#Takamina said he wrote Suzume to be a girly character and 'i want to be bride of someone i truly loved' is about as stereotypically girl

[mofffun]

preliminary conclusions about Suzume in ep45:

It's entirely the wording.

I don't have a problem with having one domestic-driven woman in an ensemble cast like kingoh's. The problem is when it was Suzume, someone who was so far written as cunning, ambitious and endurant, the transition needs a strong base. Right now, it looks like Suzume is just going with what the men in her life wanted, as we could only interpret she made the choice to stay behind the camera.

I believe Suzume's confession should've been motivated by her sense of home and country. She should've expanded on what a "woman of Toufu" means. Instead of complying to "her brother"'s will, it should've been as a citizen of Toufu, her king trusted her, and she'll gladly take up the mantle even if it means sacrificing her personal happiness.

Her choice to stay by Racules could've come from "home before country". She has found her temple - wants to build her own temple - prove herself in a personal domain before becoming responsible for all families in Toufu. Then it could even tie into Gira's "everyone's a small king" philosophy.

Or she could've rejected the throne because of her ambition. She has wanted the throne for herself, but she knew there's a reason Iroki chose Kaguragi instead of her. She wanted power, but she also wanted her lover. She knew she had to choose between her country or a traitor for a husband, and after years of deception, she doesn't want to lie to the people that she did all this for in the first place. Or that it's her redemption for letting Dugded loose during the six months of the kings' absence, as Queen of a puppet Shugoddom.

This is the elephant in the room. I have more regarding the episode's pacing and contrasts, how the theme of inheritance was handled, as well as Suzume's trajectory in consideration of the whole series. I have nitpicks about both eng subs so an extra paragraph about translation. I want to respond to some other angles but don't know when for now.