Meanwhile, at L’Renouille, Jillia is leaving to try and put a stop to this and bring this war to an end, hopefully stopping Luca in her tracks.
But then we see Jowy, and Jowy wants strength. Strength to protect his friends, his family.
And then you see them waking up in the shrine that they actually stayed in. At least, it looks like that. As they walk in, they discover it’s a shrine because they initially think it’s a cavern.
Then they read the stone, which is in Japanese, of course, and I don’t read that. But then again, we go in and we’re taken into the reminiscence scene after Leknaat’s initial speech.
Unfortunately, the original BGM is missing, and it lacks the depth of emotion that the reminiscence scene has. But Leknaat is properly voiced. The dialogue is straight away taken from the game, as is the English dub translation.
And Nanami comes in to protect Jowy and Riou. The scenes from the reminiscence sequence have been captured, but the lack of BGM is a bit of a letdown.
So, what we do get is a little bit more intel on who Jowy is, who Riou is, who Nanami is, and what’s the backstory with Grandpa Genkaku.
All of that is included in this episode.
But yeah, it is a look back at how it all formed, how it all shaped up. It’s a little bit more backstory provided in the anime, which we were looking for at the very beginning.
So happy that they at least found a way to leave this in.
And then Nanami is a little bit smaller than she actually looks in the game. So I’m not sure whether that comparison holds up. But hey, they’re still good.
They get to witness a princess. And this is where it gets interesting.
The split screen that they did for this rune retrieval, rune-getting scene was amazing. It contributed more to this scene. You saw Jowy and Riou receive the runes at the same time.
I like that.
And then, after this brilliant sequence, at least I love to think of it as a sequence, they are brought back to the shrine outside of Toto Village.
You also get to see the remastered Black Sword and Bright Shield Runes on their hands, and that is a wonderful adaptation.
Then we see Jillia leave L’Renouille in the meantime, going to that Highland camp. And then we get into a dense, foggy forest where we meet Alex.
Now, in the game, we have already surpassed the Mist Monster. We are going into the Sindar Ruins and are going to learn more about the backstory of the ancient civilisation that is part of Suikoden’s history.
Though none of that is in the anime. It was scratched in its entirety, which I sincerely understand, but I also think there is a lack of depth there.
So, what do we get in the meantime?
We get the original battle BGM, which is cool. And where the melee attacks don’t work, here comes Nanami’s secret Golden Tooth-Dragon Punch again. It doesn’t work.
But the Bright Shield Rune is used by Riou against the Mist Monster, who’s back.
And the good news is we get to see the Mist Monster in both its shapes and forms. The shape-shifting to the other form, the magical form of the Mist Monster, is great because it also displays a ton of magic.
We see that the Bright Shield Rune and the Black Sword Rune are being put to use. They look like the Shining Light and Piercing Sword spells.
And that settles the debate on the Mist Monster itself. It’s about time!
Unfortunately, it’s only really Riou and Jowy, and there’s nobody else involved. No Rina, Bolgan, or any other recruits you could have had, like Millie, Kinnison, Shiro or Zamza. None of them.
We then see Jillia step into the Toto area, where everything’s burned down, asking what the hell went down there.
She’s got to find out what else we missed in the White Deer sequence. Well, the medicine, because we learn that the most important thing of all is family and friends, or your chosen family for that matter.
We do not get to witness that.
But what we do get from Alex, for saving him from the Mist Monster in the anime, is those passes. And the entry-pass scene has been kept accurately.
It’s Nanami overreacting. It’s Jowy not knowing what the hell to do because he looks way too old. And then, finally, they get caught out for being with four instead of three.
And they are being arrested, as they should have been.
Let’s go!
With that being said, Riou, Jowy, Nanami and Mukumuku are being trapped.
At least I’ve missed Mukumuku, actually. Where is Mukumuku? We got Pilika, but where is Mukumuku? Did he escape with Victor and Flik? We do not know.
Stay tuned for Mukumuku updates in breaking news!
So, we are then arrested and put into the cabin right behind the gate. Well, it’s just a bed of straw and a wooden plank. That’s all we get for now.
And after that, we get to witness the Highland camp nearing the Muse border.
We see that Rowd and Luca are actually talking, discussing, and then it’s Jillia who joins in and goes to Luca, saying, “What are you doing? Stop this madness. Please do.”
What happens then is something that we haven’t witnessed earlier before.
Luca raises a blade against Jillia’s throat and says, “Oh, you think you dare to overthrow me?”
And then takes her hands, puts a knife in them, and aims it at his own neck, saying, “Go ahead, try and kill me if you want to.”
But then, of course, Jillia is nowhere near suited to take out her own brother.
And then, in jail time, the moon scene, the full moon scene with the complete dialogue and the BGM used for it in the game, made it a touching close to the way that this should have been in the original, and thus was sustained.
And to cap that off, that is the verdict that I’m going to give for this episode.
Out of 10, I’ve given this a six.
And let me tell you why it’s a six. It’s very simple.
You left a scene out, which is quite crucial. Not for the storyline, not for the Twin-Headed Snake, not for anything like that, but for the essence of displaying what family or chosen family can mean and how important that is.
And I do note that I deliberately select the words chosen family, because not every family is the same. Not always is family related by blood. It’s about who we choose to be our circle, our family, more than just friends.
Beyond that, I think there’s a lot of missing hits. And I mean that by missing is that the original BGM wasn’t used in the right place, or there was a different BGM used that didn’t reflect the tone or the emotionality of the scene.
As mentioned before, I do like that they’ve added in the struggle that Jillia was put in, straight in between Agares and her brother Luca.
That was an interesting touch, especially with the blade scene where Luca basically said, “Okay, come on. Try it. See if it works out for you,” knowing full well that Jillia would never be able to do so.
Pilika going mute, all of those things were accurate.
But the one thing that pissed me off the most was at the very beginning.
Why blow up an entire HQ and then see Luca Blight left standing in the middle of all of it like nothing ever happened?
This could have been a Schindler’s List option where they try to blow up the big leader that was formerly known in 1940s Germany, and they say, “Okay, he’s hurt, but he’s still there.”
You know, that kind of feel.
No, they just went all, “Nope, he’s unscathed and nothing will happen to him.”
He’s untouchable and undefeatable.
For anime purposes, I get it. Possibly a little majorly overexaggerated.
And that is why I conclude this episode number three with a six out of ten.
So, may your pixels be plentiful, your adventures prosperous, and we’ll see each other in the next one!
I'm Amethyst, 31, and from the Netherlands. I've always had a passion for adventure in roleplaying games. Being able to immerse myself into these universes allowed me to escape the trauma's of my youth. Now I want to share my gaming passion with all of you!
