Petite Princess Yucie: Episode 13 Commentary
Romance! The Magic of Love Arrives Without Notice
Finally, Glenda works a job she can enjoy, and one she’s serious about, Even better, the candidates get to wear witch-like outfits, a costume favorite of mine to see. Seeing Elmina dressed in all black with a pointed hat nicely offsets Glenda having to wear an angelic outfit in the previous episode (not that Elmina would mind the dark outfit).
Cultural note: In Japan, there’s a saying that if you sneeze, it’s because someone is talking about you. When Yucie says Elmina was smart to choose the shop’s task of filing books, this is why Elmina sneezes.
Glenda gets another episode. This time around she’s lovestruck at a young man who enters the magic shop looking for a strong potion for breaking a spell. She’s able to show off her great knowledge of magic.
Glenda is very much a different person when alone with Amphi, able to enjoy a sunny day, the scent of flowers in the air. Very unlike her usual grumpy self. I imagine in the demon world, she’s somewhere between the two: more relaxed, but still commanding, and a strong figure to her people.
When Amphi says the way Glenda acts is cute, and her daydream of his proposal begins, there are little, single-horned demons fluttering around, each with a bell. Demon world equivalent of cherubs, perhaps?
As the other girls watch Glenda’s lovey-dovey behaviour, Elmina obviously finds it over-the-top, but Cocoloo thinks it’s fine. Cocoloo was also the one who told about the Mermaid’s Light story being romantic, and I know there was another reference to romanticness from her prior which I don’t recall. Cocoloo’s quite the romantic, and yet she’s the one who’s usually quiet and unnoticed. (Come to think of it, she’s about overdo to be unnoticed, isn’t she? Not being noticed in the last episode preview doesn’t count.) With Elmina’s view of the relationship being opposite of Cocoloo’s, Elmina would probably only be completely accepting of a prim and proper relationship, something which wouldn’t be possible from Glenda, Cocoloo, or Yucie. Maybe not even from Elmina herself, were she in a relationship. I’d expect she’d take her time, unlike Glenda with her thoughts of marriage with a guy she doesn’t even know, and is attracted to mostly on looks at the moment.
Either Mr. Gaga has magic powers to control vines (he’s not restricted from using magic in the human world, after all), or the vines’ll simply obey his requests. Probably the former. Moving vines is probably trivial magic, although getting to them wrap around three people and suspend them in the air could take a bit of knowledge to pull off. Leave it to the steward of over a thousand years to pluck the three watchers off the ground like it was nothing.
Amphi’s words about why the ingredients he and Glenda have gathered won’t be strong enough, the story he tells is one to which Glenda can easily relate. He’s travelled far to find a way to break a terrible curse on someone, the same as Glenda lives under the curse of remaining a child. There’s nothing like true empathy to get one fired up.
Cultural note: During the eye-catch, the girls and Ercell are sitting at a kotatsu, a table with a blanket around the sides, and a heater inside. One sits with ones knees under the table to keep warm.
During the crystal ball video call, the demon king looks rather…odd in chibi form. By the end of the conversation, it wasn’t very nice of Glenda to tell her father she’d be bring a guy home, then hang up. Poor guy.
Glenda really enjoys entertaining the thought of marriage. She must look forward to being the same as her mother, just so long as she doesn’t marry someone like her father. Actually, Amphi seems too kind and quiet to be the type Glenda would envision herself with. I can’t imagine him intimitating a flea, even if his life depended on it. Then again, fleas can be rather difficult to intimidate.
Cube arrives to help out again, but he has an ulterior motive. But can anyone blame him for wanting to use Yucie’s position working at the shop to get a discount on magical items? He does, after all, spend a fair amount of money on magic items to help Yucie out.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet, but voice actor Josh Meyer does a wonderful job pronouncing Cube’s magical phrases. They flow smoothly, making for a very realistic sound. Is this a language used by magicians and wizards? Is it an ancient human language which persists within certain groups of magic users? Or an ancient demon language?
While digging, I must say, Mr. Gaga is showing good form for someone his age, and with his back problems. When the others teleport down, surprisingly Elmina does not fly down. She’s also the last to teleport. Did she plan to fly, only to find her wingspan too great to pass through the teleport hoop? And what happens to the hoop now? Does the one Cube bought it from get it back (having just rented it for use), or is it still at the magic shop, waiting for Cube to go and pick it up later? As for poor Mr. Gaga, I feel for him. Not only did Elmina give him a firm kick across his lower back, but she bounced up, then slammed her knee into his back. She may be a ten year old, but that’s gotta’ hurt.
Glenda gets a good moment when Yucie suggests returning to the shop, and Glenda refuses to go back until the job is done. It’s not as forced as the cait sith scene, but maybe just a little forced. Nonetheless, bravo Glenda.
Final thoughts: Do Mr. Gaga and Cube always carry around bottles of potion? And how does Elmina know about the traits of the thorny lizard? Maybe it was covered at the Petite Princess Academy, or perhaps the schools in the sky world cover creatures from other worlds as well.
