Episode 8 – The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold To Another Kingdom

Anime isn’t necessarily known for its depictions of functional families, partly because dysfunctional ones make for such good storytelling fodder. But even in a medium that trades in terrible family units, The Too-Perfect Saint’s Adenauers are in a class by themselves. They’re not just dysfunctional, they’re intergenerationally dysfunctional. Adenauer Grand-mère favored her daughter over her son to the point where he became horrifically jealous of his older sister, so he decided to first utterly destroy her reputation and then later steal her daughter. Then he abused that daughter – and so did Hildegarde when she became the girl’s saintly mentor, justifying her actions as what the girl “needed to survive.” Now that said girl (Philia, obviously) has managed to escape the Adenauer family clutches, Hildegarde offers to adopt Mia. Even though she says it’s to protect her niece from the rest of the family’s downfall, she’s also very open about how taking Mia away from her brother will be an act of revenge upon him. I think she means well and is just trying to be honest, and Mia needs more people on her side. But it’s still not a great situation. Thank goodness Mia and Philia get along, because this is a cycle of hatred that badly needs to end, and honestly, if I were Mia, I’d just pack up and go to Parnacorta and leave Girtonia to rot.

Fortunately for the plot, Mia’s probably not going to do that. (Or is it fortunate? I’m sure plenty of viewers wouldn’t be upset if that were her decision. Maybe she could take Fernand and Pierre with her.) That’s because, unlike her parents and, to a degree, her aunt, Mia has a strong sense of right and wrong, and in her mind, it would be objectively wrong to abandon Girtonia just because some of its nobles and royals are human excrement. She might have made a different decision had Hildegarde confessed to her before Fernand decided to step up. Before the cabinet meeting, Mia felt less confident about her path forward, because it didn’t look like she was getting through to the older prince. But when she saw how hard he was trying to stand up to Julius, I think it restored some of her faith. She did get through to him, and in Mia’s mind, that may mean she’s following in Philia’s footsteps. It would have been easy to give up when Philia’s barrier shattered, because a piece of her knows that she and Hildegarde together aren’t equal to just Philia in terms of power. But Fernand is proof that she is making a difference. He’s conquering his own terror and apathy to face Julius down, and that’s something that she did. Philia gives her strength, even when they’re apart.

Philia’s likely unaware of this on all levels, although she’s making strides herself. She’d probably be aghast if she knew that Grace’s sister Emily saw her as a rival and looked askance at her carefully (and no doubt exhaustively) written instructions, because even though she knows her power to a degree, she still has a hard time seeing herself as worth anything. Emily risks being another Julius, so it’s fortunate that she has Grace, Amanda, and Jane to reel her in. Even Erza, who makes her second appearance this week, seems to find Philia’s knowledge and power at least slightly off-putting. But these constant reminders of people who find her upsetting in some way only reinforce how she ended up with such tragically low self-esteem. If it weren’t for the people in Parnacorta, she’d never see her own value, and I love that she’s slowly coming to understand that. Since we’re over halfway through the season, she may not fully come to accept herself by the series’ end, but between Mia, Osvalt, and Lena, I think Philia is making real progress, and as long as the Adenauer sisters (parental ties notwithstanding, they are true sisters) end up all right, I’ll be happy.

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The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold To Another Kingdom is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Wednesdays.