Stuck in fandom hell

good luck cielowillers… we’re following up on the twins’ thread and Bluebou going to meet up there, are we? you’d better start talking, Cielo…

Episode 26: Reaching Out to that Blue Sky

can you tell who my favorites are 😭😭😭 I’ve been irregularly posting, but I swear I’m keeping up… I just don’t want to keep writing long-ass reaction posts unless I actually have something to ramble about

Episode 25: Remember

Episode 23: Scenery at the Beginning

“For now, how does a truce sound?”

Episode 22 is out! It’s still a 10+ minute episode, and this one was quite focused, with only three segments looking at two groups. As usual, spoilers under the cut:

I’m winning so hard right now. Chaco finally got a CG! I think this might be his magic CG, actually, so I will be patiently awaiting info about his magic…

Episode 22: Overwhelming Belief (okay it’s formatted as an action, but idk the subject 😭)

That is to say, episode 21 is out! Compared to the previous episode, this one took a different approach and only featured about five characters (well, really four), and one segment takes up like 4/5 of the runtime. Still, it felt well-paced, since there was pretty much no egregious jumping. As usual, spoilers under the cut:

Anyways, with that preamble out of the way, there’s a lot to discuss about episode 20. As usual, spoilers under the cut:

Okay, I’m not feeling it about the elephant in the room. I guess I’ll start with the next episode preview…

This preview worries me, like a lot. When they used to do full-group previews, it usually meant that something significant was happening for the group, and not any individual person. And we’re getting that for all three groups… that means it might be an incredibly significant lore revelation. This episode better be like a 30-minute episode for old time’s sake, because I don’t think you can cram all 18 (potentially 19 if Shadowritt shows up) characters into this next episode, even with most of the cast on the Blue Continent.

The Tree of Wishes will definitely feature, since Redbou are seeing its leaves… maybe they’ll somehow find the Wish Me Mell Kingdom? Bado’s probably going to have a chat with Cielomort and explain to him that what he’s trying to do is not how alliances work and tell him about the power of friendship works and stuff… maybe. That’s in my ideal world, though. Kurode, Klark, and Myunna might be heading to the LTS Kingdom and maybe they’ll find Louter and the SEEDs? And I hope the rest of Noirbou get caught up to the main plot somehow, since Noir3 quartet have just been engaging in shenaniganery for the entire run and I want them to be important too, dammit.

I did enjoy Merold this episode. It’s funny how absolutely petty he is towards Cielomort, and it’s also interesting that Klark immediately accepted his apology once he learned that Merold had beef with Cielo. They’re also not on the best terms because of Cielo’s secret-keeping, so it makes sense. Merold also seems to be really torn up when Klark claims that Merold was picking on Kurode, which is consistent with his character and relationship with Kurode.

Sanah oshis rise up! Your fave is relevant! If Sanah can hear the SEEDs’ voice after being possessed by one, maybe Louter will be able to as well…? We’ll see after the situation subsides. At any rate, we now know that the SEEDs themselves are trying to convince the Fragaria not to banish them… does this mean that the Tree of Wishes is basically like one big SEEDs? Or, alternatively, that a SEEDs has possessed/been living in the Tree…

Both Rimicha and Hallritt getting hit by the SEEDs is a bit worrying, considering that Sanah being hit by a SEEDs is potentially what planted the SEEDs for his amnesia plotline inside him. Hallritt especially is quite vulnerable, since he already has Shadowritt goading him on. Someone needs to patch them up, stat.

I don’t know why, I didn’t expect Badobarm to show up of all people. I was starting to think that Noirbou would just never leave the continent, and I may have missed a line or two last episode that implied that Bado-san would be here. He’s always a joy to watch on screen, so I relished the short time he was here for. His descriptions of Romamero being so vibe-based yet so accurate was inspired.

I guess I do have to address the elephant in the room, huh…

Sanah oshis are finally getting their content! Good for you! …good for you…

Episode 19: Let Me Hear Your Voice

I do wonder why it was specifically Merold and Klark who were used to threaten Badobarm in that scene. Was it because they were the two knights present whose lords were from the LRB? That would give them a stated motive, at least. Merold using his magic on a bluff is insane considering how much it’s usually emphasized that he shouldn’t overtax himself.

So yeah, we all knew Hangyon was older than everyone else, but I didn’t expect him to have stories from the formation era. That means he probably knew someone who was affiliated with the Strawberry King or the two Noir lords, or he himself was affiliated with them.

I don’t remember if I addressed this last episode, but it feels really weird that no one addressed that Romamero came and beat Cielomort up. Kurode personally witnessed it, and Myunna looks up to Cielo a lot, so you’d think they’d be a bit more apprehensive at the idea of working with them.

Puruth’s harmonica belongs to the Strawberry King, huh… well, I guess Romamero have a new task then. I wish Noir3 gang got to talk to everyone here, especially since Tuxam and Pikero are in the same knight school grad year as Kurode. You’d think they’d use that connection somewhere down the line, but they don’t seem interested at all. Also, not having someone from Noirbou travel to other continents is such a missed opportunity. If their continent really is as stable as it seems, there shouldn’t really be any problem to any one of them or even a pair traveling to other continents.

(the monkey’s paw curls and Noirbou take a vacation to Red Continent, where currently there is not a single Fragaria present)

Shadowritt showing up with a SEEDs right after… could it be that Shadowritt is basically a sign that Hallritt might closely be dealing with SEEDs possession like Sanah was? The trigger for Sanah’s SEEDs-related amnesia was Rimicha expressing the opinion that he would want to forget his lord in a circumstance like Hallritt’s, so Shadowritt is basically trying to goad Hallritt into expressing a similar opinion so that the SEEDs can steal his memories as well.

Sanah scared me in that last segment… I thought he was going to relapse. Instead, he said something potentially even scarier… he parroted something the Tree of Wishes said. We knew this already, but the SEEDs are currently linked to the Tree of Wishes… is it possible that banishing the SEEDs is leading to the Tree of Wishes dying? What do the SEEDs do that is beneficial to the Tree or the residents of this world? Is it just that the Tree doesn’t want to die, and that’s why it’s telling people to not banish the SEEDs despite the SEEDs causing nothing but harm? We might not get more answers next episode, based on the preview…

So we start off with another section of Noir3 gang… being idiots, I suppose. I’m surprised anyone is friends with Pikero aside from being Stockholm’ed into it, no wonder he won the least marriageable Fragaria poll. In any case, I seriously wonder why Pikero didn’t just tell them the concept from the outset. Maybe time is passing and they’re just not really making that clear…? It happened a bit later in this episode too, so it’s not too much of a stretch to say that these are just weekly or biweekly meetings that Noir3 gang are having.

“Louter gets a segment” and he shows up for less time than Kuromyunna 😭 we also didn’t address the cliffhanger involving Louter from last episode… unless Klark was just calling his name out like that for fun? It is nice to see Klark getting out and about, even if Louter being left alone in this state worries me.

I’m surprised Romamero can still interact so civilly with anyone in Bluebou knowing what they did to Cielomort. I guess there’s always the possibility that Kurociel just. didn’t tell anyone about that. Even if they really like and care for Kurode, I feel like Kurode would feel at least a bit awkward in return because of the Cielomero feud, but his attitude towards Romamero seems to be unaffected by the events of episode 7. Maybe he secretly wishes he could punch some answers out of Cielo too…

Anyways, they spend the last sixth or so of the episode talking about wringing some answers out of Hangyon. Merold suggesting that they get Romarriche to physically pressure Hangyon when Merold literally has mind control magic is interesting, but I have to assume it’s part of his code not to use it except against bitches like Cielo.

Time to talk about the preview for next episode:

This episode had some pretty important lore stuff. I’m glad it was over ten minutes long, it felt paced almost like a normal episode again. We also got the first voiced on-screen appearance of a Lord (Kuromi’s voice only showed up through texts, never when she was on-screen), so that’s super cool. I wouldn’t have expected it to be Mell, but it’s better than them just walking in and then walking out with all the lore info and no preamble.

anyways why were Cielowill yaoimaxxing in my lore dump 😭 “we’re in this together” and completely ignoring the rest of Blue Bouquet? This is exactly what Kurode was warning you guys about. Especially Cielo, since he wasn’t even willing to share the conclusion he drew with Will. Now is not the time to withhold information!!!

This episode revealing so much about the Wish Me Mell Kingdom is pretty interesting, even if it was mostly about the purpose of the town, role of the Fragaria, and why it remains secret. I hope eventually we get to learn more about the actual culture of the town, though I wonder if it actually has any…

The twins’ segment… people have been predicting something bad to happen to Louter since the first key art dropped, haven’t they? It might finally come to fruition here. Judging from Klark’s reaction, it’s (thankfully) most likely not going to be Louter going berserk Badobarm-style, but any kind of SEEDs growth would be devastating off of Louter. They’re also getting a segment next week, so I won’t go too deep into speculating.

Speaking of the preview…

I’m just as surprised as Hallritt that Shadowritt isn’t his hallucination or only visible to him. I’m surprised that they’re even different bodies, actually; though, it’s interesting that it seems Shadowritt has control over the appearance of Hallritt’s room. Maybe they’re not as separate as everyone thinks they are.

So if Red1 gang are heading over to the Blue Continent to follow up on the Tree of Wishes and Romamero are heading over to the Noir Continent to look for the missing lords… who exactly is holding the fort? I hope they have the decency to not all be gone at the same time, but intercontinental trips do take a long time sometimes…

Okay, on to the Noir segment. It’s kind of interesting that Pikero can use his magic on potions like that. I’m still upset that Noir has yet to meaningfully engage with the actual plot, but I’m kind of interested in the mechanics of their magic, too. We’ll probably get a follow-up from the Fragmem Twitter account about Pikero’s magic’s properties in a bit, so stay tuned for that.

I wonder if this is just an episode bit or if the 1,000,000x improved nose will actually settle in and work. I’d like to see something Noir do actually advance them forward into interacting with the other continents, but the whole setup and punchline being completely resolved makes it feel like this was just a gag. I guess it’s probably better for Chaco this way, though, to not be stuck with that nose for too long.

why tf were Arupek and Chaco in the next episode teaser from last episode and not Tuxam though 😭 what are the requirements for the teaser? I’m pretty sure they aren’t just put in order (aside from the focus character), since Arupek was before Chaco. Tuxam is in a lot more desperate need of a teaser, since he doesn’t have any outside of the full Noir ones (episode 3 and Badobarm’s Accolade episode). I guess they didn’t want to just tag one of either Arupek or Chaco…?

Episode 15: The Truth’s Silhouette