[Episode] Though I Am an Inept Villainess • Futsutsuka na Akujo de wa Gozaimasu ga: Suuguu Chouso Torikae Den - Episode 9 discussion

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• Mercuri@ani.social ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Welp… Shu Sabi is the obvious mastermind.

  Honestly, it really couldn’t have been anyone else. I was hoping it wasn’t her because it was so obvious that they might as well have titled the series “Help! Shu Sabi Is a Two-Faced, Curse-Wielding Villainess Who Set Up My Maiden Rival and Left Me for Dead.”

  We have Sabi:

  • Adopting Kougetsu
  • Her learning forbidden magic from Kougetsu
  • Planting the thought of “if only you were Reirin” in Kougetsu’s head
  • Giving the Empress and Kougetsu those cursed incense gifts, with the latter delivered through Kin
  • Her entire backstory
  • Everyone else being either too useless, too inept, or too uninvolved to realistically pull this off
  • And probably several other things I’m forgetting

  Then we get the extra piece from Reirin: Sabi needed Reirin out of the way because she was preventing curse magic from working on the Kou clan. So by removing Reirin and putting Kougetsu in her place, Sabi effectively killed two birds with one stone.

  Except… both Reirin and Kougetsu survived.

  The other interesting piece is Kin stoking the flames of hatred while the Empress willingly made herself the target of that rage because she wanted Sabi to recover from the double-whammy of not becoming Empress and losing her child.

  Except now that brilliant plan is starting to backfire spectacularly. Or maybe the Empress genuinely thinks she deserves it—or is willing to sacrifice herself for Sabi.

  I’m still hoping there’s some kind of twist, especially given how important the body-swapping mechanic has been. But at this point, I think I have to agree with ReluctantlyZen: this anime just might not be that clever.

  Which is a shame, because the premise is way more interesting than the mystery they’ve built around it.

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• Endmaker@ani.social ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Prince refuses to help.

  This prince is fucking useless. It’s your own mother who’s in peril. Shouldn’t you be the first one to step up and draw the bow?!

  The only character who may be more useless is the ever-absent emperor. I can understand his absence regarding the Reirin-Keigetsu fiasco, if he’s dealing with issues that are more pressing (i.e. national issues, duh). But now that his wife is dying, he better have a bloody good excuse.

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  Also, now that I think about it, the maidens / princesses and the prince are half-siblings, aren’t they? Since they should all share a common father: the emperor.

  Why is Reirin the only one to call the crown prince nii-sama, but the maidens don’t? Maybe that’s why the prince turned out like that…🗿

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  • Mercuri@ani.social ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    This prince is so fucking useless. It’s your own mother who’s in peril. Shouldn’t you be the first one to step up and draw the bow?!

    Yes! He’s so useless that it’s honestly surprising Reirin respected him at all. Like Reirin said, she gave him three chances, and he spurned every single one. She’s fucking done with him.

    That said, curses aren’t exactly common knowledge. Even Reirin didn’t believe in them before the body swap. So from his perspective, her asking for the bow could easily sound like, “I need it for prayer,” or “I want to pretend I’m helping without actually doing anything productive.” In that context, refusing to hand over a priceless artifact isn’t completely unreasonable.

    But yes, he should absolutely have done it himself, especially since it had apparently worked on Reirin just a day or two earlier. My dude, your mother is dying. Pick up the fucking bow. 😂

    Also, now that I think about it, the maidens / princesses and the prince are half-siblings, aren’t they?

    Well, Kougetsu is obviously adopted.

    Why is Reirin the only one to call the crown prince nii-sama, but the maidens don’t?

    Because this one is actually a fun Japanese-language quirk. The term Reirin uses is written お従兄様（おにいさま） — the kanji means “cousin,” but it’s specifically given the reading nii-sama, i.e. “dear older brother.”

    So Reirin is essentially calling him “older brother” while the written word says “cousin.” The other maidens would presumably use the normal itoko-sama (従兄様) instead.

    I’m definitely not a Japanese expert, though, so take that last bit with a grain of salt. 😅

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    • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      All I’m saying is the Captain of the Eagle Eyes is apparently a prince as well.

      Time for a certain useless prince no one likes to get replaced in the succession one way or another.

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