WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Episode 12 of Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood, "Confidential File 707, The Land of Blessed Words," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
With Sawa determined to confront Yoshinobu, Joran: Princess of Snow and Blood gears up for a finale that crams a lot of different plot threads together. The Shogunate is on the brink of collapse and Sawa and Jin are at odds, so the episode has plenty of conflicts to resolve before its final sendoff. As a result, Episode 12 is filled with emotional goodbyes and some obvious twists, providing an overall enjoyable conclusion to Sawa’s unorthodox revenge story.
Towards the start, Sawa leaves to confront the Shogun amid the rest of the city burning down after constant rebel attacks. Elena tries to stop her but is unable to change Sawa’s mind; instead, offering to look after Asahi. As she approaches the Shogun’s manor, Sawa is stopped and taken away by the black crow changeling.
Realizing that it’s Jin, Sawa demands to be let down and the crow takes them to an isolated location. Sawa then berates Jin for lying and manipulating her throughout her life. Jin apologizes and claims to have always been looking over Saawa, telling her to live a free life before going back to the capital to end things with the Shogun on his own. Sawa tries to stop him but Jin is resolute in finishing things off himself.
At the palace, Jin easily disposes of the Shogun’s guards before reaching his chambers. When finally confronted with Yoshinobu face-to-face, Jin is shocked to find that he’s nothing more than a frail old man. Jin laments having spent most of his life following a lie and deals a finishing blow. As the palace burns with rebel forces storming the front, Jin, finally content, looks onto the city landscape before presumably being crushed by the falling debris.
Sawa, meanwhile, is caught in a crowd celebrating the Shogun’s downfall. With her guard down, she is stabbed in the back by a cloaked Rinko but still finds the willpower to return to a waiting Asahi, and the two once again talk about their future. They share one last tender moment together and Sawa dies with a smile on her face, unbeknownst to Asahi.
Years later, Asahi is seen somewhere in the countryside dressed similarly to Sawa. Elena’s daughter, Satsuki, reads excerpts from the diary Sawa gave Asahi before her death. Now 17-years-old, Asahi seems to have overcome the pain of losing her older sister and is determined to live her life protecting others in Sawa’s memory. Sawa’s white crow perches itself on Asahi’s shoulder insinuating that Asahi, by virtue of her blood transfusion, is now the sole remnant of the Karasumori bloodline.
Joran looked to tie up a bunch of loose ends with Episode 12 and while there is some payoff, most of the episode feels like a rushed conclusion rather than a genuine finale. Jin finally seeing through Yoshinobu’s façade, however, serves as an excellent conclusion to his character arc, and Sawa’s death, though sudden, is one of the most impactful moments of the series. Joran might have ended on a somber note, but seeing Asahi finally get closure and find the strength to move forward still allows for some much-needed optimism.
