I've gotten so used to subtitles that I don't even realize I'm reading them anymore. And it feels like I can understand the Japanese.

So watching a show without them is a bit strange. Bits and pieces of the Japanese come out; a word here and a word there that I know, but the substance of what they're saying is completely opaque.

The first part of the episode was fairly easy to follow, because it was action with little dialogue. The big-bad had some things to say to Rick just before Rick killed him, which I'm sure will fill in some back story.

Nothing else does. There's a scene with Rick and Kaguya on the beach afterwards. Kaguya is just like she was before, a bit spacy, and sound like like a kid. She said a lot but I don't get the impression that it was very profound. She has always acted like she was retarded, or brain damaged.

And then we had a long and critically important scene between Rick and the old lady, Madera, where she imparted a lot of philosophy to Rick. Afterwards, Rick got his baker mojo back. And the show ends where it began: with Rick as the primary baker at Le Couer, working with the three girls, and making fabulously good and popular bread, delivered with a smile, feeding most of the town.

Nick's toy under his floorboards wasn't a tank. It was a huge cannon, and he could only fire it once. Xiaomei helped him load it, and they did fire it. It blew a huge hole through the tower of the battleship. (Good aim, hitting a target like that more than a mile away on their first and only attempt.) Queen seems to have been running autorepair; after Nick's shot, Queen got back into the fight and in her turn fired a huge blast at the same location. And somewhat after that the battleship sank.

Before that, the pirate ship was out there engaging the battleship at point-blank range, even though it was totally outclassed. The princess did some more magic and put a protective shield between the pirate ship and the battleship, which was pretty spectacular. I am not sure but it looked like the pirate cannons were still able to hit the battleship. That was pretty cool. (Though I'm not so sure they were able to do much to the steel armor.)

And I think that once it was all over, the prince pardoned Nick and Xiaomei. So they're free and clear -- although Nick's workshop got blown to kingdom come when the cannon went off. He's got a lot of rebuilding to do.

What they didn't do was explain what connection, if any, there had been between Rick and the three girls before any of them came to the island. At one point in the 10th or 11th episode Rick had a flash of a memory, seeing a burning building, with tears in his eyes, and the three girls were all there. On his side? Against him? Can't be determined -- and we don't find out.

All that exists between them is what's happened since the four arrived on the island. And perhaps they're happier for that. What if it had turned out they used to be enemies? Probably just as well they never know.

The prince is such an effete bastard. My big regret is that nothing bad happened to him. Sitting in his castle playing his harp while other people were out there fighting for their lives; the least he could have done was to go down to the beach and stay with his soldiers who were waiting for a landing.

But in the end we get a happy ending, with Rick making bread of happiness. And I'm glad for that.

UPDATE: When CSS Virginia engaged USS Monitor, Monitor's turret was turned so that they could load their cannon. And a ball from Virginia hit the side of the turret. The men were terrified and stopped. The captain shouted up from below, "What happened?"

"We've been hit!"

"What did it do?"

"It made a dent!"

"That's what it's supposed to do! Now get back to work!" And after that the men in the turret didn't pay attention when further dents appeared.

I imagine that the most the pirate ship achieved in this battle was to produce dents, but it doesn't take away from their courage and valor that they tried it. And it seems as if they delayed the battleship, and ultimately prevented a landing on the beach. So it wasn't a waste of time.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 06:02 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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