Junketsu no Maria – 07

 

Maria: This battle is intense!

Welcome back to the Hundred Years War, and a pretty darn uneven episode as far as animation and pacing go. But, lucky for us, the overall story didn’t suffer, and we’ve seen quite a few plot and character developments occur.

Bellum Se Ipsum Alet 

The War Feeds Itself

It does get worse for the English forces…

We pick up were we left off last episode, with the French ambush of the retreating English forces. Le Comte has made it clear that he will only be satisfied with a complete routing of the enemy, with no countenance towards letting more soldiers join any coming reinforcements.  It is a bloody awful battle from the beginning, in both terms of it’s general viciousness, and in terms of animation quality and pacing. Now I’m not a bloodthirsty person, I don’t really need it going all gory to sell a scene, and they did it quite well, but there were far to many cuts to flags and banners. That’s all eleven, with the average onscreen time about three of four seconds each, talking bits and other bits going on besides… I don’t have to tell you that it was more than a little jarring to see the scenes transition that way.

In addition to the battle on the ground, we rejoin Maria as she races to the action. As it was, she was expecting to to protect both Josef and Ann’s father, but as she surveys the scene she realizes it’s the English in retreat. In acting a bit against according to her full character, she decides to issue a warning to all the combined forces, basically let the retreat occur without further bloodshed, and in her mind the war ends that much quicker. But those on the ground have different ideas; aggression and a strong need for coin. So with that, Maria brings the smackdown, which in that moment, she shouldn’t be doing at all.

The HanaKana LOLi spear technique

Now, very little in the lead in suggests that this action would prove fatal. Ezekiel has already softened up to a point, that her holding back was a foregone conclusion. This combined with Viv’s warning gave us ample time to predict how it would play out. But then, this collection of scenes had to play out in a certain way given much of the foreshadowing of previous episodes. People go to war, and nothing can stop that. Maria’s sudden entrance and departure did little to deter the opposing forces from fulfilling that.  You have to wonder what was going through that English soldiers head, the time for revenge could have been put off…This also doesn’t deter, in the middle of battle, other solider’s from finding Maria and well, not looking at all friendly too her. Luckily…

Viv know Big Damn Hero moments call for a Flash Kick

So with Maria given safety, we go back to the battle at large. Galfa’s motivations weren’t at all surprising, he’s been living the mercenary life for quite some time. That did have a large influence on the battle’s outcome, however, as he convinced Yvain to look for better spoils, pulling them away from their duty as one of Le Comte’s defensive lines. Yvain, didn’t agree with that, and was quite pointed with his reprimand. Now, at this point, with Galfa being an anime original character, we do get a surprise. I think there must have been some resentment building between the two, as his commander called out Galfa’s heritage, but that isn’t something the man would let slide. But even that betrayal was short-lived, as he would soon have much larger worries.

But with things going on in the large background, more on that later, we focus on one other character that is having issues. Ezekiel’s development here is a tough nut to crack because I feel it betrays everything Micheal has been saying, and I thing that has been the purpose. He strictly points out that she is his spear, should have no worries, and do her job. Well, she does rather have some free will, and it seems that a shoddy angel is blaming his tool for a botched job. Is Micheal fully aware of what heaven has in mind? It’s very sure that Ezekiel doesn’t and she has to carry this regret of twice the failure with her.

Edwina is like 500x the awesome

I have to say, I rather like Edwina’s very understated character. She stands out in full contrast to both the witches in her guild and to Maria; having no other desire but to help as much as she can behind the scenes and not be bothered. It’s neat how her home was chosen as both a place to heal, and for Maria to finally meet the rest of her peers. It’s comfy, and no on will feel like there is an advantage against them, as as Viv points out, it actually is quite good for Maria to hear other opinions. She’s proven to be a loose cannon, and perhaps seeing she has support will make her use her powers a bit smarter in future to get what she wants.

I have to admit, I had a few tears in my eyes…

 I love how Maria was able to forgive Ezekiel. Is it deserved? It could very much be argued that it isn’t at all. After all, one point of view is that she failed this time and given that Micheal is still looking to complete the job, Ez isn’t off the hook just yet. But, Ez does need to be forgiven, and perhaps that’s the whole of the lesson right there…Josef himself is still filled with doubts about how much he and the surrounding communities have been dependent on Maria. So maybe there can be a better path forward. Or at least a strong defense against what both Bernard and Galfa have in mind? So even though the French did lose this exchange, the outcome that Maria was looking for came to fruition as Ann’s father made it home safe.

And this is the loneliest open door I’ve seen…

Wow, quite a bit has happened. The odd pacing of the first half gave way to something much better by the opening of the second act. The chaos of war gave way to the chaos of some potential friendships and stronger bonds (I like that kind of chaos). Now, sad as it is, and as I predicted last episode, there is probably going to be some hearth-ache soon. Did Ezekiel make a mistake with Grandmother’s medicine? And will she have to pay the price? Will Maria? And what will that portend for the community that has come to depend on her? How will that fold into both Bernard’s and Galfa’s plans? I don’t think the confessor would mind a a bit of martyrdom he was in control of….

Next Time

Well we’ve had gay vampires, so I guess we can have gay werewolves…What’s that? A man looks like what to who now?