Twelve Kingdoms 30
Feb. 25th, 2010 01:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceruseeEp. 30
Ooops, skipped an episode there. I was watching episode 31 and wondering how Shoukei and Rakushun got to be BFF alla sudden.
Yoko begins to suspect that a member of her court is conspiring to kill her, which leads to being plagued by mocking visions from the crazy monkey scabbard that a member of her court is trying to kill her. (She has got to get that damn thing fixed.) She sics a shirei on him as a spy, which is actually a great idea. As far as I know.
Shoukei bribes a (willing, eager) judge with her stolen loot in exchange for her freedom, which gives her a taste of governmental corruption in a form she can actually process understand as being corrupt, since she still thinks her disgusting, murderous parents were just utterly fab. Rakushun catches her out of court and tells her he's glad she was found not guilty--even though she was totally guilty and tried to foist her guilt on him--and she replies that she bribed the judges, which throws him for a loop. Aww. I guess Shoukei is just fine with the idea of the non-king parts of government being corrupt.
Rakushun offers to help Shoukei out, which surprises her, since she tried to have his furry little ass thrown in jail to save her own worthless hide--not that she put it that way--but he replies that he was never in danger, because his pass is endorsed by a high ranking person (he hangs with kings, peeps), and that he seems destined to meet people like her.
(In another show, I'd be outraged by this implicit parallel between the awesome Yoko and the selfish Shoukei, but the fact is, when Rakushun met Yoko, she was kind of a hot mess herself, and it was unquestionably Rakushun's calming, compassionate, grounded influence that helped steer her away from the brink of psychosis. And even though I think Yoko+Rakushun=4EVAH, Rakushun wouldn't be Rakushun if he didn't react to Shoukei's messed-up self the way he just did. God I love his fuzzy sweet face.)
Mokurin talks to whatsisface, the kid who lost his sight last episode, as they go up a mountain path, with the kid being carried on Asano's back. This is without a doubt the first useful thing Asano has done in this anime.
Asano is crazy and spends a lot of time cackling madly. How nice for his seiyuu.
Rakushun speaks a lot of unpleasant truths to Shoukei, who is grouchy about them, but doesn't try to kill him or have him thrown in jail or anything, so I guess that's something? "I didn't know," she says, meaning a lot of things. "You should have known," he replies, and that sums up most of the lessons of her life. It doesn't really matter, does it, whether you're an elected or appointed official, or royalty chosen by the will of Heaven, or the leader of a revolution? When you're part of the government of a country, you have responsibilities, and the first among them is to know what you are, and why you're there. Shoukei was only a child when her father became king, but she didn't stay a child. She never even tried to break out of the protective shell her evil parents drew around her, even when her childhood companions were being murdered in her name.
"There's nothing you can have without taking on responsibility," says Rakushun, "and if you could, it wouldn't be right." Omg omg omg Onooooooooo I slather you with devotion. Ahem. Yes, I agree with Rakushun.
Anyhoo, he sets Shoukei straight on her delusions, re: Queen Kei getting all the stuff that Shoukei lost. Oh man, somehow I never imagined he'd be the one to do that. Do you think he'll get to set Mokurin straight, too? Probably not, the universe could not be that kind to me.
Mokurin's party's driver talks with Mokurin about the dangers of getting ambushed on the road they're taking, since they don't have an escort. They are immediately ambushed by bandits. Golly, I didn't see that coming! A bandit tells Mokurin that they made a big mistake not hiring an escort. He is so insightful. Asano fails to shoot a bandit who is in any case not scared by that strange not-knife-shaped metal thing Asano keeps waving around. Our party is saved by a bear. Why not? Asano shoots at, but fails to hit, one of the bandits, proving that despite logic and my fondest hopes, the stupid gun does work. The bear, who is a hanjyuu, correctly guesses that it's a kaiyakyu weapon, which takes away a little from the thrill of watching Asano constantly wave around a fucking gun at people who have no idea what it is and don't feel threatened by it. Phooey. It's the only thing I liked about Asano.
The bear--who by the way is accompanied by some dude on a horse--invites Asano to join his party of anti-bandits, which is weird, because Asano understands him. A hanjyuu kaiyakyu, maybe?
Mokurin, feeling guilty over her bad decision not to hire an escort, snaps at Asano and then freaks out because she sounds like Lady Riyou, which is probably worse than sounding like your mom. The kid gives her therapeutic advice about her abusive relationship with Riyou in the form of saying how bad he feels for Riyou, the woman who abused Mokurin for a century.
(In context, it almost makes sense, but I can't help parsing it the same way I parse Olivia on General Hospital telling her son Dante that she feels sorry for Sonny, who shot Dante in the chest, because oops, it turns out that Dante is also Sonny's son, and isn't that just so awkward and upsetting for Sonny? Yeah, the outcome is a little unfortunate all around, but don't you sort of feel that the bulk of the blame lies on the person who habitually tormented her slaves for decades, or the mob boss who ran around shooting unarmed cops in the chest? Well, I do. Fuck Riyou. She was a monster, and it wasn't Mokurin's fault that Riyou was a monster. Mokurin may need to own some shit, but Riyou's abuse of Mokurin is not part of it.
Fuck Sonny, too.)
Yoko, who is involved in shenanigans I haven't entirely been following, tracks a tough into a bar. He starts to menace her, but she's extracted from the situation by some light-voiced young man that she sort of recognizes, who lies to cover her, sends her on her way, and then, when questioned by the local toughs, tells them that he saved them from her. Awesome.
Asano rants insanely at the kid whose name I keep forgetting, then runs away, leaving the now-sightless kid to smack into a bunch of people in the street and then get run down by a wagon in the street. Way to go, Asano. Yoko finds the kid, which means, hey! She just missed fuckin' worthless Asano. The kid--Seishuu!--dies in her arms. Mokurin finds Yoko and Seishuu. She weeps over Seishuu's lifeless body. Yoko wanders off, having no idea that she just dodged hooking up with a woman with a weird pseudo-romantic fixation on her, and her utterly useless old high school crush who does not belong in that damned show anyway.
Ooops, skipped an episode there. I was watching episode 31 and wondering how Shoukei and Rakushun got to be BFF alla sudden.
Yoko begins to suspect that a member of her court is conspiring to kill her, which leads to being plagued by mocking visions from the crazy monkey scabbard that a member of her court is trying to kill her. (She has got to get that damn thing fixed.) She sics a shirei on him as a spy, which is actually a great idea. As far as I know.
Shoukei bribes a (willing, eager) judge with her stolen loot in exchange for her freedom, which gives her a taste of governmental corruption in a form she can actually process understand as being corrupt, since she still thinks her disgusting, murderous parents were just utterly fab. Rakushun catches her out of court and tells her he's glad she was found not guilty--even though she was totally guilty and tried to foist her guilt on him--and she replies that she bribed the judges, which throws him for a loop. Aww. I guess Shoukei is just fine with the idea of the non-king parts of government being corrupt.
Rakushun offers to help Shoukei out, which surprises her, since she tried to have his furry little ass thrown in jail to save her own worthless hide--not that she put it that way--but he replies that he was never in danger, because his pass is endorsed by a high ranking person (he hangs with kings, peeps), and that he seems destined to meet people like her.
(In another show, I'd be outraged by this implicit parallel between the awesome Yoko and the selfish Shoukei, but the fact is, when Rakushun met Yoko, she was kind of a hot mess herself, and it was unquestionably Rakushun's calming, compassionate, grounded influence that helped steer her away from the brink of psychosis. And even though I think Yoko+Rakushun=4EVAH, Rakushun wouldn't be Rakushun if he didn't react to Shoukei's messed-up self the way he just did. God I love his fuzzy sweet face.)
Mokurin talks to whatsisface, the kid who lost his sight last episode, as they go up a mountain path, with the kid being carried on Asano's back. This is without a doubt the first useful thing Asano has done in this anime.
Asano is crazy and spends a lot of time cackling madly. How nice for his seiyuu.
Rakushun speaks a lot of unpleasant truths to Shoukei, who is grouchy about them, but doesn't try to kill him or have him thrown in jail or anything, so I guess that's something? "I didn't know," she says, meaning a lot of things. "You should have known," he replies, and that sums up most of the lessons of her life. It doesn't really matter, does it, whether you're an elected or appointed official, or royalty chosen by the will of Heaven, or the leader of a revolution? When you're part of the government of a country, you have responsibilities, and the first among them is to know what you are, and why you're there. Shoukei was only a child when her father became king, but she didn't stay a child. She never even tried to break out of the protective shell her evil parents drew around her, even when her childhood companions were being murdered in her name.
"There's nothing you can have without taking on responsibility," says Rakushun, "and if you could, it wouldn't be right." Omg omg omg Onooooooooo I slather you with devotion. Ahem. Yes, I agree with Rakushun.
Anyhoo, he sets Shoukei straight on her delusions, re: Queen Kei getting all the stuff that Shoukei lost. Oh man, somehow I never imagined he'd be the one to do that. Do you think he'll get to set Mokurin straight, too? Probably not, the universe could not be that kind to me.
Mokurin's party's driver talks with Mokurin about the dangers of getting ambushed on the road they're taking, since they don't have an escort. They are immediately ambushed by bandits. Golly, I didn't see that coming! A bandit tells Mokurin that they made a big mistake not hiring an escort. He is so insightful. Asano fails to shoot a bandit who is in any case not scared by that strange not-knife-shaped metal thing Asano keeps waving around. Our party is saved by a bear. Why not? Asano shoots at, but fails to hit, one of the bandits, proving that despite logic and my fondest hopes, the stupid gun does work. The bear, who is a hanjyuu, correctly guesses that it's a kaiyakyu weapon, which takes away a little from the thrill of watching Asano constantly wave around a fucking gun at people who have no idea what it is and don't feel threatened by it. Phooey. It's the only thing I liked about Asano.
The bear--who by the way is accompanied by some dude on a horse--invites Asano to join his party of anti-bandits, which is weird, because Asano understands him. A hanjyuu kaiyakyu, maybe?
Mokurin, feeling guilty over her bad decision not to hire an escort, snaps at Asano and then freaks out because she sounds like Lady Riyou, which is probably worse than sounding like your mom. The kid gives her therapeutic advice about her abusive relationship with Riyou in the form of saying how bad he feels for Riyou, the woman who abused Mokurin for a century.
(In context, it almost makes sense, but I can't help parsing it the same way I parse Olivia on General Hospital telling her son Dante that she feels sorry for Sonny, who shot Dante in the chest, because oops, it turns out that Dante is also Sonny's son, and isn't that just so awkward and upsetting for Sonny? Yeah, the outcome is a little unfortunate all around, but don't you sort of feel that the bulk of the blame lies on the person who habitually tormented her slaves for decades, or the mob boss who ran around shooting unarmed cops in the chest? Well, I do. Fuck Riyou. She was a monster, and it wasn't Mokurin's fault that Riyou was a monster. Mokurin may need to own some shit, but Riyou's abuse of Mokurin is not part of it.
Fuck Sonny, too.)
Yoko, who is involved in shenanigans I haven't entirely been following, tracks a tough into a bar. He starts to menace her, but she's extracted from the situation by some light-voiced young man that she sort of recognizes, who lies to cover her, sends her on her way, and then, when questioned by the local toughs, tells them that he saved them from her. Awesome.
Asano rants insanely at the kid whose name I keep forgetting, then runs away, leaving the now-sightless kid to smack into a bunch of people in the street and then get run down by a wagon in the street. Way to go, Asano. Yoko finds the kid, which means, hey! She just missed fuckin' worthless Asano. The kid--Seishuu!--dies in her arms. Mokurin finds Yoko and Seishuu. She weeps over Seishuu's lifeless body. Yoko wanders off, having no idea that she just dodged hooking up with a woman with a weird pseudo-romantic fixation on her, and her utterly useless old high school crush who does not belong in that damned show anyway.