Anime Recapped here. Today, I'm going to
explain an action-adventure anime called ‘SpiritChronicles.' Spoilers
ahead! Watch out and take care. While riding on a bus, a young man recalls
the promise he made to his childhood friend, promising her that even if he dies, he'll
protect her. In a wicked turn of events, the bus gets involved in an accident, and
it is unclear whether there are survivors. When the young man wakes up, he finds himself at
the Kingdom of Beltrum in the body of a little boy. His memories are still hazy. He knows
that his name is Rio… Or is it Amakawa Haruto? His memories as Amakawa Haruto are getting
mixed up with his memories of his current life. Rio is baffled, asking himself
whether his fever has made him go crazy. Suddenly, the door opens, and in comes three
grown men. One of them tells him that he's really a stubborn brat. They brought food with them,
but they don’t give any to the starving Rio. Instead, he’s sent out to go wash since
he stinks and according to the men, the smell makes the food taste bad.
Outside, he picks out some fruit, or are those vegetables? Either way, he uses them
to fill his empty stomach, and while doing so, he tries to get a hold of Amakawa Haruto’s
memories. Japanese. 20 years old. University student. Died in a traffic accident. Rio doesn’t
know how he knows these – he doesn’t even know what a traffic accident is! He sets this aside
for now and focuses on who he believes he is: he’s Rio, and he lives in the
slums so he can avenge his mother. Rio recalls that he used to ask his mom why his
and his parents' hair was black. His mom replied that it was because they came from a far-off
place called Yagumo, and everyone there had black hair. His mom promised to take him there when he
gets bigger so he could meet his grandparents. But that promise is nothing but empty words
now as his mother was killed by an unknown man. After washing, he is approached by a woman
and some young girls. The woman rudely asks him whether he has seen a girl with light purple
hair. One of the girls named Celia Claire politely asks him the same question, and Rio answers
that he hasn’t. Celia hints that they will be going to the slums to look for the missing
girl, but Rio says that it's better not to since the slums isn’t a place a lady dressed as
nice as her should go. The rude woman, Vanessa, says they should change clothes and just come back
later. But before that, she asks Celia to do a search of the entire area using magic, surprising
Rio. During her search, she incidentally finds that Rio is overflowing with a large quantity
of power and that he has the potential needed to use magic. Before they leave, Celia pays him
in greater silver coins for the information. Rio goes back to the house he’s staying in.
There, an unknown man attacks him with a blade, but the pouch of silver coins around his
neck saves him. Just as the man’s about to attack him again, an ethereal woman bathed in
bright light appears before him. She calls him Haruto and announces that she will teach him
how to use his magic. Tutorial time, folks. The woman instructs him to use the light coming
out from his body to increase his physical abilities and strengthen his body. Rio does this,
and he beats the man by combining his magic along with his knowledge from his past life. With
his assailant rendered unconscious, he notices a moving sack, and in it is a purple-haired girl.
She must be the one Celia’s looking for. The girl thanks him for his help and asks him to take
her to the castle, but when she sees one of the dead bodies inside the house, she faints.
Rio carries her on his back and is on the way to the castle when he stumbles upon Celia and
her group again. A girl named Princess Christina repeatedly accuses him of kidnapping her, but
Vanessa calms her down and asks Rio to come with them to the castle so he can explain
what happened. Though he refuses at first, Vanessa’s insistence wears him down and he agrees.
Back at Rio's home, knight guards arrive at the crime scene and find the kidnapper. He's
still alive, as Rio chose not to end his life. A shady-looking fellow from the crowd of
onlookers seems to have recognized him and crushes a crystal he's holding. And when he destroyed
the crystal, the man dies in time with it. While the police are clueless about his
death, the shady fellow leaves the scene. At the castle, Rio is being interrogated by the
Vice-Captain of the Knights of the Royal Guard, Charles Arbor. With both of his hands locked
up and being suspended mid-air, Rio is being treated as a guilty man. Charles demands him to
admit that he participated in the kidnapping of the second princess, and when Rio pleads his
innocence, he hits him with a wooden paddle. Meanwhile, the kidnapped princess Flora
finally wakes up from her slumber. While the princess was sleeping comfortably,
the kid who saved her is suffering at the hands of the people who serve her. Vanessa explains
to her what happened, and upon learning that they’re trying to determine if Rio’s testimony is
true, she asks that he be summoned to her room. As for Rio, the poor boy has been beaten
so much that his face is starting to swell. Charles is still demanding that he cough
up what he knows about the kidnappers, but what can he say when he literally
doesn’t know anything at all? Fortunately, Vanessa and Celia soon arrive at the interrogation
room. They’re shocked to discover the knight’s inhumane treatment of Rio, but Charles insists
that he’s just conducting a lawful interview. Vanessa stresses that she told her men that
the investigation should be handled courteously but Charles maintains that Rio’s likely involved
in the princess’s kidnapping. At this point, this bozo’s just running his mouth to cover up
his incompetence. Vanessa promptly informs him that Princess Flora owes Rio her life, and with
that, the boy’s torture finally comes to an end. Celia heals him as soon as he is let down, and
he wakes up in a room inside the castle. She apologizes for letting him go through something
terrible, and when asked if she healed him, she says that she did, and that she’s learning
magic at the Beltrum Royal Academy. The king wants to express his gratitude to Rio in person,
so he asks Celia to teach him manners befitting of someone who will have an audience with the king.
When Rio is presented to his royal highness, the boy’s appearance and manners have greatly
improved. He no longer has his long, unruly hair and his old, tattered clothes. And what’s more
is that Rio now knows how to act when in front of royalty, how to speak in a dignified manner.
Bit by bit, life is changing for little Rio. _____________________________________________________________________________________
Since Rio had done well to save his daughter, the
king proclaims that he will have Rio attend the royal academy's primary
school as a scholarship student. After some time, Celia offers to teach
the illiterate Rio how to read and write. He just needs to come to her research lab after
school. She also adds that many of the students at the academy are from noble families,
but Rio insists that he knows his place. With that, the two enter the classroom, and
Celia introduces him to the whole class. Seeing him has the students talking amongst
themselves about how he’s from the slums and that the king approved his entrance to the royal
academy. The boy introduces himself and tells everyone upfront that it is by the king’s
grace that he is there. Though he’s lacking in many ways, he hopes that they will still look
favorably upon him. And in response to his earnest introduction, a student named Alphonse comments
that he can at least speak as well as a servant, earning a laugh from the other students. Still,
Rio goes to sit down as instructed, and he notices that Princess Christina is in the same class,
giving him a dirty look. While Celia’s teaching Maths, Alphonse continues to mock him, saying that
he probably can’t read. Rio just pays him no mind. After class, Rio goes to Celia’s lab as she had
instructed. An enraged Celia opens the door, loudly asking if he can’t read the sign on the
door (he can’t). It’s clear that she’s completely forgotten that she offered to tutor him. But
when Rio reminds her, she quickly regains her composure and welcomes him inside her very messy
lab. There are more books on the floor than there are on the shelf! While Celia tries to tell him
that she’s usually more organized, he observes that there are a lot of difficult-looking
books there. Celia says that she’s only 12, and she skipped several grades and graduated
from high school at her very young age. First things first, she asks him to solve
some math problems, which Rio does quickly and correctly. Celia’s surprised at his ability
to calculate mentally especially since Princess Christina’s the only one who can do that. To
Rio, however, it makes sense that he can do these math problems since Haruto was a university
student. This isn’t the only time his experiences as Haruto came in handy. One day, he’s made to
spar against his swordsmanship teacher since no one wants to partner with him. Since Haruto
dabbled in Japanese swordsmanship in his lifetime, Rio applies what he knew from his previous life
and attacks his teacher. The other students stop what they’re doing to observe the duel,
and they’re all unfamiliar with Rio’s stance since it’s a Japanese one. All in all, Rio’s
really lucky that Haruto was well-rounded. Imagine if his past life was a scrub.
Impressed, Rio’s teacher says that he has the makings of a knight, but Rio answers
that he has no interest in joining the knights. Hearing this leaves everyone stunned – why
wouldn’t he want to join their prestigious ranks? Rio just focuses on studying, learning from Celia,
and taking his exams to the best of his ability. One day, while Rio’s traversing the
school, he remembers Ayase Miharu, Haruto’s childhood friend. When his parents
divorced, the two of them were separated. He saw her again in high school… And
that was it. He never saw her again. It’s like she erased herself from his sight.
Rio perishes the thought and thinks to himself that right now, he’s Rio. Amakawa Haruto
is long dead. With that, he resolves to live through this life and be strong, tenacious.
When the exam results came, everyone is shocked to see that Rio placed first alongside Princess
Christina. The other students could hardly believe this – how can a commoner like him rank
alongside the kingdom's princess? Alphonse even accuses him of fraud, saying that he must have
used some dirty trick. Rio calmly defends himself, saying that he simply took the test. A friend
of Princess Christina reprimands him for his baseless claims and Princess Christina asserts
that unproven allegations only serve to dishonor the academy’s dignity. Celia chimes in to add that
this achievement is the result of Rio’s hard work. Alphonse won’t have this and says that he can’t
accept it before storming off with his friends. Just as Rio’s about to thank the two girls for
defending him, the princess’s friend sharply informs him that she didn’t intervene for his sake
and that she won’t rank lower than him next time. At Celia's lab after school, she congratulates
Rio for placing first in the end-of-term exams. She admits that she's worried about him because,
after his good result, the students will surely double down in trying to find fault in him.
Smiling, Rio assures her that he’s already used to it. He also learns that Celia’s experienced
the same kind of bullying. She just ignored it. When Rio responds that he thought so,
Celia defensively adds that in her case, she had friends. He says he'll be
fine, too, since he has Celia with him, which makes the girl all flustered. With that, he
asks a favor from her: if ever he's in trouble, she should advise him as a friend and teacher.
Celia enthusiastically agrees to this and even goes on to say that whenever he’s about to cry
from all the bullying, she’ll take him to her bosom. Rio then replies that since she’s small,
she’s perfect for him to cling to. This makes an all-worked-up Celia yell that she’s still growing,
but the two friends end up sharing a laugh. Five years pass, and Rio is now in sixth grade.
An exhibition tournament between the knights of the realm will be held again that year. The
representatives for the primary school division are Alphonse Rodan, Steward Huguenot, and Rio.
Of course, everyone is surprised that a commoner from the slums was chosen. Hello, classism,
these brats' old friend! The years did nothing to dull Alphonse’s spoiled and petty nature, so
he protests against Rio’s inclusion, saying that it’s a disgrace for someone as lowly as him to
participate in a knightly tournament. The teacher, however, is firm that the line-up’s already
decided and no objections shall be entertained. That day at Celia's research lab, she mentions
that if he does well in the tournament, the knights may scout him even before graduating.
Rio tells her that he has no intention of becoming a knight. After graduation, he’ll probably go on
a journey, which makes Celia wonder if he plans to leave the country. To this, he admits that
this country is difficult for him to live in. Celia offers him a job to work in her lab, saying
that all sorts of things will go wrong without him around since it’s so tidy when he cleans and he
makes such excellent tea. He also reprimands her whenever she gets too caught up in her research.
Rio just answers that sooner or later, she’ll enter into marriage talks, so it wouldn’t be good
for her to have some unknown commoner in her lab. Celia confesses that she has no intention of being
married for a long time before protesting against what she believes to be Rio thinking that
she’ll miss her chances of getting married. Rio simply answers that she looks so youthful
and lovely; he’s sure she’ll be fine. Celia then concludes that he’s saying she looks like a child,
but he emphasizes that she’s a charming woman, making said charming woman blush. She’s honestly
so into him, she can’t even hide it. The topic then shifts to Rio’s destination, and he tells
her that he wants to go to his parents’ homeland, the Yagumo region, which, according to
Celia, is at the edge of the wilderness. The day of the tournament finally arrives. The
first battle is immediately between Rio and Charles Arbor, the knight who tortured him back
then. Charles still remembers him. After all, you probably don’t just forget about an innocent
young boy you’ve mercilessly beaten up unless, you know, that’s a regular Tuesday for you. Still,
he shows no remorse for what he did. As for Rio, he coolly tells the knight: “I owe you a
debt for your care of me back then. I was so very sorry I couldn't have been of more help."
Their duel begins, and Rio adopts his signature stance. Like the others, Charles is taken aback
by the peculiar stance, but he wastes no time in attacking the boy. He doesn’t hold back at all
– he’s swift, forceful, yet Rio parries all of his attacks with ease. Celia is shocked to see a
knight going all out against a primary schooler, but Rio’s no slouch, either. The more Rio
parries him, the more aggressive Charles gets, especially as he thinks back to getting demoted
five years ago because of his inhumane practices against the boy. Alas, despite giving his
all, Rio still wins against him in the end. Instead of a thundering round of applause, all
Rio got was a soft rain of claps, as if the crowd wasn’t pleased by is victory. Still, he graciously
accepts the victory and takes his leave. After his humiliating defeat, Charles
is getting plastered with the Honorable Ambassador of the Proxia Empire, who slyly
consoles the knight by emphasizing that he simply let the child get the glory. Charles
is pleased by the ambassador’s reading of what happened and complains about Rio. He
mentions the incident from five years ago, where he thought that the boy was
involved in the princess’s kidnapping. A flicker of recognition crosses the ambassador
as he thinks back to the kidnapper being taken out of his dwelling. This time, he wears a more
knowing look and continues drinking with Charles. The following day in the academy, an excited
Celia’s about to celebrate Rio’s victory with him, but she stops in her tracks when she sees a girl
shyly giving her star student a confession letter. The girl squeaks out that his performance
yesterday was very dashing and before Rio could get a word in, she runs away. Celia’s absolutely
shocked and perhaps even crushed to see this, and she can only look away, too stunned for words.
Rio's everyday life at the academy is far from sunshine and rainbows. He is practically
isolated from the other students, and in his five years there, he’s only made
one friend, who also happens to be his teacher. But in spite of how the world decides to view
a commoner like him, Rio remains steadfast in his resolve to fully live this life with as
much strength and tenacity as he could muster.
