Episode 12

**Sherie's Rhapsody of Fate** シェリー運命の狂詩曲（ラプソディー）, *Sherī Unmei no Rapusodī*) is the 12th episode of the **Konjiki no Gash Bell!! Anime**. This episode first aired in Japan on June 22, 2003.

## Overview

Sherie and Brago had been journeying the Amazon for the past three days with little rest in order to pursue another enemy team. While in the midst of battle, Sherie can't help but think back be reminded of her best friend, Coco, who is the very reason why she's been fighting hard to end the great demon battle as soon as possible.

## Plot

In the middle of a dark tunnel, a young Sherie cries alone until she sees her best friend, Coco. Sherie asks Coco where's the way out of this dark tunnel to which Coco responds that she doesn't know either. Sherie then continues to cry as she's afraid that they'll never get out of the darkness. Coco stands up and holds her hand out to Sherie saying they'll walk and eventually find happiness at the end of the tunnel together.

In the present day on a Sunday morning, Gash eagerly wakes Kiyomaro early so they could train together that afternoon in the event they would have to face an opponent as strong as Brago. As Kiyomaro gets out of bed, he can't help but think about what Brago and Sherie are up to since Gash had mentioned them just then.

Meanwhile in the middle of the Amazon, Brago faces off against a large alligator who he easily defeats with a single blow. While waiting for Brago, Sherie sits alone contemplating in front of a small fireplace thinking about Coco. Brago eventually returns bringing back with him the same alligator he had killed for them to eat. The sight of the alligator initially scares Sherie but they then proceed to eat it anyhow. Brago at first criticizes her for not eating the alligator raw like him as he claims that she'll get more energy from eating it raw. Sherie dismisses this then points out how she had wanted fish instead of an alligator. Brago eventually continues and tells her to eat in order to keep her energy up.

In the meantime, Kiyomaro and Gash end up at a sushi restaurant as part of their "training" where Gash spends most of his time eating away at all the yellowtail sushi they have to offer. Gash explains that if they're hungry at all then they won't have the energy they need to train. Kiyomaro then watches as Gash proceeds to consume dozens upon dozens of sushi dishes before Gash eventually finds and eats a whole yellowtail fish on his own leaving Kiyomaro to question if all demons are able to eat this much.

At the same time, Brago is shown to have been able to consume the entire alligator he had brought back leaving nothing but the bones. Brago then tells Sherie that them coming there to find enemies is essentially pointless as the weaker demons will disappear even if they ignore them. He then suggests it would be better for them to train and become stronger to face the stronger ones as the battle goes on. Sherie questions Brago if he's been avoiding fighting weaker teams on purpose but Brago answers saying it's simply been more difficult to find new opponents. He then adds that this means that even the weaker demons are becoming stronger as well. Even so, he knows that there are many opponents who are afraid to even challenge him at all. As Sherie finishes eating, she and Brago head off deep into the rain forest in search of their next opponent. As Brago walks ahead of Sherie, he notices just how much Sherie has been staggering with fatigue as she tries to keep up with him. Brago then thinks to himself how inconvenient it's been for him to have to be partnered with weak humans for the battle to decide king and even feels confident that had it been him alone, he would have already won. Despite this, he finds himself intrigued by Sherie's determination to end the battle quickly as he knows that she hadn't slept in the past three days during their journey.

As Sherie catches up with Brago, the only thing she's been thinking about is Coco. In a flashback, Sherie rushes out of her car to come to Coco's side after seeing her being pushed down by a group of people in town. When asking Coco what had happened, Coco explains that she had been accused of stealing some fruit. Before Sherie acts on her own to chase after those that pushed Coco down, Coco stops her and tells her that it's fine and how she's used to being blamed for these things. She also adds that it's useless to try and talk back to those people anyhow since she has to focus on studying and working. Sherie reassures Coco there that no matter what happens, she'll be by her side.

Later that day in Sherie's estate, Sherie drinks a cup of tea while upset that nobody seems to see any of Coco's good qualities because of the fact she's poor. Sherie's butler then reminds her of the fact that Coco was the one who had saved her life a long time ago. Sherie thinks about this feeling grateful to have a wonderful friend like Coco who had saved her and supported her since that fateful day. She then asks her butler if she had told him the story where Coco had saved her from the river that she had thrown herself into. He responds saying that she mentions that story at least every month and feels the same as her as he knows that Coco is a wonderful person. He then informs Sherie that he had received confirmation that Coco had been accepted into the university she had been wanting to go to. This instantly puts a smile on Sherie's face and the two of them immediately head out to meet with Coco right away to tell her the good news.

In the car, Sherie is excited to see Coco to tell her she had been accepted into the school she wanted before Coco officially receives the notification the next day. As they arrive in Coco's hometown however, Sherie sees that the entire town is engulfed in flames with Coco nowhere to be found. Worried for Coco, Sherie runs off deep into the town unconcerned with the fires around her. As Sherie runs deeper into the town, she's relieved to see a familiar figure standing just in front of her. Sherie calls out to Coco who then turns around to tell Sherie, smiling, saying that she had caused all this destruction. Coco, now with a spell book in her hands glowing bright, casts the first spell, *Radomu.*Thedemon next to her, Zofis, aims and destroys a building just behind Sherie. Coco goes on to tell Sherie that this power is amazing and with it she'll be able to get back at everyone who has done her wrong.

Sherie, confused, questions Coco of what she's talking about and reminds her that she had even told her before that all she wanted to do was to go to a university and eventually find a good job. Coco coldly responds that she doesn't care about those things anymore now that she has this new power. Coco then also adds that with this power, nobody will ever hurt or mock her anymore. Sherie, now despondent, says that this is all wrong and tells Coco that she had thought that all Coco wanted to do was to find happiness. Coco then gives Sherry a blank smile and tells her that she has already found her happiness. Sherie would then turn her attention to Zofis, who is standing beside Coco laughing and questions what he had done with her.

When asked about his involvement, Zofis explains that he didn't do much at all aside from changing Coco's feelings by increasing her hatred and having her forget about all other things that are pointless with using his special power. He would then suddenly approach Sherie and formally introduce himself to her. Zofis then explains to her that he and one hundred other demons like him had come from a separate world in order to battle in the Human World. All these one hundred demons like him must pair up with a human partner in order to fight in a battle in order to determine the next king of the Demon World. He goes on to describe to Sherie how fun of a game it is to manipulate the human heart. Coco originally had no interest in power or fighting and because of this, Zofis altered her feelings in order to make things such as destruction and hurting others more fun for her.

Sherie tries to dismiss everything Zofis had told her as a lie and tries asking Coco again that she would never actually do these kinds of things. Coco, still smiling, tells Sherie that it's all true and she did everything there using her new powers. After hearing this, Sherie starts to break down and cry and finds herself still in disbelief this is all happening. Zofis continues talking to Sherie telling her that it's essential for him to be able to have a human partner for this battle as it is one of the many rules of it. Coco steps forward and warns Sherie that if she tries to stop them then she'll have to defeat her and adds that she doesn't want to lose this power no matter what. Zofis's book begins to glow bright as Coco then prepares to eliminate Sherie with a spell. This flashback is suddenly interrupted by Brago, who manages to get Sherie's attention to alert her to the enemies before her that are trying to run and hide from them. Brago asks Sherie what they should do, to which she answers saying it's the same as always: show no mercy and destroy them along with their book.

At the park, Kiyomaro watches as Gash and Naomi stare each other down. Kiyomaro asks Gash what kind of training this was supposed to be to which Gash interrupts Kiyomaro saying he can't avert his eyes from Naomi's or else. Gash ends up doing so which then gives Naomi the opportunity to start chasing Gash all around the park. Kiyomaro goes over to a nearby bench as he watches this and tells Gash to finish what he's doing by dinner time. Kiyomaro then spends part of his time admiring how peaceful it is at the park aside from Gash and Naomi's ongoing activities.

Back in the Amazon, Sherie and Brago initiate their battle against Pokkerio and Belico by being the first to cast their spell, *Reisu*. Sherie then orders them to hand over their book or else they'll be taking it by force. Belico holds onto his book rightly refusing to give it up explaining that he's finally become rich with it and wants to be able to become even more wealthier with it. Belico then casts *Juron* which summons multiple large roots at the ground that are heading in Sherie and Brago's direction. Using *Gurabirei*, the downward force of gravity stops and crushes the juron roots right before them and they soon follow this up with another *Reisu* attack .Sherie demands from them again that they hand over their book once more only to be met with refusal again.

Belico then casts *Barujuron*, which allows Pokkerio to summon large tree warriors in order to attack them. Soon after, they also cast *Juruku*, which summons dense foliage around them to hide within. Brago sees what they're up to and orders Sherie to cast *Gigano* *Reisu* in order to destroy them quickly. With no response, Brago again demands Sherie to hurry up with their spell. He eventually turns around to see she had fallen to the ground completely overwhelmed with exhaustion. As Sherie struggles to get up again, Brago attempts to fight off the *Barujuron* trees on his own where even he finds himself struggling to defeat without her help. As Brago scolds Sherie asking if she's already done, Sherie uses all her remaining strength to force herself up as she denies that the pain she's going through now is nothing like the pain she endured in the past.

In a flashback, Sherie as a young child practices tirelessly at the piano before being ordered to stop by her mother, who is clearly disappointed with Sherie's piano playing and tells her to start over again once more to practice for another six hours. Sherie quietly brings up that it's already time for her to go to bed but is silenced by her mother who reminds her that she's a member of the prestigious Belmondo family and she must be properly educated in order to not be an embarrassment to the family name. During a different day as Sherie struggles to solve math problems, her mother berates her once again asking how she can not understand something so simple. During dance practice, Sherie stumbles and falls to the ground and is again met with extreme disdain from her mother. Finally, one day when speaking with her mother, her mother bluntly asks aloud how can a child as useless as her ever be born.

This constant emotional abuse and suffering finally pushes Sherie over the edge as she starts believing too that she should have never been born. In the middle of a rainstorm, Sherie stands over the edge of a bridge looking down at the rushing water below her in tears thinking that killing herself there will be her only escape from this constant suffering. She would then jump from the edge of the bridge and disappear into the rushing water. As Sherie's flashbacks end, Brago is seen still fighting alone. He then sees Sherie get back up on her feet reassuring him that they'll be able to defeat the enemy team easily without seeing exactly where they are.

In another flashback to the same incident at the bridge, young Coco managed to save Sherie's life by rescuing her from the rushing river waters. Coco then questions her why she had done that as she was worried sick that she could have died like that. Sherie only quietly responds that it's painful for her to live to which Coco interjects questioning her that if she were to die now then what would happen to her happiness when she gets older. Coco continues tearfully explaining that although things are painful now with things feeling as if she's walking through a dark tunnel, she encourages Sherie to continue walking through this dark tunnel to keep looking for the light since every tunnel must have an exit. Coco then encourages Sherie to continue living in order to be able to find happiness when she's older.

Sherie discovers newfound determination that gives her strength in the on-going battle as she realizes then she's unwilling to let their happiness be taken from them by the demon battle. Sherie realizes that Coco had ended up walking into this 'dark tunnel' again but decides for herself that she'll walk into that tunnel with her too. As Sherie and Brago get surrounded by the *Barujuron* trees, Sherie calls out to Coco saying she'll never leave her to pursue happiness alone. This rush of emotions power up one of their newest spells, *Aian Gurabirei*, which instantly destroys the *Barujuron* trees before them. As Sherie continues to release power, she orders Brago to destroy the surrounding area with this spell and crushes everything around them in a circular radius.

With their spell eventually finished, and everything around them reduced to nothing, Brago eventually discovered both Belico and Pokkerio, partially buried within the dirt and cowering in fear, were still alive despite everything. Brago then picks up their now flattened spell book and requests for Sherie to help him burn it. When he turns around, he sees that Sherie was once again on the ground collapsed from complete exhaustion and in dire need of rest. As she lies on the ground, she thinks back to how Brago protected her again just like how he protected her when they had met for the first time. During another flashback to the incident in Coco's hometown, Coco had unleashed a *Radomu* spell directed towards Sherie to eliminate her. Coco and Zofis soon walk off after having done this, but within the smoke caused by the impact of the spell, it's revealed that they had not harmed Sherie at all. In the midst of the chaos, a black spell book was tossed just in front of Sherie and the demon of the black spell book, Brago, had given her that book for her to read and become his human partner in the great demon battle.

Back on the battleground, Brago feels Sherie's forehead and discovers that she had developed a fever. Although annoyed by this, Brago takes off his cloak and tosses it and over Sherie, covering her with it. He then picks her up and starts carrying her all while thinking to himself how frustrating it is to partner up with weak humans for the battle.

## Features

### Characters by Appearance

* Sherie Belmondo
* Coco (Flashback)
* Gash Bell
* Kiyomaro Takamine
* Brago
* Sherie's Butler
* Zofis (Flashback)
* Belico
* Pokkerio
* Naomi
* Sherie's Mother

### Locations

* Japan
	+ Mochinoki City
		- Takamine Residence
			* Kiyomaro's Room
* South America
	+ Brazil
* Europe
	+ France
		- Sherie's Estate (Debut/Flashback)

### Spells by Appearance

* Radomu (Debut)
* Reisu
* Juron
* Gurabirei
* Barujuron (Debut)
* Juruku (Debut)
* Aian Gurabirei (Debut)

## Manga & Anime Differences

* All scenes involving Gash and Kiyomaro are entirely filler and were not present in the original manga chapters this episode was based on.
* Brago mentioning there are only 70 demons remaining during this time was not present in the anime adaptation of these chapters.
* In the anime, when first seeing Coco's entire hometown in flames, Sherie runs deep into the burning town on her own to look for Coco. In the manga, Coco was found just in front of her house nearby where Sherie and her butler are stopped. Sherie's butler was also present with Sherie when they first see Coco and Zofis.
* The manga depicts various minor flashback panels of Coco being a good friend to Sherie and always being there for her. These minor flashbacks were not present in the anime adaptation of these chapters.
* In the manga, Sherie and Brago eventually corner Belico and Pokkerio by cornering them against a large cliff. In the anime, Sherie and Brago never mentioned any plans to corner or trap them in any way. Instead, Belico and Pokkerio eventually just choose to fight them after being attacked with a spell first.
* In the manga, when first being surrounded by the trees summoned by *Barujuron*, Sherie ignores Brago's order of launching a *Gigano* *Reisu* spell and instead uses another *Reisu* attack. This ends up missing the enemy team and as Brago questions Sherie why she hadn't used *Gigano* *Reisu*, Sherie suddenly collapses. In the anime, Sherie never casted an additional *Reisu* spell and collapsed after being ordered to use *Gigano* *Reisu*.
* During various flashbacks of Sherie's childhood, in the manga, Sherie can be seen scolded by various instructors of her poor ability in different activities. Sherie's mother was not originally present in the same room as Sherie as she fails in each activity. Sherie can also be seen at one point talking to her mother about how difficult it's been for her but her complaints are eventually disregarded. In the anime, Sherie's mother can be seen trying to instruct her with each of these activities.
	+ In the manga, one of the activities Sherie can be seen participating in is martial arts. In the anime, Sherie was never seen engaging in martial arts practice but can be seen instead trying to solve math problems.

## Censorship & Other Localization Differences

* Mentions, suggestions, and depictions of suicide attempts were all either censored or removed in the VIZ localization of the series.
	+ When speaking with her butler, Sherie mentions she 'fell' into the river instead of saying she threw herself into it.
	+ Scenes that show Sherie jumping from the bridge and falling into the water were all entirely removed.
	+ When Coco had saved Sherie from drowning, Sherie tries to explain that she wasn't paying attention to the fact that the bridge was slippery when she fell into it from standing on the edge.
* Several scenes that were originally intended to remain briefly silent were instead dubbed over to add additional minor dialogue.
* When Zofis first introduces himself to Sherie, he gives a fairly brief but concise breakdown of the battle to decide king before going on to explain why he manipulated Coco's heart. In the VIZ localization, Zofis only tells Sherie his name and how he's going to become king. This leaves the rest of the scene focusing on Sherie's reaction being awkwardly silent.