#changchun

I’m honestly surprised with how intelligent the translator boy Shira is. He stated in this episode that he still doesn’t know how to read or write well, yet he’s the one concocting all these plans to move up in the world with Sitara wanting in on it too. However, it’s unknown if he can be trusted as Sitara only sees him as a necessity and not as an ally; she did say everyone is her enemy, after all. It does make me wonder if she’ll team up with Toregene who doesn’t seem to like her husband, the third princes Ogedei, that much. It’d be a team-up of the century if that’s the case.

Anyways, we also get to see the Mongolian princes aside from Tolui. The way they all act about the damages they caused in the war is scarily composed, especially since Tolui just boasted about how he got his wife book he ransacked from Fatima’s house. The way his carefree attitude about how the book is in a foreign language yet he has no idea if it actually is the book shows how cruel war and the people who cause it can be. Tolui is just basically boasting how he killed people for a random book that might even be the book he’s searching for. It’s honestly crazy; I can see why his older brothers look perplexed. He’s definitely a hatable character with his only one redeeming trait is being a wife guy.

By the way, if you listen to Sitara’s dialogue, she tends to speak in a stilted manner around the Mongolians. This is because she’s still not fluent in the language, so she’s basically speaking a bit childishly like how every person learning a new language does. Remember that she only knows some basic Mongolian at this point because Shira, who’s more fluent, taught her. I honestly like that detail and I commend the subtitles for catching onto that.

The episode also introduces Uyghurs, who are a Turkish ethnic group and Master Changchun, who’s actually a real-life historical figure, Qiu Chuji. The purpose of this scene is to showcase how powerful wisdom and knowledge are. It’s also to showcase that immortality isn’t something to be sought after. Maybe it could be some foreshadowing in a way?

Anyways, the voice cast is also high budget alongside the animation. Now that Tolui’s words are able to be understood, his regular voice actor is Ryota Suzuki who voiced characters like Kurosawa in Cherry Magic, Trey Clover in Twisted Wonderland and Hiiragi in Wind Breaker. The first prince Jochi is voiced by Kenji Nojima who voiced Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon Crystal and Eiji Okumura in Banana Fish The second prince Chagatai is voiced by Daisuke Namikawa who voiced Yu Narukami in Persona 4 and Kazehaya in Kimi ni Todoke. The third prince Ogedei is voiced by Hiro Shimono who voiced Zenitsu in Demon Slayer, Dabi in My Hero Academia and Hakuto in My New Boss is Goofy. His wife Toregene is voiced by Ami Koshimizu who voiced Yukiko Amagi in Persona 4, the spider mother in Demon Slayer and Sailor Jupiter in Sailor Moon Crystal. 

I just hope nothing bad happens now that Sitara met Tolui’s wife Sorghaghtani. She has to be smart to move up in the world, so I’m sure she’s not going to demand the book back. Instead, I am more curious on what she’s going to do. It’s going to be hard waiting a week. Also, I just hope I can spell all these names correctly going forth… Let me know your thoughts on the episode!