Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia proves the old adage that no plan survives contact with the enemy in Ep. 5 “A Snake Shows Its Colors, Man Hides His Colors”. Admittedly, the plan isn’t even Sitara’s plan. It’s the plan of her mistress Sorghaghtani. However, it still becomes clear that the whole plan is incredibly half-baked and so unnecessarily complex that it’s primed for failure in its inception, and Sitara is caught up entirely in its poorly thought-out machinations.
Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia Ep. 5 “A Snake Shows Its Colors, Man Hides His Colors”: Details in Brief
Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia Ep. 5 “A Snake Shows Its Colors, Man Hides His Colors” is the fifth episode (you can read my reviews of Ep. 1-2, Ep. 3, and Ep. 4 here) of this historical drama anime series. Said anime series is the anime adaptation of the manga A Witch’s Life in Mongol by Tomato Soup.
Science SARU (Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, Star Wars: Visions “Akakiri” and “T0-B1“, Dandadan) is the animation studio behind this anime. Naoko Yamada is the chief director for this anime, with Abel Góngora as the co-director, Kanichi Katou as the writer, and Kōshirō Hino as the composer for the music we hear in this anime.
Speaking of the music: the opening theme song of Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia is “Stella” by Sekai no Owari. Meanwhile, “Hoshi” by QUEEN BEE is the ending theme song.
Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia Ep. 5 “A Snake Shows Its Colors, Man Hides His Colors”: The Good
Fans of The Apothecary Diaries will likely agree with me that the political intrigue in Ep. 5 “A Snake Shows Its Colors, Man Hides His Colors” is the main reason why it’s so good. Hilariously, it’s not even Sitara’s / Fatima’s (voiced by Akira Sekine (JP) and Cristina Vee (EN)) plan for the most part. All of it appears to be the work of her current mistress: Princess Sorghaghtani (voiced by Misaki Kuno (JP) and Emi Lo (EN)). Said princess had previously shown herself to be highly intelligent and a capable leader. Unfortunately, this episode also shows that she has little to no experience in spycraft. Sure, her plan is relatively simple, but it also requires multiple things going perfectly right in order to pull off, including having critical people (including Tolui (voiced by Ryōta Suzuki (JP) and Alex Mai (EN)), who is demonstrated to recognize Sitara even a decade after meeting her once) not recognize Sitara even though she is known to be Sorghaghtani’s tutor.
Heck, Sitara herself throughout the episode lampshades just how slapdash the whole espionage plan is. At every misstep and absurdity, she either has a disbelieving internal monologue or some cries of outrage at what’s happening. The result is that that the story itself is painting the espionage plan as being deeply flawed, providing a sense of dramatic irony even though the main character is fully aware of what’s happening. You know, because Sitara is a slave and has no true control over her own life. The whole situation has gone FUBAR on her, and she’s barely even in control of it.
Enter Stage: Töregene
Fortunately, this does allow Tomato Soup to introduce the other main character of this narrative: Töregene Khatun (voiced by Ami Koshimizu (JP) and Michelle Rojas (EN)), who in real life and in this anime was the sixth wife of Ögedei Khan (voiced by Hiro Shimono (JP) and Ethan Marshall (EN)). Funnily enough, Töregene was originally supposed to be the protagonist of this story, but ultimately, Tomato Soup decided that Sitara better represented the average person of the Mongol Empire and felt that she was a more interesting person to write period.
However, this episode really does show off just how much weight Töregene carries in the narrative. She even saves Sitara’s life after Sitara’s tries to best to carry out Sorghaghtani’s orders, and it all goes horribly wrong due to how slapdash the idea was to begin with. She is very nearly a deuteragonist to Sitara with the way her story is starting to interlace with Sitara’s. Heck, the next episode of Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia is going to be about Töregene’s backstory. We’ll just have to see then just how she becomes the deuteragonist in actuality.
Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia Ep. 5 “A Snake Shows Its Colors, Man Hides His Colors”: The Bad
Alas, if you are a fan of bloody action and nothing but, then you’re out of luck in Ep. 5 “A Snake Shows Its Colors, Man Hides His Colors”. There is not a lick of action to be seen in this episode. The closest thing you get to that is Sitara getting caught spying and running the risk of just straight-up summary execution from that, but that’s a far cry from a shonen-type action story. If you want that, then you will have to wait for a while in this anime.
Anime Recommendations
Fortunately, if you want that dose of bloody violence and stylish action, then you might want to check out Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, DAN DA DAN, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II, Zenshu, Blue Box, Solo Leveling, Black Butler, Nyaight of the Living Cat, May I Ask for One Final Thing?, TRIGUN STARGAZE, Daemons of the Shadow Realm, and / or Kagurabachi. However, if you like story-focused anime like this one, then you might also like watching Spy x Family, Senpai is an Otokonoko, Apocalypse Hotel, Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf, The Ancient Magus’ Bride, My Dress-Up Darling, This Monster Wants to Eat Me, Hana-Kimi, Journal with Witch, and/or Witch Hat Atelier.
What do you all think of this week’s episode of Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia? Tell us your FUBAR thoughts in the comments section below.
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