Episode 12

"Confidential Fine, 36: The Land of Blessed Words" is the twelvth and final episode of the entire miniseries of Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood. It had aired on the sixteenth of June, 2021.

Plot
Sawa has decided to kill the shogun Yoshinobu Tokugawa, asking Elena to look after Asahi if she does not return. As Sawa approaches the shogun's palace, she is taken by a black crow Changeling which she recognizes as Jin Kuzuhara. She attacks Jin for lying all his life, but he refuses to fight her, stating that he always wanted to protect her, and he will take care of Yoshinobu himself. He flies to the palace and finds Yoshinobu as a frail, frightened old man after Jin supplied him a placebo instead of the Karasumori elixir he expected. Jin kills Yoshinobu as the Kuchinawa storm the palace and set it on fire. On her way home, Sawa is stabbed from behind by Rinko.

Sawa manages to return to her bookshop where Asahi talks excitedly about the future, unaware of Sawa's injury. The mortally wounded Sawa sits quietly beside Asahi as life slowly fades from her body.

Epilogue: Ten Years Later
In the year 1941, Asahi (who has dyed her black to honor Sawa's memory and teachings) is now seventeen years old and with Elena's daughter, Satsuki, who is reading from the diary which Sawa and Asahi were going to write together. Asahi recalls her past and her determination to be like Sawa, protecting others. The white crow alights on Asahi's shoulder, and her brown eyes glow light blue acknowledging her as a direct continuation of the Karasumori bloodline in the future.

Final Appearance of Characters

 * Sawa Yukimura (ultimately deceased)
 * Jin Kazuhara (ultimately deceased)
 * Elena Hanakaze
 * Elena Hanakaze's Husband
 * Satsuki Hanakaze (ten years old in decade-year epilogue)
 * Asahi (17 in decade-year epilogue)
 * Rinko

Trivia

 * Elena Hanakaze's preteen-age daughter has inherited her light blonde hair, and her name is revealed to Satsuki. In the 1988 Studio Ghubili movie My Neighbor Totoro, one of the two protagonists is also named Satsuki, who looks after her equally energetic four-year-old sister Mei.