(L+CR) Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii (The World is Still Beautiful)

[RX-78GP04G Gerbera]

Originally Posted by PreSage

Aww...darn, I was hoping they'd have her sing a different song.

I wouldn't her VA having other songs either. Definitely has a good singing voice.

[Mangaka-chan]

Originally Posted by Blaat

Are you sure? The EL final is on Wednesday evening (CEST) unless there is a delayed airing on Japanese TV.

I think so? At least that's what I read on a Chinese forum for the show. I could be wrong though.

[Haruyasha]

No episode this week. Me so sad.

[woodearth]

I am liking the soundtrack so far. Very Disney-like in a good way. The ballad version of the eponymous song is a good example.

[Haruyasha]

Heh, trap.

Spoiler for Also, because I just had to ...:

[bakaouji]

All the worst tropes that you would usually find in trashy shoujo stories were packed into this episode. I haven't cringed this much for quite a while.

Anyway, Livi's right about one thing: you don't push down the princess even as a joke and expect to walk away from it hoping you'd be forgiven. Beheading is a suitable punishment. Of course, that doesn't excuse his rough treatment of Nike though, but then again, it's hard not to empathize with his anger.

[frubam]

Originally Posted by bakaouji

All the worst tropes that you would usually find in trashy shoujo stories were packed into this episode. I haven't cringed this much for quite a while.

Anyway, Livi's right about one thing: you don't push down the princess even as a joke and expect to walk away from it hoping you'd be forgiven. Beheading is a suitable punishment. Of course, that doesn't excuse his rough treatment of Nike though, but then again, it's hard not to empathize with his anger.

Glad I wasn't the only one =01. Anytime I see the main char fall for such obvious jealousy traps, I facepalm myself.

Still that end felt like a bit much. So much so, that I didn't feel an impending sense of depth of the whole situation, since their(Livi and Bard) previous altercations were on a comedic note. That's bad direction right there =0\.

[FlareKnight]

Yeah the episode had a very weird feeling to it. The ending was so extreme in comparison to the tone earlier in the episode that it took me right out of the episode. Certainly logically you could get an angry reaction to all that happened, but it just didn't feel well done.

Normally I'd be glad that an idiot like Bard gets thrown in jail, but hard to do so in this case. Even if it was for some abstract purpose like testing Nike to see if she'd stand by Livi no matter what or being reassured that someone strong was by Livi's side, etc. A plain stupid move regardless of the motives.

Certainly can see how the frustration would build up on Livi's side. Someone he never felt he could compare to was apparently showing up out of the blue and going after someone he cared about. Likely a sense of betrayal when Bard left.

But still the reaction at the end didn't feel to match up with how the episode was building up...really awkward.

[Somnus]

I'm going to have to agree..."awkward" is the perfect way to describe the overall tone of this episode. Being chock full of shoujo cliches (of which I'm not the biggest fan of) aside, regardless of Bard's motives, the way he chose to go about it was quite simply, stupid. Especially, if the guy you're supposedly "looking out for" has a beef with you and is already watching you like a hawk (and happens to be King of the World).

Also, they backtracked the progress in the OP and that irked me too (though this is a personal irk).

They started it well though, you can never go wrong with Dem Legs. MmmMmm. Small victories, yeah?

[Haruyasha]

Inferiority complex can be a strong thing. We just had a guy shoot and kill 6 people at University of California because he was a virgin.

[Somnus]

Originally Posted by Haruyasha

Inferiority complex can be a strong thing. We just had a guy shoot and kill 6 people at University of California because he was a virgin.

Not that I disagree with you completely, but I do want to address that. Without going too far off-topic, that's probably not the best example to use, simply because there's more to that story than a simple "inferiority complex". If the video that was recorded beforehand was truly the prelude to his actions, then anyone could clearly see the words being said were merely a facade to some pretty disturbing truths beneath the surface.

[HandofFate]

argh, Livi being so stupid.
The first half or so wasn't bad, since it seemed he was throwing a tantrum like a child his age would, but the end he just went off the deep end, and really backtracked the progress he made.

Was hoping Nike to slap him to snap him out of it, but guess that's in the next episode.

I did find it interesting in the beginning that apparently Nike is a master knife thrower. Wonder if that will become important later, in this arc or a later one.

[zztop]

All hail Livinia, Queen of the Sun Kingdom!

[ellessarr]

omg peoples must remember livi still a "children" even if most of the times act like a adult he still can sufer from childshi behavious/immature, he lost his parents too early, was surrounded by bad peoples most of the times needed to build a "cold/dark" facade to protect himself and we still dont what happened to make him hate bard so hard.

what i really dont liked was the "rush" the first half was a good chapter which have much more and could easy take a full episode then we get another full episode with thie second half, but wathever...

ps: i'm using fire fox and since some time ago i did something which i dont remember now but, it's become annoying, it's only with this site whenever i try to type i get "ortography fix marks under the words, because is setted to check in my country language, it's really annoyin sometimes, then anyone know how i disable/fiz this, to not have this "check"??
this happen only on this site

[Guardian Enzo]

I agree things move too fast here, and it robs the episode of some of its potential impact. But I do think people are being too hard on it. More so than the Luna storyline, Bard's entry into the plot feels like more than simple service - his presence is contextually relevant and he can play a real role in the main couple's character development. As a man of royal blood who would seemingly have a strong claim on the throne himself (Nike alludes to this, but it remains a mystery for now) he presents a practical threat to the boy king. As a handsome adult who likes to play the field, he also presents an obvious threat romantically for a boy barely into puberty who surely - for all his bravado - worries about his inability to fulfill certain aspects of the husband role for the moment.

This is a recurring theme with Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii - potential left untapped, but lots to like in what we actually get. I find Nike's behavior throughout this entire episode to be pretty on-point, and she's very believable as an inexperienced country girl who has good instincts about people. I quite liked the way she immediately saw through Bard's grandiose declarations of love as the load of pish they were, transparently a cover for some sort of political ploy. And it's good for the story to be given a reminder of Livi's dark side, and to see how precarious his position - both emotional and political - really is. Hopefully the concluding episode of this mini-arc will fill in some of the gaps.

[Anime Online]

Poor Nike. When Livi wants to go wander off to the balcony, he calls her to come along as one might call a dog.

[Flower]

I also think it is understandable to be dissaplointedxat the pace of the series, but for me at least with the exception of ep 1 it has been fairly consistent pace wise. Things go at a brisk clip so far, but at least it is steady and not all over the map - at least as far as I am concerned.

That being said, I thought the portrayals of Livius, Nike and Bard in this ep were well done as a whole.

[Kusano]

Oddly paced episode with an overly dramatic cliffhanger at the end. I guess I can say everything felt overdone from comedy to drama to BGMs. Some bgms were inserted way too abruptly and too loud.

Can't help but be disappointed by the episode after waiting an extra week.

[lalunafelis]

While I agree that the mood whiplash is very jarring and not everybody is pleased with this kind of pacing, I have to say this: If you don't like melodrama, maybe you should skip this. Although I personally don't find it that melodramatic, but different strokes etc.

That being said, I find myself repeating what I said before here: Livi sure has a frickton of issues.

And those two idiots from Episode 1 again?

[RX-78GP04G Gerbera]

I find mostly the execution weird, but the idea isn't bad in itself; Bard basically coming back to evaluate Nike (based on that little bit near the end between them) and would've probably not approved of her being with Livius if she did fall for his own charms so easily like all the other women, but Livius, being the forcefully matured child he is, is basically taking what he sees and hears at face value and jumping to conclusions while having a lot of jealousy mixed in without (willing to) getting the whole story.