WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Fena: Pirate Princess Episode 12, "The Chosen Maiden," now streaming on Crunchyroll and Adult Swim.
There has been no shortage of questions flooding into viewers' minds as Fena: Pirate Princess comes to a close. While many questions get answered in the season finale, it also ended up feeling rather anti-climatic since it was all pre-ordained. The stakes have dipped in the last two episodes after Abel's death, since the main threat was now gone and we entered hypothetical territory. Episode 12 might still leave some viewers reeling, but it has given a resolution to Fena and Yukimaru's story that many will be happy with.
Fena comes from a long line of maidens whose lives have been governed by people like Cody and Franz, the symbols of Eden. That 'gut instinct' Fena had been relying on to get to Eden was already pre-determined by the powers that be, so her choices were never made out of her own volition. Fena's ancestor, Joan of Arc, had been passing on her memories to Fena which explains her visions. All of this was a test to see whether or not Fena had what it takes to be a chosen maiden -- one who will decide the universe's fate. Everything that's happened, since before Fena was even born, was all leading up to this moment to make a single choice.
Cody/Franz intones that the maiden must decide between two fates. The first is that Fena can opt to leave the world to continue as is, and it will be destroyed sometime in the future. Cody shows her a vision of the past when her mother died -- evidently, Helena had decided to let the world continue as is. The vision shifts and the Samurai Seven charge into battle and get killed to her horror.
The second is destruction and rebirth -- Fena can choose to have the world destroyed now and from its ashes, a new one will be created. If she picks this, Fena can board the Ark of Time with Yukimaru (along with other randomly chosen souls) and sail away in safety while the rest of the world gets obliterated. Although it's framed as a choice, just like everything else in her life, Fena never really had one to begin with.
Fena: Pirate Princess delivers a cruel twist: regardless of her choice, Fena will lose her memories of everything that's happened so far to spare her the suffering that will come. She will also need to continue her bloodline. Fena appears before Yukimaru, hair long, already looking like she is far out of his reach. This part of the finale is emotional as Fena tells him that she has never forgotten him, even after she's tried to forget everything else. It's even crueler when you realize that because of the cycle, she soon won't remember him. She promises him that she'll work to create a future where the Samurai Seven will survive.
Their embrace is short before they're forced to separate. Yukimaru makes his own promise that he will find her and make her remember. Just before she disappears, Fena confesses that she had liked him.
However, Yukimaru and Fena aren't separated for long. When Yukimaru wakes up, he's on an island with nothing but a young dark-haired woman standing in the ocean. It's Fena, but with no memories and possibly signaling the end of her role as a spiritual maiden. In a rather nice twist, the crew take Fena home, sailing through the different ports and places they've been to during their adventure, thus completing the song "Vice Versa."
At the very end, Yukimaru hands Fena the knife she used to cut her hair in Episode 2. He gently tells her he'll always be by her side and confesses that he loves her. Fena immediately bonks him, an echo of what Yukimaru used to do to her. She beams at him, teary-eyed -- perhaps bits and pieces of Fena's memories are returning.
And so, Fena's journey comes to an end -- sort of. The last few episodes of Fena: Pirate Princess have tried to tie up all the loose threads, while giving an ending open enough to leave room for a second season. In the last few seconds, Fena spots two children running by who look like Helena and Abel and hears a voice inside her head, asking if she was hoping to find scraps of her memories. Since Fena had chosen the first option, it's likely that a second season will focus on how she'll create a future where her friends live.
It's not really clear how big of an impact losing her current memories will be, since they were needed to find Eden which is now done. It's rather baffling to consider that Fena had been set up from Episode 1 to make this huge decision... that basically everyone before her has already made. Season 1 of Fena: Pirate Princess feels like a rushed and confusing set-up to something greater that ends up almost unnecessary -- because we're back to where Fena's journey began.
