Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road Episode 4 Discussion

Lab_Rat_0978 said:


welp, its explicitly stated the noblesses under princess ashuna's daddy (the king) had no idea how to summon the lost ones until the faust deliberately told em about it

then you tell me iF there's an anti-feat regarding this 'etheric connection'

iirc we've never seen anyone capable of such a feat except menou and flare, no?
its also been established that even menou is capable of invoking magic that couldn't be comprehended by nobles soldiers, no?

daft_mariner said:
The backstory, while not poor, still didn't really give much as to why the otherworlders apparently all turn into uncontrolled threats and why murdering them is the only option. They showed that the girls don't want to murder like that: which makes sense, and Menou is apparently twisted enough to nullify those emotions. However, I'm still waiting for way, way more information than just this. Faust are still a lunatic cult so far, and admitting that they're the 'villains' doesn't make their case any better. I think this backstory could've been saved for a more fitting moment, rather than just in-between the ride.

Strykeryno said:


I think that literally 4 annihilated and turned into inhabitable continets are already a good excuse why the church doesn't want a potential walking nukes around. It was also stated that more the Lost ones use their powers more it will corrupt their minds or they can accidentely annihilate something like the girl from Menou's past. And since there is no way how to send them back home it's somewhat understandable that this is a ''necessary evil''

RayReynolds said:
My patience has pretty close to run out on this one. While Dawn of the Witch is also slow paced and certainly dumb, there is a certain charm to its haphazard flailing and awkward fanservice, and its excessively long flashbacks invariably feature mutilation. The only charm this episode had was observing how part of the training to be clandestine assassins is to teach children to run screaming and randomly waving knives to frantically stab at things. That's basically the whole episode; an extended version of the flashback we already saw. So you know how she was trained by the crazy red lady? Well, she was trained at a school, and had a bond with the red lady. This is certainly something that needed ten minutes taken away from events in progress to explain.

Nor does it help that "events in progress" are not, in any actual way, in progress. They get to their destination and… take a bath. That's it. That's all that happens in the present this week. And in addition to the story coming to a grinding halt so it could spend most of the episode doing a needless flashback, the animation also totally cratered. So many close-ups of faces, eyes, and faces reflected in eyes. And when not that, establishing distance shots. Anything and everything to keep from having to draw too much, and especially animate too much, and by too much, I mean anything at all. Even drawing arms and legs was a big ask this week, let alone anybody moving.

Its more fun having a companion.

Sigmar-Unberogen said:
I love everything in this show so far, apart from the time-travel thing. In previous episode and in this one we are given nearly 100% assumption that the train crashed and time was reset. If they fail to explain how Akari managed to change things after time-reset, this will be a major plot-hole. If we assume that Akari and everyone else lose memory of "rewinded timeline", shouldn't we find ourselves in infinite loop? Akari may have reversed time to avoid train-crash, but if she lost memories of said crash, she would NOT DO anything to prevent the crash or even act differently! Things make sense if we assume that Akari remembers but plays dumb; though this brings even more questions.

Strykeryno said:


I'am 90% sure that she's hiding something. Something tells me that in episode 3 train crashed because she stayed back in the wagon as Menou told her so. Then the train crashed she rewinded time and went after her.
So it's very likely that she remembers everything. Only one question remains: Did she notice/realized that Menou tried to kill her back in the castle?

Sigmar-Unberogen said:

Yeah. I think Akari may be forgetting past if SHE is the one who dies, but in train-crash scene it's assumed that she survived and others died.

I think I'm more convinced in a theory that Akari did a huge rewind already (in the OP we see dead MC and Akari bringing her back) so it's possible Akari knows who Menou really is (including her tragic past) and rewinded time after her dearth maybe, to try to take her on a different route. This would also explain why Menou kind-of remembers Akari. BUT, then this suggest that Akari is very very good at playing a role of clueless Isekai girl and is an expert manipulator and a liar. For some reasaon, I think she's too dumb to be THAT good. Some convenient plot-point may be in play, like her regaining memory for a very short time after rewind or something.

daft_mariner said:
It's not the fact that they can't necessarily invoke the magic itself, but the words themselves should easily have been leaked. It's not a feat. Menou only had to tell Mitsuki to say those words and then he activated it. That's his own feat, not Menou's. Noblesse would certainly want to try find out about it.

Especially in a world that has these etheric powers; there will always be some who want to learn and know more. Overlord showed this perfectly. Just giving out a 'normal' potion to a person can have hugely unexpected results. As they realize those results, we learn more about the world. And that anime already skipped on some material from the light novel.

I don't know about the light novel, but the anime experience is definitely keeping a lot of these details hidden so far.

Strykeryno said:



It depends on what would start the war, but if Noblesse want to overthrow Faust, as they implied, then either one faction could utilize the 'commoners' to get an upper hand. Executioners wouldn't be a thing. A lot of other things have to happen before a war a like that could happen, so that's why I'm calling it a last resort. Point is that Faust should've been trying to make not summoning otherworlders clear in a much harder scale.


Why would commonfolk go to the war against Faust? That's such a big conspiracy that i would be shocked if Faust wouldn't immediatelly found out and launched their counter-measures. And why would commonfolk believe Noblesse? It's religion, god vs king who would they believe more? The king would be easily marked as a heretic and sentenced. The existance of the executioners should be kept hidden from both Noblesse and commonfolk and maybe even some detail regarding the Lost ones.



No, Noblesse decided to take out Menou and Momo because they found out about Akari. ''You snuck your noses in too far.'' The scheme was implied to be this: Summon Mitsuki, throw him out and expect him to get killed, and then summon Akari in the mean time. But this is dumb. They didn't need to do that at all. They kept Akari so poorly safe that someone else could seriously just jump in there and take her: yet they expected Mitsuki to get assassinated. And, they followed Momo knowing that they realized about Akari; yet they didn't remember to increase defenses.


Rewatch the episode. How do you think that Menou found about about Akari? Mitsuki told her. They summoned Akari shortly after he got summoned. They wanted to get rid of the executioners in the town and then utilize Akari as their main asset against the Faust. Which is why Mituki was supposed to be the bait. It was clearly stated in that ep. But maybe there was more, there is still Ashuna that makes me believe that their plotting could go deeper. To early to judge. The only thing that you could say is dumb is that they should have waited a little bit with that 2nd summon until Mitsuki was out so he wouldn't know about Akari.


Faust can never be perfect in their work. However, the work shouldn't be like *this* to begin with. It should be a large-scale operation on the government level. If any otherworlders get summoned that's out of government control, arrest the perpetrators and silently 'save' (arrest) the otherworlder in a group setting, to make sure they don't destroy any homes like it did Menou's. Assuming there's no alternative, eliminate them safely. Noblesse would have to somehow ignore all of this. No person close to King Grisarika would have to not have tried to stop this; we're talking about unstable nuclear weapons, basically = they'd all have to be dumb as apes. This is my main issue if there is no alternative: because then there should be way harder measures taken to stop it in all forms possible, and it's unrealistic that any leader with supervisors agree to summon it. If someone on their side tried to stop it: show that. Add more layers to it.


That's still under an assumtion that there are no other ways or groups that summons them. They try to sabotage their rituals, but eventually someone slips their survailance.
If i remember correctly anyone that breaks the taboo is sentenced and executed. Locking the Lost one away is pointless, because once they find out about their powers no prison can hold them eventually you''ll be forced to kill them but since you locked them up now they are hostile towards the Faust. Making them harder and more dangerous tagets. The manipulation and instant death while they are still clueless feels like much more safer stategy here.
About why nobody tried to stop King Grisarika: Maybe they all shared the same idea that they don't want to be below the Faust and depite how dangerous it is they need that Lost one. So far we barely know anything about Noblesse, to early to judge.

daft_mariner said:



Like I said, the idea of these 'executioners' wouldn't have to exist to begin with. Also, commoners not only probably make the majority of their armies (numerically), they have the right to say no to things that endanger them: they absolutely have saying power in these kinds of matters. I don't know what gave you the idea that I implied conspiracy, when I explicitly talked about the governing factions have these commoners backing them. So far, it feels like Faust and Noblesse both think they're alone on this as the commoners are sidelined.

The faction governing Commonfolk are Noblesse and faction above Noblesse is Faust, it's literally a medival hiearchy. God > King > Commoners
Again you haven't answered anything i asked so i ask again.
Does Commonfolk know about the threat that Lost Ones represent? Does they know about systematic elimination aka executioners? Does they know that their govering faction conspires against Faust, breaking it's taboo, basically commiting herecy? Does they live in the tyranny to begin with? Cuz so far i haven't noticed. They seem to do well. So why war? And what it's supposed to be about? For 2nd time i'am asking you a question, yet you keep dancing around it. I mentioned conspiracy where could Noblesse are spread the rumour about Faust but as i said they would have easily find out.


Yes, I even said that Mitsuki saw Akari. And he was thrown out. I even rewatched the episode for you. ''You should have been satisfied with the one you took out. Now you're going to die because you poked your noses in too far.'' This means they summoned two, expecting the other one to get killed: NOT that he was only a bait. In other words, they didn't expect them to deal with Akari at all. Momo said that he tortured a guard, and that alerted them to follow her. They figured out that the executioners know about Akari. But this is dumb, because if even Mitsuki could find out about it, they should have as well. They didn't of course, because they're not using even basic espionage capability when it matters, which they absolutely could. Even if this worked, the reasoning is still null. They didn't have to sacrifice Mitsuki at all, which was my main point.

Never said their plan was perfect or the most ideal, but it was plan nonetheless, which would went well if it wasn't for one thing. Mitsuki noticing Akari being summoned. If Menou wouldn't find out about Akari, she would have simply offed Mitsuki and then left with Momo. Faust would then come next day to investigate but by that time the king and the ones behind the summoning would have already covered all tracks or something. But once Menou find out Akari she immediatelly gave Momo the echo to start investigating. Once soldier found out that they know about 2nd summon it was basically damage control for them. Taking out the executioners was their last chance. That's what their plan was about i believe.
''basic espionage'' King Grisarika's counterintelligence maybe? Kinda asspull on your part, but whatever.


I put single quotes on 'arrest' because I didn't mean literally lock them up. I meant that they'd secure them, ensure their safety and comfort and then assassinate them when they don't realize it. That allows most slip-ups to not happen, and it ensures the safety of civilians as well. They wouldn't be roaming in public places, potentially endangering themselves and forcing them to use their Pure Concepts.

Basically what the executioners do except wasting more time around them because you naively believe that maybe this time he won't become a threat. At the end of the day you still gonna have to kill them, which is why the executioners exist

But the thing about Noblesse not wanting to be below Faust: realistically, Faust and Noblesse would've been molded together a long time ago, and the monarchs would be the ultimate judges, and maybe with a Pope-like figure that is *indirectly* above them. The danger of the Lost Ones would be part of that.

So far we know a very little about what kind of relationship does the Faust and Noblesse have here. Why some Noblesse wants to be the top dog. Power hungry i guess? I dunno. Which is what i've meant by it's still to early to judge that.

It's sort of allegorical of the historical power of the Catholic church over monarchy, but not like this. Catholicism unified, not acted as an overlord. Those that didn't follow, they 'were condemned.' Sure, this isn't the real world, but religion wouldn't have behaved like this; not when monarchy and nobles exist. Tyranny in this case can't just exist for the sake of it, not for very long at least.