While rewatching the first season of Snow White with the Red Hair I fell in love with Zen and Shirayuki all over again – plus I never miss a chance to write about this adorable duo.
I also realised just how many good moments they had together on screen. Which is kind of odd in a romance because normally you get like one good moment early on and then nothing with both characters except awkwardness and misunderstandings until about half-way and so on. Zen and Shirayuki are adorable from the get-go and continue to be pretty adorable in nearly every episode.
My conditions this week are simple: Zen and Shirayuki had to both be actively involved in the scene and it had to come from season 1 (because I didn’t rewatch season 2 yet and I already had way too many moments to think about for this list).
What are your favourite Zen and Shirayuki moments?
Please Note – Plenty of spoilers ahead if you haven’t watched this romance.
Honourable mentions go to: Episode 7 when Shirayuki climbed up the tree to reach Zen on the balcony and Episode 11 when Shirayuki ran away into the forest and Zen had to chase her.
Number 5: Episode 1, the forest walk
I loved this scene. Watching these two talk so naturally, Zen refusing to help Shirayuki until she came clean, his outrage that she’d been asked to become a concubine. It really is the start of something great between these two characters.
Number 4: Episode 4, the medical records
There are a lot of adorable moments in episode 4 (and not all of them are from Zen and Shirayuki) but I loved this moment where Zen comes to Shirayuki after hearing she’s crying and comforts her as she reads through his medical records. I always love in movies where a character says off-hand they’ve developed an immunity to a poison and I just wonder if they realise how painful that would actually be to do.
This show tackles the off-hand remark from episode 1 head-on and deals with Shirayuki’s understanding of what Zen has gone through to be who he is in a fairly solid manner.
Number 3: Episode 10, the kiss in the tower
Alright, a lot of people would have put this at number 1 and it is a great moment. Shirayuki has admitted that she wasn’t going to be stubborn this time and she’s fully thrown her support behind Zen. Zen on the other hand has just been scared she got hurt because of his decision and he’s relieved and proud and just overwhelmed. It’s an adorable scene. Still not my number 1 choice for Zen and Shirayuki moments even though it is definitely a welcome addition.
Number 2: Episode 4, the greenhouse
This one is one of my favourite moments and comes from what is arguably my favourite episode of the show. I loved Zen sneaking into the greenhouse to check up on Shirayuki during the exam and then his annoyance at being trapped with her. I love her absolute indifference to that issue when she’s fixated on the plants that aren’t blooming right. And I think it is truly fantastic watching the two of them work together to fix the garden. Plus, Shirayuki is still all chipper and ready to go come morning whereas Zen is looking a little worse for wear.
Number 1: Episode 5, Zen helps Shirayuki sleep
This moment is so incredibly sweet. Zen’s just realised the strain Shirayuki has put herself under and feels incredibly guilty given he asked for her help. Rather than force a confrontation he simply gets her to sit down and then proceeds to get her to fall asleep in a fairly calm manner and for someone as exhausted as Shirayuki was that’s more or less all it would have taken.
Its incredibly sweet and shows that Zen isn’t flawless as the Prince (something that we may have questioned up to this point) and also shows that Shirayuki is not indestructible, no matter what she might believe. It’s a great moment for both characters. What drives it above the kiss and the greenhouse is that it is a true show of mutual respect and care for one another without needing anything as showy as a kiss and without the ‘are they still just friends’ vibe of the greenhouse.
What are your favourite Zen and Shirayuki moments from season 1?
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Karandi James
I absolutely adore these two, these were all sweet scenes between them.
They are completely adorable. Narrowing the list down to five moments was hard.
I’m sure it was. There are too many great scenes
I was hoping to see the greenhouse moment on this list. The elephant in the room is Zen being trapped there with her, but as soon as the Chief herbalist arrives Shirayuki is all “oh, by the way these weren’t growing right because…”
I absolutely love how focussed Shirayuki is sometimes. And I love her response when the chief herbalists asks her if she actually made the prince help plant the garden.
It’s been a while since I watched ‘Akagami no shirayuki-hime’ so I don’t really remember any particular scene. However, I do remember being touched by the gentle intimacy of the two main characters and this post just brought all of them back to me. Thanks for this amazing post!
Glad you liked it. I really should do a something for season 2 at some point but not sure what.
I think you should try rewatching the series. I get most of the ideas when I do that.
I have not seen this series yet, but from all the great recommendations I already have from your blog, this one I will have to put on hold. I like what you are describing though, and the animation style itself also looks very good. (And honestly I can never turn down a good romance story once in a while, I watched Titanic 9 times in the cinema lol 😂). Great and enjoyable read as always 😊
This one is adorable if you like romances.
I saw the first ep when it came out. I liked it but I seem to have completely forgotten about it till’ now. Oops O_O” Looks like one I needs to get back to.
My cousin recommended the series and I fell in love with it 🙂
I haven’t finished this series yet! :00 I think I was watching it while it aired and I got tired of waiting so I just stopped watching it ^^;; need to go back to it!
Definitely need to give it another go. Although, I really, really wish this would get a third season.
Mine has to be when they reveal their feelings to one another legit in episode 11. Really mature way to handle that, just like the rest of this show.
Yeah, episode 11 was pretty cool too.
the sleeping one was my favorite too
Such a cute moment for them.