Angolmois: Episode 6 – Where Death Leads – [Summary/Review]
Summary
In the heat of battle, the high cliffsides that the rebel Japanese forces have set themselves amongst are doing their job. Despite the sound of explosives in the distance, they press on.Hitari and Princess Teruhi fail to take out the enemy Captain, Uriyan Edei. Edei glimpses Teruhi amongst the shrubbery after the attack, is enamored by her, and starts plotting to make her his prize.The tide changes when the Chinese allies show their secret weapon, a gun (essentially an early predecessor), which kills Yajirou-dono on impact. The young leader is avenged by Kuchii immediately after, but the damage has been done. Teruhi, saddened, holds it together as they plan their next moves.
The Mongols were now closing in on both sides: the Goryeo troops from the battle at Sasu from one side, and Edei’s Minghaan troops (from the fight on the cliffs) on the other. Onitakemaru captured the “self-proclaimed rich exile” Chouminpuku who was planning to run away with spoils from the capital... making it excellent bait for raiding Mongols to fight over amongst themselves.Later, in the woods, Kuchii sleeps fitfully. His mind a whirlwindof flashbacks recent and past. He awakes face-to-face with Teruhi (“I was just checking to see if you were breathing.”).
She leaves, rightfully embarrassed, and runs into a servant of a mysterious leader who has requested Kuchii’s presence. Leaving Teruhi unguarded, he chases after him until sunrise, and is introduced to the small but intriguing Emperor Antoku.
Review:
Our first "human" troop-leading mongol arrives in this episode. While the fight at Sasu was intense and fraught with emotion, the leaders in play during that battle seemed superhuman. Being able to coolly tell that there were only a handful of rebels in comparison to hundreds being reported.Then, there's Edei. It’s refreshing to see a human as a general in the war on the Mongol side, everyone up to this point has been a savant-level commander. Although he still has a savviness and swagger to him, it's obvious that he cares about his soldiers at a comparable level to Kuchii and is a newer soldier to the role.
It’s good to see human elements, even a bit of failure and squabbling. He feels like an appropriate foil for a battle or two, before getting into the really difficult conflicts later.On the other side -
Poor Yajirou. He survives three attacks, the death of his adopted father and brother, and even had started to bond with Kuchii. We finally get to see Yajirou stand up in battle, proudly, ready to defend his bretheren, and he becomes a martyr instead. I'm going to miss his monologues from the last two or three episodes, and the fact that he sounds like a voice of reason to those around him - an royal everyman - in comparison to Kuchii. Even so, Kuchii has been right time and time again, so it's not the end of the world to be down (yet another) lord-in-training.
That said, Teruhi is targeted for kidnapping before she gets to process the death of yet ANOTHER member of her family (aka next episode), I’ll be frustrated and confused on Teruhi’s behalf.