Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 3: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke

Episode 15

Like any decently designed quest in an RPG, Rosemyne's finding herself getting better and better at this material-gathering thing with each run. True, part of the point is that the spring material gathering shown in this episode of Ascendance of a Bookworm is confirmed as simply less dangerous than the winter variants previously entertained. But even as she gets tripped up a few times, it's clear that Rosemyne is just heading into this instance with a good bit more (earned) confidence than she was working with previously. She's been cultivating some strong support as well, which also helps.

Compared to the icy-cold threats of winter, things really are just inherently lighter for this outing to get some magic flower nectar. The sight of Rosemyne's goofy flying raccoon-car soaring alongside the majestic magic sky-horses is played for all its inherent silliness, additionally so when they cut in to show all the knights and attendants buckled in with their seatbelts. I swear I'm never going to get tired of that little sight gag. Safety first! And the lesser threat is underscored before the characters even arrive, as the feybeasts they'll be dealing with, talfrosch, are foreshadowed as not really dangerous, simply…unpleasant.

It's appreciable vibes as soon as the characters start looking for the spring. The scenery around the forest is a lovely rendering of the forthcoming greens of the spring season coming through the melting last vestiges of winter. The sight of the nature-overtaken Goddess statue the team comes upon has its own complementary style to it—you can really tell the background artists are having a wonderful time drawing all this compared to the show's typical backdrops (at least I hope they're actually drawing them). These material-gathering excursions are all about getting Rosemyne out of her usual surroundings to show how she's grown and can actually contribute and touch grass compared to the frail girl who passed out too quickly before. It makes sense that this is leading to the magical solution to her debilitating devouring, since the act of getting the components of the spell is training her constitution effectively on its own.

Hence the less actually threatening elements that Rosemyne and friends must brave for the spring materials while still demonstrating her own resolve to do so. Indeed, the talfrosch being giant frogs intent on, uh, eating everything is simply unpleasant. They don't even digest people as soon as they get them in their mouth, so a giant one swallowing Brigitte and Rosemyne whole is more of a minor inconvenience. It means Rosemyne gets a golden opportunity to go on the offensive with her knife inside the toad's tummy—see, she's taking initiative!

Surrounding this solid action is Bookworm making the most of the imaginative, attractive scenery of the spring setting. The water that Rosemyne and Brigitte get expelled into turns out to be clearly breathable, which is a neat detail. Following a come-down comping night, the girls of the group are beckoned by glowing mana and giant plants that offer up the nectar Rosemyne needs right to her. There's an impressionable implication that all she had to do was politely ask, though I also get the idea that respectfully cleaning up that Goddess statue helped. It's Rosemyne's own steady, gracious approach that helps her succeed, even as I also agree with Ferdinand that she's being way too breezy about the situation itself in the moment.

The characters just happily chill out and play music even as they've been abducted by vines and sealed in a magic dome. Lovely as Rosemyne's singing voice is (and in general this episode is a delightful showcase of Yuka Iguchi's range), it's a reminder that her methodology isn't entirely foolproof, as she still needs Ferdinand to catch her after the plant ignobly dumps her off toward the water. It lines up with the lecture she gets earlier in the episode: she can stick to her principles as she wants while her responsibilities increase, but she still has to keep her guard up and abide by the more serious complexities as she grows into the "real" version of this fantasy world.

It's cool because this episode tells a solidly complete, contained story while still slotting into those expanded thematics and broader machinations of the bigger ongoing arc. Ferdinand and allies gather to foreshadow their own plans for the future (modulating their voices with that sound-blocking magic tool I can't believe I forgot about a few weeks ago), but Ferdinand also concedes that he's coming to enjoy the adventures with Rosemyne for what they are. They're rubbing off on each other, agendas aside. And the episode uses a rare non-chibi post-credits bonus to float the idea of Rosemyne cultivating her own feyplants, taking even more initiative for her place in this world. It's detailed, but it's distinguished and, as this cour has done so well already, feels like more than a workaday checklist of Rosemyne's various duties and projects

Rating:

Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 3: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Chris is back to hit the books. You can see him posting about anime, transforming robots, and other quality reading material over on his BlueSky.