I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m in love with Granbelm. I’m thoroughly enjoying every bit of it. Well, that’s truer now than ever with all that was revealed in episode 9.

Matters concerning Suishou and Shisui were not what I’d guessed in my last episode review, but by eight minutes into this episode, I understood, thanks to what Shisui said (“please consume me”) and the clue dropped in the flashback. The end of the episode, my adjusted prediction was confirmed. Here is the real story of Shisui.

Shisui’s family was being targeted by some group that insisted on taking a mage from the family. To protect Kuon, Shisui went to “become a mage.” That’s what she told Kuon. I bet that she didn’t have the power to be strong enough mage. So what she really did was offer her soul to be devoured to someone training for the next Granbelm. That someone was Suishou. By volunteering to be consumed, Shisui protected her little sister. As she drained power from the stolen soul, Suishou became powerful enough to participate in Granbelm. She also became able to impersonate Shisui.

Once Kuon finally put all this together, she used some kind of musical magic, “the sound of her sister,” to draw Shisui’s soul out of Suishou. Now, as long as Kuon survives this battle, she can give the soul back to her delirious, half-conscious sister. But now that she’s a part of Granbelm, Suishou doesn’t need to rely on a stolen power. Magiaconatus contains all the magic power in the world, and the girls use it to control their Armanox, fight each other, and summon spirits. That’s why Suishou is still a force to be reckoned with.

Certainly, I’m not only one who predicted that Mangetsu wasn’t human. I hypothesized in my episode 8 review that she was the will of Magiaconatus incarnate. Well, episode 9 definitely showed she’s not human. I thought everything was going exactly as predicted, which honestly would be a little boring, but there was a twist I didn’t see till the end of the episode revealed it. I thought maybe Magiaconatus created an invincible human body for Mangetsu. But actually, Mangetsu’s body is that of a “doll” that can be controlled by Magiaconatus.

There was forshadowing for this. I’ve been wondering why at least one shot of every scene in Shingetsu’s room focuses on that creepy doll. There’s also the analogy of the Armanox being dolls to control; that’s been said since episode 1. Plus, the scene in episode 6 when Shingetsu says something like, “Rather than us mages controlling magic, it could be that Magiaconatus is controlling us.” Really, I should have gathered all that to piece together the last clue. But I’m glad I didn’t. If everything I thought would happen actually happened, I’d get bored.

That’s all the rant I have in me for today. Thanks so much for reading. 🙂

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Granbelm Characters MBTI Types

Mangetsu: The Idealist: INFP
Shingetsu: The Advocate: INFJ
Anna: The Executive: ESTJ
Nene: The Thinker: INTP
Kuon: The Independent: ISFP
Suishou: The Debater: ENTP
Shisui: The Nurturer: ISFJ

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Previous Posts About This Series
Granbelm Episode 1 Review
Granbelm Episode 2 Review
Granbelm Episode 3 Review
Granbelm Episode 4 Review
Granbelm Episode 5 Review
Granbelm Episode 6 Review
Granbelm Episode 7 Review
Granbelm Episode 8 Review

PATREON

(Images from: Granbelm. Dir. M Watanabe. Nexus. 2019.)