Episode 5 – Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin

I thought I had a pretty good handle on this show. It seemed relatively straightforward, if low-key, fantasy about characters farming in a magic version of medieval Japan. While gods and demons exist in this world, they aren’t exactly a driving presence, so the vibes have otherwise been pretty chill. Sure that doesn’t make for the most exciting series to talk about, but I’ve been mostly enjoying it, and I’d say it’s a cozy little show if you’re looking for something simple and charming to watch.

…And then the aliens showed up

Alright, I suppose I should backtrack a little, Since last week’s episode gave us a little more backstory on Myrthe, it seemed only fitting that Kinta and Yui would be next—and they end up taking center stage here. While Kinta has been rude to everyone, he’s especially mean to Yui despite both of them having been together the longest and Sakuna makes it her business to figure out what’s going on with them. The conclusion she comes to is that Yui is in love with Kinta and does her best to play matchmaker (which was probably something that was always doomed to fail even without her flaunting her romantic expertise from a book called “Unrequited Love Story”) but only ends up making Kinta angrier with Yui as he ends up tossing a gift she made for him.

Soon we learn that Yui is so dedicated to Kinta because he had once saved her life. Meanwhile, he doesn’t remember doing such a thing and is stuck between being creeped out that she kept following him around and feeling like she’d be better off chasing after someone else since he has nothing to offer her. Neither stance is unreasonable, but I mean…they’re both stuck together on an island full of demons. At this point keeping Yui at a distance isn’t doing her any favors, so Kinta’s attempts to spare her from misfortune instead make him seem like a bigger jerk. However when Yui goes missing and everyone goes to look for her only to discover a mysterious swan, we learn the truth: Yui was a swan who was given a human form as part of some contract and that’s also the reason why Kinta doesn’t remember saving her.

Now given the general vibes of this show, along with the knowledge that our titular heroine comes from a realm filled with various deities, I was expecting the explanation here to be that one of them took pity on Yui and gave her a human form to be with Kinta. Apparently, I was too simple-minded. As it turns out, Yui was given her human form by a group of beings called the Visitors who claim to be from another world, complete with a spaceship, and are on a mission to save their world from peril.

So uh…yeah to call this a left-swerve would be something of an understatement. Sure I know this is based on a video game and pretty much any JRPG worth its salt has a big twist that completely changes your perception of the game’s world. I’m sure this all makes complete sense to the people who’ve played the game and it probably has a solid explanation there. For my part, this just left me with a barrage of questions. Are all the demons on the island just weird aliens? Is the “Lofty Realm” not a divine realm for gods but just some advanced civilization posing as them? Are these places even on the same planet?! You can’t dump aliens into my medieval fantasy farming show without elaboration!

…Except that’s basically what happens here. Aside from acknowledging that Visitors exist, the show otherwise carries on as normal, with Kinta bringing Yui back to her human form by revealing how much he actually cares for her—and nothing with the aliens is even given a second glance. I hate to use the term “Big Lipped Alligator Moment” but that is the only way I can even begin to describe how nonchalantly the show brings up the alien thing and then immediately proceeds as though it didn’t. Honestly, I’m not sure how to even rate this episode. The Kinta and Yui stuff probably would have been cute and inoffensive otherwise. As it stands, I’m honestly baffled by all this, and regardless of how substantial this ends up being, it leaves me scratching my head for the next week.

Rating:

Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.