Rokka no Yuusha: Braves of the Six Flowers

[Kraco]

You know, I'm still wondering why Chamot didn't eat Hans. She managed to eat everything else that she threw up.

I guess Hans wasn't her type of a man. I don't blame her.

Ignoring the fact everybody's personality seems to fluctuate a lot depending on the situation, like Hans now getting instantly talked into submission despite the fact he seemed to be a master of it against Adlet and Adlet now coming up with fancy theories despite being unable to say anything against Hans, I don't like how all the thinking always goes to waste by plot devices that just conveniently happened to be there and that somebody just happened to know perfectly. If the fricking fiends knew the barrier won't work without those wooden things underground (I wonder why they aren't thoroughly rotten in that damp place already), why didn't they dig up a sufficient portion of them to make the barrier useless? We have seen big and strong fiends that must have as much strength as an excavator, so it would have been easy enough. No fancy unbreakable temple to worry about, just some wooden poles under the surface layer of dirt. I find it pretty hard to believe the fiends would actually have been planning for centuries to trap the braves inside their own barrier, instead of removing the damn thing. That's like betting on 1% when there's absolutely nothing wrong about the rest of the 99%. This arc stretches forever because of shit like this.

Maura seems more and more guilty all the time. She was very quick to decide Adlet must be guilty and very good at shooting down any other alternatives. There's logically no way Hans wouldn't realise this, Flamie as well after spending time with her. I don't know if she is the guilty one, but if she is, I pray to whatever gods they worship on that island that the story doesn't try to reveal it as a huge surprise.

[Ryllharu]

Ignoring the fact everybody's personality seems to fluctuate a lot depending on the situation, like Hans now getting instantly talked into submission despite the fact he seemed to be a master of it against Adlet and Adlet now coming up with fancy theories despite being unable to say anything against Hans, I don't like how all the thinking always goes to waste by plot devices that just conveniently happened to be there and that somebody just happened to know perfectly.

This is exactly why I hate locked room mysteries like this one. There's always something else the readers and main POV character couldn't possibly know about that counters every theory that comes up until the stupid one that finally reveals who the true culprit is. By that time, the secret plot device that reveals the villain is as foolish and absurd as the ones that counter every rational possibility.

Every thread that would lead the readers and protagonist to the truth is either conveniently ignored and not followed up on so it can all be "revealed" later. To abuse the Sherlock Holmes quote, "Once you eliminate the impossible, rational, and sensible, whatever remains, no matter how conveniently ignored or undisclosed, turns out to be the truth."

This isn't a criticism against Rokka no Yuusha, in fact I think it is generally one of the better ones. It's a criticism of Locked Room Mystery subgenre in general, and especially the Japanese use of it.

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Where Rokka no Yuusha succeeds quite well is the characters. With the exception of Adlet, Chamot, and Flamie, we still don't know who the Seventh is. Hans could still be faking it as Bunny-hime just convincingly surmised, Maura is now the leading candidate, Bunny-hime herself has been manipulating Adlet and Goldov emotionally since the first episode, and we still know nothing about Goldov other than his slavish (and perhaps compromising?) devotion to and jealousy about Bunny-hime.

But this series still has very interesting characters from an adventure series standpoint.

Hans in particular this episode revealed himself to be quite a bit more than the Laughing Assassin stereotype. Even last episode kept him on that path with the whole 'pretend to kill you I see your true face' shtick. But this episode he turned it around by showing he's much more thoughtful to Adlet, and a more complex, fully developed person after all. His discussion on inner darkness and Flamie's emotional state was quite astute and accurate, they're both dynamic and interesting people.

But I do think Hans is missing a facet of Flamie's personality. He says she may even hate Adlet, but it's quite possible that it is the opposite and she just doesn't know how to express that properly. She was raised by a fiend who's "love" was only expressed in veiled contempt, duty, and thoughtless purpose. Perhaps what is confusing Hans is that Flamie's way of expressing interest is through the only way she knows how, it certainly seemed that way by the end of the episode. Adlet is the only person in her life who has ever trusted her and showed genuine concern for her well being.

[Kraco]

She was raised by a fiend who's "love" was only expressed in veiled contempt, duty, and thoughtless purpose. Perhaps what is confusing Hans is that Flamie's way of expressing interest is through the only way she knows how, it certainly seemed that way by the end of the episode. Adlet is the only person in her life who has ever trusted her and showed genuine concern for her well being.

I don't think it went exactly that way. I understood she lived relatively loved and surrounded by (fiend) friends, who were there for her. That's why it was such a shock when they instantly turned cold and began to shun her after a single failure (Chamot). She surmised, probably correctly, they never cared for her in the first place and it was all just an act to use her as a murdering tool. This is why I wrote earlier that she in fact knows what love is, but it betrayed her, leaving her broken and unable to trust anyone. Yet the desire to experience it again should still be there, underneath.