As 666 betrays Shadow Garden, how will she navigate the situation when both the Cult of Diablos want to use her and Shadow Garden wants to kill her?

Recap & Reaction

Rose’s betrayal sets up another classic and comedically ironic plot. This arc serves as a satire on Rose’s character, portraying her as the “damsel in distress” being manipulated as a political pawn. It’s a classic princess trope, casting Cid as the hero. With Asshat becoming more and more of the villain we all love to hate in his blackmail over Rose, this scenario is perfect for our role-playing champion, Shadow!

Opener

Lambda, Kai and Omega discuss Rose’s ‘betrayal.’ Lambda feels the guilt of being the one that trained 666 and wanted to find a way to right her wrongs as a trainer. Lambda is informed by Kai & Omega that Shadow will be taking care of it himself, leaving her to just wait and see how the situation unfolds.

After watching the episode in hindsight, this scene really just confirms that Shadow would be handling the Rose situation herself. If you are wanting to see more of these trio of characters, then maybe in the next filler.

Cid Finds a Plan

Shadow strolls around, munching on a sandwich, contemplating how to thwart the impending disastrous marriage between Rose and Perv. Then, he runs into Epsilon. Because of her fame from her artistic prowess as a pianist, she’s allowed to roam freely in the royal palace. As Epsilon’s ‘slimed’ chest gets close to him, he refers to her elite abilities in using his slime, mentioning that its ‘99%.’ After some fun dialogue, both walk within the palace and run into Sir Perv Asshat.

It’s always important to note the nonchalant mood of these scenes. Cid has to play play it cool and find real ’eminence’ in how he wants to convince Rose in not marrying Asshat. This is a situation that we can foresee as being misinterpreted by Rose when they do reach each other, setting up that damsel in distress with the heroic savior, Cid.

Also, Cid notes how adept Epsilon is at using her slime. It’s not only for fanservice, but a testament to her ability to control it compared to the other Seven Shadows.

Cid Unknowingly Foils the Asshat!

Asshat says to Shiron (Epsilon), how he’s looking forward to her next artistic piece. Due to Rose being under the weather, she will not be in attendance. Then, he notices another person that came with Shiron and asks if he has a pass for entry. Their policy for allowing individuals into the royal palace has recently changed, but Shiron explains that he is her apprentice. Luckily, Asshat asks if he would perform as well, which plays right into Cid’s slimy hands.

Before Cid ends up playing “Moonlight Sonata,” he notices the amount of money that the nobles and royalty wear. As he plays the piano, he sneaks some of his slime from the back to steal the jewelry off of these people. In the meantime, a blonde maid catches wind of Cid playing and is absolutely mesmerized by his performance like everyone else. Epsilon adds to the comedy of the scene by taking an obsessive amount of pictures like a proud mother.

Here, we get the introduction of a new side-character. With Cid literally stealing the wealth off of these people’s bodies, this continues the trend of Cid pickpocketing and becomes a foreshadowing for what is to come.

As Cid stands up to a round of applause, it laughably shows Cid with tons of slime, stealing from the audience. Asshat approaches Cid to catch his name, but Shiron steps in to conveniently give an excuse for a more formal introduction later.

This is one of those frames that’s meant to be so over-the-top that it is comical in how much Cid’s greed is. Also, that no one notices all of that slime!

This is when Cid notices something even more worthy of being pickpocketed. His eyes turn to a purplish-blue color and is able to see through Asshat’s pocket. What do you know? It’s that special ring that the Cult grabbed from the ruins from the previous episode. And just as easily he was able to steal in the prior scene, that ring comes into his possession.

A ring symbolizes so many things, but the obvious one here is marriage. However, it holds some other special link to a power that has yet to be revealed. Cid stealing this ring still represents denying Perv Asshat’s marriage to Rose because it literally holds the key to whatever incredible power he would have possessed. It’s actually a very subtle scene, but clearly has tons of ramifications down the line.

Rose’s Maid

The scene skips to Cid sitting down with Epsilon. It reveals quite a bit of all the jewelry he stole as he excuses himself from Shiron to try to explore the palace. Of course, it’s likely to just steal more goodies and connect with Rose. Suddenly, that maid from before gets in his face, overly interested in becoming his guide. She reveals herself to be named, “Margaret,” whom is the maid to Rose.

Margaret gets progressively more insistent in being Cid’s guide as Shiron gets more and more frustrated. As her chest gets closer to Cid, he capitalizes on the “99% slime content” joke earlier, by referring to the maid’s as “0% slime content.” With that punchline to the scene, it shifts to Cid walking with the maid, Margaret.

This episode is all about those booby jokes. Also, Margaret is creepy.

Being utterly infatuated with Cid’s ability as a pianist, Margaret starts dropping ginormous numbers as to how much he can make as an artist. This catches Cid by surprise due to his dream of riches. In her overbearing fervor for Cid’s success, she won’t let go of having him be helped by her, even suggesting that her family can help him. Cid tries to play it cool and gives Shiron as a reason for not doing so, when an angry man from afar get irritated by their interaction.

As Cid tries to shake off Maragret’s overzealous grip, he asks about Rose. In her disappointment, she explains how beloved Rose was, but it’s because of her that the Oriana Kingdom is in disarray. Cid is still insistent on knowing about Rose’s location, that the blushing Margaret can’t help but fall deeply in her thoughts of doing so.

This scene is 100% the same playback from when Rose and Cid rode on the train to the Goddess Trials. Cid says it himself how Maraget and Rose are apples from the same tree.

As Cid walks away from Margaret’s deep drivel, the angry man hinted from before walks up to Cid and shows himself to be a fat castle guard. Jealous of his recognition, this begins the start of a gag as the fat castle guard berates Cid so much, he’s got him shaking. The disrespect that knights in this kingdom receive in comparison to musicians like Cid is completely unfair! In the ultimate ‘bird-block,’ he commands Cid to know his place and stay away form his ‘Maggie!’

Not only does this scene provide another example of the comedic irony in the humor, it’s another poignant reminder of what kind of kingdom Cid is in. Remember that Oriana Kingdom is not known for fighting, but for their culture in the arts.

This causes the castle guards flashback of how he links eyes with Magaret. In his delusion, he thinks that Maggie ran away from his magnificent gaze. In reality, creepers creep and his gaze triggered her to escape. After this castle guard goes deep into his own monologue, Cid stealthily walks away.

The Damsel in Distress’s Conviction

Since no one can find Rose, the animators sure can as Rose starts setting up the inevitable climatic clash between the Cult of Diablos and Shadow Garden over her. Then, Cid is just nonchalantly climbing up to her room, when Rose rushes out in tears to greet him. This begins the ‘setup’ part of the plot as the romance between Cid and Rose, satires the heroism of Cid and the damsel in distress of Rose.

“You just don’t understand! Forget about me..” Cid is playing out his prince charming duties as he is munching on cookies. This scene parodies classic princess tropes with Cid playing the hero of making her realize why her choice is wrong. In this case, Cid makes Rose realize that she’s always went against the grain, so it makes sense to go against the Asshat. Cid continues convincing her how misunderstood his own dream is and how he understands her situation completely. In this misinterpretation of Cid’s ‘dream,’ the scene hints at Rose thinking that this dream is with her.

The cookies provides the ‘in-between’ timing of the humor. And knowing what Cid is truly aiming for with the “Tyrannical Queen Rose Oriana,” creates the perfect irony for a cliche scene.

Cid continues his classic cliche lines of “being true to themselves.” He brings up why Rose killed her father, but tells her that she doesn’t have to explain why. She did that act with ‘conviction’ and that has to mean something more than just ending up marrying the Asshat. Rose gets up from her seat and asks Cid for her one last wish to “forget about me and find your own happiness.”

This is such a classic fairytale scene that gets parodied so damn well. The timing of the cookies that Cid bites, makes this scene all the more funny because it signals how humorous this situation actually is. With all of this irony, the scene itself played by the voice actors just feels so sarcastic that it makes it that much more funny. With Alpha in the previous arc, it felt way more realistic because it was as serious as the show can get for its characters. For this scene, Rose is a character that we can all enjoy laughing at, even when she’s at her lowest. She is one of the few characters that you can’t take seriously, even when the story calls for it.

The ‘Ass’ in Asshat

It quickly transitions to evening as Asshat confronts Rose in her room about ‘voices’ heard in the room. Seeing that Rose has been crying, Asshat approaches Rose to reveal her face and she slaps his hands off of him. Diving deeper into his hat to pull out a bigger ass move, he proceeds to choke her to remind her of her position.

Continuing the classic tale of the “damsel in distress,” it is revealed that Rose is being blackmailed with her mother, Queen Reina’s life. With Cid sitting outside the window sill, he overhears Asshat and Rose’s conversion, which leads him to move onto his next moves. He pulls out the ring and ponders what the ring is about? This leaves the audience to continue that ponderous for what Cid has planned until the next episode..

Clearly, this ring is about to unlock one magnificent climatic moment! Ahem.. Think about Rose’s character development.

The ‘Key’ Plot Points

559 reports to Epsilon about 666, but Epsilon warns her of her haste to judge 666 as a traitor. Epsilon reveals how close she is to being elevated to working under one of the Seven Shadows, reminding the audience of 559’s goals within the organization. Epsilon continues to take responsibility for what happened with 666, in that they never told 666 about Queen Reina being there. Playing into irony of what to do about the ‘traitor,’ Epsilon discusses further that Shadow chose not to do anything to her or that he’s just seeing what will happen next. In the end, they will leave matters into Shadow’s hands.

Epsilon goes on to the detail the use of the ‘key,’ which is the ring that unlocks, “the Black Rose.” It is said to have been used a major weapon of war that wiped out 100,000 people in one night. They have to be careful to not back the Cult into a corner to use it. In the middle of Epsilon’s conversation with 559, Shadow walks and Epsilon proceeds to give him a nice massage. 559 goes to a secret safe to pull out a plate of fruits. Shadow goes on to say that he’s pretty much handled everything to Epsilon and 559’s ecstatic delight.

We find out some important plot points in this scene. The rings gives access to some powerful abilty. Cid has it and is likely to do something ironic with it, which is likely give it to Rose at some point. 559 isn’t being much different than any other Shadow Garden member, besides trying to overly prove her loyalty.

Bad Guys’ ‘Unfoiled’ Plans

Perv Asshat reports to Mordred about their plans still being in play with gaining the “Black Rose.” With this power, they will gain more influence over the Cult. Mordred warns of ‘rats.’ In Asshat’s response, he pulls out the “Ring of Succession” from his pocket to give Mordred ease. If all goes to plan and Asshat becomes King Asshat, he will have his seat as one of the Knights of Round. As Asshat has his climatic bad guy monologue for the episode’s end, what looks like an aloof half-naked Queen Reina calls out for the him.

This is another classic bad guy monologue that that one vampire had that got blasted away. Good for Asshat for being a longer lasting ass for us to hate. It’s actually one of the weaker points of the show. In the previous episode when Mary or Marie got threatened by the NPCs, the audience should have felt an instant rage to protect her. This episode is the same with Asshat choking out an even more important character in Rose. Except this time, Asshat has not paid the price yet for his villainous ways. Along with the monologue, this easily sets up great anticipation for the next episode. Also, everyone wants to know what the ‘deal’ is between Rose’s mom and Perv Asshat. We can already assume..

Are we not sure it isn’t Queen Reina being the one that’s pounding Asshat?

Last Thoughts

It felt like Rose’s character could have gone in many directions since the beginning of the season, but the satirical nature of Rose becoming the “damsel in distress” is just too easy to make fun of. The irony of Cid & Rose’s classic love story being played out, along with Rose being blackmailed for her decision to push Cid away, is a classic one. It’s one of the highlights of the series, turning cliche tropes into incredible punchlines. Although it doesn’t have the contrast of a seriously traumatic experience of Alpha’s feel for Shadow’s betrayal from the previous arc, it was still amusing in its own right. Following the parody scene between Cid and Rose, with Rose being choked out by Asshat, provided just enough of the audience’s hate for Asshat—to contrast the comedy that downplays the previous scene with the serious nature of Rose’s situation. This capitalizes on the classic blackmail of most fantasy worlds, where most characters want to manipulate their way into power.

All in all, this continues the classic trend of The Eminence in Shadow doing what they do best with comedically ironic plots. The subjectivity of how much you like what the show parodies in the plot and characters is what can change your level of enjoyment for this particular episode. What cannot be denied is how incredibly funny the anime uses its characters to parody cliché moments.