The Sacred Blacksmith 09
面影 -Lisa-」
Following the tradition set by preceding installments, this episode of the Sacred MaidBlacksmith features minimal to no discernable plot development. At this point, with 75% of the series no behind us, I think it’s safe to concede that all the sinister intrigue and omens to a compelling core plot, which got me excited back in episode, were grossly misleading. Since then we’ve got more blushing Cecily and boob jokes than progression on the story. I’m one of the lucky ones: I actually really enjoying seeing Cecily in a state of stuttering abashment. Where others find her stubbornness and immaturity annoying, it fans my moe love for the girl. It’s because I find her so cute that I was able to enjoy this episode, which was about 70% “Cecily being bashful and flustered”. Mind you, even I thought to myself that her embarrassment was taken a bit far at times here. The mere mention of Luke reduces her into a stuttering wreck! On the other hand, there were some really sweet moments between her and the man she’s so obviously falling for.
And, more importantly, the remaining 30% of the episode was devoted to something we don’t get enough of in this series: character development. Finally we get to explore Luke’s past, and get a long into what really makes him tick underneath his enigmatic public face. Cecily also hears the tale about the death of his childhood love, which brings the two of them closer in a rare moment of intimacy. For the first time, I really felt the spark of real romance between them. I’d always enjoyed their childish bickering of earlier episodes, which always hinted at the start of coy affections between them, but this episode was a step forward, and in the right direction. Unfortunately, the flashback scenes didn’t feel quite so genuine. Probably because they were trying to tell Luke’s backstory in the space of a minute or two, the dialogue just felt incredibly cliché and basic. “I’m going to be a knight! Forge me a sword!” yadda yadda. But the biggest detrimental factor for this week is the lack of an action sequence. The Sacred Blacksmith usually gets its solid entertainment rating with a mixture of cute girls, moe and also badass fantasy battles. This time they’re working with only half the recipe. Fortunately, it did leave off on a very dangerous cliffhanger, which promises a pretty epic fight at the beginning of next week’s episode.
This mightn’t have been up to its usual standard, but it was a fun episode nonetheless. Unless of course you aren’t fond of Cecily in moe mode!
● Luke has good taste in girls, it seems! Not only do I adore Cecily, his current love interest (or love interest to be), but his Loli crush of yore is also terribly cute. Her stunning character design is definitely her main attraction. I’m REALLY fond of her costume, actually. It’s a real shame that such a great costume was given to a character with such a minor role :\.
● With the introduction of the late Lisa, this episode once again brings into question the identify of our own, elf-eared Lisa. We don’t really know who Lisa is or where she comes from, or how she ended up with Luke. Given her lack of background, and a bit of dialogue she shared with Aria, it’s pretty clear she is a magical being, probably created/summoned, rather than born. The dialogue I refer to was from episode 3:
Aria: This place has a high density of spirit energy.
What a great environment for us, huh?
Lisa: *surprised*
Aria: *winks*
If there’ve been other references to Lisa of this kind then I guess I’ve missed them. Feel free to fill me in. But for now, we can hypothesis that she is a magically-created entity probably related to the Lisa from Luke’s childhood, given the name thing (although he pronounces them differently I believe), the similarity of character design, and the fact that Luke is so determined to protect her. Otherwise, these parallels could well be coincidence.
● Luke definitely had the right episode in dealing with Cecily this episode. Until the more dramatic tone arose later in the episode, he was playing the aloof and carefree role. He’s been burnt too many times trying to connect with Cecily emotionally so I guess he’s learnt to just laugh her social awkwardness off.
● Luke’s guilt-ridden outburst is probably the most raw and emotional we’ve ever seen him. I’m glad we’ve finally been able to see beneath the surface, because until now he was very shallow for a male hero character.
First a maid costume and now this cute, feminine dress? I’m in heaven. Cecily’s masculine pride makes it all the more fun when she’s forced into girly clothes like this.
Lisa is instantly charming! Love the outfit!
This is gonna be a 13 episode series only? I don’t know how they are going to short the story in a mere 4 or 5 episodes, because at first glance it had some potential, not that the “Terrible Evil King” is a new addition, but I’m so fantasy anime starved that I would gladly accept it.
About Lisa, she’s probably a demon sword, just like Aria. One pointer is the dialogue that you mention, another are the images in the ending: every character has his “choice weapon”, Cecily her familiar sword, Luke his katana, Aria herself, and the last one is some sort of tool that I can’t identify, but I guess that is Lisa’s true form.
Going further ahead with the info in this episode and with a lot of gueesing, I would think that the big baddie is the one that creates the demon swords, and that one ingredient necessary for the creation of a demon sword could be a human soul, that’s why she loses a childhood friend and in return “gets” Lisa. There is some resemblance between them in my opinion, too.
Thanks for your efforts covering the series and keep the good work!
The thing in the ED that gets associated with Lisa is the hammer she uses when she helps Luke in the smithy.
Rober:
All sources have thus show listed as 12 episodes long, leaving only 3 episodes to wrap up the plot! It’s a bit scary. But they can certainly still provide a good finish with the remaining time they have left - if they try hard enough! They might be hoping to get funding for a second season, but I think they’ll try and wrap it up at episode 12 ^^
Yeah interesting theory. I’m not sure she’s a demon sword, but from what you were saying I think it might be likely that she is a weapon or tool: like a hammer, which would make sense given her forging power. I think your idea about how she was created certainly sounds likely. Should be interesting to find out.
I thought elf-eared Lisa was the Sacred Blacksmith. On another note, didn’t one of Luke’s eyes turn blue when his childhood Lisa died? I thought that’s when he formed emotional/magical relationship or something like that… foreshadowing the whole ‘one eye’ magic elf-Lisa and Luke does when they forge a katana-to-go.
One of his eyes burst into a red colour (exploded into a bloody mess, maybe?). Yeah I did notice that and think their may be a connection to Lisa’s ‘magic eye’ that we see when she’s using her power. It seems things ARE pointing to Lisa being some kind of magical rebirth or reimaging of his childhood friend..
I’m really curious to see the explanation behind it now!