Okay, before I start… I just wanted to take a moment to talk about how ominous some episode titles are? Like we had “Help Me” two weeks ago and “What a Life is Worth” this week and I feel like I’m always let down when they have titles like this because I just hype it up too much. It’s not that they’re wrong or misleading since they concepts are actually addressed in the episode… but they’re always really brief. With “help Me” it provided up information on Iu and the kind of person she is, but that felt unfinished. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt on that one though because we’re just barely hitting the halfway mark, so there’s potential to circle back to it in the coming episodes. But for this episode, I kept expecting “What a Life is Worth” to be explored in Kusue’s story! Like, I kept trying to insert it in whenever she had a monologue or was speaking, because it could have potentially been applied, but when we got to the end it was just “Oh… that’s what it meant”. And… I’m not necessarily mad at it because I am excited for them to handle this new dilemma, but I wish it were more prevalent in the actual episode.
But now that that’s out of the way, let’s actually dig into the episode! It’s Kusue’s time to shine with her backstory and general feelings about the situation she’s been placed in with her newfound friends. Kusue’s the typical timid girl with the bonus that she’s frail and weak too. I wouldn’t say there was too much that was a surprise from the backstory about her being sick and wanting to find a cure for the disease her and her mom have. But it really is the start of her desire to want to help people, but she’s stuck with the idea that there isn’t much she can do… and it’s understandable why she thinks that way. But then this episode really takes it a step further but expressing her feelings towards the trauma she experienced watching the two bandits get murdered, followed by the pit of dead bodies. I’m honestly pretty happy that they acknowledged it because Yotsuya, Iu, and Yuka for the most part seem to be okay with the things that are happening. It’s a little gruesome for their tastes, but they gotta do what they gotta do.
Kusue on the other hand, with all her experience and lack of self-confidence really internalizes everything during the course of this episode. She doesn’t want to be a fighter; she just wants to help people the best she can. Even when killing the goblin, it’s probably the closest she will have to a breakdown because of everything she’s experienced. And she’s actively trying to better herself, but suddenly being thrust into a world where she has to start killing to meet and objective? That would definitely give someone a shock. And what I like about the episode is that she is trying to get better and stronger, or at least she’s trying to convince herself that that’s something she must do. And it’s not straight forward, she has many setbacks because there are things that she has to overcome. She’ll have to get used to killing monsters and be prepared to come across many more difficult decisions. So, I’m proud of her for that final battle in the episode for at least growing.
I’m looking forward to next week’s episode and to see what our heroes choose to do regarding their mission. Will they tag along and deliver these goods? Or will they simply pull the deliver, but also rescue them in the end? Or are they going to get hit with the “No matter how much good you do; you can’t save everyone”. *rubs hands together* oh ho ho there’s so much potential for what could happen.
