The Titan’s Bride 1×9 Review – ‘Those Who Have Vowed to Love in the Center of The World’

From what I’m able to tell, it looks like episode 9 is indeed the final installment of The Titan’s Bride anime season one. Considering how the writers decided to handle a particular narrative, I’m left feeling disappointed.

This review of The Titan’s Bride anime episode 9 mentions sexual assault and consent.

I brought up my issue with consent during my review of episode 7. With Caius busy dealing with an ambush planned by Beri, Baro decided to kidnap Koichi. With our human lead experiencing the poisoning from Karina, Baro decided to help him out (down there) and raised a number of red flags.

The manga gave us an explanation about why Baro did what he did. And I was looking forward to a similar explanation in episode 8. It didn’t happen. I waited for an explanation in episode 9. That didn’t happen either.

I have no idea why the writers couldn’t take a minute or two to properly handle the situation between Baro and Koichi. With what the finale showed, it looked like Koichi and Caius were okay with Baro’s actions.

I’m just sitting here wondering about how The Titan’s Bride anime went from offering BL content that started out being forthcoming about consent to brushing aside what Baro did. Again, it’s not as if the manga didn’t include the explanation. The anime team just had to adapt it. Said explanation wasn’t perfect, but it at least shared where Baro was coming from.

And yes, I know that the flashback showing the reasoning behind Baro’s decision occurred after where episode 9 ended (if you’re following the manga’s timeline). But again, we don’t know if this anime is coming back for a second season. So, why risk closing things in such a problematic manner? Couldn’t the writers move the flashback to be part of the finale?

Sigh!

Anyway, coming to what happened in ‘Those Who Have Vowed to Love in the Center of The World’, Koichi was finally able to eat the Raisa fruit and cure Karina’s poison inside his body. Baro’s the one who brought the Raisa fruit to Caius after Koichi pleaded that he didn’t want the Titan Prince to kill Baro.

Koichi’s just that kind of person. Even though Baro sexually assaulted him, Koichi didn’t want to be responsible for anyone’s death. He already blamed himself for the death of his mother. He wasn’t interested in adding another name to that list.

While Caius fed Koichi the Raisa fruit, we got a flashback to when Baro was a child. His mother told him about Raisa and Karina’s story. From what I could understand, Raisa and Karina, fabled Gods, grew up together. Even though they loved each other, society didn’t want them to become a couple. The Raisa fruit’s ability to counteract the Karina fruit’s poison stems from the two deities finally being together, even if it’s inside someone’s stomach.

The current episode also showed Koichi finally declaring that he loved Caius and how he didn’t want anything to happen to the Titan Prince because of him. Their journey back to Caius’s castle was quite romantic. Koichi opened up about his fears of losing another loved one and Caius promised that he will die after Koichi as not to leave him alone in this world.

You can watch the censored version of this episode for free from the anime’s official website.

Here’s hoping The Titan’s Bride anime returns for a second season!

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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