Peach Boy Riverside (Episode 12) - Resolutions and Goodbyes

Sally finds herself standing before a giant tree ogre that has been sealed away for aeons. However, when it is time to fight, she tries something different. What if she can negotiate for peace?

Peach Boy Riverside (Episode 12) – Resolutions and Goodbyes

What happened?

After initially being resistant, the lizardmen and the elves are going to work together to defeat the tree ogre, guided by a human no less. However, Sally steps forward and hopes to bring it all to a quick finish. She tells everyone that they will try for peace. Peace between humans, ogres, and demihumans. It sounds crazy, but could it work?

The short answer is no. Not with the tree ogre, anyhow. The tree ogre picks up Sally and plans on crushing her with a root. After a while, Sally’s power activates and she breaks free with ease. The tree ogre tells her that ogres are born of human hatred and are therefore destined to fight and hate humans. He also points out that Sally is the opposite side of the coin.

Then, the tree ogre turns its attention to Millia who it has determined is weak and has no place in this world. Sally steps in and defends the hair ogre to her surprise. That’s when Sally realises that there may be a chance with Millia, but the tree ogre is too far gone. Her only option is to fight.

Meanwhile, Mikoto finds himself in a discussion with Sumeragi who actually brings up the option of peace after pointing out that Mikoto is not very civilized for a human. Strangely enough, Mikoto allows Sumeragi to live and says it’s because he has faith in Sally and not the strange ogre.

Sally defeats the tree ogre with one punch and is acknowledged by the lizardmen and the elves for saving their lives. Winnie congratulates Sally who is exhausted and wants to sleep. Millia ran away in the confusion, no doubt terrified after seeing what Sally is capable of. When Sally wakes a day later, she finds Hawthorn sitting at the bar having a conversation with the elf and lizardman leaders. She can’t believe her plan is coming together.

Peach Boy Riverside Episode 12 The Tree ogre grabs Sally

What did you think?

So, in the original release schedule, this was the season finale, and it would have worked as a satisfactory ending. Sally achieved part of what she set out to achieve and realised her own strength so that she can push forward. That side of things worked quite well and I’ve certainly seen shows with a similar ending point.

However, there are so many threads left dangling that I am glad it’s only really the middle of the story. So presumably, everything left is a future event that was released before these last two episodes. I shall be on the lookout for any attempt to connect the out of order episodes or whether they will be like the others and just cut and moved around.

Otherwise, it’s a pretty enjoyable fantasy adventure with some interesting characters and a world that has a lot of potential. The most interesting aspect was something the tree ogre said and I’ll get to that now.

Peach Boy Riverside Episode 12 Mikoto confused

What have you learnt?

So, the tree ogre said that Sally was the opposite of an ogre. Does that mean that she is a product of the hatred of ogres for humans since ogres were created from humanity’s hatred? If that’s the case is there the potential for something far worse born from the hatred of people like Sally and Mikoto. Well, maybe not Sally. Mikoto is surely the one that would lead to the creation of such a being.

That makes Sally’s attempts to find peace and end discrimination that much more important, whether she realises the true danger or not. I wonder if Frau and Winnie are aware of this outcome if it is actually a thing that could happen. Following the logic of this world, it certainly seems so. I wonder if that has anything to do with Sumeragi’s stance, especially as we don’t know who he answers to. He makes a lot of comments about how he would be in trouble if certain things didn’t go his way. Hopefully, the remaining episodes will provide some answers.

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