First and foremost, I have to give a big fat disclaimer at the beginning of this post and say that I will try really, really hard to not freak the hell out over how gorgeous this episode was, nor that emotional dance scene with Fena and Yukimaru. I’ll try… but I make no promises. <_<
So, finally our Goblin Knights and Fena have arrived at the coordinates hidden in the song from Fena’s memories. It was a little eerie watching the island rise from beneath the ocean as soon as Fena was in proximity to its location. Like it just knew Fena was there. Also, trees in full bloom? Waterfalls and a lake?? Some of the prettiest sceneries we’ve seen so far were in this episode. :3
I didn’t truly start to get an Atlantis vibe though until Fena and the knights exited the cave behind the waterfall and looked out over a cliff at a long gone civilization. Ruins where a thriving society once stood. It was pretty awe-inspiring to see such a sight! I wonder who used to live on the island.
Yet despite there being no people on this island, the streets are lit with eerie green lights jutting out from some of the buildings. Does their color mean anything? Is the island haunted by spirits?
Despite the serious tone of the episode as Fena and the others progressed further into the island’s mysterious depths, I kept giggling as the Goblin Knights kept alternately teasing both Yukimaru and Fena about That Which Hasn’t Yet Been Directly Admitted. With Yukimaru pledging in front of Shitan and the other knights that he was going to go save Fena no matter what, the knights can now assume that Yukimaru does indeed love her. And with Fena now blushing every time Yukimaru tries to help her, all the puzzle pieces are falling into place. The sporadic teasing of my new OTP is just for fun; everyone does truly want to support Yukimaru and Fena together. Hell, Tsubaki’s comment upon the knights finding the treasure jackpot hidden on the island was to sell a handful of riches and use the money to give Fena and Yukimaru the best wedding money can buy.
The music playing when Fena unlocks the door leading to the cavern full of gold and treasures actually gave me such throwbacks to my all-time favourite now second-favourite anime, The Vision of Escaflowne, that I had to go looking for the track I was thinking of. I can’t clearly decipher the lyrics because I think they’re in Latin or something, and I can’t find the lyrics posted online, but the track I remembered was “Gloria” from one of the 4 Escaflowne OSTs. The choral arrangement I was reminded of starts around the 3:50 mark. I think I might just have to hold Kaizoku Oujo‘s composer Yuki Kajiura in as high regard as I hold Yoko Kanno now. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
What was really neat to watch this episode was that while Fena was physically shying away from Yukimaru throughout the episode, she’s finally become more confident in herself and her intuition. She knows she has to go to Eden. She must. The answers to all of Fena’s questions are awaiting her at Eden. So unlike an earlier episode where Fena was seemingly possessed by the spirit of Joan of Arc and in a trance, Fena is now in control of her intuition. She can discern where to go without being possessed. Futhermore the episode even ends with Fena overcoming her shyness to be the one to reach out for Yukimaru’s hand instead of the other way around. Go Fena go!
I was a little annoyed that the Goblin Knights seemingly lost track of Fena once again, letting themselves be curious and distracted by all of the infamous treasures and vast quantities of gold spilled throughout the cavern. Don’t think I didn’t see you find the Ark of the Covenant, Shitan! Given that they’re supposed to be protecting Fena, you’d think the knights would keep a closer eye on her and not leave her safety up to just Yukimaru. Come on guys, be responsible.
But with that being said, if any of the knights had been present for the scene where Fena is “possessed by Joan of Arc’s spirit” again (I don’t know how else to describe it, sorry), then it would have had only a fraction of the emotional impact that it had with only Yukimaru watching Fena dance.
And y’all. Y’ALL. OMG. I said I wasn’t going to gush about this scene but I just wanted to say that, in my personal opinion, I think Fena’s dancing was one of the most technical scenes of the entire series so far. Especially the shots of Fena’s legs and feet as she’s stretching and spinning. Production I.G must have watched a ballet dancer dance as a reference or something, the movements just seem so accurate and realistic.
But oh man, the look on Yukimaru’s face as he’s watching Fena dance… in that scene, more than anything else shown to us so far, we see how much Yukimaru truly loves Fena. He’s so captivated by her beauty and grace as she’s spinning and moving about the stone grid that he’s literally speechless. I know I spoke in my post from two episodes ago about the gentle look of love we saw for the very first time on Yukimaru’s face as he watched Fena sleeping, but this scene, THIS SCENE is something else entirely. We even get a quick flashback to Fena and Yukimaru as children as Fena danced (and presumably sang her song) for Yukimaru, and it was clear she’d already stolen his heart even back then. Ughhhh so many feels in this scene. You know a show is fricking amazing when emotional scenes leave you feeling like someone just suckerpunched you in the gut. I just want to push them into a room somewhere for a couple of episodes and tell them to come back after they’ve gotten all their hormones out of their system. >_> 
The episode ends with Fena’s dancing having unlocked the entrance to Eden. Somehow her dance steps (the same dance steps originally made by Joan of Arc?) cause different squares of the “lattice stage” to rise up towards the opening above Fena and Yukimaru and become a staircase. At the bottom of the staircase rests the stone square marked “initium” (Latin for “beginning”); what will lie at the “finis” at the top?
I also really liked the neat “effect” which filled the subterranean area upon the completion of Fena’s dancing. It causing Fena and Yukimaru’s hair and clothing to float about them as if they were underwater and I felt like the effect was executed really well . Great use of CGI, Production I.G! ^_^v
My Thoughts
I was really happy to barely see any of that stupid Abel in this week’s episode. We see that he and his crew follow Fena and the Goblin Knights to Eden’s location, and they encroach on the island behind Fena’s group, but they haven’t caught up yet. I imagine that will happen in the next episode. Plus Kei and possibly Yukihisa still have yet to arrive at Eden too.
Speaking of Abel, Cody mentions again the contrasting concepts of blue water and storm clouds. In last week’s episode as Fena and Yukimaru were trying to piece together Eden’s location using song lyrics, Fena sees a montage flash in her mind of both Yukimaru and Abel upon recalling the phrase “blue water and storm clouds.” It occurred to me that perhaps the blue water represents Yukimaru and the storm clouds represent Abel, and Fena’s supposed to choose between the two of them at Eden? (I have no idea, just grasping at straws and throwing around theories here.)
Also, again in last week’s episode, Cody spoke to someone he called Alba Regina. I had assumed at the time that the scene took place in the present. But with Fena remembering Cody’s words about only needing “the calling” in order to be able to open the locked door in the cavern, and Cody says those words in a dark environment similar to when he was speaking to Alba Regina, maybe that Alba Regina scene took place in a flashback and Fena is actually this Alba Regina person??
I really like Kaizoku Oujo‘s use of song lyrics to lead Fena’s group to Eden. As Fena and Yukimaru observed last week, the lyrics have matched some of the events their group has already experienced, and we see in this week’s episode that events continue to unfold according to these lyrics:
More than golden, the land of the gods
Atop the lattice stage, dance, o shrine maiden
Far across the waves, the maid slumbers
What came before is south snows, in the hour of cold flame
Dark blue water, white storm clouds
The journey to the end, the stone that shows the way
What lies ahead is the sun setting in the east
Now is the time to run, beyond the ark
Going by the lyrics, maybe the spirit of Joan of Arc will be waiting for Fena at Eden? Maybe… Fena’s mother Helena is Joan of Arc reincarnated? So many theories~
This is completely and totally the fangirl in me but I’m wondering how Yukimaru and Fena’s relationship will end. Will one of them die? Will we get a kiss? The emotional depth to Kaizoku Oujo gets deeper with each new episode (and not necessarily just between Fena and Yukimaru; Shitan’s had a couple gut-wrenching scenes too), and the anticipation for how my OTP’s going to end up is killing me. T_T
I really want to see what Eden looks like! Will Helena’s spirit be waiting there for Fena (or Abel)? Will there be more treasure? Will Kei have secretly arrived at the island and be waiting for them? The curtain has risen on the climax in this episode and I want to know what happens next!!
(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
