Fena dances her way to reveal the path to the Garden of Eden in episode 10 of Fena: Pirate Princess.
Finding Eden is a complicated task, as demonstrated in last week’s Fena: Pirate Princess. However, in episode 10, everything seems to be falling into place as the crew quite easily find their way to a hidden island. Samurai Seven discovers secret treasures there while Fena and Yukimaru find their way to Eden. The stage is set for Fena to finally confront her past.
The coordinates were decoded, the crew navigated to the intended location, only to find the empty sea with nothing in sight. Everyone was calm, except for Fena, who was calmly waiting. Suddenly, a giant castle-like island rose above the water. It has been waiting for Fena.
They got off the train and Fena took the lead. Yukimaru was understandably worried, afraid that she would go into trance again, but Fena seemed much more present. Something in her memory had awakened and she saw things a lot more clearly now. Fena’s intuition led them to ancient ruins filled with white buildings. They go further and she leads them to a hall filled with books so numerous that Karin notes it resembles the Library of Alexandria, possibly hinting at another legend.
Fena opens another door and it reveals a huge cave filled with gold and treasures from every country imaginable. The group splits up: Shitan walks alone into another corridor, where he discovers a small room. Will he be able to find Kusanagi? Fena and Yukimaru left the group to move forward, guided once more by Fena’s intuition.
Episode 10 slows down the tempo considerably, allowing the crew to explore the island freely. This isn’t a bad change, but finding and exploring Eden this way seems too easy. Fena instincts aside, shouldn’t there be defense on the island in case of an attack on the ancient ruins? Why was the crew able to walk freely without any obstacles stopping or slowing them down?
While the group is on the island together, the episode still feels like it’s split in two by the way it intentionally separates Fena and Yukimaru from the rest of their friends. With the rest of the Samurai Seven, you have all the legends in one part of the island: the treasures of El Dorado, the library, and Kusanagi. Meanwhile, with Fena and Yukimaru, it’s much more spiritual – but also feels like they’re cut off from the rest of the plot.
One of the best parts of the episode is Fena’s dance. She and Yukimaru arrived at an empty platform. It was the stage in Fena’s song and her dream – the same stage where her mother used to dance. On one of the bricks there was a footprint and a single word: “Initium”, which means “from scratch”. Barefoot and wearing only a simple white dress, Fena stepped onto the stage.
The animation and choreography were stunning, with the light hitting the stage as if it had come from the sky. The music and vocals really make it look as if Fena is dancing among the gods. Every brick that touches her feet lights up and as she dances, seductive and beautiful, Yukimaru can hardly take his eyes off her. His eyes were tender as he recalled how Fena danced the exact same dance 10 years ago. At this moment, it felt like Fena and Yukimaru were closer and farther apart than ever.
The floor rumbled and huge rocks shot up from the bricks that Fena jumped across, revealing a stairway that ascended to the sky. Eden is clearly a reference to the Garden of Eden, no wonder it is a place in heaven. As soon as you step to the top, everything around turns into water as if the island has sunk back into the sea. Fena took Yukimaru’s hand, all the confusion from before disappeared, and together they walked up the stairs to Eden.
