The Kingdoms of Ruin (Episode 8) - Coronation

Adonis and Doroka travel through the desert in search of human cities to destroy. Meanwhile, Dorothea is to be crowned as the Queen of Redia following her husband’s death. At least, the coronation should be entertaining!!!

The Kingdoms of Ruin (Episode 8) – Coronation

What happened?

The whole of Redia has tuned in to see the coronation of Queen Dorothea. They watch with tears in their eyes and their hearts bursting as the new Queen treats them to some sort of pop idol performance, cementing her place in their hearts. While they are distracted by this over-the-top performance, the heads of the various parts of the government are severed in the most literal fashion imaginable. Dorothea has taken absolute control of Redia.

Meanwhile, Adonis and Doroka came across an abandoned town in the desert called Sand Land. After searching for people, they found a man in a jail cell singing a song to his sleeping cellmate. Adonis and Doroka talk with the man and discover that everyone abandoned the town with the development of Gear Expansion. It was unseemly to live in such an old-fashioned way without the witches around. Adonis asked where the nearest town was and then left. Doroka ran after Adonis and asked if they shouldn’t help the man. Adonis told her that he needed to be left alone. The cell was not locked. His cellmate was his deceased wife who had been accused of being a witch.

The Kingdoms of Ruin Episode 8 Dorothea's idol performance

The Kingdoms of Ruin Episode 8 Dorothea's casualties

What did you think?

Well, I can say with one hundred percent certainty that I was not expecting an idol performance in this series. And, it was the most surreal and out-of-place thing, however, given the juxtaposition of the beheading of the heads of each of the government departments going on in the background it almost worked. Almost… It’s hard to reconcile a pop idol performance after six episodes of genocide and mass murder. It’s a little too jarring if I’m honest.

The second half of the episode which focused more on Adonis and Doroka was actually far more interesting. It had more of a post-apocalyptic feel to it with them investigating an abandoned town and finding a man who lost his wife to the witch hunts. That felt much more like a story that I would like to follow. It reminded me a little of A Wind Named Amnesia. However, I don’t think this style will last long as they are headed to a major city. I’m expecting the carnage to return. It’ll be interesting to see if Adonis does change his stance on things. There’s obviously more to Dorothea than we’ve been shown so far. I’m almost expecting some sort of time loop to appear that’ll throw the entire story on its head, not that it needs to get any more convoluted…