ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF KANATA'S MIND

Go! Princess Precure -- Episode 35

My Review

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF KANATA'S MIND


At the end of last episode, the Precures spotted a lilac-haired stripling who looked rather familiar...

Indeed, the young fellow in the grey Waistcoat of Style is the estranged Prince Grand Kanata!

However, winning him back will be no bed of roses...

ANYBODY SEEN HIS HIGHNESS?

The Precures walk around the streets and parks of Yumegahama, their hometown, looking for clues on their prince's whereabouts by asking passers-by and showing them wanted posters drawn by Yui (those pastel colours, and the shape of the eyes... it's definitely Yui's style)

HARUKA (to pre-teen girl who resembles Hotaru Tomoe): 'Scuse me!! Have you seen this guy anywhere?

PRE-TEEN GIRL: (shakes her head, no comment)

MINAMI (to soothsayer): We are looking for this person. His name is Kanata.

SOOTHSAYER (shakes his head, no comment)

FIDO (shakes head): Woof, woof.

Towa approaches a twentyish jogger in a public park. Maybe, being the sister of the missing prince, she will be the one to succeed.

TOWA (running up to the jogger): Excuse me!

JOGGER (surprised): Huh?

TOWA: Do you know this person?

JOGGER (shakes his head, no comment)

TOWA (lowering her head, bowing): Thank you very much indeed!

Haruharu comes running into the scene and asks if they have had any good luck.

PUFF (disappointed): No good today either.

TOWA: Why don't we try looking further away?

ADVICE FROM GEPPETTO?

Suddenly, Haruka crashes into a septuagenarian and makes him drop the grapefruit and tin cans he was carrying in his shopping bag.

OLD GENTLEMAN: Aren't you Haruka?

HARUKA: Mr. Nishikido! (bowing before him) Good afternoon! (Gokigenyó!)

(Indeed, this is Minami's violin teacher and the luthier of Noble Academy. He was also Twilight's first victim, so Towa's subsequent reaction will be no surprise.)

MR. NISHIKIDO: Are you going out?

Upon seeing the old gentleman closer, Towa's eyes widen and she gasps in shock.

This septuagenarian was, after all, her first victim back when she was Twilight.

*Flashback to Twilight shutting Mr. Nishikido's dream*

TOWA (bowing very low, looking quite sorrowful): I'm really sorry about before!

MR. NISHIKIDO: What are you talking about?

HARUKA: Uh-uh-uh... We're looking for someone!

The aged luthier looks at the picture and recognizes Kanata's crown.

MR. NISHIKIDO: This is...

TOWA, HARUKA, PUFF: Gasp!

TOWA: Do you know him!?

The girls and the spaniel-maid storm into the luthier's cottage.

A tall and slender young man is standing there with his back to them.

TOWA, HARUKA: (gasping, panting for breath)

KANATA: Welcome.

Finally, Towa and Kanata have reunited. But this reunion will come with a crushing surprise...

INTO THE FLAMES I PLUNGED FOR THEE,
THY VIOLIN I KEPT FOR THEE,
A SCARLET GOWN I DONNED FOR THEE...
PLEASE, DEAREST BROTHER, COME TO ME!

TOWA (bursting into tears, storming towards Kanata): Brother!

TOWA (clasping Kanata in her arms, shedding tears, sobbing, and surprising him): I wanted to see you! I wanted to see you so badly!!

However, Kanata gently pushes her apart and replies coldly.

KANATA (gently pushing Towa apart, coldly): I'm sorry. Give me a second.

TOWA (gasps, surprised): Huh?

KANATA (wondering): Who are you two girls? Do you know about me?

TOWA (surprised): Huh? Kanata?

He doesn't remember that he's the dethroned crown prince of the Hope Kingdom...

MR. NISHIKIDO (entering with a box in his hands): He's lost his memories.

MME. SHAMOUR (looking at Kanata's slightly dented crown): This is definitely it.

AROMA: He's Prince Kanata!

MR. NISHIKIDO: I think it was about two weeks ago.

*Flashback of Mr. Nishikido walking along the coast and finding an unconscious Kanata in his torn royal garments*

MR. NISHIKIDO: I found him collapsed on the beach.

*The luthier ran towards the unconscious young man and tried to wake him up.*

*MR. NISHIKIDO (worried): Are you all right?*

*KANATA (coming to, at first groaning in pain, then confused): Where is this place?

MR. NISHIKIDO (getting Kanata up): Yumegahama. Where are you from?*

*KANATA (sitting down on the sand, confused): Where am I from? Where am I from...

MR. NISHIKIDO (surprised): What?*

*KANATA (looking at himself, then up to the sky, still confused): Who am I?*

*End of flashback*

KANATA (coldly): I do not remember anything.

The Cures are obviously consternated. And Towa is obviously the one who gets the greatest shock.

YUI (concerned): He's lost his memories...

KIRARA (concerned): No way...

MINAMI (concerned): And then he's been here ever since?

MR. NISHIKIDO: Yes. I decided to treat his wounds.

*Mr. Nishikido bandaged Kanata's abdomen and right shoulder. The crown prince must have suffered from serious internal trauma.

Suddenly, Kanata spotted a violin inside a glass case in the luthier's shop.

KANATA (surprised): Huh? A violin...

MR. NISHIKIDO (surprised): Do you know about violins? (Reaching out a violin to the prince) Please touch one.*

*Kanata shouldered the violin and took up a bow as well.*

MR. NISHIKIDO: He struck a familiar pose.

*End of flashback*

MR. NISHIKIDO (kindly, to Kanata): I thought you'd remember something if you touched a violin. (Looking at Towa) Well, now that your little sister is here, too. I guess we can rest easy.

KANATA (looking at Towa, wondering): You are my...

TOWA: (nods quietly)

MINAMI (as serious as ever): Teacher, can we talk to him alone?

MR. NISHIKIDO: (nods quietly)

YOUR NAME IS PRINCE GRAND KANATA... OR, KANATA EXPLAINED TO KANATA WITH LASER-GUIDED AMNESIA

Inside the cottage, Kanata gets his whole story told from the start.

KANATA (offscreen): I am a royal prince?

MME. SHAMOUR (elated): Oui! You are Hope Prince Grand Kanata!

AROMA: You are the crown prince of our country, the Hope Kingdom!

TOWA:  And also... I am your younger sister, Hope Princess Daylight Towa.

Daylight... as a parallel to Twilight? And as Little Daylight?

Oh my, this sounds interesting...

KANATA (confused): Prince... younger sister... the legendary warriors, the Precures.

PUFF, MME. SHAMOUR (elated): Oui!!!

Towa smiles and looks pleased at last.

KANATA (confused, burying his head in his right hand): I'm sorry, give me a second. I can't just believe all of this right away.

HARUKA (slightly angry, taking up her Perfume and Key): Okay! Maybe you'll remember if you see the real thing! (She transforms into Cure Flora)

CURE FLORA (pointing at herself, out loud): How about this? Anything?

KANATA (startled, confused): So this is a Precure... So pretty...

Disappointed, Haruka detransforms back into her muggle self.

AROMA & PUFF (reaching out the palace, unison): How about this? The Princess Palace!! 

PUFF: It was originally the Hope Kingdom's royal castle. 

AROMA: You grew up there, Prince Kanata.

KANATA (coldly, looking at the miniature palace): Here? Me!? 

KIRARA: You're just confusing him even more.

KANATA (smiling): I understand that you possess mysterious powers. (Looking down and frowning) But... I'm sorry. I can't feel anything at all.

PUFF (crying): Prince Kanata!

AROMA (crying): Seems like you've really forgot everything.

Both pet-servants throw themselves into their master's arms.

PUFF & AROMA (sobbing, crying into Kanata's chest): Prince Kanata!

MME. SHAMOUR (drying up a tear): How sad.

Towa just stands there astonished, so sad that she won't say anything.

YUI (smiling, cheerful): But he wasn't surprised when talking with Puff and Aroma. 

MINAMI (serious, with that leader aura of hers): I think it's still possible that he remembers.

KIRARA: Yes, yes. Towachi remembered everyting eventually.

Towa is looking down, her face hidden in her scarlet ringlets.

But, upon hearing Kirara's words, she is given a jolt and having a eureka moment.

TOWA (looking up, smiling, excited): You're right!

MUSIC TO BRING BACK THE AMNESIAC'S MEMORIES

In an arbour in the Noble Academy gardens, Towa plays the violin she kept for her older brother. And what does she play but her mournful and ominous leitmotif?

TOWA (playing her leitmotif, thinking): Please remember, big brother. 

Your song made me remember. 

Towa remembers how her brother playing the same tune on the violin freed her from her dark self and shattered Twilight's mask, bringing her to tears.

Now it's her turn to make him remember... will she succeed as well?

KANATA (sincerely): I feel a certain nostalgia.

TOWA (reaching out the violin to her brother): Please try playing.

KANATA: (nods quietly and steps up to her side, taking up her violin and bow, which he shoulders.)

For a while, everything is silent. Not even a single note comes from the violin. Princess Towa is consternated.

KANATA (dejected): I'm sorry. I don't know how.

TOWA (pale, shocked, reeling backwards): No way...

At least the tune made him feel nostalgic. That's something to be reckoned with. But Towa wants Kanata to recover from all of his laser-guided amnesia.

INTERLUDE: PLACES FULL OF MEMORIES

YUI: Isn't there anything else we can try?

MME. SHAMOUR (serious): Hmm... Maybe going to places that are full of his memories?

TOWA (dejected): Even if you say that...

PUFF: We can't go to the Hope Kingdom now.

MINAMI (determined): How about somewhere else?

AROMA: Prince Kanata has never been here before! There's nowhere here that's full of his memories...

HARUKA (having a eureka moment): Ah... There is!

EVERYONE ELSE: Huh?

HARUKA (determined, cheerful): There is such a place!

YOU KNOW NOTHING, SHUT SNOW

In the Dysdark fortress in the Hope Kingdom...

DYSPEAR: How are the seeds doing?

CLOSE: Quite well. Stop and Freeze are collecting despair nonstop.

SHUT (surprised): Seeds? (Whispering to Close) What's going on?

CLOSE (cool, ironic): Ha! You will know soon enough.

SHUT (startled):  Eh!!??

And there we have another of Shut's priceless emotional reactions.

DYSPEAR (sternly): Shut, just shut your mouth and follow Close.

(Ooh... she used a Shut pun just like I used in the olden days!)

SHUT (disappointed and dejected, as Close looks haughtily down on him): Yes, madam!

SHUT (to himself): Ever since Her Majesty Dyspear returned, where did the gathered despair go?

TOWARDS THE MEADOW

Back in Yumegahama...

The Precures take the bus towards the meadow where Haruka and Kanata first met, to awaken more of the crown prince's memories.

The hilly meadow landscape is full of cosmos flowers in bloom and frolicking children.

KANATA: This place is wonderful.

HARUKA (sincerely): Kanata, this is the place where we first met.

KANATA (turning around): Eh?

HARUKA (sincerely): I was crying back then. And then... you appeared, Kanata. 

*Flashback to their childhood encounter in the same hilly meadow*

*KANATA (sincerely): You can become one. Is becoming a princess your dream?

HARUKA (surprised): Huh? Yes...

KANATA (sincerely, smiling): You can do it. Dreams possess a lot of power. As long as you treasure and nurture them... I'm sure.

Haruka smiles from ear to ear and Kanata gives her the first Dress-Up Key*

*End of flashback*

Kanata looks at Haruka's first Dress-Up Key, which she holds in her hand, with disbelief, and thinks deeply.

Towa still stands in suspense.

HARUKA (worried, determined): Kanata! Do you really not remember what happened back then?

Kanata gives no reply at first. 

KANATA (sternly): I'm sorry. 

Everyone remains silent and as if rooted on the ground.

Even Towa's violin didn't work at all.

KIRARA (smiling): It's fine, it's fine. You wouldn't know if you didn't try.

MINAMI: Let's take a break by visiting Haruka's place before we head back.

YUI: Yeah. Let's buy some dorayaki too.

Only Towa looks dejected, while Haruka, encouraged, dries up her tears.

Suddenly, upon seeing Towa, Kanata is given a jolt.

KANATA (surprised): Gasp!

TOWA (detached, depressed, sure that her brother won't remember her): Sigh!

KANATA (brooding, looking down, sternly): I'm really sorry about this.

And there they stand, on the flowering hill...

TOWA BROODING

Kanata is soon approached by the throng of children on the meadow. The dark-haired little girl who looks like Hotaru Tomoe saunters towards him with a great smile, holding a blonde princess ragdoll.

PRE-TEEN GIRL: Would you like to play with us?

KANATA (surprised): Me?

MINAMI (sincerely): Come on, let's go. (She pats Kanata in the back, and, running, both of them join the throng of children).

The girl who looks like Hotaru even crowns Kanata with a white wildflower wreath.

PRE-TEEN GIRL (cheerful): You're like a prince!

The children then drag Kanata away, shouting: "Over here!"

Only Towa and Haruka watch the frolicking from the hilltop, Towa looking down and brooding.

TOWA (sobbing, crying): Why...? Why is this happening? I can finally apologize to and thank my dear brother... (Steeling herself, determined) Haruka, I won't give up. I will make sure Brother returns to his old self. I will do anything.

"Let the children come to me..." Does this image of a young adult surrounded by children and playing with them look familiar? At least it does to me, with the passion for art history I have got.

HARUKA (concerned): But... maybe we are the ones hurting him.

TOWA (surprised): Huh?

HARUKA (smiling): Because every time we tell him something, he has such a sad look on his face.

Towa remembers the mournful look on Kanata's face, and then she has an epiphany. But suddenly, Towa senses the footsteps of two familiar villainesses walking through the woods...

MY LITTLE DYSDARK VICTIM

STOP: Let's do that.

FREEZE: That is good.

MINAMI (surprised): DysDarks!

KANATA (dropping his crown as he rises up, startled): That's...

STOP: The children's dreams...

FREEZE:...are ripe for the picking.

YUI (to all the children): Run away, everyone!

Minami and Kirara take their battle stance.

The girl who looks like Hotaru Tomoe left her ragdoll behind and runs back (into the clutches of the Dysdarks) to retrieve her.

PRE-TEEN GIRL: My Princess!

YUI (warning): No!

But stubborn children who have left their treasures behind never listen.

Haruka and Towa run downhill in haste, and Kanata rushes forth as well. 

Right when the little girl has her ragdoll in her arms once more, the twindividuals are soon right before her.

PRE-TEEN GIRL (happy): Thank goodness.

STOP (sauntering before her from the left): Stop!

The frightened girl looks to the right and is even more frightened when she sees Freeze saunter from the right.

FREEZE (sauntering before her from the right): Freeze!

STOP: Show us...

FREEZE: ...your dream!

Cue empty eyes and keyhole peephole into her heart.

"I want to become a princess!"

STOP: Stop...

FREEZE: Freeze...

STOP & FREEZE (unison): ...your dream!

They fire twin padlocks and yet another desporg of the week is summoned.

Meanwhile, in another part of the woods, dark vines sprout from the resident Seed of Despair.

It's time for the Precures to Princess Engage!

 IT DAWNS FOR KANATA

Once more, the Precures confront the desporg du jour.

From a hill on the edge of the battlefield, Kanata watches the confrontation.

AROMA: They're the Princess Precures!

KANATA (pensive): Precures...

Especially watching Cure Flora awakens his memory of Haruka as a child he once met in a hilly paradise...

KANATA: Cure... Flora...

*Flashback to Haruka and Kanata meeting as children*

CURE FLORA: Kanata! (remembering Kanata as a child, while fighting the desporg): I have been protecting my dreams ever since! Kanata's dreams have supported and protected me! Kanata, because you were here, I can aim to become a princess. And I can protect her dream as well! (She curbstomps the desporg with a single punch) Thank you, Kanata! Thank you for being here for me.

In the final joint attack before Éclat d'Espoir, all four Cures attack at once.

Cure Scarlet uses Scarlet Spark!

AT THE END OF THE DAY

In the end, yet another victim is purified. We didn't have a child since Momoka Haruno last springtime, by the way!

The twindividuals give their usual retreat rant:

STOP: We couldn't stop the dream.

FREEZE: We couldn't freeze it.

STOP & FREEZE (unison): But they despaired.

Both of them retreat into their keyhole portal.

PRE-TEEN GIRL (coming to): Huh?

TOWA (friendly, giving her her princess ragdoll): Here.

PRE-TEEN GIRL (picking her doll up, happy): Thank you.

TOWA (friendly, sincerely): You are the same as us (watakushi-tachi). 

PRE-TEEN GIRL (surprised): Huh? (gasp)

HARUKA (smiling): Actually, our dream is to become princesses!

PRE-TEEN GIRL (surprised): Really?

HARUKA (determined): Let's do our best together!

PRE-TEEN GIRL (elated): Yes! Then from today on we'll be friends!

CHILDREN, TEAM PRECURE (waving each other goodbye): Bye-bye! (In English)

KANATA (thoughtful): Legendary princesses who protect dreams...

AROMA: Do you remember anything, Prince Kanata?

Kanata just turns his head away.

HARUKA: That's fine. It's okay if he doesn't remember anything now. 

OTHER CURES, YUI (surprised): Eh!?

KANATA (still reserved): B-But... 

TOWA (desperate): Haruka!! What are you saying!?

HARUKA: I'm sorry. This may bring pain to you again, Towa. But even if he doesn't remember anything, Kanata is Kanata. Right now we'll have him watch over us. Little by little, he'll become our friend. And then one day, I'm sure... Perhaps... 

TOWA (teary-eyed, sobbing and shivering): You're right... But... but... at least... Let me call you "brother!"

KANATA (smiling, sincere): That's all right with me, Towa.

Towa bursts into tears of joy until she buries her face in her hands (a pose I didn't like as a child, when I saw for instance Ariel, Alice, and Cinderella do it). Minami and Kirara seize her shoulders to soothe/comfort her.

Even Madame Shamour dries up her tears as Kuroro looks on and wonders why.

Towa finally manages to look up.

HARUKA (walking up to Kanata, reaching out her hand): Let's start over again. Starting today, we'll be friends.

Kanata looks at her in awe.

KANATA (smiling, clasping her hand in his): Thank you, Haruka.

I've been living to see you. 
Dying to see you, but it shouldn't be like this. 
This was unexpected, 
What do I do now? 
Could we start again please?
I've been very hopeful, so far. 
Now for the first time, I think we're going wrong. 
Hurry up and tell me, 
This is just a dream. 
Oh could we start again please?

I think you've made your point now. 
You've even gone a bit too far to get the message home. 
Before it gets too frightening, 
We ought to call a vote, 
So could we start again please?

I've been living to see you. 
Dying to see you, but it shouldn't be like this. 
This was unexpected, 
What do I do now? 
Could we start again please?

I think you've made your point now. 
You've even gone a bit too far to get the message home. 
Before it gets too frightening, 
We ought to call a vote, 
So could we start again please?
Could we start again please?

Could we start again?

There is a juxtaposition of their child and adolescent selves holding hands, connecting the past to the present and to the future beyond.

"And Kay and Gerda looked into each other’s eyes, and all at once understood the words of the old song,

'Roses bloom and cease to be,

But true love one day we'll see.'

And they both sat there, grown up, yet children at heart; and it was summer,—warm, beautiful summer."

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
Ah, laser-guided amnesia... I mean, identity amnesia (there is a difference!) When will this trope be old-fashioned? Never.

• On laser-guided amnesia/identity amnesia in straight male love interests: Kanata has amnesia. So typical. Kai in The Snow Queen, Nardo Aniello, Perlino, Perrin, Marcus in Erstwhile's Singing Springing Lark, Sweetheart Roland, Shinobu Ijuuin, Mamoru Chiba... every male love interest separated from his other half in romantic fairy tales is sure to have lost his memories... and to have found himself another lady (or the other lady has rather found him!). Given how much this story borrows from fairytales, it comes as no surprise that the Amnesiac Lover du jour is male lead Kanata and this makes him appear as more vulnerable to possible brainwashing by Dysdarks (still headcanon of how the finale will go, not even confirmed). It is too rushed to make Kanata remember it all together in the same episode, so the whole autumn arc will unfurl with him regaining his memories little by little. It is still unknown whether his amnesia is due to enchantment or to injury, but what matters is that, like with Cassio after the drunken fight (in Othello), his memories are all confused, in a haze.
• His face was quite easy to look at. He had tawny hair and eyes, and rough, strong, graceful
  features that were young in expression and happier than their experience.
  His name was Perrin. He was gentle and courteous to his servants, had an ear for his musicians' playing, and had lean,
  strong hands that moved easily among the jeweled goblets and gold-rimmed
  plates.
  
  The dragon had fallen on its back, with the lion sprawled on top of it.
  A woman lay on her back, with Perrin on top of her. His eyes were closed, his face bloody; he drew deep, ragged breaths, one hand clutching the woman's shoulder, his open mouth against her neck. The
  woman's weary face, upturned to the sky above Perrin's shoulder, was also bloodstained; her free
  hand lifted weakly, fell again across Perrin's back. 
  Her hair was as gold as the sun's little box; her face as pale and perfect as the moon's
   face.The woman drew a deep breath. Her eyes flickered open; they were as blue as the sky.
  She turned her head, looked at Perrin. She lifted her hand from his back, touched her eyes delicately, her brows rising in silent question.
  Then she looked again at the blood on his face.
  The dragon princess: I am--we are most grateful to you. My father is king of this desert, and he will reward you richly if you come to his court." She took a tattered piece of her hem, wiped a corner of Perrin's lips, then, in after-thought, her own."Yes," the princess said, musing. Her eyes were very wide, very blue. "So I should tell my father. Will you help me raise him? There is a griffin just beyond those rocks. Very nice; in fact we became friends before I had to fight the lion. I had no one else to talk to except
  bullfrogs. And you know what frogs are like. Very little small talk, and that they repeat incessantly."
  "Then how wonderful that you have found him. The griffin will fly us to my father's palace. It's the only one for miles, in the desert. You'll find it easily." She stiffened, began pushing at him and talking at the same time. "I remember. I remember now. You were that monstrous lion that kept nipping at my wings." Her voice was low and sweet, amused as she tugged at Perrin. "You must get up. What if someone should see us? Oh, dear. You
  must be hurt." She shifted out from under him, made a hasty adjustment to her bodice... the woman's beauty, and at the sight of Perrin, whom she had not seen in seven years, and never in the
  light, lying golden-haired and slack against another woman's body. The woman bent over Perrin, turned him on his back.
  "Perrin!"and the princess, clinging to the griffin's neck, looked down, startled, uncertain.
  
  What would he think when he woke and saw her golden hair, heard her sweet, amused
  voice telling him that she had been the dragon he had fought, and that
  at the battle's end, she had awakened in his arms?
  And so. And therefore. And of course what all this must mean was, beyond
  doubt, their destiny: the marriage. ... Finally, climbing a rocky hill, an enormous and beautiful palace, whose immense gates of bronze and gold lay open to welcome the richly dressed people riding horses
   and dromedaries and elegant palanquins into it. "We have come for the wedding of our princess and the Lion of the Desert, whom it is her destiny to wed." "Who foretold such a destiny?" "Someone, The king's astrologer. A great sorceress disguised as a beggar, not unlike yourself. A bullfrog, who spoke with a human tongue at her birth. Her mother was frightened by a lion just before childbirth, and dreamed it. No one exactly remembers who, but someone did. Destiny or no, they will marry in three days, and never was there a more splendid couple than the princess and her lion."  walked down the streets, people stared, marveling. They made way. A man offered his palanquin, a woman her sunshade. the inner courtyard.
  Word of her had passed into the palace long before she did. The princess, dressed in fine flowing silks the color of her eyes, came out to meet the stranger who rivaled the sun. She saw the dress... "Oh, my dear," she breathed, hurrying down the steps. "Say this is a wedding gift for me. You cannot possibly wear this to my wedding... No one will look at me! Say you brought it for me. Or tell me what I can give you in return for it." She stepped back, half-laughing, still staring at the sun's creation. "Where are my manners?  She clapped her hands, laughing again, with a touch of relief in her voice. "You have come!  Perrin will be so pleased to meet you. He is sleeping now; he is still weak from his wounds."  She took her rival's hand in hers and led her up the steps. "Now tell me how I can persuade you to let me have that dress. Look how everyone stares at you. It will make me the most beautiful woman in the world on my wedding day."  ...while the princess chattered... "All right," the princess said gently, patting her hand. "I will not give you just anything. Though I'd hardly call this dress trivial. But tell me what you want."
  "I want a night alone with your bridegroom."
  The princess's brows rose. She glanced around hastily to see if anyone were listening. "We must observe a few proprieties," she said softly, smiling. "Not even I have had a whole night in my lion's bed--he had been too ill. I would not grant this to any woman. But I know you mean no harm. I assume you wish to tend him during the night with magic arts so that he can heal faster."
  "If I can do that, I will. But--"
  "Then you may. But I must have the dress first." ...silent. So was the princess, who held her eyes. The princess said lightly, "You were gracious to refuse my first impulse to give you anything. I trust you, but in that dress you are very beautiful, and you know how men are. And how can I surprise him on our wedding day with this dress if he sees you in it first? ...the princess only wanted what dazzled her eyes. "You are right," she said. The princess kissed her cheek. "Thank you. I will find you something else to wear, and show you his room. I'm not insensitive--I fell in love with him myself the moment I looked at him. So I can hardly blame you for--and of course he is in love with me. But we hardly know each other, and I don't want to confuse him with possibilities at this delicate time. You understand."
  "Perfectly."
  "Good." ...to her own sumptuous rooms...  something she called "refreshingly simple", but that belonged not even to the maid, but to someone much farther down the social strata, who stayed in shadows and was not allowed to
  wear lace. "Till sunrise," she said; the tone of her voice added, And not a moment after.
  Perrin: "I was glad when the dragon attacked me, because I thought it might kill me. Then I
  woke up in my own body, in a strange bed, with a princess beside me explaining that we were destined to be married."
  "Did you tell her you were married?"
  He sighed. "I thought it was just another way of being enchanted. A lion, a dove, marriage to a beautiful princess I don't love... what difference did anything make?"
  Lark: "She took you away from me before I could tell her-I tried-"
  And thus the princess found them, as she opened the door, speaking softly, "My dear, I forgot, if he wakes you must give him this potion--I mean, this tea of mild herbs to ease his pain a little-"She kicked the door shut and saw their surprised faces. "Well," she said frostily. "Really."
  "This is my wife," Perrin said.
  "Well, really." She flung the sleeping potion out the window, and folded her arms. "You might have told me."
  "I never thought I would see her again."
  "How extraordinarily careless of you both." She tapped her foot furiously for a moment, and then said, slowly, her face clearing a little, "That's why you were there to rescue us! Now I understand. And I snatched him away from you without even thinking--and after you had searched for him so long, I made you search--oh, my dear." She clasped her hands tightly."What I said. About not spending a full night here.
  You must not think-" 
• It was a man.
        His hair was golden, glowing bright as a bonfire in the light of the candle. And his features were fair. The stranger was wearing the white nightshirt. It fit him well, not too wide nor too narrow across the shoulders; the sleeves falling to his wrists, neither too long nor too short.  
  He lay on his side. His hand curled gently on the white sheet in front of him. There was a silver ring on his smallest finger. I could see sparse golden hairs on the back of his hand, and the curved fingers seemed vulnerable.
  
  I made sure that Urda and Tuki wrapped him well in furs and gave him frequent draughts of slank. The cold will be an adjustment for him, but soon enough he will grow used to it.
  His lovely face is pale and pinched with unhappiness, but it does not disturb me, for in time that will fade. There is rauha in the slank and this will help ease his pain, and blur his memories as well.
  
  
  And my queen is most generous when the nightmares come. If I cry out, which I often do, she will come to me at once and bring me a cup of warm slank. She sits with me until my shaking abates.
  
  
   I do not think there is anything now that would stir Myk's memory—the rauha slank is too powerful for that to happen—but such a slip-up may trigger a nightmare. (I still do not know why the slank does not eliminate those occasional nightmares. It is irksome.)
  
  
        I saw Tuki for just a moment that afternoon, and he whispered to me, when no one was near, that he had given Myk the unpowdered slank again the night before. It had been seven days since the white bear's last dose of slank laced with rauha. Tuki saw a difference in him.
  
  
  Tuki learned that Myk had a large cup of slank each night before bedtime. For a week Tuki had managed to substitute plain slank for the kind with the powder. I have some idea he switched his own slank, unpowdered, for Myk's, which he poured away. 
  
  
     I have been feeling somewhat odd of late. Not ill or unhappy. Just a little different, like my sight is clearer, or my thoughts. Or perhaps it is that I feel more awake; I certainly rise in the morning feeling more alert. I can't quite figure it out, but I am glad of it.
         I have even had brief memories of the time before I came to the ice palace. Even before I became a white bear. They are fleeting but pleasant.
        Just today I recalled being a child and playing on a field of the greenest grass, with many bright yellow flowers poking through the green. There were other children and we were all laughing together at something. It was very enjoyable, the memory.
        I have not told my queen because she does not care for mention of the past. And I do not wish to upset her, especially when she is so busy preparing for our future happiness.
  
  
  Myk seems sleepy eyed, somewhat subdued. I suppose it is the effect of the double portion of powdered slank I gave him last night. But when he looks at me, he smiles...
    Last night Myk had one of his nightmares, the first in some time. I attribute it to wedding-night jitters and am not unduly concerned. He was very agitated, though, and I had to give him double the portion of the powdered slank. It was very peaceful, holding him in my arms as he settled down to sleep, his golden head resting on my shoulder.
  
  
      MY QUEEN IS RADIANT. I can hardly believe it is me she wishes to wed. Tomorrow. How can I be worthy of such an honor?
        Tuki is acting odd. All the time he gazes at the entrance, as though expecting someone to enter. He has hardly touched the delicious food.
        I wish I did not feel so drowsy and dull witted.
  
  
  ...but most died because of the slank—or, I should say, of withdrawal from the slank doctored with rauha. Those who had been at the palace for years and had been fed a daily diet of it were not able to adjust to life without slank. The withdrawal was a terrible thing, causing a violent trembling of the entire body, vomiting, and eventually an abrupt halt of breathing.
  
  
    "Charles," he replied.
        "My name," he said with a smile that lit his face. Setting down his flauto, he leaned over and picked up the book beside him on the couch. Opening it to one of the blank pages at the beginning, he pointed to some words written in a flowing, cursive hand:
         Charles Pierre Philippe, Dauphin
        "I wrote this," he said. "My name. I am Charles Pierre Philippe." He set down the book.
        And then he took both my hands tightly in his.
  CHARLES PIERRE PHILIPPE was the fifth child of Charles VI, king of Fransk. My friend Havamal, the custodian of Master Eckstrom's library of books, helped me track down information about Charles's origins. It turned out that Valois, the word inscribed on the ring he gave Rose when they married, was the title of the line of royalty from which he was descended. Charles's younger brother was the dauphin whom the maid Jeanne d'Arc helped to put on the throne. But that is another tale.
        All it says in the written history was that Charles, beloved son of Charles VI and Isabeau, was born around the time of a peace parley of Amiens and died at age nine. From what we have learned of his parents—his father was hopelessly mad and his mother greedy and traitorous—it is possible he was better off as a white bear. I do not know whether he would agree with that or not.
  
         Charles dedicated himself to music and, in fact, invented a new design for flautos in which the mouthpiece cap contained a sponge to absorb the moisture from the player's breath. It was quite a success, and Charles became both a sought-after musician and an inventor. However, he never cared much for traveling, preferring to stay at home with his wife and children. They had four—one for each of the cardinal points of the compass.
•  The Snow Queen kissed little Kay again, and by this time he had forgotten little Gerda, his grandmother, and all at home.
  “Now you must have no more kisses,” she said, “or I should kiss you to death.”
  Kay looked at her, and saw that she was so beautiful, he could not imagine a more lovely and intelligent face; she did not now seem to be made of ice, as when he had seen her through his window, and she had nodded to him. In his eyes she was perfect, and she did not feel at all afraid. He told her he could do mental arithmetic, as far as fractions, and that he knew the number of square miles and the number of inhabitants in the country. And she always smiled so that he thought he did not know enough yet, and she looked round the vast expanse as she flew higher and higher with him upon a black cloud, while the storm blew and howled as if it were singing old songs. 

• CASSIO	I remember a mass of things, but nothing distinctly;
  	a quarrel, but nothing wherefore.

• On Kanata's character arc and the Pinocchio parallels: Well, he washed upon the seashore, he has been adopted by a childless elderly artisan who works with wood (Geppetto a carpenter, Mr. Nishikido a luthier), villains are after him (more than probably), he is naive and innocent and has no knowledge of what things are like, which makes him more vulnerable... It "woodn't" be more clear to see inspiration from that fairytale, which happens to include all of these traits as Christian references! (There was also a nice Christian symbolic parallel in Kanata surrounded by small children and letting them play with him, just like Jesus!)
• On Towa's relationship with Kanata: Nice job breaking it, Gerda... Violette... Rosella... Filadoro... Usagi... Benio/Anne... Svetla... I mean, Towa. You could merely retrieve some of your brother's memories. But the series has to last till midwinter, so the point is to let him remember his past little by little, one or two things a week, or else there would be no suspense. So far, this whole episode has been cathartic, especially its ending. With Towa shedding years of joy!
• On Towa's full name: Towa's first name is Daylight (in English, as it sounds). Which may be an allusion to the Sleeping Beauty-like George MacDonald tale of Little Daylight. The titular heroine is cursed by the dark fairy who was not invited to her christening to sleep during daytime. A good fairy blesses her to wake during nighttime, but the dark fairy does not want to see her curse reversed and prophesizes that Daylight's health shall wax and wane in tune with the phases of the moon. The good fairy counters this second curse with the promise that she will be disenchanted if a prince kisses her being unaware of it. As time goes by, Daylight's mood and state of health change according to the phases of the moon, more extremely as she hits puberty, when she ages a decade up for each time the moon wanes, becoming an eightyish crone when the moon is new, and rejuvenating as the moon waxes. The nearby prince, a refugee from revolution in his kingdom, comes across Daylight dancing in the woods in the light of the waxing moon, and they take a shine to one another. The dark fairy separates them as the moon wanes, but, fortunately, he manages to reach his princess in time, though she has withered into an aged crone, and the miracle occurs: A black hood concealed her hair, and her eyes were closed. He laid her down as comfortably as he could, chafed her hands, put a little cordial from a bottle, also the gift of the fairy, into her mouth; took off his coat and wrapped it about her, and in short did the best he could. In a little while she opened her eyes and looked at him--so pitifully! The tears rose and flowed from her grey wrinkled cheeks, but she said never a word. She closed her eyes again, but the tears kept on flowing, and her whole appearance was so utterly pitiful that the prince was near crying too. He begged her to tell him what was the matter, promising to do all he could to help her; but still she did not speak. He thought she was dying, and took her in his arms again to carry her to the princess's house, where he thought the good-natured cook might he able to do something for her. When he lifted her, the tears flowed yet faster, and she gave such a sad moan that it went to his very heart. "Mother, mother!" he said. "Poor mother!" and kissed her on the withered lips. She started; and what eyes they were that opened upon him! But he did not see them, for it was still very dark, and he had enough to do to make his way through the trees towards the house. Just as he approached the door, feeling more tired than he could have imagined possible--she was such a little thin old thing-- she began to move, and became so restless that, unable to carry her a moment longer, he thought to lay her on the grass. But she stood upright on her feet. Her hood had dropped, and her hair fell about her. The first gleam of the morning was caught on her face: that face was bright as the never-aging dawn, and her eyes were lovely as the sky of darkest blue. The prince recoiled in overmastering wonder. It was Daylight herself whom he had brought from the forest! He fell at her feet, nor dared to look up until she laid her hand upon his head. He rose then. "You kissed me when I was an old woman: there! I kiss you when I am a young princess," murmured Daylight.--"Is that the sun coming?" There may be connections with Towa's character arc, Twilight can be compared with the aged Daylight, with whom she shares a similar name (Twilight/Daylight), though she has been turned evil rather than elderly decrepit (like Helga in The Swamp King's Daughter), but still silver-haired and not herself. It's important that the prince is still dethroned, but, in GPPC, he's her brother, their parents being fully absent.
• On Towa's shell shock resurfacing: Seeing Mr. Nishikido opened old wounds. But this was barely touched upon. What mattered the most was Towa's disappointment in not bringing back Kanata's memories. Now that her brother is finally by her side, he barely remembers her. For the whole autumn arc, we will see both Kanata's memories resurfacing and the Seeds of Despair growing little by little, gradually, one time at a week, escalating up to the Grand Finale.
• On Shut in this episode: Well, Shut has begun to wonder and to doubt concerning the new Dysdark agenda. The upcoming Wallenstein intrigue and/or heel-face turn is so clear I can feel it in the air. Maybe he will be purified after Lock (the Dysdark Dusketeers being purified from last introduced to first introduced). Our favourite Mad Hatter still has a long way ahead, but at least he has begun to question his liege lady...
• Final thoughts and conjectures: We haven't had a child victim of the week since Momoka Haruno, for a change!... It is too rushed to make Kanata remember it all together in the same episode, so the whole autumn arc will unfurl with him regaining his memories little by little. It is still unknown whether his amnesia is due to enchantment or to injury, but what matters is that, like with Cassio after the drunken fight (in Othello), his memories are all confused, in a haze. (There was also a nice Christian symbolic parallel in Kanata surrounded by small children and letting them play with him, just like Jesus!) Shut has begun to wonder and to doubt concerning the new Dysdark agenda. The upcoming Wallenstein intrigue and/or heel-face turn is so clear I can feel it in the air. Maybe he will be purified after Lock (the Dysdark Dusketeers being purified from last introduced to first introduced). Our favourite Mad Hatter still has a long way ahead, but at least he has begun to question his liege lady... What mattered the most was Towa's disappointment in not bringing back Kanata's memories. Now that her brother is finally by her side, he barely remembers her. For the whole autumn arc, we will see both Kanata's memories resurfacing and the Seeds of Despair growing little by little, gradually, one time at a week, escalating up to the Grand Finale.

IN NEXT EPISODE (36):
The Kaido family is finally reunited: Minami, Wataru, and their parents. And they intend to spend a great cruise together with their friends on the seven seas!

Mr. and Mrs. Kaido are both of them alive and well, and their international company thrives!

There appears to be a significant age gap between both spouses (he looks sixtyish and she appears to be in her thirties), the result of either an arranged marriage or Mrs. Kaido's concern for her appearance.

Something tells me that Mr. Tsukasa and Mrs. Masumi Kaido will be the victims of the week...

If not, their marine biologist/veterinarian friend Asuka is a more than likely candidate... 

Who would you like to see as the victim of the week? I'm sure the Kaidos. I mean, Minami could as well have been a Stark. Her brother was targeted, then her boyfriend. And her parents are most likely, IMOHO, to be next on the Dysdark hit list (crosses fingers!)

Of course Minami's friends, and even Kanata, get to tag along on the cruise of the clan.

In Episode 36, Minami will set sail with her family and the whole team, Kanata included. Maybe the sight of the Kaidos will make him remember his loved ones in the Hope Kingdom...