Code:Realize ~ Sousei no Himegimi Episode 7

I must say, I am quite stunned. I can’t believe they actually skipped the entire event of Issac’s Lab. Now as I have been quite wary of how the writers were handling events that would contain major spoilers from the very beginning, so I can understand why they made the decision to only provide the key snippet to the chapter and nothing more. However at the same time, one has to ask, “Was it really worth it?”

Anyways, since they skipped the event and they jumped straight into Cardia’s dilemma I was honestly thrown off. As whole, I found the episode to be so-so. The pacing of it felt a little off to me, but I think it mainly had to do with how they literally skipped Issac’s Lab chapter. However the way the handled both Cardia’s and Lupin’s backstory was well done, so that certainly helped balance it out a bit. The one thing I did notice however was how insanely quiet this episode was. There was lack of background music, which isn’t a bad thing so to speak, but its absence was certainly noticeable to my ears.

Truth to be told, I was looking forward to Cardia’s backstory because it’s so bittersweet. Before she had met Lupin and the others, there was a time when Cardia broke her father’s promise of remaining in the mansion. When she was being chased by the local villagers, she was taken in by the lovely Elaine, and her young daughter Etty. Neither one of them feared her for what she was, and treated as a normal girl. This was really the first time, Cardia felt at home and enjoyed their company and warmth. She was happy to be living with them and was in no rush to leave, nor were they in any hurry to let her go. However the good days came to a tragic end when the @$!*@#* priest showed up at Elaine’s door demanding her to hand over Cardia. But Elaine being the badass lady she is defied him, but it came with a cost. They threw both Elaine and Cardia into a cave where there they met their tragic fate. Elaine ended up dying to Cardia’s poison. This part has not been addressed in this adaption until now, so here’s a quick note: Cardia emits poison into the air, so it’s dangerous to keep her confined to one place, because the poison would build up over time and affect others who are living in the same space (eg: Saint-Germain’s mansion). After that incident, horrified and guilty of killing Elaine, Cardia vowed to never leave the mansion – until Lupin and the Royal Guards came along.

So when she learns of what she is (a Homunculus), she handles it better than one would probably expect, mainly because she has one way or another always known she was not Human like the rest of them. She takes matters into her own hands, of investigating further of what she truly is, and what purpose she is supposed to serve. This is how she finds her father’s letter in a hidden compartment, where it provides instructions of where to go to fulfill her purpose and be granted ‘eternal peace’.

However she is still vulnerable, and that vulnerability is exploited when she re-encounters her trauma from the past. It is also one of the main reasons why she keeps on trying to leave her friends, because she doesn’t want them to suffer to meet a tragic end because of her. Luckily for her Lupin isn’t the type to leave the girl he likes alone, so he went after her and saved her when she needed it most.

Lupin snapping at the villagers and that asshole priest who preaches nothing but bullshit, is probably one of my favourite scenes in his route, and despite the fact this was a slightly watered down version of that, I enjoyed it just as much. He lays down the law of telling these idiots to think how to make a difference with the heads rather than scapegoating people for their problems and turning against each other. The scene where Etty also tells Cardia that despite calling her a monster when she found her mother dead, in her heart she knows Cardia is not truly a monster, just a girl with an unfortunate fate. I am surprised they didn’t include that little gift because it would have made the scene even more touching, but hey, it’s not the end of the world.

It was also good to see they made sure Lupin’s backstory was covered this episode as well, of how he became a Gentleman Thief, and how he got ahold of Isaac’s plans in the first place. Basically the man who saved him and taught him the ways formerly worked as an agent, (I can’t remember if he worked for Twilight or not) who came across crucial information in regards to Isaac’s terrorist plot, and that is knowing its code name: Code:Realize, something which Cardia herself is familiar with as well. But because he hadn’t been able to do anything about it, it drove him into madness where eventually when Lupin learned about the crimes he has been committing and the organization he was a part of, he put an end to it, which resulted his teacher’s death. This is part of his past he honestly didn’t really want to share with anyone, but he decided to anyways because he wanted Cardia to know that everyone has sins or secrets about their past they don’t want to share.

Although they have now learned of the location where Isaac’s plot is taking place, Finis has already beat them to the punch by launching the attack, setting London aflame. Lupin and Cardia will have to find another way to get to the city and regroup with the others since the train back had stopped. Let’s see how they will deliver the final events!

A/N: First off let me say thank you for the patience. ; v ; / I can assure you starting this weekend, Code:Realize will be released on Saturdays again, as originally scheduled. Idolm@ster Side:M however will be released as a double-post on Sunday because I’m sick, again… fml.

PS: If you read this post within the first five minutes I have published this, you probably saw the chunk I erased when I faintly remembered how irrelevant it was – it has been since removed in the revision 5 minutes later.