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The kiss above is one of only two reasons why I’m still watching this shoddy adaptation. Theo and Siluca aren’t an amazing couple by any means, but I like his willingness to plant a big one on her lips in front of everybody. Not only did he kiss her because he wanted to, he kissed her to piss off Marrine. But more on that later. Let’s get on with the rest of the post first.
— As for my second reason to keep watching Record of Grancrest War? Oh, I just want someone to take Milza down. I don’t want the sadistic bastard dead. I’m not bloodthirsty myself. I just want him to lose. I want him to suffer the humiliation of defeat, then having to live with that for the rest of his life. We’ll see how this story ends, though. I bet he simply dies in battle.
— Elsewhere, a bunch of lords gather to sign the Altirk Treaty. They intend to rise up and liberate the now occupied Altirk from Alliance’s control. Someone has to lead them, though. Villar’s brother is quickly nominated, but the guy has both the guts and the humility to admit that he’s not the right man for the job. I wish Alexis was brave enough to step down from his position. What an ineffectual loser. Speaking of which, I never even knew that Villar had a brother.
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— Lassic is the next man to be nominated, which seems reasonable enough to me. He has actually proven himself in battle. The problem, of course, is that Lassic isn’t the main character. He’s barely had any character development, and his personality boils down to “I <3 Theo Cornero!” Case in point, he quickly informs the rest of the lords that he’s merely holding Theo’s court rank. As such, Theo should be the leader of this ragtag alliance!
— The rest of the lords, however, chafe at such an idea. No one believes in Theo yet. To prevent the newly-formed alliance from tripping over its own feet, Theo willingly throws his support to Lassic. He also adds that he’ll prove himself to the other lords. Notice me, senpai!
— Back in Altirk, Milza receives his new marching orders in his empty throne room. I can’t keep track of all of these countries’ names and lords, because I just don’t care. As a result, you’ll often find me referring to these people and places as Generic Lord A and Generic Country B. Anyways, Milza has to subjugate Generic Country B, but this will pit him against Lassic. A mage cautions him to take his foe seriously, but Milza’s just another idiotic meathead. He’s good on the battlefield, but as a ruler, he’s worse than your average Civilization player. He simply tells the mage to give him bold suggestions or… well, die. In the real world, ruling with fear will eventually bleed your country of smart and intelligent people. God only knows how it works in this world.
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— So we see Milza ride into battle. After seeing his men easily routed by Milza’s army, Villar’s brother quickly retreats and allows Lassic to take over. I hate that these lords can casually say shit like, “…you didn’t lose many men.” They’re just so blase about their casualties.
— Lassic and Milza engage each other in direct combat, but because this is just the start of the second cour, nothing fruitful happens here. Both men escape with minor wounds and a lot of post-battle hype. That Lassic sure was something else. That Milza sure was something else! Yep, get hyped for a future encounter! Meanwhile, the faceless soldiers get butchered.
— Finally, the story shifts back to Theo and Siluca. In fact, Marrine and her men are sitting right outside our hero’s castle. For some reason, the Alliance leader doesn’t really want to go to war with Theo whatsoever even though she’d probably win handily. She even wonders if maybe she shouldn’t have rejected Theo’s proposal way back when (fourth episode?). Aubeste simply says that this is for her to determined. Uh, you’re her advisor. It’s okay for you to offer your opinion. But whatever. Marrine has her mage set up a brief meeting for her to talk with Theo one-on-one. I doubt any battles will go down since, again, this is just the first episode of the second cour.
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— Siluca reveals that her father (not her real father, mind you) once tried to kill her. But it’s okay, because he was just trying to follow the rules! Um…
— And when they finally meet, she’s all blushy crushy. Meanwhile, Aubeste couldn’t possibly have deader eyes. Am I to believe that he actually loves Siluca as a daughter? C’mon.
— Anyways, Marrine and Theo finally get to meet for the first time. What’s the first item on our hero’s agenda? Why, let’s bring up Alexis! Let’s bring up the fact that these two should still be wed! He’s also very impressed by Marrine’s gentle nature. Puh-leeze. She gassed an entire fucking castle just to win a battle. She fucked some random guy just to have his loyalty. She intends to engulf the entire land in war just to draw out the conspirators who killed her father. Really, that’s what this is all about. Think about it. Marrying Alexis might have spurred on the conspirators, but it would’ve also been a great symbol of peace and love. That no matter what these terrorists do (and yes, they are terrorists), love cannot be broken! But Marrine chickened out. Nevertheless, Theo states outright that his goal is to see her and Alexis eventually marry each other. Ridiculous. She should be tried for war crimes, not live happily ever after.
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— Anyways, Theo puts all his chips on Siluca, because that’s what he’s done all story long. For some reason, he believes in her wholeheartedly. He trusted her right from the get-go, so it comes to no surprise that he thinks she’ll be able to pull off a miracle even now. It’s just love. Siluca has made several miscalculations in the past, so it’s not like she’s infallible. He believes in her because he loves her. It’s as simple as that. Amusingly enough, even the girl is surprised by how much faith he has in her.
— As a result, Theo kisses Siluca, and this actually has the effect of bolstering his army’s morale. They’re going to fight for love! Marrine can only look with bitterness in her eyes. When she returns to her tent, she throws a tantrum. After all, that could’ve been her. She was so afraid that her country would fall to the conspirators, but she never once considered that her love for Alexis would inspire her people.
— “Like, OMG, I can’t believe you did that!”
— But as I’ve said over and over in this post, this is the start of the second cour, so we can’t have any significant battles between Theo and Marrine. As a result, Siluca suddenly informs her lord that Marrine has withdrawn. Generic Lord O managed to defeat Generic Lord P, so he’s pushing his forces forward. Marrine has no choice but to play it safe for now.
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— This then gives Theo an opportunity to act, so Siluca suggests that he immediately returns to his homeland and liberate Generic Country S from Rossini. This great deed will allow him to achieve a higher court rank. A higher court rank means he can eventually become the leader of all those crappy lords.
— Theo runs the plan by Lassic real quick, and Moreno is quick to be a downer. He doesn’t think it’s a good idea; by his estimation, Theo would need more than three times the men he has now in order to defeat Rossini. Lassic, however, is a simpleton, so he’s always going to praise Theo. Even Theo’s farts smell like roses to Lassic. Not only that, he’s just chomping at the bit to hand the reins over to Theo.
— If you don’t remember who Rossini is, it’s this rat-faced asshole. I remember pointing out how obviously evil he looked. He was also the guy who attempted to put a hit on Theo only to have Alexis get caught up in whole mess. I’m not sure if this amounted to anything, though. After all, you don’t expect the spineless Alexis to actually do anything useful.
— To cap off this episode, we see a bunch of poor people being treated horribly by (presumably) Rossini’s men. We rarely get to see Theo’s subjects, but since nothing bad is ever mentioned, we can only assume that our hero treats them well.
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— This lady stands by herself, so I guess she must have an important role to play in future episodes.
— But all in all, this has been yet another boring episode. Theo and Siluca’s kiss is really the only part I enjoyed about it.