Tearmoon Empire

Episode 9

At the end of the most recent storyline, Mia was stunned as her precious journal vanished before her eyes, and while she was overjoyed assuming she had prevented the terrible future that would lead to her demise, there was also an undercurrent of dread to the discovery. What was she supposed to do now, without these memories from the future to guide her along, especially if the danger wasn't over? What the audience got to see is that there is some conspiracy that is still very much afoot in the dark corners of the empire. Mia is informed that Abel's Kingdom of Remno is on the brink of its revolution. In short, Mia isn't out of the woods yet as she must continually learn throughout her journey in this new life, the world is so much bigger than she ever gave it credit for the first time around.

This is all well and good, so far as world-building and plot development are concerned, but the presence of these entwining story threads also means that Tearmoon Empire once again has to devote an episode to table setting for upcoming events. That hasn't been the series' strong suit, at least not up to this point, and “Princess Mia's (Love-Focused) Choice” suffers from the fact that it is primarily concerned with simply transporting Mia and Shion to Remno so that the two can participate in the interesting parts of the story that are set to take place once they arrive. It's not bad but there's not much to chew on in terms of either comedy or character development.

I suppose the most important elements of the episode come from that little “(Love Focused)” Parenthetical in the title. For one, the whole reason that Mia even decides to sneak into Remno despite her pathological fear of the guillotine is because of her affection for Abel which is cute, though it's not like the show has been slacking on the shipping between the two of them. It's nice to see that Mia is becoming more willing to stick her neck out (hehe) for others in this second go-round at life. Also, Shion gets plenty of screen time, and the episode gets to crack some minor jokes about potential CPR routines and the Prince getting flustered at seeing Mia in her bloomers, which is great for anyone who is down for potential love triangle shenanigans.

As for me, my overall opinion on the lovey-dovey stuff in Tearmoon Empire can be summed up with a heart shrug and a “Meh?” You can't have a good old-fashioned Villainess story without some cheesy romance, but Abel and Shion aren't exactly winning any Personality of the Year awards. Abel's “Aw shucks” underdog shtick is fine, and Shion's “Tween Chad” routine is also fine, but I'm at the age where I need more than “perfectly functional” to get invested in a bunch of aristocratic kids' blushing contests. Then again, the CPR joke with Shion pays off with Sumire Uesaka getting to do that “Blehblehblehblehbleh” sound that anime characters make when they're throwing up rainbow sparkles, which is always hilarious, so maybe it's all worth it in the end.

Rating:

Tearmoon Empire is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.