The Price of Smiles Episode 7 Review
Even after taking the capital the war continues. Episode 7 follows Stella and her squad for the most part as they have a bit of down time and also send off Pierce who was injured during the fighting. However, while that does involve some wine drinking and cooking, because anime, it also involves some very real questions being asked about what is next for Pierce.
While we’ve never once seen the reality of the planet outside of Yuuki’s kingdom. Brief flashes of childhood memories from Stella are as close as we get, but stories like Pierce and the reactions of the squad to the Kingdom is a pretty good indicator that things are not so crash hot. Whether that justifies invasion is another question, but The Price of Smiles continues to remain free of sermonising and is more presenting the situation for audiences to interpret as they will.
That said, I think they’ve fallen into a bit of a pattern now as the ‘twist’ at the end of this episode was very much expected after what they have previously done to Joshua. While it lessened the impact a little bit, it still is a good moment and seeing Stella’s smile faltering more often as she opens herself up to others has been an interesting experience.
Kind of hopeful for this series still though they are kind of running out of episodes and it still feels like we are setting things up. Either we’re getting an incomplete ending or a rushed ending. I’m still hoping for an actual ending but I guess we’ll see how the next couple of episodes go.
The Price of Smiles Episode 8 Review
Hey, I learned the long haired guys name. You know, the one who has been a prisoner since Yuki fled the palace. And of course, I learned his name just in time for that to be more or less a pointless exercise. Still, he left his impact on the story and I quite liked him even if I did struggle remembering what his name was.
We flip perspectives again this week and follow Yuki as she commands what is left of her forces in hit and run and retreat tactics. The problem is, she’s trying to have her cake and eat it to as she doesn’t want to surrender and doesn’t want anyone on either side to die. It is certainly a losing strategy long term and one that by the end of this episode comes to bite her. Then again, Harold’s rush the enemy with everything you’ve got strategy would probably be equally disastrous.
However, suddenly the old empire has become a significant figure and I’m wondering if I just missed mention of it earlier but it seems there’s a third faction with their hand in this war. I really feel like I’m going to have to watch this anime again from the beginning at some point because clearly I’m not catching everything the first time through.
Looking forward to seeing what the next episode brings.
The Price of Smiles Episode 9 Review
Another episode and another death, though this one was well past the expiration date and I was kind of glad it finally happened given how many times it probably should have. Still, I think Yuki’s smile might be permanently damaged after the last couple of episodes and who could blame her?
However, more important than the ongoing retreat and battles is the information Izana sent the Princess last episode right before his death. Yes, the reason the facility was blown up 12 years ago is revealed and it ties in with the colonization of the planet and the dwindling resources. I love it when a plot actually comes together and everything feels purposeful rather than just kind of like an added on complication to stretch drama.
While the science might be a little on the ludicrous side, it has been internally consistent at least and while I’m not sure what they can do at this point to fix the problem, at the very least the picture has now become pretty clear. Incidentally, it appears Yuki isn’t the only royal to have her orders routinely ignored and to be lied to given her parents apparently never got the memo about how dangerous their chrars actually were.
Still not sure how this can wrap in another three episodes but this was a good step in the right direction for bringing this story together.
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SAILOR MOON BOTANICAL PATTERN MINIMINI POUCH: SAILOR CHIBI MOON & SAILOR SATURN & SAILOR PLUTO
- Episode 1: Smile and the World Smiles With You – Maybe Not
- Episode 2: The Will To Keep a Smile Shining
- Episode 3: You Mean There’s People on the Other Side of a War?
- Episode 4: Rare Case When Naive Heroism Doesn’t Win The Day
- Episode 5: The Desperation of Both Sides in a War
- Episode 6: Where Will Yuuki Find Her Smile Now?
- Episodes 7 – 9: You Can Only Smile For So Long
- Episodes 10 – 11: Not About Who is Right, Only Who Is Left
- Episode 12: Bringing Back Smiles Through Over-Simplification
- Images from: Egao no Daika. Dir. T Suzuki. Tatsunoko Production. 2019.
“I’m wondering if I just missed mention of it earlier but it seems there’s a third faction with their hand in this war.”
If so I missed it too… I don’t think they were clearly mentioned earlier. One of the “oh. by the way” elements Smiles keeps tossing out.
I don’t know, they seem to do a reasonable job linking other things so maybe we just missed it because at the time there were so many other ideas being introduced. But yeah, it kind of caught me by surprise because I didn’t remember them mentioning it earlier.