she is near death, the “witch” does not dispense as much knowledge as she likely gains by seeing Kei’s future. She also “apologizes” to him but doesn’t say what for.

As for Haruki, the “witch” presses her on how she feels about Kei and why, talking about a stone with thoughts that can be turned into a human and whatnot. Ultimately, it’s a simple “chat with a girl about love”, and after reading her future, the “witch” has all she needs and bids her farewell.

After Kei was dismissed, he is confronted by Eri Oka, the girl who took Sasano’s ability; someone he knows and who knows him, calls him “senpai”, and a “hypocrite” and thinks he used to be “more badass”. She’s there for one thing: to be the villain, causing trouble for people.

Her specific threats: to take the MacGuffin from Kei, then take away Haruki’s Reset ability. She claims to hate Kei, and wants to see him hit rock bottom…and taking Haruki’s power would certainly do that! So when Haruki emerges from the building, he immediately requests she reset, and she does.

Oka Eri likely assumed Kei would get a reset or two in in an attempt to thwart her plans, but the threats have been dispensed. Now Kei and Haruki have to figure out a way to defeat her.

She’s a bit stiff and obvious as a villain, so I’m wondering if she’s truly what she says she is, or merely using her villain persona as a means to test the service club’s dynamic duo like they’ve never been tested before. Either way, it should be an interesting confrontation.