Alright! I’m proud to say that this episode didn’t hit me as hard as the first, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hit me at all. There were just so many small things that called back to the first episode, that even though it’s been a week, they still packed quite the punch. I mean from the simple eye change to just the fact that the Immortal is wearing the rope leash it really hits home how impactful the boy was and the fact that this adventure was one that he would not get to have.
But! Aside from that, we get to start March’s story and as cute as she is, there’s definitely tragedy looming in the distance for her. I appreciate that we actually got some time to spend with just March and her village. We got to see her friend, watch her play with toys, and even get to hear that all she wants is to be an adult. But dang…. these gosh darn rituals just have to keep getting in the way. March is just such an honest and open child she expresses her emotions as they come and is really… genuinely the ideal child for the ritual. But when she started declaring that she didn’t want to die and started punching her guardian? That was stressful, but the real kicker was having her father tell her to behave as he had to fight back tears. Like, having to put on the face of pride to the whole village even though you and everyone knows this will be the sacrifice and death of your child. that’s tough!
But thankfully, she has the chance to run away thanks to Parona providing her some cover. Which also allows her to come in contact with the Immortal, who really hasn’t gotten a hang of this whole living thing yet. Which is understandable. He was well cared for by the boy, and also if one of my cats (heck even both) were to take over my body they’d struggle trying to figure it out. I am, however, impressed that he managed to die seven times, but at least it seems that they were all in different ways! But hey, if he hadn’t revived as the guards were coming to retrieve March, she would have had to continue her trip up the mountain. So, at the very least he bought her time even if he completely ignored her. And boy was that regeneration seen intense. But I loved the interactions that came out between the two!
I’m appreciating these one-sided conversations that have happened in the past two episodes. It’s a slow relationship to build, but they get to build one, nonetheless. The Immortal character is hungry and March, being the kind child she is, goes up and gets the pears for him and he gets to eat. (And he gets to eat fruit no less! The boy from the previous episode would have been so excited!). But having him take the fruit away from her and for her to start crying from it, felt pretty realistic. It’s essentially a dog and a child playing together. The dog only understands so much but knows that it wants the fruit. The child is willing to play with and help the dog, but of course she will struggle with getting the dog to listen to her. It was just really sweet to watch it all build up. And ahhhh at the end when she got to proudly stand there and tell him she wasn’t his mommy? It was precious! March, I hope nothing bad happens to you.
But uh, I probably shouldn’t get my hopes up too high with that. First, we have our nightmare scene where her younger sister and Lalah are being consumed by an unknown monster. At this point it’s been planted in her mind that, if they don’t sacrifice her, then someone is going to have to take their place. So even if she does get to survive, there’s the guilt in knowing that someone else died in her place. And when she got up again, it seemed like she had decided to turn herself in again… but if you watched the episode preview, it does seem like she taken into custody again which makes me sad. I swear, if she does end up sacrificed the Immortal is going to carry around her stuffed crab, I’m going to lose it.
Overall, I enjoyed this episode! I’m excited to see how the Immortal grows from its experiences, but also about the people it will meet along the way. I’ll admit that I’m stressed and don’t want to get attached to any characters we meet, but at the very least I appreciate that the anime seems to take time to give our characters some substance. I can’t wait for episode 3!
