Peach Boy Riverside (Episode 11) - Ideals and Reality

Sally has gone to see Winnie the witch in the hopes that she can learn magic. Winnie is willing to teach her, but there are some conditions and the last one is more than any of them can afford!

Peach Boy Riverside (Episode 11) – Ideals and Reality

What happened?

Winnie lives in a massive old tree which is also a bar. Sally and her party enter and discover that Winnie has been waiting for them. Hawthorn thanks her for saving his friend and asks what she was doing there. Just reading, apparently. That’s when Sally steps up and asks Winnie to teach her magic. Winnie says that normally she wouldn’t but can tell that Sally wouldn’t betray her. Anyone can teach magic, but the more that can use the less valuable it is.

There are three conditions that Sally must agree to first. Number one, she can’t tell anyone. Number two, she will do Winnie says without question. And finally, number three, she will pay Winnie one million… Sally doesn’t have that sort of money and even though Winnie was willing to take off a discount for whatever they had on them now, they still didn’t have any money.

Disappointed, Sally asks Hawthorn to teach her how to use a sword. He trains her and is surprised at her technique. It’s really bad and despite her being smaller than him she continues to try to overpower him rather than play to her strengths. After the session, Winnie takes Hawthorn aside and shows him the battle with Sett. He’s shocked at how powerful Sally is.

As night is approaching, Winnie lets them stay the night if they clean the rooms. Frau visits with Winnie and it’s revealed that they are old friends and that there might be more to Frau than meets the eye. She begs Winnie to teach Sally and she eventually agrees, but Sally will have to pay her back. In the morning Winnie tells Sally and she’s delighted.

Sally had barely begun her training when a lizardman and elf appear. They want Winnie to lift a barrier over a terrible ogre as they wish to destroy it after what happened to the nearby kingdom. She agrees as long as Sally’s party can join them. When they get there another ogre has already woken the giant Tree ogre and is keen to kill Sally.

Peach Boy Riverside Episode 11 Millia and Tree ogre

What did you think?

Just as 7 follows 2, 11 continued from the exact moment episode 7 ended. So far, there have been no clever transitions. It feels like a complete hack job. So far, I can’t see a single reason for the episodes airing out of order. It makes no sense.

We were introduced to some interesting characters in this episode and found out a little more about others. Winnie is cool and has the laid back approach of someone who’s seen it all. I liked the interaction between Winnie and Frau, especially when Frau started talking normally and not with her normal basic sentences. These two have a bit of history and it hinted at Frau hiding even more.

It was a surprising ending to things as the lizardmen and elves were about to join together to fight the Tree ogre. Sally was inspired that they were able to get along to achieve a common goal and it gave her hope for her mission. She instantly called for everyone to stop fighting so they could arrange a peaceful resolution. Mikoto, however, killed Somenki and seemed to be ready to go after Sumeragi.

Peach Boy Riverside Episode 11 Sally training

What have you learnt?

I have a lot of respect for anyone that sat through the episodes as they aired in this bizarre order. It must have been impossible to get into the story and by the time the natural conclusion to one episode finally came around, you would have probably been struggling to remember what led to that point. I think I would have gotten quite frustrated.

Watching it in chronological order has been fine. It’s not blown me away but it has been a fun series with some cool characters. It certainly isn’t deep enough to warrant this sort of artistic decision and even if it was, the way in which it was done is embarrassing. It feels more like someone loaded the episodes in the wrong order rather than it being a conscious decision. It’s just baffling.

Chronological viewing order – 4, 1, 2, 7, 11, 12, 5, 6, 3, 8, 10, 9