Thanks for visiting Anime Rants. Before getting into the episode review, I have a quick correction to make about my previous Orb post. I wrote that Brownie (the young inquisitor) and his act of saving Jolenta was un-Biblical. I now retract the statement because there’s obviously more than one way to interpret the Bible. Christians have been picking and choosing their desired interpretations for centuries, and I’m glad they do, because it usually follows the pattern of humanism.
I’m an ex-Christian atheist, and I don’t believe there are good reasons in the Bible to be a pro-social, moral person. But that’s only my interpretation, and everyone is free to believe what they will. It occurred to me that it wasn’t fair to paint with so broad a brush. If I said it was impossible to get any good morals from the Quran, that wouldn’t be strictly true. The same goes for the Bible. I apologize for the mistake.
Episode 15: Is It… My Turn?
Episode Rating: 9/10
This was an amazing episode – one of the best so far in terms of character writing. It opened with a grim scene. Anthony and his followers appear to have beaten Brownie to a pulp after learning that he released Jolenta. Brownie insists that he’s following his own faith, citing that Jesus said, “Love thy enemy.” Anthony then outlined his plan to burn Brownie at the stake and tell Nowak it was his daughter, who was judged to be a heretic. This plan was carried out and Nowak believed Jolenta had been executed.
Nowak’s grief was surprisingly difficult to watch considering that I didn’t think I had any empathy for this character after all he’s done. The fact is, whether or not he can be classified as a sociopath, Nowak was a loving and supportive father to Jolenta. Any good father will grieve his child – probably a grief deeper than I could ever imagine. All Nowak has left are Jolenta’s gloves, which Anthony gave him to put on an act of kindness. Nowak remembers when he gave the gloves to Jolenta. She was such a sweet child.
For the first night, Nowak does not shed a single tear. Maybe he was in shock. As he wakes up alone and sees Jolenta’s gloves on the table the next morning, Nowak finally breaks down. His small sobs sounded like pure agony. (Great voice-acting from Kenji Tsuda!) As painful as it is for Nowak, though, we can’t forget that he caused so much pain and death for others. This should be his wake-up call that what he’s doing as an inquisitor is wrong. I hope the grief changes him into a better person.
Now we’ll turn our attention to Father Grabowski. He finds a letter from Badeni containing part of a work of poetry that Grabowski had always wanted to see. In return for sharing the literature, Badeni made a request. He asked Grabowski to listen to the beggar who comes to see him. In addition, as an afterthought, Badeni asked his friend to educate the beggars Oczy had been feeding. It was interesting seeing Grabowski’s reactions to the letter. He clearly values the preservation of knowledge and literature, which makes him a great candidate to help the cause.
I love the way Badeni’s insane plan came together. It’s not the most believable plot twist, but it’s also not as ridiculous as some examples of “anime logic.” The beggars who had been relying on bread from Oczy were told to seek Father Grabowski if a month passed with no bread and no contact. So, one of the beggars approached Grabowski, and the clergyman reluctantly agreed to follow him. They went together to an area where over fifty beggars in hats were assembled.
The beggar who led Grabowski removed his hat and cut off most of his hair, revealing tattooed letters on his head. That’s right. Badeni used tattoos on the heads of beggars to preserve the text of Oczy’s book. There were sixty pages, so there are sixty beggars with writing on their heads. Badeni told them all to wear hats until their hair regrew. The beggars were apparently compliant with the whole process half out of fear of Badeni and half because they hoped to receive bread. What an insane plan! To be continued.
~Thanks for reading~
Written by 7Mononoke
Click for more posts about Orb
