Do you ever just watch a single scene that lasts less than 5 seconds, but you suddenly get hit with so many emotions? This episode was really good at that and I’m almost a little bit mad that it took us so long to get here. But now that we are here… we’re in for a doozy of an arc, aren’t we?
I already talked last week about how much I enjoy Bon because he has such an eccentric and out there personality. It balances out Fushi and Kahaku’s seriousness really well and brings a nice breath of fresh air to everything that is going on. There are bad things happening, but that doesn’t mean everything that is happening is bad. Overall, I think this episode was really well structured. The first half of the episode was dedicated to advancing the story, primarily focusing on Fushi, but rather than continuing to follow Fushi for the second half, we were actually able to spend more time with Bon and learn more about him. This is super interesting because now his secret is shared with the viewers, but Fushi is none the wiser! Hopefully that doesn’t bite us later!
Since the episode was broken up into two parts, I’ll talk about it in two parts. So starting off we have Fushi’s preparation for departure. This part of the episode truly felt as slice-of-lifey as I think this anime can get. For the most part, characters are just going about their life and having miscellaneous conversations with one another. Even though there is a looming threat of Nokkers, there isn’t necessarily a grand panic among the cast. Instead, we are going to let Fushi leave the kingdom of Uralis, but this time Bon (and some additional travelers) will be coming with them. We have short and cute humorous moments, such as Fushi trying to build his outside home one brick at a time (only to stop and put a tarp over it) and Fushi trying to bond with a horse (unsuccessful). Bon gives him the tasks of learning how to smile, making friends, or making a lover, which slowly starts the conversation about Fushi trying to learn more about love. This was hinted at earlier with Hisame, but more so in the fact that he doesn’t really know what it all entails. Has Fushi experienced love? Yeah! I would argue that he has, but does he understand and recognize it? No… I’m really looking forward to him having this realization.
Speaking of love, I’m really curious to learn more about Todo and his relationship to Bon. We met Todo in the last episode and he seems more than willing to become Bon’s chair and be the greatest support to the prince. It doesn’t seem too weird when we take a look at how all the citizens of Uralis act about Bon, but there have been a few moments that show that Todo’s devotion is unwavering. In this episode, namely, Todo willingly goes to rescue Bon’s precious handkerchief out of literal shit. Gross? Yeah, but Todo didn’t even bat an eye. Later on, it’s shown that the particular handkerchief means something to Todo. And if you ask me I think Todo is actually the girl Bon ran into in the flashback (sorry Bon, the one person who you thought was actually a ghost, is real!! and they are near you often!!). However, when Fushi asks if Todo is in love with Bon, it is immediately met with the ” N-No, I am a boy” response. This does give a nice segue to Fushi’s convo with Kahaku though which I think tied this episode together really well. I am looking forward to Fushi exploring the concept of love in the coming episodes.
But enough about Fushi. Let’s talk about Bonchien Nicoli La Tasty Peach Uralis. A lot of pieces come into place in this second half of the episode – how does he know where Fushi is? What is his relationship with Tonari? Why does he talk to people who aren’t actually there? Well… he has special eyes. In this episode they mention that he can also see the future (but we really don’t see a whole lot of that so I won’t talk about that for now). Bon can see and communicate with dead people, something that he really wasn’t all too familiar with when he was young. Like a lot of other characters with special powers, they don’t know they are different because this is something they’ve seen for their whole life. In fact, his mom actually tries to exorcize him due to his odd behavior. I don’t know about you, but if my parent hired someone to tie me to the bed, cut my arm and let me bleed all night long… I’d be pretty affected by that. I’m surprised Bon doesn’t have more resentment towards his parents. But back to the spirit thing – Of the people he can see regularly, one is a kitchen dweller with a sword in his head, Fen, and the other a swordmaster with a missing arm, Nixon. Bon refers to them as his closest friends, primarily because they’ve been around him the longest. The only one he feels closer to is a storyteller who would visit him at night. And let me tell you when they revealed it to be Tonari? I lost my mind. I am so happy that we get to see her again! I can’t wait to see how this connection ultimately impacts Fushi and Bon’s relationship.
Despite being only a portion of the episode, we learn so much more about this character and are now confident that we will be sticking around with him at least for a period of time. I felt all the emotions just by seeing all the characters following behind Fushi. I miss March, Gugu, and Tonari. In the single moment we see that they are all still sticking with him, but that they are all still wholly themselves. Tonari’s little comment to Bon notes this. They aren’t just following because they are a part of him. They do so because they care for him!! I am so ready to get hurt by this arc. I’m looking forward to what comes next!
