Shironeko Project: Zero Chronicle (Episode 8) – A Promise

Before Adel and the Prince of Darkness return to their kingdom, they are granted one final audience with the White Queen which is lucky as there’s one last thing for them to take care off.
What happened?
Adel mysteriously received a message from the black kingdom just as they were about to return home. Phious, the Knight Commander returned Adel and the Prince of Darkness’ weapons before taking them to visit the White Queen for the last time and collect the document asking for a trade agreement. After accepting the letter, Adel went on a bit of a rant about injustice and “the way it always is”. Then, he transformed and leapt forward swinging his blade at the White Queen. Before he could make contact, the Prince of Darkness cleaved him in two.
The room stood and watched, stunned at what just happened. Phious rushed forward and threw the Prince of Darkness to the ground before beating and tying him up. The Prince of Darkness woke in his cell and began to question what had happened and why he reacted that way. Then a white cat appeared at his door and it slowly opened. He followed the cat out of the castle to where he found his swords. The cat then turned into the White Queen and fell into his arms.

What did you think?
Well, at least they were foraging for greens this time. Admittedly, this was a much better episode and possibly one of the best in the series. There are probably few that could have predicted Adel’s attempted attack on the White Queen (although I did say that I don’t trust him in my last review), so it was a nice twist of sorts. I’m still not enjoying this series, but at least there is hope for some sort of action as we move towards the end. There’s definitely the potential for this to all go wrong and end up like some sort of Greek tragedy, which is something I’d welcome at this stage. Lady Groza is the only character that I feel any sort of connection with and that speaks to the lack of development in this series.

What have you learnt?
The last two episodes were clearly meant to be a way of building up the characters and showing that they can get along only for it all to crumble in this episode. My problem is that while we watched them doing all the bonding, they never really developed any of the characters beyond their role in the group. We didn’t learn anything about anyone, except that maybe they were all being prejudiced and were starting to see that. The Prince of Darkness is an apt lead for this series as he has absolutely zero personality and we still don’t even know his name. I like to think that every character has their own motivations and goals, but so far everyone is coming across as Miss America contestants as all they want is world peace!

Other reviews in the series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – The Land Protected by Light
- Episode 2 – The World’s Egoism
- Episode 3 – The Grief-Stricken Queen of Light
- Episode 4 – The Messenger from Black
- Episode 5 – United Front
- Episode 6 – The Gray-Green Demoness
- Episode 7 – Picking Wild Greens
- Episode 8 – A Promise
- Episode 9 – The Queen of Light and the Prince of Darkness
- Episode 10 – The Gentle Song of Darkness
- Episode 11 – The Distant Sky
- Episode 12 – The Sin of the Beginning
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