Episode 6 of Bean Counter is my favorite so far because it shines a spotlight on just how brilliant Seiichirou is. I was referring to it a lot in my post about the previous episode, but a big reason why he's one of my favorite BL protagonists is because, despite his disadvantages in the world he's ended up in, he's still able to prove just how incredible he is at finding solutions to inefficiencies. Beyond that, this episode is also a huge turning point for Aresh and Seiichirou's dynamic, so people who are in it more for the romance are still eating a lot.
Spoilers for references to future events in the manga and light novels, but I'll keep them as vague as possible. Oh, and this covers the rest of Chapter 18 until Chapter 20 of the manga.
For me, the whole point of Episode 5 was to set up Episode 6. Literally everything Seiichirou does in the previous episode was in preparation for or in service to what he does in this episode, and it is so satisfying to see. While the manga and light novel go into way more detail on just how elaborate his scheme is - he has a lot of internal monologue where he plans everything he needs to convince the king, from the important people he needs to mention to the counterarguments he would most likely face - the anime hits all of the most noteworthy bits. He is very much a chessmaster playing all of his important pieces in this one scene, and it is so, so satisfying to see all of his planning pay off.
First is Viscount Blanc, Norbert's adoptive father. I talked about the short scene in the previous episode where he meets him in my post last week because Seiichirou aligning himself with Viscount Blanc gave him the leverage he needed to propose his plan with the king, as having the backing of someone who the king explicitly trusts was important to make sure that the king would actually listen to his proposal. One of Seiichirou's close friends being the son of a prominent political figure may seem very serendipitous, and I'm sure there's a lot of Main Character Energy backing up that coincidence, but Seiichirou isn't going to dwell on luck - he is going to make sure that he leverages that connection as much as he can.
Second is Camile, who we know by now is very much on Seiichirou's side. Well, Seiichirou knows this too, and this is why we find out here that he has run this plan by Camile even before the Demon Forest expedition happened, and the prime minister is more than happy to give his favorite employee what he wants. Whether or not this is because of his own feelings toward Seiichirou is debatable, but for Seiichirou, he's going to use that to his advantage no matter what.
Third is Ist, who was an absolute menace this episode lmaooo that's my Top 3 character right there. I'll talk more about his shenanigans later, but Seiichirou knew that he needed to align himself with the Royal Sorcery Department as they are in charge of two of the most important things about his plan: putting a barrier containing the Demon Forest's miasma and summoning a Holy Maiden to their world. It should be noted that while Seiichirou is only seen to be conspiring with Ist throughout this whole thing, he's also taken Zoltan, the Director of the Royal Sorcery Department, into consideration into his plans. But while Ist may be more like a Rook in Seiichirou's chessboard, Zoltan seems more like a Pawn.
Before I continue, I want to note that during one of the early scenes in this episode where he's talking with Aresh, Seiichirou says that the reason no one has thought of a different solution to the Demon Forest problem was because everyone was used to the Holy Maiden doing the job for them. But in the manga and light novel, Seiichirou internally singles out both Camile and Ist as exceptions to this way of thinking, describing them as being curious and inquisitive of other solutions. I would've really wanted the anime to include this bit, as it more effectively explains why Seiichirou was aligning with the two of them specifically.
Last but definitely not the least is Yua, who is very much central to Seiichirou's plan, as his proposal is all about critiquing Romany's reverence of the Holy Maiden and how that doesn't account for the feelings of the Holy Maiden herself. We get the sense from Seiichirou's initial reaction to Yua's outburst that he was surprised about it, but from how he acts right after, we find out what's really going on in his mind: he was absolutely willing to use Yua's emotional distress to his advantage. He knows that after his conversation with Yua in the previous episode, and from observing her throughout the expedition, that Yua's view of the parallel world as a perfect paradise has now been shattered, and both of them are faced with the grim reality that they are stuck in this world forever.
And that's where we finally get to the heart of Seiichirou's plan: Seiichirou wants to allocate more funds to the Royal Sorcery Department to further their research on a way to bring him and Yua back to their original world, and that involved finding a solution so that Romany wouldn't need to summon a Holy Maiden ever again. I can't say much about the proposal itself because of plot reasons, but it now tells us why Seiichirou had to go through all of that scheming and make all of those connections: he is quite literally proposing to shake the foundational beliefs of this parallel world. There's a reason why the scene with the king takes the time to show reactions of his detractors, as everything about this plan is not easy to swallow for the people who have been relying on the Holy Maiden for centuries. But true to his job, Seiichirou shows that there are financial consequences to their way of living, and he goes further to show that there are emotional consequences as well.
This sequence is so incredible to me, and it is IMO one of the best scenes of the entire series. In the light novels, we find this right at the end of Volume 1, so there really is a sense that the chapters before it were all leading up to it, and I find it such a satisfying payoff.
Of course, this series isn't just an isekai - it's an isekai BL. Thankfully, this episode doesn't hold back on giving us a lot to work with in the BL side of things, as we see Aresh straight up confessing to Seiichirou that he wants to be the only one by his side. There is quite a lot of important internal monologue cut from these scenes, which is a bit disappointing, so I'm hoping the complexity of the situation isn't lost on people who haven't read the manga or light novel.
In any case, we find out this episode that Seiichirou has been aware of Aresh's feelings for quite some time now, and there's a cut bit from the manga where he outright mentions that he isn't oblivious to everything that Aresh has been doing. But true to his workaholic nature, Seiichirou lists Aresh's confession as a bullet point on his to-do list, quite literally saying that he doesn't have time for this shit right now lmao.
As much as we're meant to realize that Seiichirou is aware of Aresh's feelings, we're also meant to realize that Arech is aware of Seiichirou's feelings. He outright tells Seiichirou to take his time with the confession, but in the meantime, he gets to continue enjoying having these moments with Seiichirou as it is, as he stresses, the "most efficient" method for Seiichirou to maintain his health. Seiichirou might be reading everyone like a book, but Aresh is very much doing the same to Seiichirou himself.
Also maaaan Aresh's yearning was so delicious this episode, and it really shows just how deeply he's fallen for Seiichirou. It should be obvious by now that one of Aresh's main love languages is physical touch, and he was clinging onto Seiichirou at almost every chance he could here. With all of the feelings laid out now, Seiichirou and Aresh's dynamic is definitely going to be more interesting in the next episodes. And can I just say, Aresh telling Seiichirou to take his time with the confession and Seiichirou being aware of his feelings and wanting to think it over properly is just so Sasaki and Miyano-coded that it made me squee. That was one of the first BLs I watched, and the studio behind the Bean Counter anime is the same one behind the SasaMiya anime too.
I mentioned above that there are a lot of internal thoughts cut in the scenes between Aresh and Seiichirou, and I wanted to highlight one of them. During their first bedroom scene in this episode, Seiichirou mentions being grateful to Aresh for giving him the barriers needed to be able to go to the Demon Forest in the first place. But in the manga, he internally mentions that it was because of Aresh's barriers that he got the idea of using barriers to seal off the Demon Forest from the rest of the world. It's only a minor throwaway line, but I think it was a nice nod to the fact that even Aresh's affections were taken into consideration in Seiichirou's grand scheme.
This write-up has already gotten way too long but there is no way I'm gonna end this without talking about the real star of this episode. Ist was just as chaotic as I wanted him to be, and that scene with him wanting to observe Aresh and Seiichirou for magical research reasons is 10/10. You gotta respect him for the dedication to his craft. Also thank you to this post for pointing out the music in the previous episode when he was introduced, as noticing it being used here again made his scenes so much funnier.
We actually do get to find out in this episode that Ist also doesn't have a noble background - he comes from a merchant family, which means he presumably worked his way up the ranks due to his natural talent. No wonder Seiichirou sees him as an important part of his chessboard, two-hour monologues and all. (Also wanna note that Ist's monologue in the carriage is actually a good explanation of how magic works in this world, so anyone interested in the worldbuilding aspect of this anime should rewatch it.)
Like I said above, this episode takes us to the end of Volume 1 of the light novels, but that volume still has two epilogues we haven't seen yet. I'm very sure that we'll see both epilogues animated in the next episode as they are very important scenes, particularly for the AreSei nation. See you then!
things to put in a dysautonomia emergency bag/cart ✿
having one place (near your bed preferably) where you can keep all the essentials for bad symptom days has been absolutely key in getting me through those bad days. these are some ideas for what you can put in yours, if you want to make one as well!
