Warning: Future Spoiler for Ascendance of a Bookworm
Hello, and welcome back to Anime Rants. We’re still covering a few shows from Summer 2026. This one took extra long because I got distracted with several weeks of intense gaming – but also because of a short period of burnout on anime. So, what triggered my temporary burnout? Well, based on episode 18, I guessed part of the ending of Ascendance of a Bookworm – and I didn’t like it. I checked Google to see if i was right, and sure enough, my guess was correct. Toward the end of the series, Rosemyne and Ferdinand get married. Ick. Another anime about a child bride? How did I not see this coming until now? The new – if obvious – knowledge left me feeling bummed out about this series and about anime as whole.
Despite my disappointment and failed expectations for this series, I suppose that, at the end of the day, I have fallen for the sunk cost fallacy. (Maybe.) I am four seasons deep, so why stop now? And to be honest, there’s still a lot I love about Ascendance of a Bookworm, such as the style of storytelling, the cute and expressive artwork, and some of the character concepts and development. I believe my temporary burnout is over and I am interested in continuing anime in general even if I don’t blog as much these days. Specifically, I will keep covering Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 4 to its conclusion. With that in mind, let’s review episodes 16, 17, and 18.
Contents
Episode 16: New Dress and Printing Press
Despite usually enjoying this anime’s better moments, I struggled through this episode. There was no action, but there was a bit of pretty magic, and plenty of interesting interpersonal interactions to notice. It wasn’t that this episode was super boring; I was just unable to pay attention as well as I wanted this time. Anyway, the first highlight of the installment was the reveal of Brigitte’s new dress and the surrounding discussion. Brigitte looked stunning, and Rosemyne knew she still needed a husband if she didn’t want to be a Guard Knight forever. She tried to set up things for Brigitte and Damuel, inviting the male Guard Knight into give feedback on his colleague’s clothes.
It was clear that Damuel was smitten by Brigitte’s beauty, and Brigitte herself said she didn’t think Damuel was bad at all. However, to Rosemyne’s dismay, Brigitte said she would not consider Damuel as a husband due their difference in mana. Long story short, differences in mana can dictate who you can and can’t marry in this heavily classist society. Practically speaking, two partners who wanted children needed to have the right balance of mana – they needed to be on a similar level. Brigitte apparently has a much higher natural mana level than Damuel. But not all hope was lost for a romance between the Guards. Rosemyne remembered that her magical blessing would allow Damuel to keep building up his mana throughout his life as long as he trains. In other words, with time and effort, he could equal the playing field in terms of mana.
The next highlight was the completion and testing of the new printing press. It was a huge success and Rosemyne was continuously writing stories down to print. These stories were from other children who paid for educational materials with original stories. In other news, Rosemyne received a letter from the secret lover of the former High Bishop – someone who didn’t know he had been executed. The letter asked desperately for help with an unnamed matter. Rosemyne wrote a rough draft explaining that the High Bishop was dead. For some reason, her magic activated by itself and sent her note immediately in the form of a magical bird (the Ordinance spell). Rosemyne feared she was in trouble, but Ferdinand said there was no issue. I have a feeling these things will come into play again soon – both the letter demanding urgent help and the growing instability of Rosemyne’s magic.
Moving on, Rosemyne hired Hugo from the Italian Restaurant to be her personal chef. He was delighted for the opportunity. That was a relatively minor and boring part of the episode. More interestingly, Rosemyne and Wilfried were given a special duty for the first time. Ferdinand, Syvlester, and Florencia led the two children through a portal into a magical space. Symbols decorated the white floor and magical stones encircled each other above, like planets within orbits of floating runes. It was so pretty and otherworldly that Rosemyne exclaimed, “Fantasy!” out loud. Lol. Anyway, as Sylvester led the prayer to the Gods, everyone including Rosemyne and Wilfried knelt down and fed their mana into the castle. This would ensure the castle was protected by magic while Syvelster and his wife were away. The ceremony was beautiful to witness.
On a final note, Benno told Lutz he wanted to cut the book-making business off from the Gilbert Company, forcing it to become an independent business. Would running a real business be possible for the small group of people who worked to print books? It sounds like bad news for Rosemyne’s agenda, which is to print and spread more books. Anyway, that’s all my notes for episode 16.
Episode 17: Holding the Fort During the Archduke Conference
This episode was rather slow-paced. While Sylvester and Florencia went to the Archduke conference for two weeks, Rosemyne and Wilfried stayed in the castle with Elvira and Lord Bonifatius, who was Rosemyne’s adoptive grandfather. During those two weeks, Rosemyne basically had a holiday. She spent all her free time reading. Unfortunately for her, in the middle of the vacation, Rhiyarda insisted that Rosemyne organize and host a tea-party to learn how to do it for later in life. Though the tea-party was a success and a great chance to show off Brigitte in her new dress, it was still time spent away from books. Rosemyne was happy when it was over and she could go back to reading. I was glad that she got to have a vacation and actually engage in her hobbies in this episode.
In other news, Angelica passed all her courses and it was time for her reward in the form of Rosemyne’s mana poured into her sword. While Rosemyne was imbuing the weapon, she wished for wisdom for Angelica, but was also thinking about Ferdinand. Due to this, the sword evolved into a talking blade with the same voice as Ferdinand. It was hilarious to see the High Priest so pissed off. He clearly thought Rosemyne was mocking him, though that wasn’t the case this time. Rosemyne apologized for causing the strange evolution of the sword, which was named Stenluke. But Angelica was very happy to have a sword that could literally teach her things and serve almost as a permanent tutor. The Guard Knights would make sure Stenluke got an education so he could offer knowledge and guidance to Angelica down the road. It was strange, but all’s well that ends well.
As the holiday went on, Rosemyne hoped for the chance to speak with her grandfather, Bonifatius. However, every time she tried interacting with the gruff man, he seemed to be glaring at her. Rosemyne assumed that she was disliked. In reality, Bonifatius thought Rosemyne was adorable and wanted to talk to her as well. However, the brawny, middle-aged man had no idea how to interact with a small, weak girl. When Karstedt told him his shouts might kill Rosemyne, Bonifatius took it a bit too seriously and started overthinking his interactions. His intense emotions resulted in the “glare” that Rosemyne saw. Hopefully, the two will be able to set the record straight at a later time.
The last section of this installment showed Rosemyne’s meeting with Benno, Lutz, and Otto concerning the future of the company. When she heard that the book business would be separated from the main Gilbert Company, Rosemyne was worried about what would happen to Tuuli and her position. Benno assured her that Tuuli was on the path to be trained as a live-in craftswoman for Rosemyne. Thus, Tuuli would be safe regardless of how the business was divided. As for the new independent book business, it needed a name, and Benno gave the choice to Rosemyne. She chose “Plantin Company” after Christophe Plantin. He was a 1500s Frenchman who contributed greatly to freedom and literacy, and it’s worth looking him up if you are not familiar. That concludes episode 17.
Episode 18: Damuel’s Proposal
We learned in this episode that Ferdinand originally joined the clergy to escape the life-threatening abuse of his stepmother Veronica, the biological mother of Sylvester. It was Sylvester’s idea for Ferdinand to join the clergy to avoid further contact with the evil noblewoman. Now that Rosemyne was technically in charge of the Cathedral, and much time had passed, Sylvester wanted Ferdinand to return to the nobility and leave the clergy. But as Rosemyne pointed out, this would increase the strain on her. Later, Ferdinand explained that although he will be back in the nobility officially, he would still work at the Cathedral with Rosemeyne. Moreover, he would become Rosemyne’s legal guardian. (Apparently Sylvester is not her guardian? I’m confused as to why this wouldn’t be the case. Perhaps it will be explained later, or perhaps it’s just convenient for setting up the eventual arranged marriage or whatever.)
As with many anime characters, I am interested in Ferdinand and his character development despite disapproving of some of his actions. So even though Ferdinand will take the deplorable action of marrying a teenage girl by the end of the series, I still find him highly interesting as a fictional character. So, the early parts of this episode were a treat for me. For one thing, we learned more about Ferdinand’s history. For another thing, I liked the conversation between Ferdinand and Rosemyne. It showed that Ferdinand is not used to people considering his will. Rosemyne prioritized his opinion and wanted to hear his honest feelings. But Ferdinand wasn’t used to being asked what he wanted, nor making decisions based on his heart. He is a toxically pragmatic thinker, leaving out the human element. I wonder how much his stepmother’s abuse contributed to that.
The next section of the episode was focused on Brigitte and Damuel during the Star-Binding Ceremony. To summarize what happened, Brigitte found herself faced with her former fiance, Hassheit. Despite the fact that his scheming for power was what caused Brigitte to reject him, Hassheit insisted that Brigitte was cruel to him and broke his heart. He then asked her again to marry him, saying that nobody else would take a “Withered Geduldh” (Geduld is the Goddess of Earth). Brigitte was furious. At that moment, Damuel interrupted. He stepped in with an excellent and romantic solution: in one year’s time, when his mana level was higher, he would formally propose to Brigitte. In the meantime, she would agree not to accept other proposals. Much to the humiliation of Hassheit, Brigitte agreed to Damuel’s plan. The two guard knights were unofficially engaged.
Elvira’s swoon might have been a bit over the top, but I was also delighted by the rosy tale of two humble and loyal knights. Not only was this a great moment for the romance, but also, Damuel’s solution made it publicly clear that Brigitte was a desirable and honorable woman. Brigitte and Damuel were both so cute as they blushed! There was only one problem after all this took place: Brigitte was painfully oblivious. It soon became clear that she thought Damuel’s proposal was solely a social move to save her honor. It went over her head that the gesture was also an act of genuine romantic love. Rosemyne and the audience can only hope for now that Damuel finds a way to get through to Brigitte.
A few other things happened. For instance, Rosemyne and Ferdinand met with Giebe, the brother of Brigitte. He wished to be on Rosemyne’s good side to avoid future trouble with the nobility. Rosemyne essentially agreed to this because she wanted good relations with Illgner, the region from which Giebe and Brigitte originated. Illgner was a great place for harvesting trees and plants needed for paper. As usual, Rosemyne was on top of her game and no-nonsense when it came to printing books.
Speaking of books, the last part of the episode showed the first successful sales event of Rosemyne’s Plantin Company. They sold booklets containing the songs sung by Ferdinand at the concert earlier in the season. In addition, there was a new series of illustrated books: “The Knight’s Tales,” in which the main character was drawn to look exactly like Ferdinand. Rosemyne justified this by stating that the stories were purely fiction. I understand that Rosemyne is a Capitalist in many ways, and I do think she should spread literacy. But I did think it was opportunistic to make so much bank off of thirsty women who wanted romantic drawings of Ferdinand. Plus, Ferdinand obviously doesn’t want his image circulated. But, morally justifiable or not, it was amusing to see so many women eager for art of a hot man. Rosemyne’s shrewd business mind was also entertaining to witness. That’s all my notes on episode 18.
~Thanks for Reading~
Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants
