We get another timeskip, so Athanasia is now a teenager on the cusp of turning fourteen. As a result, she’s going to have a grand, ol’ party where she makes her “debut” to society. There’s going to be lots of dancing in front of lots of ass-kissing nobles. I’m not exactly sure what else it means to “debut” other than that it usually signifies that a girl is old enough to be married off. At fourteen? Well, people were pretty weird back then. But hey, say no more. I don’t really care to learn anything else about this antiquated practice. I mean, it’s nonsense that the upper class or aristocracy used to do, right? So enough said.
Anyway, Athanasia has been taking dance lessons, but she doesn’t have a dance partner. In her heart of hearts, what she really wants to do is have her first dance with her father. Unfortunately, even now, she has to celebrate her birthdays without her father. When she tries to be open and honest with him about what she wants for her “debut,” he still turns her down. After all these years, he’s still pathetic. Yeah, yeah, his “true love” died giving birth to Athanasia. But it’s been years. How much longer is he going to keep hurting his daughter because he won’t take any positive steps to heal? I still haven’t forgotten how he was a deadbeat to her for years. If she hadn’t accidentally bumped into him, he would’ve kept being a deadbeat. Obviously, Claude needs to get his ass in therapy, but this is fiction, so therapy doesn’t exist. His poor daughter has to do everything instead.
But first, we gotta talk about Lucas, who has also aged himself up to match Athanasia. I still hate the fact that Lucas is a potential romantic route. Not only does he catch her in his arms here so they share a moment, but his birthday present to her are fireworks. Anime couples always stare at fireworks. Man, do we really gotta go there? He’s an old ass wizard who has known her since she was like what? Six? Seven? Now that she’s nearly fourteen, it is still inappropriate. Even if she was eighteen, I would balk at the two of them becoming a couple! Why can’t the writer, whoever they are, just pick someone her own age? It’s 2025, but society still has this weird obsession with pairing young girls with old men.
And look, I’m not saying that Lucas is a bad guy. He saved her life when her magic was affecting her. He did tutor her when everyone else gave up. And even now, he’s advising her to be upfront and honest to her father about her feelings. All of those things are great. So why can’t he just be her mentor? Why does it feel like the show is trying to push these two together? It even looks like he’s going to be jealous when Ijikiel makes a return in next week’s episode. At the end of the day, I’m literally watching a 13-year-old who is about to “debut” at her fourteenth birthday. The thought that one of her love interests is potentially a 400-year-old wizard is baffling.
Anyway, thanks to Lucas’s advice, Athanasia comes up with an idea. For the next few days, she devotes all of her time to painting a family portrait as a gift to her father. She even starts skipping out on some of her personal time with Claude in order to get the job done. I guess she needed to hurry in order to move his heart before the ball takes place. She needs him to be there for her, so the painting couldn’t wait. Even though he initially tells her that he doesn’t ever need anything from her, Claude ends the episode by smiling lovingly at the portrait. The dude never smiles, so this means he’s over-the-moon happy. It’s almost… concerning, don’t you think? I mean, hasn’t everything been going too well for Athanasia and her father? Don’t you feel like tragedy is about to strike at any moment?
The funny part is that we still don’t get Claude’s answer to Athanasia’s request. Is he going to be her dance partner? She’s not sad at the end of the episode, so I assume he said yes. But you never know…
Stray thoughts & observations:
- Look at all these generic create-a-character looking ass dance partners.
- I get why Claude is overprotective of his daughter when it comes to Felix. Obviously, Felix is much older than her. What I don’t get is why he’s only overprotective when it comes to Felix and no one else.
- I guess the maid can be forgiven for this, since she probably doesn’t know that Lucas is an old man larping as a kid.
- I kinda have to chuckle at the idea of servants spending their hard-earned salary to get gifts for a literal princess. I sure hope they’re paid well.
- How are others reacting to the fireworks? I like to think they’re panicking, i.e. “Why are there fireworks? Are we under attack?!”
