Princess Principal/Recap/S1/E05 Case 7 Bullet & Blade's Ballad

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Case 7 Bullet & Blade's Ballad
A story from Princess Principal
Preceded by: Broadcast: Case 9 Roaming Pigeons
Chronological: Case 2 Vice Voice
Followed by: Broadcast: Case 16 Loudly Laundry
Chronological: Case 9 Roaming Pigeons
Original release date: August 6, 2017
Central Theme:
Synopsis:
v · d · e


Quoting from Wikipedia: "Princess welcomes a Japanese delegation led by Lord Horikawa to negotiate a treaty with the Queen, despite the knowledge that he is being targeted by the famed assassin Tōdō Jūbei. During the train ride to London, a stranger boards the train and Ange and Dorothy confront her, only to find out the stranger is Chise, one of Lord Horikawa's bodyguards who has a personal grudge against Jūbei. Princess has Ange partner up with Chise to get the pair to trust each other more, and Chise reveals she wants to defeat Jūbei since he killed her father. Meanwhile, the Duke of Normandy is secretly working with Jūbei in the hopes that Princess will be caught up in the assassination attempt, since he does not want to risk her ascending the throne. Jūbei and his assassins then attack the train, though Ange and Chise are able to fight them off. Princess and Ange work together to stop the train to prevent a collision with another train, while Chise duels with Jūbei. Chise emerges the victor by killing Jūbei, and Ange deduces that Jūbei was Chise's father. Afterwards, Dorothy introduces Lord Horikawa to Control, and Chise joins the spy team as a new transfer student."

Tropes used in Bullet & Blade's Ballad include:
  • Card Games: The soldiers deployed on the train seem to be playing Whist as Ange and Chise walk past them. They're very disciplined, because none of them make a sound when the girls start taking cards out of some soldiers' hands and inserting them into others'.
  • Infant Immortality: Averted, as is probably to be expected in a Grey and Gray Morality setting. Jubei Tōdō had no compunctions about striking to decapitate Beatrice; only her mechanical voicebox saved her.
  • Jump Off a Bridge: Chise enters the story by leaping off an aqueduct onto the top of the train carrying Team Principal, the Japanese ambassador, and his staff.
  • Stealth Insult: The Kingdom of Albion to Japan, when they send a powerless royal with no political connections to meet the ambassador who has arrived to renegotiate a treaty. Princess says nothing about her lack of power, so only Ange and Dorothy notice.
  • Suicide Attack: An accomplice of Jubei Tōdō, disguised as a British soldier, sets off a bomb strapped to his leg to disconnect the Japanese ambassador's train car from the cars carrying the soldiers meant to protect him.
  • Traintop Battle: How Chise first meets the team, by fighting Dorothy and Ange atop the train carrying the Princess and the Japanese ambassador.
  • You Killed My Father: The reason Chise gives Ange for her obsession with Jubei Tōdō. This is only Metaphorically True. Jubei Tōdō is her father, but she has considered her father dead for years because she sees him as a traitor to their country.