The episode begins with a reminder that our intrepid heroes are busy being a bunch of idiots. Gee, I wonder who possibly could have manipulated a sword without entering the temple. I dunno, maybe it’s the one who is pretending to faint so people will forget she can beat the crap out of everything. You know. The one that can control blades. Honestly, how was Adelet going to fake his mark in a prison cell?
Then we have to watch Adelet not have a brain for a while even though last episode everyone was admonished for not suspecting Maura just because that she was well known. He gets his ideas shot down quickly, and all of the other Braves except for Nachetanya (and Maura, who says it is too early to judge) are pretty much ready to kill him. Nachetanya is such a good actor that I almost believed she wasn’t the culprit. Almost.
The Braves attack Adelet, and he knocks Flamie out with poison, threatening her with more if they try to kill him again. Of course, this just makes everyone more sure he is the fake Brave. He escapes the temple with Flamie as a hostage, but takes a dagger in the back as he does so. Unfortunately for Adelet, he passes out before he can remove the dagger. The others stop pursuing him after nightfall. They know Flamie is still alive because the crests haven’t changed. Nachetanya keeps up the drama and nobody questions her at all because I guess princesses are supposed to just trust people unconditionally. Tch. Yeah, right.
Meanwhile, we get some backstory from Adelet. He had a nice home life as a child and was more interested in cooking with his mama than fighting. Then the next scene is of him angry and emaciated, asking an old to train him to be the strongest in the world so he can get back what he lost. The old man kicks him a couple yards and orders him to smile if he wants to be strong, even if he wants to die. Adelet does so and is struck again and told to laugh at despair. My poor heartstrings! As a new mama myself, this part was a bit painful to watch.
Adelet wakes up from remembering his past and finds that Flamie has dressed his wounds. She still doesn’t trust him, but saved him in case she’s wrong and he is a genuine Brave. She starts a fire by ordering gunpowder to burn, which is pretty awesome. We get more confirmation that nobody else could have entered the temple before Adelet. Adelet decides there must be an eighth person who snuck into the temple and set off the seal, and the plot of these two enemies was to turn everyone against Adelet.
Well, Flamie thinks Adelet is full of crap (hasn’t Adelet ever heard of Occam’s Razor?) and says she won’t help him find the eighth “Brave”. We learn that Adelet is following the old man’s advice and is always smiling as a show of willpower. He says he will never give up. Flamie asks why he wanted to be one of the six Braves. The episode ends with Adelet being amazed that Flamie cared about someone other than herself.
I have to admit I really don’t want there to be two enemies. If there are two enemies there’s no reason for the seventh to be Nachetanya, because she wouldn’t be needed to manipulate the sword and dias. I was suspecting her for a while because it seemed in the beginning that she hadn’t considered becoming a Brave before Adelet said he’d like to travel with her. Perhaps she’s a fake but it’s just to come along and not to be an enemy, and someone else is taking advantage of the turmoil? That seems a lot less likely. In any event, I hope she stops that damsel in distress crying crap soon. She is supposed to be a butt-kicking princess, and I’m sick of her whiny whiner act. I’ll be really disappointed if she turns out not to be an enemy and really is just another wuss-princess.
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers airs on Crunchyroll and updates Saturdays at 3:30pm.
