Damiya, you never cease to be creepy...

Katt: One episode left? ONE?! What a depressing thought… But I’ll suck it up and blog this and the next (last!) episode to the best of my abilities. I know I haven’t blogged it for the past couple of weeks, but I figured I could be forgiven because I had to write up that ‘underhyped anime’ post and, of course, chose Kemono no Souja Erin for my entry~ The series is reaching its climax as sunrise approaches and the tohda army is waiting to advance. Will Seimiya raise the blue flag? Will Erin fly above the scene with Lilan? Will Damiya get in the way?

The resolves of the good: Seimiya and Erin make their choices

When Shunan begins leading the tohda army towards Seimiya, Erin is giving the order to fly Lilan. Up until now she has remained silent whenever Damiya spoke of this inevitability, which he obviously took as her reluctant submission; however, now that the time has come when she can’t stay quiet any longer, Erin brings out the suicide knife. I don’t necessarily agree with her decision to kill herself rather than give in to Damiya. I think that there are other ways that she could have gone about it, but this choice suits Erin, especially since she made that shift when she became more like her mother, giving into the world that enforces unfair rules. She became very self-sacrificing, and suicide would be the literal self-sacrifice.

Though of course she can’t just go and kill herself with another episode left (not to mention two other novels), and as it turns out it is Nukku and Mokku who distract her long enough that one of Damiya’s fake Sezans gets the knife away from Erin. I am really curious: how did this go in the novel?? Since Nukku and Mokku aren’t characters in it, this scene obviously must have been dealt with differently.

This whole scene leads up to Seimiya finally manning up and doing what she wants: to raise the blue flag and marry Shunan, to join the two sides of the country together and aim for prosperity. Rejoice, Seimiya has finally developed common sense and a happy ending it on its way! But…

The bad hinder a happy ending: Damiya and Nugan interupt

…happy endings never come to easily in this series. While Damiya had seemed helpless once Ial restrained him and Erin raised the flag, it was really  just a farce. He had a plan all along, most likely anticipating that Seimiya would cave in and defy him. That creepy, devious bastard!

And he isn’t the only devious one around, too. I don’t know how this fact managed to go over my head, but it was the rival brother Nugan who has apparently been leading Damiya’s secret tohda army. When the brothers had their falling out episode, I admittedly wasn’t all that invested in it. I suppose that explains why I haven’t considered Nugan’s role in all of this, even after he returned at random last episode. My bad–he was actually there as Damiya’s back-up in case it was needed. And, go figure, it was needed and Erin is forced to witness bloodshed once again, only this time on a much larger scale. The wars that have been mentioned so much finally become a reality and people of different lives see it: the queen finally perceives this reality, Erin sees what becomes of the tohdas raised in her childhood village… It’s a massacre, and Shunan’s army is losing. The Grand Duke meets his end on the battlefield, and in one notable moment has his corpse trampled on in the panic. The insignificance of the Wajaku to Damiya has never been made clearer and it’s horrifying.

Now, Erin’s only choice is to take Lilan to the skies to save those who are remaining. While she wants Lilan to leave a free life, she can’t ignore all of the people who are being sacrificed for that…

Next episode has the conclusion of Erin’s decision to attack, and it looks like the final farewell between Erin and Lilan. Get the tissues ready, because I foresee a major tearjerker!

Katt’s rating for Kemono no Souja Erin episode 49 is…9/10
Katt’s anticipation for Kemono no Souja Erin episode 50…∞/10