After an episode like this one, I hardly need to say a thing.
If I had to write one thing about this week’s Fumetsu no Anata e, it would be an apology for taking this show too lightly. In previous posts, I’ve raised issues with its background design, its characterization, and its pacing. I still believe some of those things could stand to improve, but the newest episode was so strong that its surrounding shortcomings have receded to the corners of my mind. The loss of a precious child, the agony of the woman who loved her, and the persistence of her spirit even after death – what are the quibbles of an amateur blogger next to such powerful subjects? They were presented with care, as well, which made the whole thing a pleasure to watch. The musical cues were great (especially the soothing oboe melody beginning at the 10:20 mark) and I adored the art direction of March’s death scene. The luster of her hair, achieved with only two tones of brown; the flat shading of her headband, refusing to distract our eyes from her face; the gradual easing of her brow as she took her final breath through smiling lips. Damn, now I’m crying again.
Parona’s role in the episode is surely worth writing about, as is the moment when she sees March’s contorted expression on Fushi’s face. There’s such a wealth of emotion there, and yet it’s so specific to that single point in time. I’ll leave that scene for a more gifted author to unpack, however, as I intend to stand by the first sentence of this post. “Those Who Follow” speaks for itself, truly. Before I go, though, I have to admit that I was too quick to judge March’s character in past weeks. Had I known we were headed in this direction – that she would become a sacrifice at the altar of Yanome’s greed – I wouldn’t have critiqued her uncommon strength of will quite so closely. With the benefit of hindsight, I see that March was a symbol of goodness, destined from the start to journey with the Immortal and teach him that same virtue. She was, as the saying goes, “too pure for this world,” and she needn’t have been subjected to its tests of behavioral realism. Now that she lives on in her adopted son, I look forward to seeing how she’ll instruct him, and all of us, as Fumetsu continues in the coming months.
