The Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt

Episode 12

The biggest challenge when basing your entire story around a “genius character” is making them seem like a genius. All too often, being a genius either means having that character know things they couldn't possibly know or just having everyone else in the story be incompetent by comparison. Luckily, neither is the case here.

Over the course of the series, Wein has defeated several enemies on the battlefield despite being massively outnumbered. However, this time, it isn't the overconfident Mardens or a hastily assembled pursuit army from Cavarin. Rather, he faces the full force of Solgest—a country more powerful by far and with a King just as competent as Wein himself. To be frank, it is a war that Natra cannot hope to win and that is the crux of Wein's latest genius plan—well, one of them at least.

What's most interesting in this episode is the fact that Wein actually has several plans running concurrently. The most basic one is to make peace with Delunio—turning Solgest's invasion from a just one into an unjust one. To achieve that peace, he is willing to allow Zeno to give away a large portion of their territory—greatly undermining her hard-won power in the process. Unfortunately, Delunio's leader is having delusions of grandeur, certain that anything Wein could promise will be given freely by Solgest at the end of the war.

Thus, Wein moves on to a much more drastic plan—country-sized blackmail. If Natra falls, so will Delunio. Wein will use his civilian population as a weapon and cause a refugee crisis with the sole purpose of destabilizing Delunio—not only putting an end to any kind of personal ambitions the regent may have but making the country rife for outside invasion as well. What's great about this threat is that it mixes lies and truth. Sure, there is no plague-causing yellow fabric but Falanya did rally an entire population to march (and that wasn't even her own people).

The final nail in the coffin—the reason Delunio betrays Solgest—is thanks to Wein exploiting time-lagged communication and his enemy's morale-boosting propaganda. Delunio's own sources report that Natra is in full retreat. Thus, if Delunio doesn't march immediately, Natra will fall and the refugee crisis will begin.

Bringing Delunio onto his side isn't victory in the war, however. After all, King Solgest is Wein's equal on the battlefield—and his superior in actual combat. There is every possibility he could lead his army to victory despite the appearance of the Delunio army. However, herein lies Solgest's true weakness: without their King, they are nothing—just as Natra is nothing without Wein. The key to winning isn't bringing Delunio into the war but taking out King Solgest. As King Solgest is a man who lives for visceral pleasures—be that food or the thrill of battle—he leads from the front. Wein exploits this to lead the King into a trap where, after using himself as a distraction, his three best soldiers work together to bring the King down and win the day.

All in all, this episode ends The Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt on a high note. We watch Wein face down someone who is his equal or superior in most ways—and win only because he is able to exploit a flaw in that person's personality. And even then, he doesn't come out of it unscathed. Wein is back where he started, the leader of a poor country just barely making ends meet—except now that territory is triple the size and his religious neighbors hate him. It's a fitting end for our arrogant, reluctant hero. At the very least, he won't be able to run away from his responsibilities any times soon.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Zeno could have so easily blamed Wein for the crisis with Delunio—and not have been entirely wrong to do so. Instead, she took responsibility for it. It just shows her strong character.

• I couldn't help but notice when Ninym took out King Solgest, she was no longer wearing her disguise. So a Flam very publicly just defeated a "Holy Elite." No wonder the religious people are pissed at Natra.

• It seems Wein didn't intend to kill King Solgest but I wonder what his plans were if he had been killed on accident.

• Judging from King Solgest's reaction, I'm betting that Wein told him he planned to unify the continent and bring down the church—solely to end the oppression of the FRAM people in general and Ninym in specific.

• I wouldn't be surprised if King Solgest begins having his daughter court Wein aggressively after this. It would not only give him a spy but also a front row seat to Wein's ongoing conquests.

• I loved that we got one final reminder that Caldmellia is the true big bad of this story and she is still out there and plotting.

• Welp, thank you all for joining me on this fantastic ride. Let's hope another season gets made so we can do this again!

The Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt is currently streaming on Funimation.

Richard is an anime and video game journalist with over a decade of experience living and working in Japan. For more of his writings, check out his Twitter and blog.