“You’ve dug your own grave.”
Impression
I agree with Maura – Adlet really dug his own grave back there. It was bad enough when he started getting visibly agitated and threw around theories without thinking them through, but from an uninformed perspective, kidnapping Fremy and making a break for it is just like holding up a massive neon sign admitting to being the fake. Which is regrettable, because I still don’t think he’s the one. Does this look like the face of someone who harbours anything but ill-intent towards Fiends and the Demon God?
Come to think of it, it was all Goldof’s fault in the end. If he hadn’t rushed in and charged at Adlet, there would have been more time to sit down and think things through – not that he would have been able to come up with anything good on his own under such pressure. I guess Goldof just couldn’t bear to watch his beloved bunny girl continue to passionately defend Adlet without any basis. At this rate, it looks like we’ll be focusing on this mystery for the rest of the season – which means there’ll be no monster-slaying adventures awaiting us. I think that’s fine too, because this is definitely an interesting watch – and it’s getting more complicated by the episode, at least if Adlet is to be believed about an eighth enemy being around. He’s basically saying that aside from the fake Brave, there’s someone else around who snuck into the temple and activated the barrier first – whether before or after Adlet blew the door open I don’t know, but the latter would really help his case at this point. And so the whole point behind planting a fake Brave is for the express purpose of engineering a false accusation, to get one of the real ones killed and to obstruct all the Braves as a result. If a petal on the crest really does disappear as Maura has said, then that’ll get them running around like headless chickens even faster.
I don’t know if this is legit, not least because the actual existence of a third party could make things all convoluted if it’s not handled properly. And because I still think remote activation could be a thing, especially with a sword being the activation weapon for the barrier and the Saint of Swords being one of the Braves near the site and claiming to be its mistress. It’s either that, or the fact that Adlet wasn’t paying attention right after he blew the door open as I mentioned last week. On the other hand, it is true that Nashetania, Goldof and Fremy were fighting Fiends when it happened – they weren’t close enough to have slipped inside. If we presume that Adlet is innocent, then this means that:
- If there’s a single traitor, it’s either Maura, Hans or Chamot.
- If there’s more than one traitor, it could be any of the six.
I guess there really is someone else around, because I’m not too convinced it was either Maura, Hans or Chamot. Hans is the red herring, and Chamot is too stupid to bother – if she wanted to betray them, she’d just start killing them all. Maura knows about the petals on the crest, so she must know that she’ll be outed if Adlet is framed – unless her motive isn’t to masquerade as a real Brave and join the field trip, but instead to sow discord and confusion amongst the others. I don’t know. In the end, it depends on the motive of the fake, and we have no clue what that is for now. At least, if there’s an unknown third party, we know they can’t slip out of the barrier.
Next week, we’re in for some bonding time between Fremy and her kidnapper, the most resourceful man in the world – I was glad she had the heart to patch up his wounds, even though she’s 99% sure he’s the fake. Will he manage to bring her over to his side? Maybe. The new OP had scenes of the Braves all surrounding Adlet, but Nashetania’s attack was blocked by Fremy before it could reach Adlet. I think we also finally had a subtle explanation of what it means to be the strongest man in the world – something along the lines of willpower and still being able to smile even when all the odds are against you. If we work with that definition, then yeah, I guess Adlet really is the strongest. He looks like he’s having the time of his life.
I think kidnapping fremy was the only thing he could have done in that situation [surrounded by 6 people with the same powerlevel with 4 of them beeing saints and hans standing in front of the entrance].. at least better than trying to defend against so many people at the same time after goldof gave the starting signal for killing (because thinking it over to make sure you dont fck up your teammates is for noobs).. at least i think that its better than getting killed for nothing and thats it (besides calling it “digging his own grave” in that situation is a bit senseless when is would die either way
And beeing the strongest with the definition of overcoming the hardest hurdle is definitely legit and to be able to compete against people who a higher starting position (like beeing a saint).. and we dont even know the full extent of his abilities
having 2 enemies is definitely easier to manipulate and getting them crazy enough to slaughter each other
By ‘digging his own grave’ I meant it with regards to their suspicions of him being the fake, not him literally dying. If, after he’s backed into a corner, he takes a hostage and starts making threats, that just looks like he’s admitting his crimes to all the others and solidifying their suspicions. Goldof gave him the shovel. But yes, I agree that he couldn’t have done anything else.
The biggest hang up here is the requirement for the person who activated the barrier to put their hand on the tablet and say “rise fog.” Without that Nashetania is easily the most suspicious, both from her behavior in the temple, and from the simple fact that she could have placed the sword in the altar without having to go inside: she would even have known what it looked like and where the sword was in relation to everything, because she visited the same fortress Adlet and Fremy did and was shown the same model of that activation dais.
The problem is we do have that restriction (or so we were told), so this whole situation still doesn’t make sense.
Or so we were told. I’m still uncertain whether that’s a proper requirement for activating it – I know it was engineered by the previous Saint of Salt and all that, so it feels legit, but I can’t shake off the feeling that it’s all a roundabout trap. Especially as it’s not necessary – it’s just an extra security layer that someone happened to think up that has now happened to backfire.
If this really is a requirement, then the odds of there being an eighth person running around rises dramatically.
Now that i think about it.. the theorie of an 8th beeing involved doesnt sound so off
1. why should the little bomb of adlet have more effect on the door than all those hundret bombs earlier (but ok maybe his are just stronger and better placed)
2. maybe it was just the animation but if I remember correctly, the door opened a bit delayed AFTER his bombs went off and werent just crashed against/off the wall
3. why shouldnt be there an 8th one involved when even a “normal/lower” fiend made it to the door and tricked adlet
4. but this is more on my side of things: maybe maura was manipulating chamot so that he/she would definitely encounter that fiend running away from adlet and kill it so there would be no evidence or something to torture to get the answers
.. besides the lovely girl beeing the final boss/an enemy is quite common in animes nowadays
So at this point, I think we can say it’s most likely not Fremy. I also doubt it’s Adelt, unless he turns out to be slightly mental with a very selective memory. I also think we can eliminate Hans, like you said, because it would be too obvious if it was him. So that leaves Goldof, Nashentina, Chamot, and Maura. It’s true that Goldof and Nashentina were fighting the fiends, but they’re still suspects. Unlikely though. Goldof seems extremely loyal to Nashentina, but probably only to her. I feel like he has some yandere potential in him. And there’s been theories about it being Nashentina since she’s the saint of blades and it’d be a good twist if it was her, but I’m not sure about that since the sword in the slot thingy had to be that exact one right? So I don’t know if it could be one of her silver blades, or if there’s more to her power than she’s letting on. I agree that Chamot would probably just try to kill everyone if he was the traitor, but who knows. I feel like Maura is pretty sketchy because there’s the whole locked room mystery thing, and she was the one with the key right? Doesn’t having a key mean you can open the door (the correct way, so the robots things wouldn’t attack you) and then relock the door? Or maybe I’m missing something.
I can see Goldof being so loyal to Nashetania that he’d help her out with activating the barrier, but of course he’s another Brave and not some random eighth person.
About the door, I don’t think they’ve clarified so far, but it’s probably not re-lockable. Otherwise she’d instantly become the top suspect, and someone perceptive like Hans would have realized by now.
I know I purposefully began watching this show late in the season so I could experience a lot at once, but I didn’t want to be late to this discussion too ;_; You all covered things quite nicely! Great job everyone! (So at least it means I won’t be dishing out a large comment, ehe)
Earlier I was going to say this in a different way as part of my “I’m-99%-sure-it’s-not-Nashetania” reasoning, but now all I can say is this: we’d better hope she can’t control blades that aren’t her own if she’s a traitor, otherwise I can see Hans, Adlet (who’s sword may very well be a creation of hers) and even Goldof being disarmed during an upcoming fight. Granted, that could also prevent them from slaughtering each other if she’s the good person I want to believe she is.
As for the locking of the doors, I find it a bit hard to believe that the actual doors couldn’t be closed again. If a regular person was in there as was the original plan, they’d be vulnerable to bombs being thrown in by the fiends or even being rushed by the horde intended to be trapped in there (unless the pain of the salt pillars is paralyzing). I mean, I can see why a potentially suicidal plan to keep a large number of the enemy forces away from the Braves would be worthwhile, but… :v
Wait a minute, the pain of the salt pillars? You mean the ones directly outside the temple? They hurt fiends?
That means if that disguised fiend was able to hang around to trick Adlet there, was something already wrong even before he arrived?
Ye-es, Fremy said that.
And no, it was actually outside the pillars, if you look back. Right outside them, but ouside.
Dammit, right you are. And I thought I was onto something!
After re-watching that scene, Adlet had his back turned to the entrance for a hell of a long time – even after defeating the guards he was staring intently at the transforming fiend, which would have been the perfect time to sneak past him and activate the barrier.
Oops… Agh, there’s so much possibility for anything ><
Also, Wanderer and Vantage, I actually hadn't reloaded the page in a while so I didn't notice your two latest comments before posting it, so that's why it'll look like I didn't take them into account.
Apologies for the late reply, I wish I hadn’t slept in today 😛
[Description from the LN that I found as Adlet nears the temple]:
“The entire building was surrounded by about 20 white pillars. They were probably the defense the Saint of Salt built to drive away the Kyoma. Outside the perimeter were a multitude of footprints from various types of Kyoma, but inside the area demarcated by the pillars there wasn’t even one. It didn’t seem like the Kyoma could go past those salt pillars. (source: https://rokkathetranslation.wordpress.com/volume-1/chapter-two/chapter-2-3/)”
[Okay! Dialogue in the anime (this is just before Hans rules-out Flamie as a suspect)]:
Hans: Did you know this temple has things that keep the fiends out?
Adlet: The Saint of Salt’s Pillars?
Hans: But Flamie made it in…
dialogue skip
Hans: That means she can do both things impossible for a human, and things that are impossible for a Fiend.
dialogue skip
Nashetania: I also heard about the barrier.
Chamot: I was taught the same thing.
So that’s 3 votes of confidence for that information at least. Mora had said that a Fiend couldn’t activate the fog barrier, but Flamie then pointed out that she could just as well be lying about that from her viewpoint. So it’s possible that the Fiend Adlet found on the ground (who I might add displayed the power to shapeshift) was exhausted as it was due to forcing its way through the barrier despite whatever repellent it uses.
Said fiend also runs off and supposedly comes face-to-face with Chamot… AS ABSURD AS THIS WILL SOUND… it could mean:
a) Mora and Chamot are traitors and the supposed eighth party is/was the shapeshifting Fiend
b) Mora had Chamot killed (remove the “most powerful Brave”) and the shapeshifting Fiend is acting as her (who would want to kill Flamie who betrayed the Fiends)
I know this’ll make 3 comments in a row but … has anyone else noticed that the creature in the OP (around 38 seconds in before young Adlet is shown) is kind of bunny-like ears, along with a lot of fur..? O_O http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB8foUxD7-I&t=0m38s
If the anime goes well we’ll get to watch nevrotic pikachu in action.
You nailed it with “most resourceful man in the world” ’cause it’s really about stacks and war of attrition; sacrificing stuff is honest compared to the animepowerup/level up stuff that is present in animes (and everywhere else but games tbh). In fact it would be perfectly fine to get hurt to support a plan. Not going to spoil the novel but this first season is the core of the whole series in my opinion.
His best item use so far is when he (at first) pretended to put his trust in Fremy and started walking in front of her, when in fact he had a mirror out and was watching her to see if she’d do anything. He immediately went from being naive and good-natured to intelligent and cautious in my book.
Yeah, again I won’t spoil stuff but this thing about being the strongest man is something to play with and we are gradually shifting from fantasy epic shonen stuff to mystery things. The guy is going to be savvy.
Also these two last episodes burnt a bit slow, I expect the next two to bring some action. I’d rather have 1 hour episodes tbh.
Btw, the novel differs in that it has flash forwards as prologues. It gives away much more info and focuses on characters. Readers get to see all of the characters issues and betrayal tropes (such as goldof going for adlet’s head from the last ep). The adaptation is pretty much the same and there isn’t anything to complain about, it’s mostly saving budget where it can, buuut because of the lack of infos it leaves much more to talk about. Idk how this will play out later, maybe people will watch things again. Maybe they’ ll give us more info dumps or not; it’s still a cool trick and it’s interesting to follow speculations (and how the author screws with everyone having thought of every guess:D). Sorry for rambling too much
Post scriptum: the cut to Adlet’s shadow too see how he views himself is pretty cool too. Sometimes the anime throws nice shots.
It definitely does save budget where it can – this episode was basically just talking heads for the most part. But that’s fine too, as the mystery aspect of things is thickening at a nice pace. And yeah, I think the lack of info is a good thing for people watching this as it’s airing, there’s a lot more scope for speculation that way.