Quick Summary
In Fairy gone episode 7, “Stubborn Blacksmith and Biased Rabbit,” the one-hundredth anniversary of the war’s ending draws ever closer, and more of the new artificial fairy models are “malfunctioning.” A long-brewing feud between the military and Ministry of Fairy Affairs is coming to a head: who should investigate the problem and take responsibility for it? Meanwhile, an informant reaches out to Mariya Noel and Free Underbar with a surprising offer: Sweety Bitter Sweet has a proposition for them! Should they explore it like Free wants to? Or stay away, which is Mariya’s recommendation? After all, can anything Sweety says be trusted?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
What’s in This Post
3 Favorite Moments
Moment 1
Mariya and Free couldn’t help but argue in front of their boss! She seemed used to it, though. Capture from the Funimation stream.
There’s nothing like arguing with a co-worker in front of your boss! Mariya and Free had just come from a meeting with Sweety where she proposed a joint operation. Free seemed inclined to go along with it. Mariya, on the other hand, had different ideas. Nein Aular seemed a little incredulous and asked Free to explain, and he started to do just that. But Mariya interrupted him, saying, “Not that she seems trustworthy” (14:17). They even went back and forth a few times until Free changed the subject. Mariya has never seemed like a wall-flower, but I’m glad to see her gaining confidence. Now, she just needs to some tact!
Moment 2
The doctor didn’t think Free’s joke at Mariya’s expense was funny. I’m not sure Free was joking… Capture from the Funimation stream.
Do you remember in the last episode how Klara Kysenaria wore a high-class dress and hat? Mariya, dressed in slacks and carrying a huge rifle slung across her back, looked like Klara’s hired muscle by comparison. After Nein accepted Free’s recommendation and approved the operation with Sweety, the doctor helped Mariya get dressed up, too. She was very unsure of herself, even after the doctor said it looked good on her. It took Klara forcefully telling her, “It works on you, don’t worry” (15:18) before she warmed up to the idea. She even told Klara that she looked cute. Klara got sudden demur and expressed doubt. That was interesting, but not half as interesting as the comments that followed. Serge Tova immediately fell all over himself to tell Klara that she looked cute, the same word that Mariya had used, but with a completely different reaction. “I’m making it plain that I’m uncomfortable,” she said dismissively (15:36). That was quite a contrast to the exchange between the other partners. Mariya muttered that she wasn’t good with that kind of thing. To which Free responded, “I bet” (15:42). He earned the doctor’s elbow in his ribs. Plus, Mariya either didn’t get it or didn’t care; or maybe she even agreed! Talk about a completely different team dynamic!
Moment 3
Mariya needs to practice her poker face! Capture from the Funimation stream.
I think I know Sweety, Mariya, and Klara’s plan. At least, I think I know part of it. And Sweet executed her part of the plan with admirable precision. The three women obtained an audience with Gilbert Warlock, who really likes to stand on interior balconies and look down on people. Their actual goal, I think, was to get him to admit he has part of the Fairy Tome (or some such artifact), which would give Dorothea enough evidence to get that time’s equivalent of a search warrant. Sweety’s trying to get him to let her look at it, and he’s completely against it. She tries all sorts of arguments, each ratcheting up his anger until she says that she’s performed well enough to deserve a look. She used his response (which was that it’s only natural she would server their interests; just how did this guy get to where he is?) to actually approach the stair case. His guards pointed their guns at her. She taunted him, “Has someone stolen it?” Angered, he answered, “There’s nobody in this world who can take my property” (20:01). Mariya and Klara exchanged changes (which could have been a little more discrete, to be honest) — he had just admitted he had the material! It was a subtle moment, but I appreciated it.
Thoughts
We had significantly fewer flashbacks in this episode. In fact, I think we only had one, which was after the end credits. It showed a younger version of Sweety, riding across a wasteland, asking the driver about a dead capital — that used to be the center of the world, according to the driver. Not sure what that was about…
What did you think of the scene just before the ending credits? Sweety basically outed Mariya and Klara as Dorothea agents. Klara almost looked angry, but Mariya looked more determined. I think Sweetie’s betray was part of the plan. Was that how you read it?
The way the artificial fairies are so easily hacked reminds me a little of insecure Wi-Fi. I think the Ministry of Fairies needs to up its game! Add some authentication at least! Or encrypt the signal’s payload or something. Encryption has been around since 1900BCE, so i think it should be available to them!
Seriously, Ministry of Fairy Affairs (or whatever you’re called): Add some authentication and look up non-repudiation! Capture from the Funimation stream.
Are you having a hard time putting together all of the characters and their affiliations? I am. I’ve found a post by Reddit user RosaRedMage to be very helpful, but we’re seven episodes in, and I’m not even sure I should be rooting for Dorothea, much less who I would be rooting against!
In this episode, a justifiably skeptical Mariya asked Sweety about her relationship to organized crime group Gui Carlan. Sweety brushes it off, saying she’s only using them. What’s she using them for? She’s after the Black Fairy Tome, that’s clear (at least, I think it’s clear!) — but why? Just to sell it?
Isn’t that kinda like Mariya using Dorothea to find Veronica Thorne? Despite her scorn for Sweety using someone, isn’t she doing the same thing? I mean, does she really feel any loyalty to Dorothea? She only joined because Free gave her no real alternative; and she’s still hunting for a known fugitive not to bring her in, but to renew her friendship!
Sweety taunted Free for having joined a government agency, especially a government he had once opposed. Is he really loyal to Dorothea or its government — or does he have his own angle? He seems awfully grumpy in the last couple of episodes.
Free has seemed awfully grumpy in these last episodes. Maybe he’s loosing track of who’s who and what’s what, too? Capture from the Funimation stream.
Or how about Wolfran Row, Free’s nemesis? He’s supposed to be in another organized crime group called Arcame, but didn’t you get the impression that he was just there until he could do — something else? Something we don’t know about?
Is that what this story is really about? Is the whole political caste corrupt (I’m thinking about the feud between the military and the Ministry of Fairies; or how Nein’s meeting with the Prime Minister ended in this episode)? Is the story about outsiders like Sweety, Mariya, Free, and Wolfran fighting in their own ways against the corrupt political world?
This is what happens when I don’t have a clear central conflict: I start manufacturing one!
Or do you think I’ve missed it? If so, I’d love to hear your perspective! Let me know in the comments!
Other Posts about This Series
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: Fairy Gone – Episode 7 discussion
- The Otaku Author: Fairy Gone (Episode 7) – Stubborn Blacksmith and Biased Rabbit
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 1: Ash Covered Girl
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 2: Wolf Collar and Swan Feathers
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 3: Greedy Fox and Lying Crow
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 4: Impatient Housekeeper and Selfish Artist
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 5: Black Moon and Lost Child’s Song
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 6: Fellow Traveler
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 8: Pipe Blowing in Stage Wing
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 9: Rolling Stones and Seven Knights
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 10: Cursed Child
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 11: Uninvited Music Corps
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 12: Powerless Soldier
With regards to the big picture, I’m largely on the same page as you, though maybe less… focused?
Sweetie’s last scene shows that she definitely has her own agenda, and it’s very, very likely to be an idealistic one. If what Warlock said was true, that she seems to have an eidetic memory, then she really only needs to see the Black Fairy tome. But as an angle that’s a little silly: she could have looked at it the moment she got her hands on it; I doubt she’d be in more trouble than she is now. I see three possibilities for her outing them as Dorothea agents: (1) it’s all part of the plan, (2) she’s escalating a conflict, or (3) she thinks that giving Dorothea agents to Warlock helps her standing in Gui Carlin. I find (3) very implausible. I don’t see what benefit there would be in it for Warlock. More likely she’s openly announced her defection. (1) is also unlikely. Dorothea would likely want to go the official way. They’re not highranking officials and them being forced to make decisions on the spot is hardly desirable for Dorothea. So I think it’s (2), given that Sweetie should have been able to look at the tome before she handed it over. Especially, if she’s about to cut ties anyway. In fact, I think she might actually have looked at the tome already. Who knows?
Wolfran is definitely playing his own game (“neither a soldier nor a merchant” if I remember than correctly). We haven’t seen much from him, but it’s definitely very personal. If you ask me, it’s likely he’s been broken by the war and is just out for revenge. Not sure on whom exactly, though.
Free is probably also broken by the war, but I think he’s more liable to accept things fatalistically, though he’s conflicted about that. I don’t think he’s loyal to Dorothea as such, but I do think that he’s using fulfilling his duty as a stopgap for whatever the war did to him. Emptiness? Disappointment? Dispair? I think Sweetie annoys him as much as she does, because she hasn’t given in, and that irritates him. I don’t think Free has an agenda of his own, and he’s following Dorothea’s lead because it’s the best option he has. It’s even possible that the share some goals. Or it might just be that he trusts Nein (just like Clara). In any case, Dorothea being neutral in a rivalry between the ministry and military makes one thing clear: I think what’s attractive to him, here, is that he has a place for his fighting prowess that’s neither military nor government: instead, he’s in a special executive branch. So, yeah, one of the best current options for him.
So are they all fighting in their own way against a corrupt political world. In a way, maybe. By the end, more of them will, most likely. I’m fairly sure that the show leans towards portraying Dorothea as the voice of reason. I probably should have seen it coming from Sweeties comment about Free having joined the enemy, but at the time I dismissed it as a taunt, but Sweetie seems to be the one to be fighting corrupt politics most self-awarely, right now. Next would be Veronica, I think. I can’t quite gauge her. She clearly started out on a revenge mission (much I like I view Wolfran), but I’m not sure if her current “employer” whoever that is has given her information that changed her situation. Free seems to be fighting mostly his inner demons (so as not to go down Wolfran’s route), and Mariya doesn’t seem to be very political at all so far.
The key to everything is in the black fairy tome. It’s interesting that we learned this episode that the fairy soldiers are calbrated to a specific user, so the shadow flutist must have a way to override this. I would guess the key to this lies in fairy possession – what’s written in the black tome. Nein’s decision not make an official report about Mariya’s status becomes more and more interesting in that respect. I have absolutely no grounds for that hunch, other than that they have to draw the various strands together at some point.
So that’s where I am at this point.
I think you comment just captured why I’m still hopeful about this show.
The plot might still be hard to tie down, but look at the level of analysis the characters already support!
“(1) is also unlikely.”
I’m still on the fence. I agree it’s unlikely she’s interested at all in ingratiating herself to Gui Carlin. I think she’s busily burning those bridges, in fact! I’m inclined to think it’s part of the plan based on Mariya’s lack of panic (she’s still so green!), but your point about option 3 is tempting. Of everything that happened in this episode, this point is the one that has me the most curious.
“it’s likely he’s been broken by the war and is just out for revenge”
It sure looks that way. I don’t think he wants to kill Free — he had the chance and didn’t take it. But he certainly has no love for Arcame.
“Free is probably also broken by the war, but I think he’s more liable to accept things fatalistically, though he’s conflicted about that.”
It almost seems like he’s getting more and more angry as the show goes in! I jokingly thought he was getting frustrated with the plot, too, but now I’m wondering what his goals really area. I like your insights that he is fighting his inner demons; that would make Wolfram an interesting foil.
“I would guess the key to this lies in fairy possession – what’s written in the black tome. Nein’s decision not make an official report about Mariya’s status becomes more and more interesting in that respect.”
That’s a more specific hunch than anything I have right now! I kinda like the idea of Nein having an elevated role beyond just mediating, but I don’t know what form that might take.
I think the characters are up for the show — now if the plot will just give them a vehicle!
Sweeties’ asking to see the Black Four. She gave them the Black Three, so I’m assuming that the Black Fairy Tome has been broken into parts and she needs to see all of the parts to get the full picture. Hopefully that will have something to do with apocalyptic wasteland that once was a city. Maybe some sort of mass fairy possession that ends up like a zombie apocalypse… at least that’s what I’m hoping for.
I think the two dukes hate each other and are both trying to take over, both also hating the central government. From the flashback at the end, I assumed that the man driving was Sweetie’s father but I may be misreading it.
However, if we’re having to make up our own central stories that strikes me as a massive failure on the part of the series. It’s fun to guess, but this is taking things too far.
I totally missed that Sweetie wanted to see all four; I was so fixated at her wanting to see what she got him. A very good point; her behaviour makes more sense that way.
***
I think the writing’s fine – for now. It depends on what they’re revealing, how they reveal it, and if it would have been a better story had they revealed that in the beginning.
“I think the writing’s fine – for now. It depends on what they’re revealing, how they reveal it, and if it would have been a better story had they revealed that in the beginning.”
You might be right, and maybe I should wait a little longer before I start generating plot in my own brain. I guess we’ll know soon (at least, I hope so!).
“However, if we’re having to make up our own central stories that strikes me as a massive failure on the part of the series. It’s fun to guess, but this is taking things too far.”
If I had more confidence in the writing, I might be willing to be more patient. As it is, I’m getting impatient!
Not giving up (I keep repeating, as if to convince myself!). Just impatient.
Yeah, same. I just want it stop with all the mystery and give us a concrete goal with a consequence if they fail. You could still have this level of intrigue and suspense with an actual plot. At the moment it feels like they’re all running around doing whatever and if they fail, well, it doesn’t seem to matter.
“concrete goal with a consequence if they fail”: That may be the core difference between us. I don’t need such a thing in a story to get involved. It’s possible that all the characters will converge on a common goal in the last quarter of the story, but that’s actually not my preferred outcome. I’d prefer an outcome that none of them expected, and that leaves each of them with a personal lesson (or dispair for those who can’t adapt). Everyone: Mind blown. Axel: Huh? Isn’t life always like that? (I’d laugh.) I don’t expect that sort of ending; I think the metagame is guided by some sort of message. There’s this chain of fairies–>possess animals–>get scavanged for their magical organs – which direct possession (e.g. Mariya) surpasses. I sense the show has a moral vector hidden in that concept somewhere: something half-humanist, half-animist – not sure yet. So I don’t think they’ll go my way. I’m not sure the main characters are going to converge on a common goal either; they might split up into two major factions when the faultlines break apart, revealing the true prolbem (sort of like X TV series).
I’m not worried at all. I think the writing can be clumsy episode to episode, and the details don’t necessarily always work out for me (too much time wasted on trying to look cool, for my taste), but the overall direction seems consistent and confident. If I’m worried about anything it’s that the show’s moral vector grates on me; that’s a real possibility. But I do think the show knows where it’s going in the big picture (it’s not quite as confident when it comes to how to get there, though).