Young Death

Torogai brings alarming news to Balsa and Tanda about Chagum’s fate while Shuga discovers the true story back in the palace. Meanwhile, Sagum…

• Back in the palace Sagum is granted the right to wear a sword in court now that he has become an adult. Shuga is still trapped but is using the time to find out if Chagum really is dead.
• Toragai informs Balsa and Tanda about what she found out from the Yona Ro Gai people. She brings troubling news about Chagum’s fate to die. Something called the “La Lunga” from Nayug is supposed to come and kill him. The egg is supposed to hatch during spring equinox but at the same time, cannot do so unless it’s in the “Place of Celebration.”
• Shuga manages to get out but at the cost of one of the guard’s lives (he’ll probably die; the room he trespassed had some pretty confidential stuff). As soon as he got out, he witnessed a huge cloud curved down towards the Earth (just as he read in the tablets) making it highly possible that Chagum is still alive.
• He didn’t tell Sagum about his theory because the boy says that even though he’s tired, he’ll go on for Chagum’s sake.
• Chagum is currently enjoying the freedom he’s experiencing. He expresses interest in a job in which he can help others and still cultivate his interests (Tanda recommends being a scholar). Balsa prepares to travel to Toumi with Chagum to learn about the location of the “Place of Celebration.”
• Shuga goes out in hopes of bringing back proof that Chagum is alive. What he doesn’t know is that Jin is shadowing him.
• Sagum appears weaker than before. He releases Gakai from his duties as his attendant (well he tells him to go help Shuga) and lets go of his pet bird (take note that the bird is the same bird that Chagum and Sagum took in as kids after they caused it to get sick). With that he closes his eyes… and dies?

Okay so we get into some more plot building but at least they’ve finally focused back on the egg. Some major plot twists here like the possibility that Chagum will die because of some unknown entity that’s historically tied with the egg. So far, all they had to do was keep him safe, away from the palace or anyone who believed the fake Founding story. Chagum still doesn’t know of his impending doom so watching him be naively happy was torture.

I’m really interested about Shuga and Chagum’s relationship. I know that he was a close attendant to the boy, but as it now stands, Shuga’s acting more like a father to Chagum than the Emperor. It’s also surprising that Chagum doesn’t think about the people he left behind frequently. Shuga and Sagum are always thinking of him yet he’s just frolicking around.

I think Sagum died. I mean his words were pretty final and as he said, he’s living on for Chagum, but at the end he apologized to him before closing his eyes. He also released the bird and Gakai as well. I know he was sickly but it looks like he has some sort of serious illness. Those evil people in the palace are adding to the process by giving him so much work to do. We also had a final breath scene in my opinion. Sagum could be dead or just sleeping. Gakai didn’t really make a huge fuss when he saw that the boy had his eyes closed. But still, Sagum’s face was like that of the dearly departed and the title of the episode is “Young Death” (or it might refer to the possibilty of Chagum’s death in the near future).

Thank goodness for subtitles. This anime is so dialouge heavy that watching RAWs isn’t enough if you don’t know your Japanese.

Chagum awoke to find Balsa practicing with her spear. It was now weak and needed to be fixed. Balsa told Chagum to prepare to go to an Ougi blacksmith.

They entered lower Ougi and Chagum was surprised to see the number of smithies. Even though he knew iron working was important to Yogo, he didn’t know it was famous throughout the land. Balso mentioned that if any Yogo aristocrat saw swords being made they will never become strong. Chagum was not provoked but questions Balsa about. She merely lets go of the subject by saying she was neither a Yogo nor an aristocrat.

They enter a smithy where Chagum was told to stay quiet as to not give away who he was. The blacksmith and Balsa were acquintances but the man knew of the rumours in the city. He was loyal to the court and refused to fix Balsa’s spear until he heard the truth. Balsa admits that she did go against the court but stubbornly said she was going to stay until the spear was fixed. The blacksmith, stubborn as well, still refused to help until he heard the full story. He told Balsa and Chagum to wait in another room as other customers were coming.

His other customers were from the Karyuudo. Namely, Mon and Jin. The blacksmith told them their swords were ready in the room Balsa and Chagum were in.

Before Jin opened the door however, the blacksmith asked them the qualities of Yogo swords. As they went rather indepth into the topic, it led to the blacksmith talking about making only one perfect sword for a worthy swordsman. The swordsman was one of the strongest and kept a child by his side. The blacksmith metioned that the child had been put into the swordsman’s care after his friend had gotten into a “political intrigue with the court.” Mon and Jin immediately suspect it to be Balsa but kept quiet. The blacksmith went on describe parts of the swordsman’s life and it was really similar to the current events in Balsa’s life (hunted down by assassins, the hunters, etc). He ended by saying the man was dead. Mon, in turn, mentioned Balsa and how she also took in a child and died trying to protect him while not killing anyone. Both do not exactly know why the two took in a stranger.

The blacksmith went to the storage room to retrieve their swords. Balsa and Chagum’s presence were not given away. Before Mon and Jin left the smithy, Mon noticed the spear. The blacksmith told him that it was left to him to be fixed but said nothing about the owner. Balsa’s spear was finally accepted. In the end, Balsa was seen practicing with her new spear as Tanda and Chagum look on while eating snacks.

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Not a very action packed episode but it was suspenseful. We also learned more about Balsa’s past. The swordsman the blacksmith was talking about was probably Jiguro. I’m annoyed at the fact the blacksmith’s name wasn’t metioned. His attitude was weird as well, very cunning. However, I’m more curious about Balsa’s story. The “friend” might be her father or mother and that person got into a “political intrigue”. But, Balsa was probably not an aristocrat. She said so to Chagum, and she doesn’t seem like the kind of person who’d like (proved by when she told the blacksmith she went against the court).  Tanda probably also met Balsa when she was already under Jiguro’s care.