Migi To Dali

Initially I was sceptical and didn’t want to watch Migi To Dali. Oh you know, when the promotional poster puts up a pair of beautiful but seemingly creepy looking pair of twins, my first thoughts were this was got to be some sort of horror show. Yeah. Got to stay clear of it. Even more so the synopsis describing how the twins are acting to be a single person in their adopted household, that fuelled and ensured my beliefs that this is indeed going to be horror. Yeah, going to be a jump scare somewhere! Count me out! That would have been the end of that but somehow my curiosity or my accidental stumbling of many comments praising this show to be suspenseful and interesting, that made me rethink that I could be wrong after all. With further ‘probing’ and nothing to further suggest there were any horror elements, thus the only thing left to satisfy that curiosity was to have a look at it. Yeah, sometimes in life you need to do a double take. Sorry, not a good twin related pun.

Episode 1
An elderly couple, Osamu and Youko Sonoyama come to the orphanage looking to adopt a child. Can’t take them all. There can only be one! As they leave and decide to come back tomorrow, they spot a very beautiful child, Hitori. Attracted by his looks, they note they can’t choose one based on that. But then it suddenly rains and they see kind Hitori leaving his umbrella for a poor stray dog. That is the clincher. And so Hitori is welcomed to their home. As they help unpack his boxes, they note a huge one and don’t remember it was there before. Hitori will do the unpacking himself. When he is alone, we see the real truth that they are identical twins, Migi and Dali. They are so in sync in working together and hiding in the shadows that the couple never suspect anything. Especially at the dinner table. Man, see how they do this complicated acrobatic switch in a blink of an eye just to fool them that they are the same person! Even when giving dad a back massage, damn he feels so good at their kneading and pummelling, he doesn’t even realize 4 hands are massaging at the same time! Back in their room, the twins seem to have a nefarious plot as the plot out the layout of the house. Then they eavesdrop on the couple’s wishes on what they want to do with their child. Like mom wants to bake cherry pie and so Hitori helps her. Since she has trouble braiding it, the twins masterfully do so when she is away. What a wonderful pie. Since dad wants his child to ride on his shoulder, Hitori pretends of wanting to put this birdhouse on the tree. You bet dad wants to give him a lift. Well, now his back hurts! However the twins note he must carry them or else the plan fails. So the next time when dad tries again, he is made to close his eyes. Because as one rides on his shoulder, the other ties a rope as a counterweight to lift his twin up. Since dad’s eyes are closed, obviously he felt his son is as light as a feather! Back in their room, we see the twins pleased with their plan going as planned. Flashback shows when the twins heard a couple from Origon Village wanted to adopt a child, quickly they put their plan in motion to attract their attention. Hence it was them who created the ‘rain’ (shower from the hose) to let them see the other being kind to the stray dog (which is just a doll). I guess they have bad eyesight.

Episode 2
The twins are in the bath plotting their next move. But one of them has to hide seeing mom is coming in. She wonders why there are 2 sets of clothes but didn’t think much of it. Almost got busted there. Mom later combs his hair as Hitori laments people used to make fun of how funny it looks. Mom doesn’t care because everyone is unique. If that’s the case, hers must be the funniest! When the couple goes out, the twins suspect something amiss like as though they are hiding something. They go to investigate the rooms. Nothing in particular. But a photo hidden behind another photo. Ah, a picture of dad when he was young with a smoking hot woman. Can’t be mom. As they continue to search, pet dog Sardine seems to attack them but it is to warn them the parents have come home. They realize doggie wants to be their ally. The twins see the couple hide something in the shed and talking about some welcoming party. It is then they will give this to him. The twins take a peek at it and believes they want to scalp their hair! They’re not going to let that happen. At the party, Hitori meets the various guests like the Ichijou household, the Tsutsumi family as well as a bird lover, Shunpei Akiyama. As one of them is hiding up in the chandelier, the plan is set in motion by dripping hot sauce into mom’s drink. Then the other helps cool her down with water which is actually clear liquor. Then dad is supposed to stand near the window at a certain angle so when the sun shines, it will turn them into spontaneous combustion. The moment arrives as Hitori is blindfolded for the ‘scalping’ ceremony. However, noting something has gone awry, the other notes the plan is cancelled. But it is then Youko tells Hitori to take off his blindfold. They surprise him with a bicycle! This is their gift for him becoming their child. Hitori stood there in shock that he got burnt by the sunlight! Yeah, he jumping about, they think he is so happy! In the aftermath, the twins never really thought this was actually a real welcoming party and that woman in that picture was indeed mom! How funny a human’s body can change! And yes, that is a wig Youko is now wearing! But soon they cycle out to see their real mom. At a tombstone over the hill, they let us know they with their mom once lived in Origon. However she was murdered. Hence the reason they came back here is to find that killer and take revenge.

Episode 3
In order to find the person who killed mom, they need to make friends. This means getting invited to their house and check their room. Because the room they once lived with mom has this strange water flea design wallpaper and they have doodled on it. They join the scouts as they watched how Akiyama is also ostracized. Some teasing him as the birdman. When Hitori wants to be friends, those jerks will allow it on condition that he cross the tightrope with no hands. Hitori does so and obviously falls off. However the other twin soon takes over and restarts. And falls. This process repeats itself that everyone is stumped. They wonder when he will give up but Akiyama remembers his own trauma (this guy trying to be Icarus?!) and tells Hitori not to give up. Because of that, he manages to make it to the other end. So can we be friends now? Apparently those jerks claim he used his hands so no go. However Akiyama is willing to be his. So as Hitori visits his house, one of them accompanies him as the other sneaks around the various rooms. However the sneaker enters Akiyama’s sister’s room. Although it has that wallpaper, the doodle is not there so this is not the house. The accompanying twin tries to buy time even if it means listening to Akiyama’s tragic birdman stories. So much so he has to watch Akiyama wear a f*cking strange bird flying contraption! Well, he did say he won’t laugh! I think this is cringe! Since he accepts his loneliness, Akiyama hugs him. The other twin is in a predicament because the sleeping sister hugs him as her bolster! OMG. 2 different worlds! The next friend’s house they visit is Maruta Tsutsumi. As Dali sneaks around the house while Migi accompanies Maruta. However this selfish chubby beaver as we can see starts abusing Migi as part of this friendship thingy. Dali realizes this is not the home they are looking for when he sees Migi being submissive to Maruta. Then the switch and in the next game when Maruta surprisingly loses, Dali now turns the tables and whacks his head repetitively! However Migi then protects Maruta, a reminder to his twin that they agreed not to lose their composure. But we can be assured that Maruta now fears him and won’t think twice of bullying Hitori. When Hitori returns, he sees his parents talking to a woman. She is Mitsuyama AKA Micchan the maid.

Episode 4
Because Micchan has been to everyone’s house in Origon, Hitori is interested to know more. However she can’t be telling secrets of other households so that’s that. So in order to get her to spill the details, one day as mom and Micchan are hanging the laundry outside, one of them signals to mom for help. Then the other slips in to disguise as mom and as they talk about certain wallpaper patterns, Micchan remembers a house with such: Ichijou. Now Hitori enrols in high school that Eiji Ichijou studies at. Hitori is in the same class with Akiyama. But looks like Eiji is in the elite class since he is gifted. The problem now is how to be friends with him in different class. But there’s a bigger problem. Because in the toilet when Hitori tries to talk to Eiji, especially at the welcoming party and the scouts, Eiji brushes him off and doesn’t know him. In short, Eiji doesn’t mix with stupid people! Hence the only way is to brush up their score and move to this elite class. While Dali has no problems studying, Migi is bad in it. Worse, it seems Migi has fallen in love with a beautiful transfer student known as Sali! Actually this is Dali in disguise!!! This is to motivate Migi to study. Because when Dali told him to get to know her (and he did!), Sali told him she would consider his feelings if he does well in his exams. So you bet Migi burns the midnight oil to become a smart boy! All for love! I can’t believe he can’t even sense this is his twin! The ultimate clincher is that Sali will return his love if he scores 100 in certain subjects. And boy, Migi actually does it!!! So Sali agrees to go out on a date. But on that date, Sali tells him she will be transferring far away (obviously Dali realizes it is not right to continue fooling him as Sali). Migi is sad and accepts. So back home, Dali hugs his heart broken twin. Yeah, he worked so hard. Our hearts will always be together no matter how far! Thanks to that, their scores push them up to the top of their grade! One day as Eiji inspects the bags of his fellow students, he finds a strange button in Hitori’s bag.

Episode 5
The Sonoyama are invited to have dinner with Ichijou. Such a smart child they have. As usual during the dinner, Dali sneaks around but cannot find that room. And then mother Reiko suddenly accuses Hitori of misconduct and has Eiji conduct his investigation. He shows Hitori his shirt containing this button. Migi gets defensive and this makes Eiji suspicious. Luckily Dali manages to slip in and cut off the button that Migi is wearing as a necklace. So when Eiji strips him to his undies, he finds nothing. But it’s not over as Eiji has his dobermann dog sniff the button and find it! At this rate they’ll find Dali under the table! That is when Migi improvises and admits he stole the button. His parents are in shock and pleads forgiveness. Reiko suggests for Hitori to return to the right path, he will stay here for them to take care! And now we see Hitori being chained in a room and interrogated by Eiji. He wants to know how he got this button. He lost it years ago and searched high and low, every inch of the house for it. Obviously Hitori won’t play along and keeps mum. Dali tries to rescue his twin but the dog gets in the way. It is well trained and he is trying to force his way through?! Thank goodness the dog wants to be friends with him! Dali finds Migi locked in the room. The latter suggests not to be rescued because it will be better to have everyone think there is only 1 of them (he can’t let Dali see him in this embarrassing baby outfit!). Then as they talk about that wallpaper and remember a piano playing in the background, Dali realizes a hidden room. Is that the room Migi is in now? He checks the wallpaper. And there are those doodles! Migi cannot stop crying like a baby. Dali hides as Reiko returns to feed her ‘baby’. So as Dali ponders if Eiji is the killer and if mom left a dying message, he is surprised Micchan is here. Well, she cleans this household every Wednesday. Because Hitori is looking for Ichijou’s secrets, Micchan agrees to be his accomplice to help him. Yeah, who wouldn’t want to know what this family is hiding! Going through a family photo, OMFG, Migi spots a woman like his mom in the reflection of a glass!!! HOW?! They enter a forbidden room that Micchan is not supposed to clean. Ah, a secret lever that leads them to a secret room. To their shock, a diorama of Origon! And in each house has dolls of the inhabitants! There is even a sheet of data of every citizen! Is this family keeping watch over Origon?! Hearing someone coming, Micchan hides Dali in a box. Don’t worry, she knows how to clean up this mess. Later when Dali leaves, he sees Micchan’s doll decapitated!

Episode 6
The twins talk and it seems Migi has a sure way of letting the family open up to him. And that part is to really act like a baby! Of course he cannot be acting too suspicious as Reiko still has her guard up. Reiko continues to nurse her ‘baby’ until Hitori is good enough to sit at the dinner table and eat with the rest of the family. This is Hitori’s chance to ask ‘intelligent’ questions like if Eiji wets his bed and why he is not named #1 despite being the eldest child! Yeah, they sure do have strange answers. But Hitori can’t go too far or they’ll suspect he isn’t a 5 year old he is supposed to be! Reiko then tells Hitori the good news that since the conditioning is over, he will return to his family tomorrow. So the twins gather what they know like their mom was working as a housemaid here. Hence one of the Ichijou must be the killer. To put it to the test, one dresses as mom and goes to appear as a ghost before the father, Akira. Shocked at first, he is glad Metry is still alive and tries to hug her but the twins escape. Because of this reaction, he cannot be the killer as the killer would not be expecting her to be still alive. Hence the only logical deduction is Reiko as the killer. Once again putting up this same act, Reiko screams and fears Metry is trying to take back something. She runs off but returns with a pair of scissors. Uhm, you kill ghosts with scissors? Because if that’s the case, this clearly means Reiko isn’t the killer because she is definitely looking for a human as she stabs the scissors through all possible hiding places! Thanks to Akira trying to calm her down, the twins manage to escape by the skin of their teeth. But as they make their way back, they stumble into Eiji. Guess what? He gets scared, wet his pants and runs away thinking he saw a ghost! OMG. Eiji is the killer?! Because now he is cowering in his room! Next day, the Sonoyama and Akiyama gladly welcome Hitori back. The ordeal is over. But it’s just the beginning for Eiji…

Episode 7
The twins believe Eiji is the killer. How or why, they have to interrogate further. But Dali wants to leave the interrogation to him while Migi will continue to attend classes like normal. How is Dali going to do it? Why, the return of Sali! Eiji might look perfect in school but he throws up whenever he gets a chance to go to the toilet. Sali sees this and although Eiji warns her about exposing this, Sali dares him. Thinking she wants hush money, it seems Sali wants to see his embarrassing side if he wants her mouth shut. This means he brings photos of his childhood for Sali to go through. Of course there is one on Christmas Eve night in which that button was missing on his pyjamas. Eiji tries to look for Sali but students don’t remember seeing her around. Dali’s mistake has him drop a memento Migi bought Sali on their final date. He is happy she is back. He is not convinced when Dali tells him Sali is far away. Hence Migi puts up ‘wanted’ posters of Sali! OMFG! Who could tell who in this freaking horrible doodle?! But wait! Akiyama has analysed all of Migi’s doodles. Because of his hobby in sketching parts of birds, he can make out the lines of his doodles. And soon he draws a surreal sketch of Sali! OMFG!!! Eiji goes to meet Sali as she is about to get him to reveal about Christmas Eve night. But Hitori is here to take Sali back! OMFG! Is this guys fighting over a, uhm, guy?! However Sali tells Hitori she is dating Eiji. Heartbreak. Poor Hitori goes home crying while his parents try to console him. Uhm, they’re drinking to that?! Dad says mom often rejected him but he never gave up. Look where they are now.

Meanwhile Sali visits Eiji’s place on pretence to study. Then she wants to rest. She is trying to convince him to sleep with him. The resistance is strong even if Sali is being flirtatious. But he is willing to sleep with her if they buss first. Okay. Whatever that is. Oh, that’s his term for kissing?! Can Sali do it?! But thinking of heartbroken Migi, Sali bravely does so. With that, Sali manages to somehow hypnotize Eiji and get him to tell all about that night. But soon, Migi comes knocking on their window, trying to plead Sali for another chance. But what’s this? Eiji pushes him off?! Sali grabs him and it seems the cat is almost out of the bag as Migi recognizes that voice. Migi bites Sali’s hand before escaping. Meanwhile Eiji is starting to be traumatized. He felt he was a fool to believe it. You see on that night when Eiji went to bed, someone knocked on his window. When he opened, it was Metry trying to play Santa. But as she is about to touch him, he got scared and pushed her off. During that, she ripped off that button. Metry fell to her death as Eiji called mom about this. By the time they return, the body is gone (the twins dragged her away). That was when Reiko told him there were no blonde women in Origon. Hence what he saw was a ghost! Dali rushes back as he has figured out how the whole thing happened. Now their revenge can happen. However Migi is not happy. He is angry. He will never forgive him. That bite mark on his hand…

Episode 8
Oh wow. Migi is now living at Akiyama’s house for 3 days. Eating like a dog too?! Akiyama doesn’t understand what happened but believes the strict life in Origon has got to him. Since he saved him, it is now his turn to do the same. When his sister claims a friend is here to see him, but wait, Hitori at the doorstep? But how? Confused, he brings him in again but as Hitori tells him to get water, Dali talks to Migi who has sealed himself in the closet. However Migi is not interested. With Akiyama back, Dali tries to use this talk with Akiyama to change Migi’s mind. Something about doing this for revenge (Akiyama thinks his mom abused him to study). Akiyama then tells him to be free. With that, the twins switch places and it seems Migi does not care about the revenge anymore. He goes off with Akiyama as birdman! Freedom! Dali now finds it hard to do this act by himself. How can he do the revenge himself? Until dad playfully squirts the rubber ducky at him. How closing one hole makes the spray stronger than 2 holes. This gives Dali the much needed confidence and idea to pull off this revenge thingy on his own. When Origon has this annual Halloween costume contest, Hitori goes up as a mosquito and squirts blood (tomato) on everyone! Last year’s champion, Eiji goes last. He is expected to win but what’s this? He is dressed normally and half dead?! Everyone is worried. At this rate he won’t win and thus he won’t sit on the throne where Dali has set a trap for a pumpkin to drop and smash on his head! Dali then whispers to everyone. And soon everyone gets emotional throwing him money! They think he is a beggar-cum-troubadour! Eiji wins it but he declines to sit on the chair. In fact, he refuses to accept his victory. Wow, everyone thinks he is really into his character! Because of that, the next winner is Akiyama-Migi combo! But it seems Migi heads for the throne himself. Dali panics and rushes to prevent that. Too late. Because Eiji protected him from that tragedy. The crowd horrified. Yeah, must be some real heavy pumpkin as Eiji is now hospitalized.

Episode 9
Eiji has been discharged and resting back home. However Dali is now depressed and sick in his room. Hence now it is Migi’s turn to become Sali and pay Eiji a visit. Asking why he saved Hitori, Eiji claims it is to atone his sins. He then shows Sali the diorama. It was made by mom so as to keep his secret safe. Also something about a dollhouse in his sister, Karen’s room that contains all the people who used to live in Origon. That’s where he found Metry and so he thought she was hiding somewhere in Origon and waiting a chance to get revenge on him. All suspicions now fall on the Sonoyama household. Eiji tells Dali that Hitori is in danger and to warn him. Why is he doing this? Eiji believes Sali loves Hitori. Too bad Reiko has returned and sees this. Now everyone who knows this secret must die! OMFG, she’s gonna kill with a sourdough bread?! Eiji stops Reiko as Sali runs. However Reiko manages to grab off Sali’s wig. Migi then hides in Karen’s room. Mom tries to force her way in but Karen opens the door to tell her not to interrupt her playtime. Reiko leaves. Because she rushes to the Sonoyama and has tea with them. But then it is drugged and they are put to sleep. Migi wonders why Karen is helping him as she reveals Reiko is not their real mom. Everybody is just pretending to be a happy family. She claims her real family is in this dollhouse. She tells him to get out of Origon if he wants to live.

But Migi knows Dali is in danger and rushes back. Feeling something off, he finds Dali tied up in his room. But it is a trap as Reiko captures him and now the truth is out of the bag. She commends them fooling everyone as one and although Dali dares her to kill them since she will somehow leave traces, she has a better suggestion: Kill one of them. Dali then starts saying all of Migi’s weaknesses. That is why Dali offers to be killed. As Reiko strangles him, dusts start to suffocate her. Micchan returns! Reiko is shocked! Is she a ghost?! I mean, she was killed in the attic! Well, actually she was buried alive but Karen dug her out. Micchan then went to investigate by visiting Karen’s real biological mother and discovered Reiko cannot bear children. The ladies fight but thanks to Sardine keeping Reiko at bay, Micchan frees the twins and tells them to get out of Origon and call the cops. Before she could reveal about Eiji, Reiko stabs her! The twins flee on their bicycle and take refuge at a shrine. They ponder about revenge and going back there but both have disparaging desires. Dali doesn’t want to go back there or they will be killed. But Migi still wants to taste mom’s cherry pie. Both start to fight and trade punches after Dali tries to rid of their bicycle. So living the nice life is more important than revenge for mom? Dali comes to accept this as the twins make peace and ride back. However the Sonoyama are sad. They are being talked by the police and it is believed that Hitori has killed Micchan. Bloodied knife as proof… Don’t they dust for fingerprints?

Episode 10
While the parents remain adamant Hitori did not kill Micchan, the police is sceptical since the knife is found in his room. Obviously the twins know Reiko has set them up and the only way is to expose the Ichijou family to reclaim their innocence. But first, they go to seek help from Akiyama. He believes Hitori’s story and also wants to take down Ichijou. However he notes they need another comrade and guess who he brings? Maruta! Yeah, this snobbish kid has some technology that they will need if they are to further their plans. Yeah, and so this team is called Beavers! You got to be kidding me! As the plan is to get Karen on their side, the problem is getting the message to her. The police is patrolling all over the house’s perimeter. But here is where Maruta’s technology comes in. He uses a drone to send her a letter and then use his ingenuity of his hat and the outside lamp to communicate with her via Morse code! The message replied is that she is locked in. As the guys return to draw up another plan, this is when the twins reveal themselves since extra manpower is needed. Yeah, you guys are not seeing double! Shocked at first with the deception, they accept the twins and now they are called Be Birds?! I think Beaver still sounds better… Maybe…

The plan begins with Akiyama donning his strange birdman as decoy to lure the police to chase him. Then the rest throw a rope from the tree into Karen’s room to crawl in. Maruta freezes up when all see barb wires on the entire lawn! Hurry up because the tree branch is breaking! Dali thought he had fallen to his death but Migi uses himself as a counterweight on the other rope. As they climb back up, OMFG, Karen and Maruta in love?! WTF???!!! Back to business, it is suggested Karen act as a hostage so that Reiko will confess her crimes. Karen further adds Reiko is a perfectionist and every damn thing must be perfect. She is tired of it and wants their help to bring down the Ichijou. Maruta my dear love will do it for her, right?! As Karen fakes some pain to get Akira’s attention, the rest sneak out. Being told Eiji is undergoing ‘re-education’, they find him in that room. He is acting like a real baby! The twins plan to bring Eiji upstairs to have the higher ground advantage. Hence when Reiko is downstairs, they will threaten to kill Eiji so as for her to spill the beans. Maruta will stay hidden to record the confession. Plan goes awry when the dog sneaks up on Maruta and he freezes! The sound has Reiko out of her room to check on Eiji. She panics upon realizing he is gone. The twins thought Maruta has betrayed them when he rushes upstairs but it is to distract Reiko with a recording of Eiji’s baby cries. Now that they have everything where they want, the twins Eiji at knifepoint. Confess or your baby dies. Reiko agrees to tell everything about that devil.

Episode 11
Once upon a time, Reiko lived the perfect and happy life with Akira. Until Metry came along. She was a clumsy housemaid. But seeing she admired Reiko and wanted to be perfect like her, Reiko didn’t mind teaching her a lot of stuffs. But soon Reiko heard the bad news from the doctor that she cannot conceive naturally. This hit her hard. In order not for her to give up her ideal family, she wanted Metry to sleep with Akira. Don’t worry, he won’t know. And so Reiko watch them from the shadows as they conceive. However as Metry suffers from her pregnancy syndromes, Akira approached her and knew he was making out with her. You see, he wanted Metry and not his perfect wife. It was then Reiko realized things only went wrong because Metry came into her life. But after Metry bore the twins and got locked up, Reiko became pregnant and life resumed to be normal. Metry then escaped from the room and Reiko thought she was free from her curse. Now Reiko OMFG is like a monster as she climbs up the wall and even grabs the knife with her bare hands! As she wants to take back Eiji, this scene reminds him of that of Metry’s. Eiji pushes her down! OMG. This is the THIRD time he pushed a woman off!!! He remembers Metry’s words then when she came through his window was to return to his brothers!

Plot twist: Migi, Dali and Eiji are triplets???!!! It is hinted Reiko faked her pregnancy and she took a liking for Eiji because he was not blonde. After that she locked Metry and the twins in the room for a long time. Until the twins were big enough to pick on the lock in which Metry took them to run. Then on Christmas Eve she wanted to get Eiji to join his brothers but we all know what happened. Dali refuses to accept this fact and that Metry was killed by him, a stranger. He should be more concerned with his mother. Eiji obediently picks up Reiko and wants to start over. At this point, Karen has run out of ideas on how to stall dad. Akira comes out to see the twins. He isn’t surprised? Oh yeah, lover boy Maruta takes this chance to introduce himself as Karen’s official boyfriend! But soon Reiko’s scream is heard. They check it out and she has been stabbed. Blood all over her guts. However Karen senses something amiss. As she is about to poke her eyes, Reiko gets up and sprints out! But she locks them all in! She claims she and Eiji will start a new life somewhere where nobody knows them. She comments about Akira being the ideal husband but not so ideal after all, Karen didn’t end up looking like either one of them, the twins she is sure their parents have started to look to adopt a new kid, and Maruta… No comment. Bye! Reiko and Eiji dress up as they prepare to leave the house. However Eiji really stabs he this time and claims he will soon follow her. Then he sets the Ichijou dollhouse ablaze and soon the fire engulfs the place.

Episode 12
Oh man, Maruta using his beaver teeth to chip away the door?! Better than nothing! Akira laments all this because their family had no problems. This is when Karen tells him about the baby thingy and Akira himself isn’t aware of such! She notes this is why mom became who she is. It is hinted she is his patient?! His lax ways enabled her to shape this house and then extend her influence over the town. With smoke being smelled, panic starts to set in. Gonna be burnt alive! Oh Migi, using your head to break open the door?! Maruta’s style doesn’t look so bad now, huh? Okay, maybe it is equally bad. But who shall save them? The birdman returns! He saw smoke and came back. Since the entrance is blocked, they have to jump out the window. Be careful, barb wires. The twins could easily jump across. Karen too. Don’t end like up Akira. Stuck in the barb wires! Ouch. Looks painful. Maruta scared and not even his love for Karen could make him jump? Oh well, she hints she’ll do something for him! Fat kid jumps! Finally, Akiyama turned into a phoenix to fly out?! Nah, just birdman riding on the dog! Remember dobbie boy?! Although all safe, Akiyama notes Eiji is still inside. He saw him hugging mom and called out to him but he did not response. Like as though he wants to die. Dali dashes back in followed by Migi. As Eiji lies next to mom’s corpse on the bed, he remembers all the things they did together. No matter what others say, she will always be his perfect mom. That is why he wants to be perfect like her to make her proud. Also, he wanted to be a doctor like dad to bring peace to her but looks like this is his only way. Dali enters as Eiji agrees to his revenge. Kill him and get it over with. However he won’t because his revenge is for him to live in disgrace. As he brings him out, the fire has caused damage to the surroundings as the triplets struggle. But what’s this? The spirit of Micchan cleaning up the debris and guiding the twins to Eiji stuck under the chandelier! Both cooperate to lift him out because they are looking forward to fighting over cherry pie?! Although they got out safe, Eiji hints he isn’t going back with the twins. Because he gives himself up to the cops and admits he was the one who killed Reiko and Micchan as well as starting this house’s fire.

Episode 13
Eiji tells the police and doesn’t involve anyone else. Of course the police doesn’t believe him 100%. Thankfully, Maruta’s video recorder despite destroyed in the fire, the tape was miraculously in good shape. Thanks to this evidence and Akira’s hard defence, Eiji received a lighter sentence at a juvenile detention centre. Maruta and Karen have a long distance relationship while the twins continue to play Hitori. However it is Migi who has been playing Hitori ever since. This is because Dali now spots an obvious burn scar on his face. Migi is worried about his life but Dali assures that Migi’s happiness is his happiness. He is more than happy to be his shadow for the rest of his life. This continues for some time and Hitori is now a very popular person in school. Soon Akiyama is told the truth by Migi and feels sad about it. Migi too feels the same. Despite both are always connected, he doesn’t want to be Hitori anymore. He wants to be Migi AND Dali. On Christmas night, Dali dreams of everyone leaving him. Of course he gets scared and doesn’t want that to happen. When Migi wakes up, he is surprised to see 2 presents before them. Didn’t their parents say Santa only gives 1 child a present? It seems the parents hint they know there are actually 2 of them! When Migi hints to Dali about the good news they don’t have to live in the shadows anymore, Dali remains sceptical. Migi then says their paths will diverge from now and they will have their own likes and dislikes. But some things won’t change. Like how the other’s happiness is also his happiness. This finally breaks the ice for Dali as the twins for the first time appear before their parents. The parents can even tell Dali’s favourite food and remember the things that he done as Hitori. The twins have their first ‘argument’ with each other calling names. Hello, Midget and Dummy!

A few years later, we see the twins grown up into handsome hunks. Yeah, now both spot different hairstyles. Akiyama continues to love bird watching and Maruta, OH DAMN, THIS GUY IS HANDSOME NOW!!! Still spot the beaver teeth but DAYYYUUMM!!! He so hot!!! The twins help mom bake cherry pie because it seems today is Eiji’s release and his family will be dropping by. When he arrives, he spots a forlorn look. This is when Migi pleads to Dali to do it. Reluctantly, he dresses up as Sali! This makes Eiji laugh his ass off and so does everyone else! Everybody enjoys the cherry pie. Maruta and Karen are now dating?! Eiji then visits Metry’s grave and one day if he goes to see her in heaven, he will tell her the imperfect but happy life he lived. One day, we see the gang seeing the twins off at the train station. Mama obviously sad. Actually, it is Dali who is only going to study away at the university. Migi isn’t going since he intends to be an avant garde artist. This is to further prove that no matter how far apart they are, their hearts will always be connected.

The Aberrant Trap: The Twins Effect
Well, I couldn’t agree more with this ending. It shows that everyone has put their past behind and move forward forging their own path. The kind of path that makes them respectable human beings and even though they have been imperfect in the past, all that doesn’t matter since they are now living life the best way they can. The true happy ending where everybody lives happily ever after! Save for the dead ones and may their souls rest in peace.

Despite the storyline seems pretty generic and nothing mind blowing, somehow I find each episode’s pacing and flow to be quite interesting. Yes, I have to admit that the intrigue in every episode has kept me wanting to know more what happened. Because of that, perhaps it is the reason why some of the twist and turns looked pretty astonishing although some may call it pretty standard. For instance, I never knew they were triplets! That took me by surprise! Yeah, I was so intrigued with the plot that I didn’t have time to form conspiracy theories like I do for many other animes! So is that a good thing or what? So when this twist hit me, you bet I was almost knocked off my seat!

What began as a story to seek out revenge for a dead mom and hence all the strange amateur detective work to smoke out the killer, it all quickly turned into an act of redemption. After all, what would we think of the twins had they followed true to their path to get revenge on their mother’s killer? Because that would change nothing and in fact I believe it would make them feel emptier. They found out mom’s killer. Took their revenge by taking the killer’s life. End of story. What now? Goal completed. Life still carries on. I’ll bet they’ll be facing some sort of trauma after that. Even if their mom had her life wrongfully snatched from them at an awful young age, it doesn’t give them the right to take others. For better or worse, living is the only way to atone for one’s sins. It might not erased the pain and scars of the past but they can build upon a better life from that point.

Though, there are some parts of the story which I don’t really get or at least questions that were never answered. For instance, when Metry died, how did the twins end up in a faraway orphanage? Who sent them there? Did they just walk in and decided to stay there? And during their stay at the orphanage, were they acting as a single person of do they know there were twins? Oddly, how come the twins know the name of the town where their mother died but not even know their mom’s own name? Oh well, not surprising. Many kids will call their mom as mama or something similar but how do they know the name Origon? Unless they heard mom say it during those lockup periods. And to think that they were waiting to be adopted by someone from Origon. Was this all part of their plan? What if they never get adopted from someone there? Thankfully they did because sneaking around as suspicious strangers would be even more dangerous. Metry’s grave rests on the cliff of the hill overseeing Origon. Uhm, how deep to the twins dig to bury her body because damn, I can imagine how funny it is if the body just slip and fell through the ground below! Unless of course it was buried somewhere else and here just lies the tombstone serving as a reminder for their revenge.

Love them or hate them, Migi and Dali as the main characters of this series start off as weird. Look at the way they masterfully do acrobatic stuffs and play as a single character to fool everyone, while it may look amusing but the way they move sometimes gives off this creepy feeling. Like as though they are aliens! They are slender and look at the way they hide and slip around without others knowing. So yeah, perhaps this part made me think that there were going to be some sort of horror-like jump scares but thankfully none. All just in my overthinking head. Because of their strange character and interaction with each other, it gives the perception like the situation could be graver than we think it is. For example, they wanted to expose their adopted parents at their welcoming party. It was shown in a way like as though the parents had a dark secret to hide and that they were some evil people. However it all turned out to be just nothing burger and the ‘prank’ backfired. In many instances, this is how the twins operate and the reason why a lot of suspense was given off. But this is only right since they are searching for their mom’s killer with no clues to begin with and have to be wary and suspect everyone. Everyone!

Because of that, the comedy factor of this series sometimes feel a bit weird. I don’t know if I should go so far as to say it is creepy because sometimes the scene looked like it is supposed to be funny but somehow I don’t. Like how Eiji stripped Hitori to his undies and the latter daring him and then the former starts groping his ass and underwear… Like, what the hell???!!! More eyebrow raising than funny. Sure, still funny but is it really? And like the part Dali repetitively hit Maruta’s head as punishment, that’s supposed to be funny, right? Well, if they didn’t show it in such an ominous angle or manner. Yeah, I thought Maruta’s head was going to be smacked off! Ugh. My overthinking has once again reared its ugly head. Then there’s Akiyama’s sketch of Sali and Reiko trying to kill with a sourdough bread. OMG. Not sure if this is funny or creepy! Or both!

Initially, the twins were so close to each other that I believe many including yours truly have a hard time differentiating them apart (I think they part their hairs in a different direction, but I wouldn’t bother to notice that either). It is apparent in my early parts of the blog when I would just avoid naming them to avoid the confusion! Yeah, even by the middle of the season, I was still wrapping my head around which one is Migi and which one is Dali. I believed Migi is the weaker one and Dali the one who is more authoritative and calling the shots. But as the series carries on, we soon start to see them differently and telling them apart. This is good since despite being twins, they are still individuals. They are not clones of each other despite coming from the same zygote. Even in earlier episodes you can tell that the twins are individuals as they possess their own unique strengths to cover the weaknesses of the other. Like how Migi is good with his hands and that is why he becomes an artist while Dali is more of the brainy type and decided to go further his studies. It was just that they look so similar and we couldn’t tell them apart, confusing the hell out of us which twin is which. But now they’ve grown into their own individual with their own preferences. Hope they won’t fall for the same girl!

But the one mind boggling thing about them is the case of Sali. Ah yes, how can Dali be impersonating as such a perfect cool beauty when his twin doesn’t even know about it! Yes, I did mention that twins have their own personalities, strengths and weaknesses. But they are still identical twins. Unless I have the wrong idea about the whole thing, twins should be able to tell the other apart even when Dali is perfectly disguised as Sali. Or are you saying Dali is so freaking perfect that not even his twin could tell! But yeah, I guess this silly part was to have some sort of development as well as plot twist! Hey, even I was fooled to think Sali was a real person had they not pointed out it was Dali behind that wig! Uh huh. Imagine some weird incest sh*t and even more complication when Eiji was in the love triangle! HOLY F*CK! I CAN SEE SOME YAOI INCEST SH*T COMING UP ON THE DARK SIDE OF THE WEB!!! Yeah, it was really weird. And now Dali is condemned to play that role as pranks since he is the only one who can pull it off perfectly. Don’t worry, we all had a good laugh!

Thanks to the twins’ decision, Eiji now has a better life than before. Smiling and living happily, sharing the delicious cherry pie of Youko, is this considered living disgracefully? Well, perhaps under Reiko’s standards. But all that doesn’t matter now seeing Eiji looks freed from all that oppression. He looks a lot happier now. But yeah, to think he pushed 3 different women, all somewhat the love of his life (Metry, Reiko and… Sali!) from the edge, was this some kind of running joke?! I don’t know if it was the right thing for him to kill Reiko but I guess at that point in time he was a minor so thankfully in Japanese law, can’t be tried as an adult for murder. Phew? Had Reiko lived, the same madness will continue so perhaps this was the only way to save her. Unlike everyone else, Reiko cannot be changed.

Reiko is painted as the antagonist of this series when she is just some perfectionist psycho. All she wanted was just a perfect family and went to great lengths to do that even if it was all just pretending. It was never stated what kind of job Akira does but from what I understand, he could be a doctor and that Reiko was one of his patients. Not sure how she charmed him into marrying her or he just took a pity on her and did so. Either way, he wasn’t keeping a good tabs on her seeing he doesn’t even know what is going on even in his own family! Is he one of the most blur dads in the world? When Karen screamed of wanting to get out of this crazy household, this is a sign something is not right already. Because of Reiko being left to her own device, she maintains a stranglehold on the entire town and her children fearing her because of the leash she puts on them. Yeah, what are they going to do if they don’t like something? It’s the re-education room for you! Reiko was even crazy enough to kill. RIP, Micchan. The only other casualty other than Reiko. And of course the unfortunate Metry.

The most unexpected character would be Maruta. Damn, you thought this chubby little beaver would be some sort of a comical relief but he proves himself useful at many times! Moral of the story, never look down on anyone and especially never judge a book by its cover! We are all so guilty just like the twins themselves who don’t think much of this arrogant little kid. They think he can’t make it or pull it off but what do you know? He does it! Oh my. Aren’t we the shameful ones now? Even more so, he is the biggest winner hitting the biggest jackpot because he is dating cutie pie Karen! OMFG!!! Oh mah f*cking gawd!!!!! Beauty and the beast? Oh well, now he is a handsome hunk and continues to date Karen. The greatest untold love story ever! Sure, he has his own funny flaws like becoming a stiff log when he panics or is in danger but that serves as a defence mechanism. Otherwise, this guy is truly the greatest levelled up character among those here!

I thought Akiyama would play a more prominent role in the series but he continues to be the meek and strange bird lover. Sure, overshadowed by Maruta’s greatness but he still plays a helpful role during Beavers like saving everyone’s skin from the fire. That’s it I guess. The rest of the people in Origon, I guess they are all nice people after all. Only Reiko was the exception. Because the twins painted like as though everyone has a dark secret to hide and perhaps in cohorts with Metry’s death. So like the twins’ adopted parents, they are actually very nice people with no ulterior motives whatsoever. Not sure why at such an old age they decided to adopt a child because from the way I see it, they don’t have any children of their own. Could Youko be infertile too? And before it gets too late, they want to experience some parenthood and hence the adoption? Smells like plot convenience to me.

But I am giving them the benefit of the doubt that they have been fooled a lot by the twins’ switcheroo tactics because as they are old, they cannot see or hear well and have slower reaction times. Thus most of the stunts the twins pulled off in this context are believable. Although I am not sure why it took them so long to realize there was another person. Perhaps they have suspected it for some time, just that they haven’t had some sort of proof until this incident and they start to think about it. Hitori was their beloved child and at some points, he did act like 2 different people despite how similar the twins tried to pull it off. But it all doesn’t matter because they truly love their child like their own and that is all that matters.

On a side note, I wonder why the f*ck Metry’s name sounded so funny and weird. Oh, I mispronounced it at first as in Mee-Trai! Me try… Me try being a good mother! HAHAHA!!! Oops, sorry. Turned out to be meh-tree. Looks like metric… Not sure what nationality that name is because even the twins are oddly named as Migi and Dali. But obviously it is termed left and right in Japanese (migi and hidari). Funny, why wasn’t Eiji named the centre or the likes? Oh well, he is always on the edge and hence Eiji! HAHAHA!!! Oops, sorry again. But better than naming a dog, Sardine! WTF?! If that’s a cat’s name I would understand, but SARDINE?!

Art and animation are quite standard and satisfactory. Nothing much to complain (or praise like hell!) but I want to note how the twins dress up so similar to Steve Jobs! OMFG! Yeah, before I could point this out, Youko did the honours by pointing out the obvious reference! Sure, having such a simple outfit avoids the suspicious part if they start to wear different flamboyant clothes and they can switch easily with this Steve Jobs’ trademark outfit. Now, since this series set in the early 90’s, it made me wonder if Dali went on to be Steve Jobs in reality! OMFG!!! I can imagine a whole lot of dumb conspiracy theories now! Also, why does Eiji look like a serious version of Ren from Persona 5? This anime is jointly done by Geek Toys (Liar Liar, Date A Live IV, Dead Mount Death Play, Plunderer) and CompTown.

For the voice acting, I only recognized Romi Paku as Reiko. Yeah, she really sounds like in psycho mode alright. To further differentiate the twins, both even have different seiyuus who voice them, Shun Horie as Migi (Kazuya in Kanojo Okarishimasu) and Ayumu Murase as Dali (Luck in Black Clover). Funnily, I thought it was the other way round since Migi was the weaker one and sounded a bit gay. Oh wait. Don’t tell me I got the whole twins thingy mixed up! The other casts are Kengo Kawanishi as Eiji (Rei in 3-gatsu No Lion), Shintarou Asanuma as Akiyama (Tsuda in Seitokai Yakuindomo), Shunsuke Takeuchi as Maruta (Yamato in Nanbaka), Akira Sekine as Karen (Princess in Princess Principal), Kimiko Saitou as Micchan (Sofia in Golden Kamuy), Tokuyoshi Kawashima as Akira (William in Emma: A Victorian Romance), Kotono Mitsuishi as Youko (Boa Hancock in One Piece), Takashi Matsuyama as Osamu (Taizou in Nanaka 6/17) and Sumire Morohoshi as Metry (Gerharde in Nanatsu No Taizai). The opening theme, Yuuma Ga Doki by Soraru & Rib has a lively beat and doesn’t give the mystery and suspense feel of the series itself. The ending theme, Skyline by Nulbarich sounds more like a slow hip hop. But the very sketchy-like ending credits animation somehow reminds me of one of Shingeki No Kyojin’s ending… Is this creepy?

Overall, what turned out to be one of the reluctant anime series to watch of the season, turned out to be one of the best! OMG. I’m so glad that I took a look at this. While it may not be a superb masterpiece but hey, the intrigue had me glued to the screen all the way so in my books, that is way good enough and a contender for this year’s best anime! Let’s not get ahead of myself. Sorry if you sophisticated people expected more but I have no regrets watching this. Now that this series has ended (the manga ended back in 2021) and leaving me with some bittersweet feelings, it couldn’t be even sadder because the creator of this series, Nami Sano (famed for Sakamoto Desu Ga) died of cancer back in August 2023! Also, she shared the same birthday with me!!! OMFG!!! Why do I feel so sad even though I don’t even know her personally???!!! Yeah, we’re not twins anyway! Thank for such a wonderful series. Now I have to do a double take on other series I have initially written off. Oh boy. Anime schedule gonna get busier. But still, crappy and garbage animes still crappy and sh*tty no matter how many takes I give!

Seijo No Maryoku Wa Bannou Desu S2

I didn’t expect this to get a sequel just like many other series. But yeah, it did. So why the heck am I watching Seijo No Maryoku Wa Bannou Desu S2 when I called it one of the most boring romance animes in my books? Oh, to follow up, huh? Maybe this season will be it as our favourite main couple will finally confess and officially become one. Hopefully. After all, after watching quite a number of male targeted anime series lately, maybe it is time to take a little break and breather from all that cliché male fantasy fanservice and love and go for something more (almost) purely romantic. The kind of romance that is mainly targeted for female audiences. Maybe I’ll learn some true love here. Heh. I have a feeling that won’t be likely… Yeah, sometimes I am a mystery myself.

Episode 1
Johan shows Sei heaps of crates for her that are from Klausner’s Domain. She also receives a letter from Corinna who is grateful for her help since the forest has been regrown and the herbs that were once hard to collect are no longer so. She hopes she can visit her again. As Sei is still researching on her new cosmetics, Johan believes there will be some interested to buy so he’ll try to contact a trading company. Next day, he introduces her to Franz and Oscar who are in this trading business. They sold Sei’s previous products and it has garnered them lots of profits and popularity. But due to circumstances, they can’t release her latest products and that’s why they suggest Sei open her own trading company. I mean, who is going to interfere with a saint’s business, right? Don’t worry, the duo can help market and manage the inventory while she can concentrate solely on her research. Later Oscar shows Sei and Hawke how a store is booming very well because of some efficient sales strategy to sell that also now sells to other demographics than nobles. To thank them, he tells them of a famed café where they can enjoy some great imported tea. Looking like a date. They order coffee and drinking it has Sei reminisce about the kind she used to drink in Japan. Thinking of trying to brew some here? Do they have the right tools? When Sei tells Johan about the coffee she just had that also exists in her world, she believes there might be more of such here than she realizes. Especially rice. Craving for some now, huh? Johan suggests asking Franz since he travels around the world or she could head to Morgenhaffen, a large port city that trades directly with Salutania. Perhaps she can find stuffs that are not sold here. Time for a road trip.

Episode 2
Sei and Jude arrive at Morgenhaffen with Oscar as their guide. Because she is a saint, Johan gave her some glasses an wig as disguise just in case. It’s the reason why Hawke couldn’t come as he is quite recognizable as a knight and a disguise on him wouldn’t work either. During their sightseeing, they hear a commotion that an accident occurred on board a ship. It seems some crates fell on a crewman and he is gravely injured. No potions could heal him. The captain, Ceyran pleads for a healer and Sei wanted to go help but only to be advised not to make a scene. As we know she can’t leave it be, she gives Ceyran a potion. Trust her, it will work. Later Ceyran comes looking for her and wants to thank her for saving his crewman’s life. She doesn’t mind but he insists on repaying her. Oscar suggests buying his goods at discounted prices. Ceyran takes them to his warehouse where he stores his goods but they aren’t many since they don’t sell well here. To Sei’s delight, she recognizes many of the spices and more importantly, RICE!!! She returns home and cooks them, even sending some to Aira. A taste from their homeland! Then she invites everyone to a food tasting party using ingredients from her homeland. Our Japanese girls can take comfort in their soul food. Meanwhile Ceyran writes a letter to be sent immediately to his emperor back at Zaidera. He will be staying here for a while since he needs to find out who created this miracle potion (Sei gave an excuse it was a gift from a friend).

Episode 3
Looks like Sei has to attend a ceremony as the king will formally introduce her as a saint to other nobles. Oh yes, there’s a ball too afterwards she must attend. Sei remembers Hawke will invite her. She feels embarrassed about it and hopes he would forget about it. Too bad, he remembers. Any reason for her to turn him down? Guess not. The ceremony proceeds well and without incident. Once it is over, she returns to her chamber and it seems Liz and Rayne are here to see her since they can’t attend the ball later this evening. Rayne is also here to apologize over Kyle’s treatment over her although Sei isn’t the kind to hold such grudges as she has already been given a formal apology. As the ball is about to start, Hawke picks up Sei. Both look so dashing. I know you’re mesmerized with each other but can we move on? Despite all the training, Sei still feels nervous. Don’t worry, Hawke is with you. Then they dance and delight the crowd. Once that is over, Johan then takes over as Hawke goes to bring more ‘reinforcements’. You see, there are lots of guys out there who want to ask for Sei’s hand to dance. Would she rather dance with the guys she knows or with random strangers? Yup. And so we have Drewes and Earhart as her subsequent dance partners. So which one of the guys danced with her the best? Don’t know. Can’t say. I have a hunch… Later life resumes like normal for Sei. Johan tells her it is so because the palace has been taking care of it. You see, nobles have been sending invitations to her and the reason she has not received a single one is because the palace has been politely declining them on her behalf. Sei thought her peaceful researching days are back but talk about jinxing it because now she receives an urgent message to meet Siegfried. An important matter must be discussed.

Episode 4
It seems a prince from Zaidera is going to be an exchange student here in Salutania. It is unsure if Zaidera has got word on the saint and hence Siegfried needs Sei to keep her interactions with him to a bare minimum. This means she might have to stay at the royal capital for a while since the institute is on the list of the places he plans to visit. So they collaborate that Sei is to take leave from the institute whenever the prince visits. So the day comes as the kingdom welcomes Prince Tenyuu. After a week, Sei and Liz talk about him. Looks like he is quite a gentleman and a knowledgeable person too. Did Liz mention he is also the 18th prince from the emperor’s 7th concubine! Don’t worry, here in Salutania, monogamy is only practised! Get the hint, Sei! Also to note, it seems Tenyuu has been asking about for different medicinal plants. It could be that Tenyuu is asking a lot of questions to hide his info gathering. Which is a common practice for royalties. Tenyuu visits the institute when Sei isn’t around. After that when Sei returns, Jude updates him on the tour they gave the prince. As they talk, to their surprise Tenyuu is here! They talk a bit before he leaves. They then talk to Johan who then told them this has become an issue. You see, Tenyuu wasn’t scheduled to visit the institute and this means he snuck out by himself to do so. This has caused an uproar in the palace since they too were caught unaware so guards are assigned to keep tabs on him. Although Sei did not reveal much, there is a possibility that he may be after Sei. After all, Sei’s secret is still not known to Zaidera. Meanwhile Tenyuu confides with his subject about what he has learnt. After he visits the institute, he noticed many spoke about this person called Sei. This means she is important enough to be relied by outsiders and that everyone knows she is on leave that day. This means she could be the key that he is looking for. His next move might be rash but it must be done no matter the sacrifice.

Episode 5
Each time Tenyuu visits, Jude has to make excuses that Sei is not around. All. The. Time. You bet at this point Tenyuu must be suspicious so Johan suggests to drop the act. The next time Tenyuu visits and Sei is able to talk to him, she is mindful not to reveal too much but since Tenyuu is very knowledgeable in herbs, they could’ve gone on talking forever. Jude had to remind her it’s time. Later on discussing with the rest, they are unsure if Tenyuu is trying to gauge Sei as a saint for war purposes. Whatever the case, it must never be revealed that Sei is a saint and the things she could do. Sei feels the need to gather some info too so she talks to Franz and Oscar about getting a book of herbs from Zaidera. As they agree, they feel something amiss. They have talked to Ceyran personally and it seems he is looking for an alchemist who can make high grade potions. His backer is Tenyuu who is the one that is looking for an alchemist. When asked about the saint, Ceyran showed no interest. In fact, other people from Zaidera also share this same sentiment that the saint’s power is only for fighting monsters. Nothing more. Hence the strangest part is the prince is not looking for the saint but an alchemist. Why? Stay tuned to find out. Later Hawke comes to see Sei since he will be leaving for a while to his home to visit his parents. With Liz leaving them ‘stranded’, this has Sei spill the beans about her dilemma with Tenyuu. She doesn’t want to cause a diplomatic row by being too direct. Hawke has a plan. The next time Tenyuu visits, Hawke is also here as he asks Sei for help to make high grade potions. She has an alchemist friend who can do so. Obviously Tenyuu took the bait and eavesdropped the conversation. So later he confronts Sei and wants her to introduce this alchemist friend of hers. He reveals he desperately needs a cure for a disease we all know as muscular atrophy. You know, muscles wasting away. All his alchemists in Zaidera are unable to find that cure. The person suffering from this disease is his mother.

Episode 6
A short flashback of Tenyuu spending time with his mother and her condition is getting worse. She wishes for his happiness but of course Tenyuu’s happiness is to see mother well again. Tenyuu talks to Sei about hearing some high grade potion in Salutania and that’s why he came here to look for it. At first he thought the alchemist was her but was wrong (oh, he doesn’t know how correct he is). They talk about different potions have different symptoms and effects and if the alchemist cannot directly examine her directly, a correct solution cannot be provided. Since the alchemist cannot leave Salutania and his mom cannot survive the journey here, Sei suggests making a panacea. Later Sei talks to Johan about this and although he supports her decision to try making a panacea, the problem is that he has no authority to provide it to the imperial prince. Don’t worry about that, he’ll figure things out so go do your stuff. Sei continues to research but to no avail. Sei brings the sad news that finding the right panacea seems hard but Tenyuu understands. In fact, he received a letter of his mother’s worsening condition. He may have to cut short his studies and return to spend what’s left of her time with her. When Hawke returns, he presents some honey from his village as gift to Sei. This is when Sei hits an idea to make a panacea from different ingredients. Using her powers, she makes an apple tree mature to start working on her panacea. Siegfried summons Tenyuu as he talks about the founders of alchemy were from Salutania. Many of its recipes are lost and couldn’t be replicated but some were passed down by the royal family. He presents to him bottles of panacea. Tenyuu is reluctant to accept because he cannot repay this kindness. Siegfried notes that he might not want something now so consider this an investment because in the future he would love to become friends. A grateful Tenyuu accepts. With Tenyuu leaving soon and no time to say goodbye to Sei, Sei believes Tenyuu has received her potions. Not sure about the details but it’s done. Tenyuu hints he may know who created this panacea because there is only 1 person he spoke to about this. But it doesn’t matter because whoever that person did all she can to help.

Episode 7
Sei explaining to Hawke about the Christmas tree back in her world. Yeah, so beautiful with lights. But of course Hawke finds her beautiful while she talks about these stuffs. Later as she talks with Liz and Aira, they talk about marriages seeing ever since Sei had her debut, nobles have been swamping the palace with marriage requests. Obviously may of such marriages are not of the heart and one has to find the right way to sidestep them. Then they troll us of making it look like Liz and Aira having a lesbian moment as they wish for each other to find true love while locking lips, SORRY THEY’RE JUST PUTTING THEIR HEADS CLOSE TO EACH OTHER. With reports of monster activities dwindling, Siegfried believes it is time to think about Sei’s future. Josef who is Hawke’s older brother and a minister to Siegfried, talks to another minister about Sei’s marriage. Some want to support his family into marrying Sei because would you rather have Drewes or the Valdec family nominate a suitor? Josef then talks to Earhart and Hawke about this. As various families have already begun making a move, he is suggesting one of the 2 bachelors to be Sei’s suitor. While Earhart doesn’t mind, he believes Hawke would be more suitable. And so Hawke agrees. When asks about Drewes’ chances, Earhart immediately shoots it down because he is a maniac who only cares about magic. Nothing else. Similarly, Johan’s brother also talks to him about this and hints of him taking on Sei as his wife. Whatever repayment or putting the family at ease, Johan isn’t buying it. Johan doesn’t want to cross paths with Hawke. Later Johan goes to talk to Sei about marriage. While she isn’t really against it, she isn’t sure. Basically, she’s not ready. Johan straights up tell her to marry him but she brushes it off as a joke. She’ll sue for sexual harassment! HAHA! Oh well, Johan thought a fake engagement isn’t bad but she isn’t thrilled to have him who is like a father figure to be her husband. He tells her to think about it since her feelings are most important. And also a certain guy’s. The first image to pop up in Sei’s mind? Hawke. Oh.

Episode 8
As promised, Hawke brings Sei back to his hometown. But this is part of his mission to subjugate monsters. Also tagging along is Drewes. Sei meets his parents for the first time as they showcase their hospitality. Noting there is a hotspring in the area, Sei shows interest. Hawke promises to show her around once their mission is done. Next day, they leave for the mining village where monsters have been sighted. Just in time as they saved a few villagers from wolves. Then they talk to the mayor how the monsters are spawning from the mines. But now they are attacking settlements at the foothills. Not only their numbers are growing but they noticed a new type too: Undead ones. It is suggested that everyone evacuates the area. However with so many injured, Sei will take care in healing them and a guide will help lead Hawke and his men to the mines. Morale is boosted with volunteers coming to help. It seems because of Sei going around purifying miasmic swamps, monsters have been decreasing and this domain is the last one. This makes Sei feeling a bit anxious because she never thought there would be an end to this. Although Drewes cannot be sure, but based on historical records and what he has seen, this domain is definitely the last one. All swamps purified by her have been completely annihilated and no monsters appeared ever since. Next day as they head to the mines, wolves show up to attack. However they cannot die and still move despite being cut down. Truly the undead. Can’t kill what’s already dead, right? Then a loud roar. This huge boar monster could be the boss. However it doesn’t attack them and goes away. I think it wants them to follow. Only 1 way to find out.

Episode 9
Heading into the mines, they find some undead monsters. The deeper they go, more monsters they face. Until they reach the swamp and there’s that boar mother. Drewes wants to do an experiment and fires his purification arrow at it. No effect. Oh well, I guess this means only Sei can purify it. As everyone begins their assault, Sei starts her purification. Wow. That was easy. Didn’t put much of a fight there. On the way out as they cross a ravine, a stray monster attacks Sei as she falls down the abyss. OMG, she survived that fall and had no injuries?! She follows the breeze along the path and feels a bit gloomy over the thought she has to be protected all the time. Hawke and the rest manage to get down as they too follow the breeze. Hawke and Sei eventually meet up with each other. Why do I feel this was so we can see them hug? Then they soon realize a huge miasmic swamp nearby. This is the main one and the reason why there are still monsters around. But don’t hold your breath because this one is an undead dragon! For some added drama and tension, we see the knights fighting and defending with all they’ve got. Sei gets chased around and almost died. Her blessing protected her from certain death. Drewes almost got knocked out and Hawke using all his last ounce of strength to protect Sei. Sei then starts her purification. It took a while but everything soon ended. It is over. Phew. Now we can breathe easily. Literally too.

Episode 10
With all the miasmic swamps gone, Hawke still has his men keep watch just in case. Is there anything Sei can do? Yes. Accompany him. He doesn’t want to be apart from her again like last time. Romance finally taking off? So they hang out, look at some flowers until his men report there are zero threats. Hawke issues the order to withdraw. With the job done, Hawke’s parents hold a simple banquet to celebrate their successful subjugation. As Sei is interested in some of the foods served, Hawke brings her to the market the next day. After some sightseeing, Sei returns and cooks her specialty for Hawke’s parents to try. Mom tells her where she can go and enjoy the hotspring. Along the way, Sei mulls the idea of learning to ride a horse. It would be convenient for her to get to the palace. Sure, Hawke can teach her but this means fewer chances to escort her. Get what he means? With the declining monsters, Sei won’t be needed for a while. But Hawke notes it will still be nice to have a long ride with her. Sei enjoys the bath in the villa as she tries to stay positive with all the things she can look forward to. She notices herself f thinking about Hawke and realizes she is in love. Finally?

Episode 11
Drewes receives an invitation to a play. Obviously he is not interested until he learns from Aira that such a thing exists in her world. After a class session with Sei, he invites her out to the play. He claims he got these invitations from his family since they couldn’t attend it. The only person he can imagine inviting is Sei since he has no idea about women and yeah, they can talk about magic. Sei has her reservations but since Drewes does take care of her and she is interested to see the kind of plays in this world, she accepts. When Sei talks to Johan about this, he smells something fishy. And since this is a play for nobles and not commoners, Sei better start thinking about how to dress up. As Drewes comes to pick up Sei, Sei feels a bit awkward seeing Drewes is acting more like a gentleman. Isn’t this how one should treat a lady? At the play, we see the theatre pretty much similar to ours. Only the lights in the chandelier are light up by magic. When Sei notes about lights in her world now conveniently activated by a flip of a button, she also demonstrates with her magic how she could easily change light colours. This makes Drewes so excited like a kid! He would really love to know more. Next day, rumours are rife about Drewes and Sei being engaged. Liz casts her reservations because everybody only heard about it but not many have seen them together. Liz and Aira are worried about Sei although they remain confident the rumours will soon die out. Johan then has a private talk with Hawke about the rumours. Although he is unaware, he is not even fazed if Sei went to the play with Drewes. He knows what kind of person Drewes is and he is not concerned about it. However the most concerning thing is that he never knew Sei was interested in the play because he would’ve invited her himself. Onto serious stuffs, they believe Drewes’ family is trying to set them up and publicly push for their son’s engagement to Sei. Imagine the Grand Magus of the Royal Magi Assembly and the holy saint together. Such a nice ring. Also such great powers to gain. Johann tells Hawke to make a move fast because sometimes waiting is not enough. This is the sake for his own life and not for his family.

Episode 12
Hawke remembers 2 years ago when he was badly injured in a battle, it was Sei’s miraculous potion that healed him. So he went to see Johan in hopes to thank that person who saved his very life. The moment he saw Sei in the flesh, he knew he had fallen in love with her. The problem now is how to convey it to her. Liz tells Sei about the rumours and asks about what she thinks of Drewes. Of course nothing more than just her teacher. Liz don’t mean to make her feel in a dilemma but there is a possibility Drewes might step down from his role to honour her feelings. So better be clear and think carefully your feelings. As a woman and not as a saint. Sei is putting a lot of thoughts into this so much so she is acting weird during work. Hawke arrives to pick up Sei but waits for her to finish her lessons. However seeing her being friendly with Drewes, it makes him worried. Drewes assures her about the rumours. He is only interested in her magic. Then he whispers something inaudible to Hawke and then to Earhart. Something about the source of Sei’s power. I think I can guess what it is. Even Earhart has a hunch about it. Can you guess? After Hawke sends Sei home, he invites her to an outing because there is something he wants to show her. On that day as he brings her to the gardens of the royal family, he shows her a spot where all the plants are illuminated. He tried to replicate it like how she told him before. She is happy. He is happy. Makes him want to get closer to her. Makes him want to cherish her feelings above everything else. However he was too weak to do that until he realizes time is not on his side. Also realizing that her happiness is not only what he wants, he doesn’t want anyone else to have her. And finally he pops the question: Will you marry me! Sei hugs him. That’s your answer.

The Saint Apothecary Diaries
OMG. I thought it would never happen. Not at least for this season. Hawke finally having the balls to propose to her! Is that the end of everything?! Well, maybe I am getting ahead of myself. Because despite the proposal, it’s not like they’re getting married right away, no? Many viewers and fans are hoping for another season and my guess is that this series is far from over. It isn’t considering the light novel is still ongoing. So there will be many more volumes after this but as for the anime part, we are unsure because those big “FIN” letters at the end, it feels like the death flag that it is over. Need more? Go read the light novels! Oh yeah. If you know me, you know my answer. Bye.

Good thing or bad, it seems I don’t find this season as boring as the first. Is it because I have unconsciously set my expectations lower? Or way much lower to be precise? But still boring nevertheless. For the first arc, I am perplexed with the whole thing because a prince from across the sea comes looking for help and Sei has to secretly help him because well, you know, shenanigans and protocols of royals and nobles whatever. I felt that it all amounted to nothing much since Tenyuu left in a hurry but with some hope and that some strings were pulled to enable that. Yeah, all of that felt weird. Perhaps it was to showcase Sei not as a saint but an apothecary practitioner. Then they decide to ramp up a little bit of drama with the next arc of purifying the final miasma swamp. Yeah, the fight with the big boss dragon put us at the edge of our seats, no? NOT! They show it from dramatic angles that Sei may be done for but like yours truly being a ‘veteran’, I wasn’t really worried because I anticipated how it would all turn out. All as planned…

And finally, when Sei is made public, the mad scramble for her hand intensifies. I thought they were going to leave that for the next season and end with some sort of cliff-hanger? But I guess with all the miasmic dangers out of the way, now perhaps we can shift the series to focus more on the romantic genre. The real stuffs that the fans and viewers have been waiting for? Yes, Hawke might have proposed to her but the battle is not over yet. Sore loser nobles might want to usurp and hence the real battle for Sei has just begun. Not purifying swamps but the battle to be her husband! Oh damn. This is going to be the toughest of them all! Jealous parties won’t let Hawke monopolize the saint all to himself! Don’t count others out yet. So yeah, the front runners are Hawke and Drewes but who knows if there are other outside parties who will usurp this. After all, now that there are no more official bad swamps to purify, everybody especially Siegfried seems to be more concerned about how Sei will continue to live the rest of her life. Is that some sort of guilt of bringing her here and then mistreating her in the first season? Well, it’s good he put it some thoughts for Sei but can he just let Sei live peacefully like she enjoys it now? Oh right. She holds the saint title so yeah, can’t technically have the normal peaceful life.

I am figuring why this season is still somewhat boring is because I now remember the main synopsis of Sei wanting to live a peaceful and quiet life. That is why there isn’t much drama or intensity and if there were, it won’t last long. Sorry, no evil megalomaniac who wants to take over the world as I hoped for! As long as have rice, Sei gonna love it here. Therefore Sei being the same person as we know last season feels very much at home. On one hand it is good because we expect Sei to be the same person and has not changed much in the sense she stays true to her own character. But on the other, this makes her boring since she is more interested in researching herbs and potions more than anything else. Though, the few occasions we see her blush when Hawke getting too close to her or spew some romantic lines that would make any lady’s heart skip a beat. Ah yes, a reminder that Sei is still a woman aside from being a saint and an herbalist. A sign to give us some (false) hope that there may be some real romance happening soon. I know Hawke made the early move to seal the deal. But we’re going to have to wait for another season to see their romance flesh out. Remember, nothing is set in stone yet. While Sei’s feelings for Hawke may be the strongest (so far and for now), there is a possibility her love might change and she could fall for others! Gasp! Can’t see that coming? Can’t even imagine of such? Precisely the twist and shock factor we need for more drama! If only there was a potion for love… Nah! It must come from the heart! That’s where that power comes from, no?

And Hawke, oh yeah, he is still the ideal gentleman that girls would dream of as their ideal partner. Still the same gentleman and reliable knight we know as before but with the thought of Sei’s hand in marriage heating up, he soon won’t have the luxury of waiting and go at his own pace. In this context, while he might look like the dashing and confident knight commander, perhaps all that is just a façade as deep down he might be agonizing over this. If love was so easy, the concerned couple in love would’ve got it all wrapped up at the start of the first season! But yeah, for dramatic purposes, they have to bottle it up for more drama so as to torture us viewers too. Heh. Doesn’t it feel like that? Hawke x Sei seems to be very likely as we have seen them together so many times and Hawke doing a lot of stuffs for her sake. If that doesn’t scream love, I don’t know what is. I figured out too that the power of love gives Sei the power. Not rocket science but still a mystery. And finally all our frustrations are rewarded. Somewhat. I am envisioning Hawke’s toughest battles is yet to come. Fending off other suitors who won’t give up. Yeah. Fighting monsters or fellow men more dangerous? You decide.

Drewes on the other hand, nobody is taking him seriously now since everybody knows him as one who is just obsessed in magic and nothing else. Hence his interest in Sei is mostly because of the magic that she has that surpasses his. While his appearance this season seems to be lesser compared to Hawke, never say never because you know how funny love works. For all you know, Drewes might find himself truly falling for Sei not because of her magic affinity or pressure from his family but from the bottom of his own true heart. Hawke better start doing something if Sei ever starts to pay Drewes more attention. Johan had his chance and he even went to straight up ask her only to be shot down! But I don’t think this isn’t over yet and circumstances later on may change their opinions. Perhaps this is just to get our guard down that the 3 horse race has now turned into a 2 horse race.

As for the other characters, I felt they are lacking a lot. Understandably, Johan continues to be the good superior looking out for Sei and the same can be said for Jude. But for the other characters like Liz and Aira, they just felt forgettable. Even Earhart. Almost forgot his name! Even if they don’t appear at all, it won’t change much. Sorry, my conspiracy theory of Aira being Sei’s long lost sister did not materialize! But I guess it is best they do because a character who has been entirely missing this season is Kyle. Oh, you don’t remember him? That arrogant prince who tried to shelter Aira as the fake saint. Yeah. That’s him. I understand that he is under house arrest to atone his crimes. But seeing he doesn’t appear here, it is as though he does not even exist at all! Like he vanished to another world! Prince Kyle got isekai treatment! HAHAHA! Just kidding. Oh right, where’s that Leonhardt guy too?! Another character who didn’t show up.

Art and animation remains consistent like in the previous season. Good looking people as well as the gorgeous background and sceneries. Now I do note a bit of CGI was used although it is minimal and does not break the entire series. I could be wrong but some doors are animated via CGI? Yeah. Look at the way how those doors move. So CGI-like! This season’s new casts include Chiaki Kobayashi as Tenyuu, Shinichiro Miki as Ceyran, Ryota Ohsaka as Oscar, Nobuo Tobita as Franz and Ryotaro Okiayu as Josef. Last season’s opener was sung by Aira Yuuki and she continues to do the same this season with Semisweet Afternoon. A pretty decent lively anime pop piece compared to last season’s slow ballad. The slow ballad this season is now the ending theme, Lilac Melody by Aina Suzuki. Sounds a bit empty due to the minimal of instruments used. Just a few strings and piano occasionally played throughout the song. But still lovely nonetheless.

Overall, I still maintain this season continues to be boring although not as bad as the last. The much anticipated romance did not happen (although they leave it right till the very end) and we are graced with more of Sei’s peaceful life. Oh well, perhaps this is just the calm before the storm and maybe the next time, sh*t will hit the fan. If that ever happens, you bet I’m going to be in so much shock that my jaw will drop and break the floor! HAHAHA! So funny. Sorry I have to make such exaggerated jokes since this season is, wait for it, boring. Yeah, yeah. I know fans of the show will have lots of positive things to shower for this show but for a romance genre that the characters have not even kissed on the lips (technically last season Hawke kissing her on the hand does not count!), this is just disappointing. Oops, I mean boring. Yeah, the saint has so much omnipotent power but yet none of it about love and romance. And you thought love was like magic, huh?! Yes it is. Maybe just untapped…

Shy

Are we ready for a new anime superhero franchise to take on the world? Seeing how mainstream and popular Boku No Hero Academia has become, will there be others in the same genre that will step up and be its rival in the superhero genre? Forget about the western ones that are heading towards the hellish woke downwards spiral! Let anime teach and remind them the true meaning of superhero! So will there be a new superhero challenger? Well, I’m not sure if Shy would be that rival considering to have a superhero named so and to even stay true to that emotions of embarrassment, that just raises a lot of eyebrows. I mean, unless we’re talking about some Jekyll and Hyde persona, how can a person so shy be a world superhero? All that doesn’t matter as long as the hero does his/her job in saving and protecting those in need, right? Don’t be shy now…

Episode 1
As narrated, wars all over the world have ended. However strange people with superpowers suddenly emerge to help preserve the peace. Because of their strange outfits, they are called heroes. Uhm, did they plagiarized Boku No Hero Academia somewhere? Now we shift our attention to Teru Momijiyama. She stays true to her name and she is perhaps Japan’s most shyest person. Even more so, she works as Japan’s hero under the moniker, wait for it, Shy. You wonder how she can do her job if she is so shy. She has a fish mascot, N. Vilio AKA ABO as her partner. Soon, the roller coaster nearby stops dead in its tracks, leaving its patrons hanging upside down. Shy goes to save them but Iko Koishikawa tells her to save others first. She’s going to save everyone so the order shouldn’t matter. Shy does so and when Iko is the last one, the roller coaster goes off by itself. Shy uses all her strength to stop it but it seems Iko is injured and unconscious. In the aftermath after Iko is hospitalized, Teru becomes depressed over her failure to save someone. Even more so, the media and irresponsible parties are blaming her for it! This takes a toll on her so much so she can’t transform. She dreads of being a hero when a real hero, Pepesha Andreianov pops up to give her some great advice that heroes can’t save everybody. Even so, they must continue what they do. She leaves for an urgent mission. Teru continues to be depressed as she hears more unsettling rumours about Japan’s hero. But when a nearby building catches fire, she sees Iko’s brother wants to be a hero and rush in to save others just like Shy. Only, a slab going to fall on him! Teru dives to save him. She gets her hero mojo back as she enters the building to scout for survivors. She hears a baby’s cry. Her trauma activates when she realizes the mother has no pulse. This doesn’t deter her as she tries to save them. She thought she failed again but luckily Pepesha is here in the nick of time to assist. Later Iko’s brother thanks her for that day and relays the good news Iko has regained consciousness. Pepesha then takes Shy to space. Actually the HQ for heroes. She brings her to meet Unilord, the leader who oversees the heroes. She claims despite wars have ended, there are darkness in everyone’s heart and there are parties trying to take advantage of that to bring chaos. Hence their real duties as heroes are to protect such. Teru returns to school and to her surprise, Iko transfers to her class and is seated right next to her. Though, she still blames herself for being the only person she couldn’t save.

Episode 2
Teru continues to worry about Iko’s thoughts on Shy. She was after all injured because of her inability to save her. Teru even catches her crying her alone and thought the pain was unbearable. After bringing her to the infirmary, Iko tells her how she got it. Teru wonders if she hates Shy because had she been saved, she wouldn’t have been injured. Iko denies because she would never hate those who worked her especially Shy who saved her. Wow, this brings Teru to tears. As she goes to the toilet to freshen up, this strange boy, Stigma starts to corrupt Iko. He puts a dark ring on her finger to let all her true emotions bottled in her heart out. When Teru returns, Iko has started transforming into a monster. She starts to feel hurt as crystals start spiking out from her body. As Stigma puts it, her true feelings filled with rage and hatred. As ABO analyses the crystal materializing is her hate for someone, Teru assumes it is towards Shy. But as we see, her parents perished in a fire to save their children. That hatred is towards herself because had they not saved her, they wouldn’t have died. Not wanting Teru to get hurt, Iko tries to kill herself. Teru transforms and stops that. She wonders why she won’t ask for help. Iko is starting to lose it. Desperate, now she pleads for help. Teru transports her to an open space as ABO completes his analysis. Just separate that ring from her. As the corruption starts to overwhelm her, Iko starts blaming Shy and other heroes. Why weren’t they there to save them? ABO warns Shy not to listen to her but on the contrary, Shy will do it so as to answer her with all her heart. Iko then starts attacking her while she just stands there and take it all in. Flashback shows a young Teru was depressed after someone died. She thought it was futile to save someone when what lies ahead is emptiness. Grandpa told her how people are happiest when they live for others. Even in death, that person continues to live on in that person’s heart. They risk their lives for that connection. As Iko continues to blame herself for her parents’ death, Shy hugs her. That kindness dispels her corruption as Shy is able to easily take off the ring. In the aftermath, Iko apologizes for all the troubles but Shy is okay with it. She also dispenses grandpa’s advice about passing kindness to others. Whenever she feels guilty, she pass on that kindness to someone. If everyone could smile because of that, nothing would make her happier. And so Iko thanks Shy for saving her.

Episode 3
Teru and Iko on a date. Oh sorry, I meant hanging out to get to know each other well. At the shopping complex, they find a lost boy and Iko being the outgoing type, she helps him reunite with his parents. She after all has a little brother herself. Then they notice a poster of Stardust. He is also a hero but is also a famous rock star. Not only that, he has established a lot of charitable and aid groups around the world. Soon, Pepesha contacts Teru and wants her to bring her and her friend to their base for a meeting. Stardust will also be there. Iko meets Unilord for the first time as we learn that Stigma has been spotted around the world. It is believed he wants to ‘free’ people’s hearts. The heroes are surprised that Shy was able to have the ring completely intact. Something about she tried to understand Iko’s heart and somehow it worked. Further analysis of the ring shows that it uses a person’s heart as energy to crystallize since it is filled with unimaginable powers. This is the same concept on how their hero’s bracelet works. Only, this ring forces itself deeper to bring out all the darkness within. Stardust had an experience with this as a friend of his was forced upon a ring. How he solved it? He cut off his friend’s finger! The true reason Unilord called Stardust for this meeting is because since he is one of the few who can act without mercy for his own sake, she wants him to fight Shy. Shy lacks battle experience and Stardust is the right person to do it. After all, there is a chance Stigma might appear before her again. Pepesha wants to do it but Unilord will not allow it since she has grown too attached to Shy. Shy agrees to do this. Stardust wonders if she is serious because is she going to quit being a hero forever if she loses? Going over the rules, whoever loses their will to fight and has their transformation undone, loses. But Stardust is confident that if Shy manages to land a single punch on his face, she wins.

Episode 4
Shy keeps throwing punches but she just cannot hit him. But he could easily land a nasty one for her. He tells her off that her emotions and naivety makes her weak. That is why she rejects victory. He continues to beat her up and this makes the ladies squirm. He further adds insult that she is so weak and making her friends worry all about her. However Shy has not given up. Because of her friends cheering for her, she can continue to stand up. But still, she gets pounded and Stardust continues that this naivety of hers will get her killed by even more heartless enemies. But reverse psychology from Shy. Because she thinks Stardust being a heartless person and going all out against her is his form of kindness. So that she could get mad at him and fight back! Stardust’s flashback shows he got involved in some fight. So his friend talked to him that despite others called him heartless, he fought back to prove he has a heart. He suggested he become the nicest person in the world to prove to others that they were all just talk. As Shy starts to punch back at him incessantly, she runs out of power and her transformation undone. Stardust says she is not cut out to be a hero since she runs on emotions and burns out when she overuses them. However it is fools like her who will change the world. He admits his lost since she was able to touch his face before she came undone. Teru has been sleeping for 2 hours at the base and when she comes to, she learns heroes, Lady Black and Doctor Schwartz have healed her. They are from Black Cross, a medical international organization created by Stardust. Lady Black seems to have an issue with Shy as a hero. She believes just like Stardust she is too emotional to be as one and she made a civilian nervous. Heroes are supposed to be reassuring! So if she is ashamed of herself, quit being a hero now! Back home, Teru apologizes to Iko for the troubles but vows to become stronger. On the news, a riot in China and definitely Stigma was behind this. This strengthens Teru’s will that she can’t falter now if she wants to be everyone’s hero.

Episode 5
Teru is visited by Piltz Dunant (Lady Black) since she needs to follow up on her patient. While Teru is all fine and okay, looks like Teru needs her to treat an old lady of a stationery shop who has a chronic back pain. That sure hit the spot. Once she is healed, she thinks of hiking up a mountain since it is a special place for her and her late husband. And just like that, Teru is now hiking with granny and Piltz. This isn’t going to be a hiking anime, huh? Obviously Teru has no stamina and what a shame, granny can beat her! She is surprised to learn Piltz hates hiking despite she is pretty good at it. She claims there were naysayers who said she couldn’t do it and she did it to prove them wrong. At the top as they take a break, Piltz reveals the truth: She lost both legs in an accident when she was young. Growing up in a mountainous country like Switzerland was certainly a challenge but she did not let that stop her. She will not let her disability limit what she can do! The same can be said for Teru but she needs a hell lot more stamina training! Piltz hints she doesn’t mind training her to be a proper hero. As Teru ponders how she could use her heart’s power more efficiently, she couldn’t concentrate in classes. And what’s this she keeps thinking of heat/fire? Until she stumbles upon a calligraphy of the word flame, a tall girl thinks she is interested to join. Being a person unable to say no, Teru is then made to sit and watch the calligraphy club president doing his beautiful strokes. As she tries some out herself, the president’s great advice how in calligraphy you have only 1 chance and you pass that expression from your heart to your arm, that character on paper is born from the flick of the wrist. This gives Teru great motivation so she returns home and starts her own calligraphy. She writes ‘flames’ and is proud of it. Uhm, this isn’t going to be a calligraphy anime, huh? But she puts too much heart in it so much so the paper is on fire! Literally it’s on fire!!! Oh sh*t!!!

Episode 6
Stigma laments heroes judge people by their hearts and lock them away with nowhere to go. Don’t worry, he won’t destroy the world. It is the heroes who will be destroyed. He thaws out Tzveta Kooriskaya from her icy captivity. Shy and Pepesha are being summoned by Unilord as they will head to North Pole for a mission. They rendezvous with another hero waiting there, Mianlong. According to the research officer, they received a distress signal from a ship stuck in the ice floe. As they ride a helicopter there, it seems Shy is amazed by the strange formation of ice. Uhm, do ice spikes happen in North Pole? Well, luckily they get out in time as the spikes penetrate the copter. Attacking them is Tzveta and she thinks attacking heroes would warm her up. Pepesha thinks she is a victim of Stigma but is attacked and told off not to assume people’s hearts! This is wokeness of a different degree? Now they wonder if she is Stigma’s comrade because she doesn’t have a ring. The heroes attack but Tzveta won’t easily go down despite her lackadaisical attitude. At one point, Shy needing to get rescued by Pepesha before death knocks on her door. Pepesha is in shock when Tzveta hints she knows her. This allows icy girl to deal a severe blow and freezes her. Tzveta takes a liking for Shy since her flames are warm. The fight continues until Mianlong is able to scratch her with his claw. It is not to hurt others but to put them to sleep. It is then Stigma pops up to collect Tzveta. He talks about this Stigma name the heroes have labelled him. Must be lovely to have someone call you by your name. Like how he named Tzveta and this other comrade, Weepy. Because of that, he thinks of naming his own group Amarariruku, the ones who dream. Such a memorable and enigmatic name that will stay in your hearts forever, right?

Episode 7
Our heroes discuss about Stigma’s stunt. Most probably it is to test the heroes’ power. Pepesha is feeling down because she is baffled who Tzveta is. Only people close to her calls her “Pesha” and yet she can’t remember Tzveta. More coincidence when they notice Stigma and his team are all children and the names he gave them are all child-like. Unilord has brought a secret weapon to help them: Iko. Sorry, she isn’t going to be a hero but Unilord believes she is an unknown variable against Stigma. The ring has been further analysed and it is believed to be part of Stigma’s heart materialized. Hence it can be said he is trying to spread his heart all over the world. This is when Iko reveals the vivid thing she remembers when she was wearing that ring. She saw a huge chasm that is believed to be Stigma’s wounded heart. Looking into it, she also saw his ideals on the world. Though in abstract form, she saw people joining hands to become one with the planet. Shocking to say, his goal is world peace. Also, everything was so child-like as if he was refusing to grow up. Pepesha soon has this feeling about Tzveta. She felt a lot like her. Tzveta = Pepesha? Not sure but once she heals up, she’ll do more thorough investigation. Back on Earth, Shy’s popularity has increased after the fire incident. Because of that, a stage request for her to promote this magical girl series, CiviRevo. Yeah, the producers must be a fan of her seeing the lead character looks almost like her. While Teru is afraid of crowds, ABO believes it is best she builds her hero image. And so she is here, in front of a huge crowd of enthusiastic kids. During Q&A, many kids ask her about what it’s like being a hero, etc. Never thought she is that famous, huh? But one kid claims she isn’t a hero. Because a real hero wouldn’t pretend to be another hero! He’s got a point! Other kids scoff him but he runs away. Later Shy talks to him and looks like the only hero for him is that CiviRevo girl and so Shy impersonating as her is blasphemy! But when she saves him from a tumble and spouts lines of moderation and love, she sounds so much like his favourite character. And because of that, he now likes her and believes she is that hero! The real CiviRevo! Shy’s reward for this is a full special Blu-ray box set of CiviRevo! Yeah, she got emotional watching all of them.

Episode 8
Teru leaves Japan for Russia to help Pepesha in uncovering the mysteries of her childhood. Going back to the orphanage she once grew up, they meet the director Isaak who gives them a warm welcome. The kids still remember Pepesha and she is awfully popular with them. Without Pepesha’s help of sending money every month, the orphanage would’ve closed down. In the library, they go through old photo albums. Then a nostalgic picture drops out. It is a picture of her mom, Letana AKA Lenya who also grew up in this orphanage. She was also an alcoholic and you could say this is why Pepesha took after her mom! Alcohol can help adults turn into kids, huh?! Thank goodness these girls are cute, if you know what I mean! Just kidding! During lunch, Pepesha is reunited with a long time staff, Natalia. She has them look through her old photo album of her during her younger days. Can’t believe she was this beautiful, eh? But as Teru goes through the album, she realizes the very unsettling resemblance Lenya as a child to Tzveta. This confuses Pepesha. Mom is already dead and she has no sisters. Suddenly a loud scream outside. Everything else has been frozen. Amarariruku must be here. Noticing a person frozen in ice, once Shy melts it, Kufufu Kekerakera gives a surprise kick. Psycho girl is part of Amarariruku and wants to happily kill everyone in this world. Tzveta is also here as Pepesha wonders if this is Stigma taking advantage of her heart to make Tzveta in Lenya’s image. Tzveta notes she has no memories prior to her awakening at the North Pole. She only somewhat remembers about Pepesha and this place. Either she loved it or hated it. Pepesha thinks Tzveta is mocking Lenya but Tzveta approves of Stigma’s ideals and knows she hates this world. She uses her power to turn this orphanage into her domain.

Episode 9
Tzveta creates this place from her heart and claims making it permanent will turn it into heaven. Others fall unconscious as Kufufu starts her comical fight with Shy. Laugh or cringe? Kufufu won’t go down easily! And she’s laughing all the way! While Tzveta and Kufufu are having their moment, Pepesha has Shy back her up as she plans to take everyone out from this domain. Pepesha seemingly succeeds as she penetrates through the barrier. However she comes back right in. Tzveta explains the whole area is part of her heart and that they can’t leave. They’ll return right back to her. She adds how a heart is made of the world, emotions and memories. She already has the first 2 and the only thing missing are memories. Believing it is fate that had them reunited, she came here so that she could peek into her heart. She uses the orphanage people to tell Pepesha to succumb to her fate and resign to this ideal world. After all, reality is nothing but pain. But despite their outlook, Pepesha could see deep into their hearts that they are afraid and pleading for help. This makes her mad as she attacks Tzveta directly. However this is a trap. By making her mad, her emotions wavered and this allowed her to peek into her heart. Tzveta absorbs Pepesha’s power as she has a glimpse of Lenya’s younger days in the orphanage till she grows up and left it to the point she gave birth to Pepesha. She is left in shock as Tzveta calling out the outside world full of lies and sh*t. Is this Lenya’s true feelings? Amidst the confusion, Tzveta freezes her.

Episode 10
Time to delve a little bit into Lenya’s history. At least the time she left the orphanage and trying to live her own life. It was the first time she realized how cold the world was. Or rather how f*cked up everything was. With Pepesha in tow, Lenya was having a hard time making ends meet. The recession had her being retrenched and she was months behind her rental payments. When Lenya gave what was little left of the food to Pepesha, little girl tried to be considerate to share but Lenya blew her top instead. This makes Lenya wondered if she would be a good mother for Pepesha. Because she started thinking it would be better for herself to disappear. But seeing her innocent demeanour, she realized she can’t give up. Then at a bakery she tries to get a small cookie but the kind owner gave an entire cake instead. As she left, some jealous hobo mugged her as Lenya fell into the cold river. Lenya accepted her fate that this world is cruel and hoped children like Pepesha will not know about it. Hence she was willing to become a demon to destroy it. She will protect them all from this hell. It seems Shy has also seen the same memories although Kufufu continues to keep her at bat. Tzveta confirms she is Lenya and she will embrace any hatred in this world. As she beckons Pepesha to come with her, Shy breaks in and gives her piece of mind that she has no idea how precious she is to Pepesha. Tzveta notes her warm flames are not needed anymore as her own freezing cold power starts to overwhelm. But Shy fights back. All she can sense is only loneliness. Shy knows because she saw the same in Iko. Trying to sacrifice oneself for others. The reason Pepesha is here now because of her love that she shares with others. That is how she became a hero. As Shy is willing to share her pain, she hopes Pepesha can deliver her feelings to mom. You can tell Pepesha is back to her groove as she transforms into a hero. She was afraid of hurting mama, scared of being hated by her. Now she realizes she should’ve just told her how she felt. Time for their first mother-daughter fight. Make that a big one.

Episode 11
Pepesha has always been holding such regrets. Both thought suppressing their emotions would make the other happy but obviously they were wrong. It seems Tzveta is about to be taken in by her words but Kufufu interrupts. She brings Tzveta back to her usual self as her power grows further. What is the most powerful thing that can break through all that icy exterior? Ah yes, the warm hug of a daughter. More flashbacks as we see Pepesha blaming herself, thinking mama hated her and that’s why she died on her own. Natalia dismissed that and showed her all the letters she wrote. More endearing mother and daughter clips as we see them both wanting to stay with each other. Lenya promising to drink with her once she becomes an adult. Pepesha regretted not telling mama she loved her. From that day, she changed herself and worked hard till she became a hero. But she has never forgotten mama’s love. Not even once. And for the first time she says those magical words: I love you. Once again, Kufufu tries to get between them but Tzveta knows it is over. Kufufu is sad she will disappear but Tzveta accepts her fate and tells her to return. With the fight over, Kufufu escapes. Tzveta explains about this body created from the heart and when this place crumbles, so will she. But thanks to them, she is able to escape from the nightmare. She reveals Stigma’s powers are to make dreams of others come true. That is why Pepesha was able to be reunited with her seeing Stigma took advantage of that wish of hers and created a version of Lenya meant to harm her. It seems Stigma wishes for a world for children without adults and since he is unable to make his own wish come true, hence the creation of other ‘children’ AKA Amarariruku. She hopes the will foil his plans to destroy the current world. Tzveta thanks Shy for helping her to bond with Pepesha again. For her last wish, Tzveta and Pepesha drink together. Taste of love? Tzveta thanks Pepesha for being born to her and that is reason enough for her to be alive and her life worth something. Of course, her final words before disappearing: I love you. With mom gone, Pepesha moves on.

Episode 12
Natalia talks to Pepesha about Lenya as she was someone whom she looked up to. Even as a child, Lenya always acted maturely and always helped others. She was like a hero. And now her daughter is a real hero. Stardust and Lady Black just arrive as Unilord has sent reinforcements. Uhm, a bit too late, don’t you think?! Well, glad it’s over. Unilord also relays the good news that all governments and heroes agree to share info about Stigma and Amarariruku. You mean they weren’t? Pepesha gives Stardust an intact ring from Tzveta to have it analysed. Shy thanks him for the training but he says he did nothing to deserve such since she became strong on her own. Lady Black also admits she has become stronger. Now we see Stigma consoling Kufufu. He notes that even if one’s body disappears, the heart remains because it is eternal. So don’t worry. Tzveta and everyone will all become one in the end. With Teru returning to Japan, she is a bit sick and under the weather. Well, it was a whole lot of cold in Russia. Iko takes this chance to help nurse her. As Teru sleeps, she dreams of her sister used to take care of her when she was ill. The thing she liked best was her back rub. Oh, Iko just heard her sleep talking. Don’t get funny ideas! Teru reveals about her older sister although she died many years ago. Iko assures her despite all that they have gone through and Teru being a hero, they are just normal girls living a normal life. Teru soon gets well and returns to her normal school life. We’re so normal! Meanwhile a mad Doki Baragaki is looking for Stigma but finds Kufufu in her endless fishing for Tzveta? Both are about to fight but are stopped by Inori Hallelujah who preaches love! She further talks about the wonderful world their master has given them and that by sharing this world with all of humanity, only true tranquillity will be attained. So where is their master of theirs now? Making plans to save the world. Speaking him, he notes everyone dreams differently. If everyone can have the same dream, that will be great.

One Brick Shy Of A Full Hero
Hey. I thought this series was supposed to have 2 cours? Oh right. It is getting another season but a split season nevertheless. No wonder I thought something was wrong when the season ended a bit prematurely. Like, did they forget to animate the next cour or something? So yeah. Looks like we’re getting another season but at this point in writing, we’re not sure when it’ll come out yet. My, are we being shy of the details of the sequel? Heh. Sorry if you’re going to hear me make silly shy puns throughout the rest of the blog! Yeah. I’m not shy about it! More like cringe!

Anyway, this season as I can see just feels pretty satisfactory and if I should say just an introduction of the darker things to come. After all, if we want to compare this to the more established Boku No Hero Academia, that series already has so many seasons under its belt. Of course I’m not saying that to match all that, they need to have the same number of episodes (quality > quantity, of course). It is going to take some time to see if this series can rival Boku No Hero Academia or even better still, become one that is able to stand on its own without having to always be compared to Boku No Hero Academia and stay in its shadows. So as far as this first season is concerned, mostly the first half is about Teru/Shy coming to terms of her shyness as a hero and the second half focuses a lot more on Pepesha and fleshing out her character. Of course with the help of Shy who is obviously the main character.

For starters, the origins of how these superheroes came about is not explored. Yet. Right at the start of the first episode, we were already being told that it was not known how these people got their powers or even how they came about. I take it as they don’t want us to question such and just to go with the flow. Don’t bother asking silly questions about their origins because you’re definitely not getting them answered here this season. And of course this means my dumb conspiracy theories rearing its ugly head again to start thinking that these superheroes are aliens from another world! But that is quickly crushed as we see they are normal people from Earth with back stories of their own. So how they got these Quirks superpowers is the big question mark that everyone will be dying to know. Is it in their special genes? Or is it every hero here scored exactly 80% on their maths exam in high school?! HAHAHA!!! Just kidding! So yeah, for these heroes to have powers that aren’t really fully explained, it gives a lot of room for plot convenience. Oh you know, hero using his/her special moves during fight sequences so don’t be surprised this weirdo starts shooting flames or other projectiles. They’re heroes. They’re supposed to do that.

And that includes why they wear such embarrassing costumes! I mean, look at Teru/Shy. Already such a shy person and this is the outfit she wears for her superhero persona? Did she choose it? Oh heck, who the f*ck designed this sexy outfit that exposes her delicious thighs to the public? Yeah. We like it. Thank you very much. With the heroes wearing such flashy outfits, it only reinforces my conspiracy theory that the heroes derive their powers from their suits. Uh huh. Is it no wonder why Superman flies around wearing his underwear outside!!! He has got no luxury to be shy about it since saving lives and protecting people from evildoers comes first! Oh yeah. Being a superhero also means putting up and wearing such silly cosplay outfits so that the public can easily identify and differentiate them. Yeah, superheroes are just like any uniformed profession…

Now the other beef I have is how a nation chooses its hero. In fact, are they even aware of their own country’s hero? From what I understand, not many know of Shy’s real identity. Which begs the question on how she became a hero in the first place. How the f*ck can a shy person helm such a huge responsibility and even represent a country?! Sure, being shy is not going to be the limit that prevents one from being a hero, but you have to ask how the f*ck Teru became one. Oh sure, mysterious manifestation of powers. Yeah. That one. Even so, shouldn’t everybody in Japan know who she is? My next big question is that if a nation can only have 1 hero at the same time. Japan. Russia. Germany. Switzerland. China. Too bad USA is nowhere to be seen for now. F*cking Switzerland gets a representation but not good ol’ US of A. Yeah, I know they want to score some brownie points by being inclusive with some nations. But I don’t see the same nations having another hero. So is there some sort of policy that only 1 nation can have 1 hero? Who the f*ck created that policy then?! And if a nation becomes independent, will this hero nation thing work too? Imagine if Hokkaido splits itself from Japan will there be a new hero representative?

It is great to see that humans have stopped fighting among themselves. Oh wait. I’m foolish to generalize that line. They only mentioned a third world war was stopped thanks to the heroes. But that doesn’t mean that all human conflicts have been resolved. So yeah, makes me wonder if the nations still need a military. I mean, no more wars, right? So why keep the military? Border control? Considering nations still exist in a political sense (and that is why we have heroes of different nationality), I bet the warmongering people are just lying low and waiting for the right moment to get back to killing. Not unless Stigma resets the world first.

Initially I thought this season would highlight some of the issues superheroes faced. At least in the early parts they were hinting about wanting superheroes to be regulated after how Teru failed to successfully rescue Iko from her predicament. I thought it would set a darker tone for this series and just like how Boku No Hero Academia’s recent developments are. But what happened to all that? Next thing you know, Shy is now popular with the people. Especially with the kids. I am crediting her cute sexy outfit help make that change. People are after all fickle minded creatures. And now the governments of the world have agreed to help each other against Amarariruku (still a f*cking nightmare for me to pronounce and spell this tongue twisting name!). Oh well, better than fighting among each other.

Good or bad thing, there aren’t a lot of characters here. Yet. Well, if you compare to Boku No Hero No Academia. For this season, we have to be contented with the few heroes and characters. Even so, not all of them have proper fleshing out and some just touching the surface. One small copycat from Boku No Hero Academia is that for the mid-intermission, a random character’s stats will be displayed although it is very brief. Just stating the real name, nationality and likes. But I guess it is still better than Boku No Hero Academia that spams every heroes’ Quirks in every DAMN EPISODE!!! Thank goodness we have none here! All because we don’t even know what powers these heroes have! Even like Shy, I’m not sure what her powers are except lately she can produce flames. Is that her primary power or is it some sort of speed because her back has some sort of a weird ventilation or exhaust cover thingy. But can we all agree these heroes’ true power are to save and protect the people? Definitely.

Talking about Teru, you wonder why they even make a shy girl as the lead heroine and hero. Because this is Japan. Fans would definitely find some moe in a girl who is extremely shy! Oh my God! Do you not see how freaking cute Teru is when she is embarrassed! OMG! Do you not want to make her your waifu???!!! Only in Japan where you can turn such undesirable trait and brainwashing everybody else to accept that such flaws are cute. Oh yeah. Gotta love Shy/Teru now. Thank Japan for making shyness a cute acceptance factor. She may not have a great and memorable impact like All Might from Boku No Hero Academia who is just oozing with American confidence and assurance. But hey, at least she’s cute and, uhm, shy? Anyway as we have seen and come to expect, Teru may be shy and living up to her name but when it comes down to when it really matters, she shines and acts a lot like a true hero. Of course at the start we see her having some self-esteem issues but this is only natural. Because yeah, it’s part of the ingredient to build up a character. Better than making one overpowered with no flaws from the start. So while Teru may have troubles overcoming her shyness and we won’t see that going away for the time being (and lose her moe kawaii factor? NO WAY!), as a hero she has grown into someone formidable. Especially opening the eyes of veteran hero, Pepesha during her darkest moment. The moment Shy truly shined. So she Shyned. HAHAHA!!! Sorry, stupid pun.

The other character receiving a reasonable amount of fleshing out is Pepesha. Just to let us know that even veteran heroes have their own past and problems that they need to overcome. If they can’t by themselves, then this new kid on the block will. So it’s nice to see that alcohol loving Pepesha has come to terms and moved forward and it had me thinking if she was drinking and being drunk most of the time, was it to hide this regret of hers? Oh I don’t know. Maybe she loves drinking and that’s that. Even so, that didn’t stop her from continuing to drink, right? So is she going to wait till Teru reaches of age to have a drink with her? Teru after all delivered mama to her so she’s like her second mom, if you know what I mean.

Other characters are just average as far as this season is concerned. Firstly, ABO. I don’t know why only Shy has this flying shrimp as her helper. I don’t see the other heroes having their own pet mascot. Even so, ABO feels a lot insignificant and it is like he plays a passive role in assisting her. Sometimes doing her house chores and the likes. I thought he would be something like a Disney sidekick but he is just boring to say the least. Then there is Iko to prove that Teru has another friend so as not to be casted as a loner. After all, a shy person doesn’t have much friends, right? So yeah, with a Stigma victim veteran, she could prove pivotal for the heroes’ fight against Amarariruku. She could surprise us (and Teru) by being Japan’s second hero. Assuming that single hero per nation policy does not exist.

Unilord gives off this enigmatic feel because she always wears her mask and never shows her face. It got me thinking she might be an alien or even an android. Yeah, there may be a twist to it and so to let our guard down, her character seems to like to make jokes that none are impressed. Trying to be more human, huh? Yeah, my dumb conspiracy theory also says she might be Teru’s dead sister! For shocking plot twist, but of course! Need to turn up a notch, the emotions in Teru and another stepping stone for her to overcome and become stronger. I hope I’m wrong. Lady Black and Stardust don’t feel like your typical superhero because one’s a serious b*tch and the other an apathetic and heartless bastard. Probably the same logic how a shy person like Teru can be a superhero. Because all that doesn’t matter as they are also humans and have their own personalities, fears and flaws to conquer. All that it matters is that they help those in need and people will remember them by their actions rather than this personality of theirs. That is what it means to be a true hero, right?

Stigma and his merry team of Amarariruku feels like an evil version of Peter Pan his Lost Boys. Oh well, just because they are all children. I bet Stigma too is one of those kids who got the raw end of the adult world and thus the reason why he wants adults gone because children are pure and innocent. Oh yeah. You do remember your innocent childhood days where we could smile and laugh freely without all the care in the world, right? And then when you grow up, you start to realize all the f*cked up things in society. How did it turn out this way?! We just become adults and what the f*ck happened?! Yeah. Blame adults. So I can sympathize and relate why Stigma wants to create a world without grownups and is a defender of children. We need to get back those innocent and carefree days! I feel like I want to support Stigma but then again I realized if I do so, I won’t be able to enter adult sites and watch hentai. OH SH*T!!!!!!!

For now, Stigma is painted as the series’ antagonist because of the way he forcefully wants to set people’s heart free. Obviously everyone has darkness in their hearts because nobody is 100% good like God and his angels. Uhm, God and his angels are 100% pure goodness, RIGHT?! Anyway, with humans not waging stupid wars with each other (phew!), hence for entertainment’s sake, we have the heroes soon being pitted against a crazy group of crazy children. I bet these are lost kids with deep scars and traumas. That’s why they have this twisted persona. It would be premature to judge them since nothing much is fleshed out about their past but I have a feeling their personality are so and being reflected in their names. After all, in order for them not to be one dimensional characters, I am guessing they are just greatly misunderstood and that includes Stigma himself. Yeah, the real villains the superheroes will be actually fighting are the darkness of everyone’s hearts! But what are the chances the whole series ends with Shy helping to free Stigma from his whatever shackles instead? Sigma then can join everyone else in the dreaded society we all love and loath so much! Freedom! So much for the ideal world.

Action wise, they feel rather okay and nothing that would make one feel exhilarated or at the edge of one’s seat. Not intense. In fact, I won’t be wrong to say if the action scenes are rather lacking. At least that was my experience. After all, this is a superhero genre. But that is where the biasness comes in. You thought there are going to be supervillains to fight but the only one we got here was Shy-Pepesha vs Tzveta-Kufufu. And even that feels like a warmup (how many times must Tzveta spam her freezing ice move?! At least Kufufu was amusing with her random and killer jokey nature) and precursor for what’s to come in the next season. I mean, first we had Shy fighting against a corrupted Iko and then a training bout with Stardust. That’s all. The rest are just helping people from disasters. And like I’ve pointed out, we don’t really know the exact superpowers of the heroes and thus no memorable moves and even if they pull off one like from Mianlong it’s probably somewhat as a surprise. I mean, here’s Mianlong’s claw technique that puts you to sleep! Surprise! Yeah, it felt like that.

Art and animation are also okay and nothing much to shout about. Standard Japanese animation style of today’s era. Don’t you love your female heroes like cute Japanese anime girls? Thank goodness Teru so cute so we can close an eye these heroes wear embarrassing outfits like they’re attending some cosplay event. Like Pepesha. Almost like some Russian general wannabe, huh? However, something about Lady Black/Piltz that bugs me. Because the moment I first looked at her, damn she does not give an impression she is from Switzerland! SWITZERLAND SHE HAILS FROM!!! She looks like a typical cute Japanese anime girl and with twintails to boot. I mean, the guys like Stardust and Schwartz at least look like (stereotypes) from the country they represent. Even Isaak and Natalia at least look believable as Russians. But Lady Black? Holy f*ck. Damn I thought this was Hatsune Miku moonlighting as a hero! There is nothing Swiss about this girl whatsoever. Talk about misleading! And here I was expecting some blonde Caucasian… On a trivial note, Unilord’s mask reminds me of G.I. Joe’s Cobra Commander… Hmm…

A bit of CGI employed here but thankfully it doesn’t break the entire series. You would notice that the entirety of ABO is done in CGI and while he does stand out from the rest of the 2D animation, it doesn’t make the whole experience weird. Sure, ABO’s movements may look strange and so CGI-like but I guess when you have this flying shrimp floating about, at least better than having the entire anime rendered in CGI! On a side note, the mid-intermission and ending credits animation showcases the actual artwork and design of the manga itself. All I can say is that they look different enough that the manga seems to cast the characters with a more mature look rather than the anime whose style seems to be cute and kiddie-like. Then there are some abstract sketches especially from Stigma’s side. It does give off this unsettling and creepy feeling and such abstract images remind me of those from Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. Could be nightmare fuel if not careful. This series is done by 8bit who did Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken, Infinite Stratos and Yama No Susume.

To my surprise (why should I?), there are quite a handful of veteran seiyuus I recognized here. Most obviously… MAMIKO NOTO AS PEPESHA!!! OMFG!!! YAAAAASSS!!! For a very long time I believe I have not heard her in a leading role. All the while it is mostly cameos and short or small appearances. But as Pepesha, it seems she has spoken lines and a year’s worth of dialogue combined as compared to those other small roles!!! OMFG!!! BANZAI MAMIKO NOTO!!! It’s good to hear her voice again and at a consistent rate. As the lively Pepesha, it goes to show that she still has it going as a legendary voice actress (NO DISPUTE ON THAT!). So much so sometimes I couldn’t recognize her when Pepesha gets too lively! The other recognized voices are Miyuki Sawashiro as Tzveta/Lenya (hardly recognizable at first since she was so soft spoken), Kikuko Inoue as Unilord, Nao Touyama as Iko, Shinichiro Miki as Stardust, Tomokazu Sugita as ABO (very meek here), Rina Hidaka as Kufufu and Saori Hayami as Inori.

The rest of the other casts are Shino Shimoji as Shy/Teru (Saturnus in Beatless), Mutsumi Tamura as Stigma (Sonya in Kill Me Baby), Sayumi Suzushiro as Lady Black (Oono in High Score Girl), Ayumu Murase as Mianlong (Luck in Black Clover), Miki Itou as Natalia (Fujimura in Fate series), Naomi Kusumi as Schwartz (Ichibei Hyousube in Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen) and Shunichi Toki as Doki (Touka in Yuusha Ga Shinda). The opening theme, Shiny Girl by MindaRyn is a rock outfit. However I find this more noise than music and despite the song wanting to portray a lively superhero theme, it just sounds bland. The main ending theme is a duet by Shino Shimoji and Nao Touyama, Shiritai Kimochi. Just a normal anime pop music. Nothing special in my books. The other special ending themes are the bubbly and lively piece, Kimi Dake Ga Hero by Nao Touyama as well as Watashi No Aoi Sora ~As I Am~ by Shino Shimoji which is a slow rock pop. Both are nothing mind blowing to me.

Overall, this series has its potential so we’ll have to wait for the next season to see if it can stand among the superhero genre juggernauts like Boku No Hero Academia, One Punch Man and even Tiger & Bunny. Obviously this series still has its flaws but to be fair, with only a dozen of episodes and another season in the making, it will be too early to judge. But then again, first impressions count a lot. Otherwise this season itself is still fun and enjoyable especially if you are into superhero genres and love your cute shy girls. Heh. Of course my love for Mamiko Noto has made its score shamelessly shot up through the roof and I have to admit I largely enjoyed it because of her. Is that obsession the darkness in my heart?! I think I know how my Amarariruku would look like. But that’s it for this season. That’s all we’ve got for now. Great and fun superhero anime to watch. Just shy of being a great and epic superhero masterpiece. Heh. Just wanted to say that!

Helck

Kill all humans! Ah yes, those who chant that are of the other races who get oppressed by them, right? Not exactly. The one who wants all humans dead is a human himself?! Talk about being the extreme hater of your own kind. This is what the initial premise of Helck reads. Despite his cheery personality and eternal smiling face, he seems to harbour deep hatred for his fellow men and has joined the ranks of the demons to eliminate his own kind. Of course a certain Demon Lord is suspicious if this is all a ruse to let their guard down. After all, it is those sneaky humans we are talking about. As she tries to uncover the mysteries of our titular character, she also discovers other puzzling mysteries and strange events that are starting to unfold. Who’d knew killing all humans would be such a complicated matter.

Episode 1
As narrated, a hero barged into a Demon Lord Thor’s castle and defeated him easily. Humans rejoiced. 3 months later, the demons are holding a tournament to find a Demon Lord replacement. Vermilio oversees this tournament with her assistant, Hon. All is proceeding well until she learns the hero, Helck is participating in this tournament and bulldozing his way through the competition! She blows her top but as Hon shows proof that Helck claims he hates humans and wants to destroy them! Maybe he is just tricking us to let our guard down? Nope, he signed a contract that will not allow any harm to anyone outside the tournament. Furthermore, Helck is popular with the crowd and shows great sportsmanship. Vermilio continues to be sceptical that Helck must have an ulterior motive. The final straw is that Helck’s stats are way stronger than all the competitors and thus favoured to win! So mad she explodes! There goes her castle. Blaming Hon, he wants a chance to redeem himself. Change the next round’s format. Uhm, making a house of cards? Make Helck’s deck extra slippery! All proceed as planned as Helck couldn’t stack his cards. Until he blows away everyone’s deck with his ultra concentration and finishes creating it! Uhm, isn’t that cheating? Sorry, rules didn’t say that. Worse, the competitors think the house of cards represent the Demon Lord’s castle and were supposed to protect it. Yeah, now they’re fighting each other! But Helck advances. No matter what competition are thrown in, Helck wins. Be it some chess game or sculpting or even a cooking show that Vermilio herself is the judge! Too delicious! Soon, Ista has report from her twin, Asta who was tasked to be a spy in the human world. It seems Helck is a wanted person and a criminal in his world for killing his brother, Cless who was the actual hero who took down Thor. Another thing to note, when Asta was on her covert mission, all the towns she went were void of any humans. Hon then comes in with a distress report. A swarm of knights with wings have defeated another castle of theirs. Their general sacrificed himself to evacuate the citizens. Vermilio knows this place is next and orders to beef up the barrier and prepare the army.

Episode 2
The next tournament is a horse race. Don’t worry, they have rigged Helck’s horse to be a meek cat! He definitely can’t win this, right? Vermilio has her reservations, though. So as the race begins and the contestants off to a great start, only Helck remains at the starting line because his cat is spooked. Helck then calms it down and reassures they can do it. And just like that, they’re back in the race. How? Helck running alongside his cat! Apparently it’s not against the rules so… Whatever obstacles thrown at them, he overcomes! Finally he zips past the frontrunners. Kenros is awed by Helck’s power and won’t lose out as he does the same. But it is Helck who wins by a whisker. Now he is even more popular. Vermilio is now distracted with reports of the winged knights. So far they have taken over Urum’s castle and have no plans on advancing here. One of the top elite demons, Azudra offers his opinion on the case. He suggests the final tournament to see whoever can reclaim that castle takes on the Demon Lord title. It will also test if Helck is willing to fight on their side by pitting him against the winged knights. Vermilio ones again remains doubtful. Because it will be worse if Helck turns against them. Not to worry, Azudra has created some ring that prevents competitors to harm each other. With that, Vermilio agrees to this finals but will also take part to keep watch on Helck. The finalists for this tournament are Helck, Kenros, Hyura and Dorshe. They will be helped by Anne from management who is of course Vermilio in disguise. Yeah, nobody could recognize her even with this simple getup. They think she was one of the referees in the tournament.

Episode 3
The gang make their way to the castle and has to fight lots of demonic creatures that are responsible in making the air in this demon realm toxic. This is why many cities hear have barriers unlike the human world which is so free from it all. As they rest at a stop, Vermilio continues to analyse Helck’s power. This journey hasn’t even wear him down at all and this definitely proves his hero strength. Hyura greatly suspects Anne is Vermilio and tells Kenros about it. Not that he cares about it. Then taking the underground route, more strange monsters to fight until one new world life form shows up. Helck decides to fight this one. They think he might finally draw the sword by his side. But oh well, he defeats it with his kick! And that sword of his is freaking short! Vermilio burns its body to be safe as she ponders if Helck knows about it seeing he defeated it so easily. Do such monsters pop up in the human realm too? As the gang is moments away from the castle, Vermilio reminisces how it was Azudra who introduced Helck to the tournament. When they first met, Helck went through all his traps like it was nothing. In fact, Azudra’s wounds came from accidentally stepping into his own traps! He noted without Helck’s strength, he would have actually died. It was then Azudra trusted Helck as he was different from any other humans he encountered. Vermilio is still suspicious, though. Reaching the castle, they see the winged knights waiting. Yeah, they’re being noisy so the knights start moving. Oh well, let the final begin. Hyura makes haste to take out the leader but she got her arm sliced off by him!

Episode 4
Helck identifies this leader as Edil because of the way he swings his sword. Edil recognizes Helck as he tells him about some awakening ritual. He suffered through it and saw many of his friends went through the same. If that was the case, he would’ve preferred to lose his personality. Even so, he is happy to have gone through this because now he is more powerful to fight demons. It will only be a matter of time when more are awakened and their plan is to invade the demon realm and prove that humans are no longer pushovers. Vermilio isn’t worried because these knights just awakened to their powers and all their combined strength still cannot match the hero’s. Yes, as long as Helck fights on the demon’s side, everything will be okay. More shocking revelations as Edil notes how many will awaken as heroes. Now this changes the game because if the knights grow to be as strong as Helck and even more, the demons are going to be in trouble. Hyura returns and slices off Edil’s wings. It seems she is okay since her clan has regenerative abilities. She let him cut her arm so as to let his guard down and then ambush when the time is right. When Hyura is about to kill a weakened Edil, Helck stops her. This makes Vermilio’s fears come true that he is still on the human’s side. Helck advises Hyura about killing the winged knights. Edil then mentions all this is just a distraction for some pathway to be created. The ground caves in as the demons find themselves before some teleportation stone. It seems the winged knights created a gate here via this. But now the spell has failed and it is going berserk. Dorshe’s barrier can only help protect them because the magic is going to absorb everything into it. Not sure about Vermilio’s plan but she is going to stop it from point blank. Anyway she failed and as Helck tries to rescue her, both get suck into the vortex. Next thing Vermilio knows, she’s in some nice tropical beach.

Episode 5
Vermilio wanders around the remote island until she stumbles into Helck finishing building a cabin with this green annoying birdie, Piwi. Well, he thinks it is better to have a base of operations until they figure things out. Vermilio is in a dilemma because seeing Helck is here, he is not a threat to the demon realm. But with him being persistent on going back there, this makes her panic. Meanwhile another panic is setting in back at the demon realm. Yes, it’s Azudra realizing Vermilio is missing. But don’t worry, he can use a spell to detect her location. Just need to use her hair. And so Vermilio is detected to be… It’s off the map! Where the heck is that?! Vermilio continues to ponder deep about Helck’s alliance. She really believes he is on the human’s side based on his actions but if so, why did he not kill her? Is she of use to him in some ways? In worst case scenario, she may have to fight him. Knowing she cannot defeat him, she’ll bring him down with him. However thoughts that he is too strong and might return, this means her death is wasted. Soon, Vermilio learns there is a small village nearby. Yeah, the occupants are weirdoes and it seems they are quite cautious of newcomers. Vermilio panics upon learning Helck is making a boat. Yeah, the axe break while chopping trees so he used his own hands! So did he manage to find where they are and where the demon realm is? Not really. He just wanted to make one so they can move out in an instant if they get such info. Parts of the beach contain sunken ruins of past civilizations so this makes Vermilio feel nostalgic. Soon an old man confronts them and he is not happy they have turned this island into their own playground.

Episode 6
The old man brings them somewhere and he looks like he is going to do something bad. But it turns out he and the rest of the villagers were putting on an act and they’re throwing them a surprise party! Scared you there, huh? So as they party, Vermilio wonders if they can get off this continent. However nobody knows the direction and perhaps only the great witch who lives atop the mountain does. But don’t bother to go see her since she erects a barrier. Don’t worry, she’ll come down in a few days. Vermilio asks Helck why he saved her then. Because she is his friend. He further explains how his old human friends have become his enemies. He now hates them for he has a score to settle. That is why he will fight against them without hesitation. You see, when humans awakened like those winged knights. They no longer become humans and are just tools for the human king. They’ll commit mass murders and he must stop it. Humans are a blight on this world that mustn’t exist. Back at Hyura’s side, they’re having it tough since more winged knights reinforcements show up. There are a few who can talk and these already have high awakening rate as they badmouth the demons. The demons are about to meet their doom but thanks to Ista and Hon come to their assistance. They help them escape but are soon surrounded. Don’t worry, they brought along a one man army: Azudra! Azudra warns them to leave as he doesn’t want to fight them. They laugh it all as he continues about coexistence between all the races. It is not nonsense as a very long time ago, all races used to live harmoniously together until they broke up and started fighting each other. Of course they don’t believe and attack since it is an order given by their king. Also, it’ll be a waste not to use such gifted powers. Well, they’ve been warned. Azudra easily captures them all with his tree roots. They think he is the Demon Lord they must defeat but Azudra only points out he is one of the generals.

Episode 7
Azudra continues to be merciful and hopes they make the right choice. However other winged knights kill their own comrades before disappearing. Even the last winged knight kills himself and claims as heroes they will be reborn again. Asta has snuck into the palace and stumbles into the chamber of the human king. She sees all the winged knights resurrecting as the human king orders the quick extermination of the demons. Asta then reports back to Ista about this and it confirms the fact the killed winged knights are being resurrected. Azudra then holds a strategy meeting with the rest as he talks about the humans being the weakest race to exist in the world. However if all of them awakens as a hero, they will surpass the rank of SSS threat. Killing something that resurrects is a waste of time and in the end, the demons will be eliminated and a whole new world will be born. But Azudra knows a way to stop the resurrection and that is to kill the human king. He has lived long enough to know such things, especially this resurrection spell works similarly to the contract he put on contestants in the tournament. Only, it is more powerful. But can a mere human hold such a spell? The human king may be a different type like a hero but first they need to shore up their defence. As the humans will be marching here again, they need to retake their castle strongholds before despatching their elite to despatch the human king. Azudra then heads to the teleportation stone. He uses all his strength and magic to open a tiny hole for a very short while just to send a few items as hints to Vermilio on how to get back. Unfortunately, Piwi picks it up and then uses it as firewood fodder for Vermilio’s cooking.

Episode 8
Vermilio learns the witch has come down. But as she rushes to see her, looks like she has already gone back up! Oh my, blaming yourself for being too slow? Luckily the village chief told her about their predicament so she nullified the barrier and they can visit her anytime. So as they go see her, the witch is willing to cooperate and tells them the direction of where they need to go. She even advises them in stocking up on rations and some other stuffs to make the boat sturdier because the journey across the ocean will be perilous. They also need some weird deer creature to navigate the fog. You mean, the one Vermilio (or rather Helck) caught the other day? Yup. That one. Vermilio then talks privately to the witch and wonders if she is a member of the empire as she looks different from the rest of the villagers and she knows what they need when they didn’t even tell her. The witch doesn’t say much but changes the subject about Helck whom Vermilio must be very cautious. He might be her ally right now but it could change since she could sense very dark emotions inside him. Personally, I think the witch is related to Vermilio like her mom or sister because notice how similar they look?! And soon, Vermilio and Helck leave the island. But wait. What’s this? Piwi is coming with them? Vermilio isn’t impressed and wants this little pipsqueak to go back but it begs to tag along. Apparently a letter from the witch to take Piwi along because it can prove useful in dangerous situations as its body is very durable and won’t die easily. So welcome aboard? The sea journey continues until they stumble upon this Kraken.

Episode 9
Helck fights it and goes down! Poor Vermilio laments they’re this close to the continent and he’s dead… NOT! WTF he is waiting on the shore for them instead of going back to the ship? Vermilio is a fool to think something of that calibre could kill him. She chides and bans him from doing anything risky again but also thanks him for saving her. Suddenly they are surrounded by weak and reluctant soldiers from Erille? They are rounded up and brought back to their nation where it seems everyone is suffering in poverty. They are told it wasn’t always like this. They were a peaceful and thriving nation until the Tothman tribe came to enslave them. Because of their weird super strength, their few numbers was enough to turn them all into their slaves. The princess is not amused her guards stoop this low to bring adventurers outside their kind as extra slaves for Tothman. She orders them to be freed and apologizes for the insolence. Soon, Tothman tribe is here. Looks like the king is bored and wants to go conquer nations and they will be their soldiers. The princess pleads it isn’t part of the deal but he tells her to STFU and continues to abuse her. At this point, Helck and Vermilio won’t sit back and do nothing. Helck slaps away the Tothman guards while Vermilio uses her flame to burn them. The king decides to kill Helck himself. He thought his punch did the job but Helck is still standing. Are you not surprised? He continues to land successive punches but it is all nothing to Helck. One Punch Helck is enough to send this guy to his defeat. Helck tells him to free these people and never return here again. However he cannot accept this loss and suddenly his power starts bursting out of control. Now he is a true despicable monster.

Episode 10
Obviously we know Helck isn’t going to lose this one, right? Eventually the Tothman king succumbs to his own strength and dies. Vermilio feels conflicted because such strength of Tothman would not even pose a threat to her but yet she felt scared. The Tothman subordinates then thank Helck and leave. With the curse broken, the Erille side revert to their true form. Piggy people? As thanks, they celebrate the whole night and will pass down their names for generations. Next day they leave for the next town but is told by a traveller that both are destroyed in a war with a neighbouring country. Then in the next town, they need to get a map but the seller obviously jacks up the price. Where to get money? Yeah, this convenient cooking contest! One of the main competitors, Mr Ajikaba, doesn’t he look like a familiar retro cooking anime character?! No surprises because in the end, Helck wins. Ajikaba is impressed and gives him his recipe book while he will go on a journey to train himself better. Finally the get the map and now know where to go next. But they are warned by a troubadour, Iris not to go in that direction because there lies those ruined kingdoms and some warrior of darkness prowling the area. Nobody has come back alive from there.

Episode 11
Thanks for the warning but Vermilio doesn’t have the luxury of time to take a detour. Besides, nothing can beat Helck, right? So when they arrive at that said ruins, Vermilio feels a fearful shiver down her spine. It’s like that same aura from Tothman. Helck goes to fight it and it seems the dark warrior can fight on par. Oh no. Helck given a run for his money? How can he fight a creature that is so strong and fast? It can regenerate too? At this rate, Helck might lose since he is taking on some damage. Vermilio tries to help but even her most powerful attack doesn’t work. Helck then returns and looks like he is even more savage. He gives this dark warrior a beat down as Vermilio remembers the witch’s warning about Helck. The man who bottled up all his negative energy may be her ally now but he will bring about a great calamity. Suddenly Piwi pops up and starts singing and calms the dark warrior down. Apparently Iris told it to sing this song. So why didn’t it start singing from the start?! Then they follow him walk into some building. He starts talking that all they wanted was peace. But when their loved ones started getting killed, the people flew into rage and went to war. It grew so large and desperate that the knights started using some dark hex to boost their strength. Although it ended the war, it came with a great price as they turned into insane monsters and destroyed everything. It was no different for this guy but he managed to keep his sanity because of his will to protect something. Thanks to them, he is now freed from the curse. He gives Helck his sword as atonement and hopes he won’t end up in the same path as him. His final request is to sing that song. Iris is here to sing it as she is overcome with emotion that her brother is now freed. She tells him how he saved her and the few others that survived but laments she should’ve saved him sooner. Helck and Vermilio let the siblings bet as they continue their journey.

Episode 12
We take a look how our demons are faring. So far, they are more than capable to fend off the pesky winged knights each time they resurrect and return. Hyura has defeated Edil for the umpteenth time. Of course the concern grows that the knights level up each time and once they reach their full hero potential, can they still defend their place? Asta continues to spy. She notices the winged knights arguing among themselves for their consecutive losses. However she hears them say something about their goal isn’t winning. Because of their sharper senses, she is forced to hide as they can now sense an intruder. Azudra is ecstatic that he can finally locate Vermilio. This means she is back in the continent. He is thinking of sending a rescue party to get her. He also talks about Helck’s potential and threats as well as the trust level in him. Now we return to Vermilio and Helck. Just dispose of a giant sandworm. Nothing much. They camp for the night as Helck needs to talk to her. He shows her his short sword which used to be long. Named Hero Killer, it is what its name implies. Although it has broken off, it still has enough magic to kill a hero. He wants to give it to her and if it is necessary, kill him with it. Vermilio wants him to hold his horses. She thinks it is about the trust issue. At first she didn’t trust him but he has proven himself along the way so now she does. That’s why she refuses to accept this weapon. He thanks her and is going to tell his story. Once done, he hopes she will reconsider and do him a favour.

Episode 13
Helck and Cless were survivors of a village destroyed by monsters. They headed to the capital thinking life would be better there. They didn’t count on the bullying from nobles but Helck is more than happy to turn their beatings to him rather than Cless. It seems Helck can heal himself although at that point he didn’t know he had his hero powers awakened. Heck, it could have already awakened when he was born. As long as he could keep Cless safe, that was all that matters to Helck. They can’t leave the capital as monster attacks were frequent. They will only do so once they’re stronger and have more money. But one day Cless fell ill and no doctors wanted to treat a kid from the slums. Just when all hope was lost, a girl named Shalamy called her father, Rafaed to take him back to treat him with his doctor, Mikaros. Thanks to his kindness, Cless was saved and it didn’t matter if he was noble or not. Helck was grateful to him from the bottom of his heart. For the next 15 years, they stayed under him and the bullying became lesser. Even if life was better, something still bugged Cless. Those people in the slums were still suffering from discrimination. Hence he wanted to be a soldier like Rafaed to kill all the monsters. This in turn will ease up everyone’s tensions. From that day, Cless trained hard until he joined the military when he turned 16. By 18, he became a respectable captain of his own squad. While his name is now popular with the people, Rafaed talks to Helck about Cless who could be the kingdom’s saviour. He also notes of Helck’s power that could be on par with Cless and could use another help but Helck dismisses it and prefers to do construction and repair work. One day, Cless told Helck he will be away for a while to subjugate some tough monsters. Helck will be waiting and throwing him a party. That party never happened.

Episode 14
With Cless away, monster attacks have become more frequent. The kingdom called upon a military draft in which Helck was enlisted along with Edil. After many battles, Helck returned with Edil to his hometown. It was being ravaged by monsters. Luckily a group of mercenaries led by Alicia already evacuated the people and had begun exterminating the monsters. Helck and Edil help out until the town was rid of them. Because of the constant outbreaks, both form an agreement to help each other to fight off the monsters. This went on for 4 months as Alicia observes Helck’s incredible strength and regenerative abilities. He doesn’t even fight with a weapon so in a way it makes Alicia feel a bit down since she is from a line of heroes who has been exterminating demons. Soon, humans wrongly believed the horde of monsters were unleashed by demons and thus Cless was assigned to lead an expedition to slay the Demon Lord Thor. He was successful and the whole kingdom erupted in joy. However Cless has been fatally wounded and poisoned. He was barely hanging onto his life. Even then, Helck didn’t blame the people who were still wildly celebrating, unknown of Cless’ condition. After all, peace has finally come after so much suffering. But the monster attacks never let up. Hence the people started questioning if Cless’ side actually defeated the Demon Lord although his comrades assured they saw with their own eyes his downfall. Even so, the people demanded to be protected despite knowing Cless is not fit to fight. Helck’s only solution was to go defeat the Demon Lord himself as there is a possibility he may have revived.

Episode 15
As Helck arrives at the ruins, he thought Azudra is the Demon Lord. Azudra mistakes him to be Cless and attacks him out of fear. Helck deflects all his attacks and asks why he sent monsters to attack them. Azudra mentions the demons did not send monsters and they were born from the land. In fact, demons don’t want to wage war on humans and this place used to have power and prevented monsters from spawning. There is also a grave in which fallen demons lie and Azudra tends to them. Despite demons have overwhelming power than humans, they did not because they believe of forging ties with humans one day. Also to note, Thor was more of a pacifist and would prefer to make peace rather than fight. Azudra then gives him the invitation for the next Demon Lord tournament. Once a new Demon Lord is chosen, things will be far better. Helck returns in hopes to tell his fellow humans the truth. But outside the gates, lots of monster and human casualties. Learning from his mercenary friends, the nobles forced them to fight and locked them out. Many died. Then in town, Helck sees the crowd throwing stones at captured demons. Helck tries to stop them but it seems none will listen and even accuses him of being a transgressor. Then Rafaed comes by and warns him not to be deceived by demons as they are cunning. Because now those captured demons turn into monsters and run rampage. Thanks to other heroes saving the day. Helck is confused, did Azudra lie to him? Soon, Rafaed announces a new secret weapon that humans could tap into the hero powers. They will use this to wipe out demons. As Helck frets about this, his mercenary pals think of letting Helck be alone to date Alicia (obviously she has a crush on him). But he thinks it is to tell her the truth. Can he be more ambiguous in asking her out? Oh, he also asks Edil to join in? But soon one of Cless’ men, Zeruzeon comes in to seek Helck’s help.

Episode 16
Zeruzeon reveals those new heroes are actually felons. Their bodies were frail before they were awakened. They used some spell to awaken all the superhuman abilities but the risk is that they lose their minds and become merely puppets who will only obey the spell caster. But the bigger plan is to turn all citizens other than nobles into such at the same time and hence turning this kingdom into one of nobles only. Of course Zeruzeon and some opposed this plan and to Helck’s shock, this plan is devised by Mikaros and even Rafaed approves of it. Zeruzeon notes that they only need to take down the spell caster to stop this madness. Thankfully there are only 2 powerful people enough to play such role: The king and Cless. Hence this plan isn’t just to save the kingdom but Cless who is his best friend as well. That is why Zeruzeon pleads for Helck’s help after he heard of his unbelievable achievements. Obviously Helck is on board with this. Alicia wants in on this too since she won’t let him shoulder the burden alone. That night as Zeruzeon has some of the people cause a ruckus outside the castle, with guards dealing with it, Zeruzeon leads Helck and co deep into the castle. They arrive in the room where they see unconscious Cless ahead. But their arrival is expected by Mikaros. The senate continues to vouch that their actions are right and they should be thankful for letting them upgrade their bodies and serve them for eternity. With the king showing up, he orders them to kneel and as traitors, take their own lives. However Helck is only not effected and his words break his comrades free. That is when the king orders Cless to kill Helck. Helck tries to wake up his brother but he keeps attacking. Mikaros reveals he was searching for a person with such power for a long time. The first time he met and treated Cless, it was like God sent a miracle as he noticed such powers. But because of his weak state, he needed Cless to train up to withstand his spell in the future. Now all that effort has come to fruition. So either Helck kills his brother to stop his plans but that’s not possible, right? Well, surprisingly Alicia slashes Cless. Because of her special hero slayer sword, this stops Cless dead in his tracks. But Mikaros takes advantage of this revelation as he steals Alicia’s sword and cuts down Helck.

Episode 17
Mikaros invites Helck to join his side so they can change the world. But Helck is not going to do it at the expense of innocent people so, sorry. Mikaros is going to get rid of a weakened Helck but Cless breaks free from his spell to kill him. Then as the king is trying to give new orders, Cless throws his sword at his head! But even so, the king continues to order Cless to kill Helck. All Cless could do is apologize to his brother and kills himself! As Helck is in shock, the nobles start to badmouth Cless as garbage. This makes Helck sick as he suddenly permeates deadly aura that scares the sh*t out of everyone. At boiling point rage, he is going to kill those selfish motherf*ckers when Alicia suddenly hugs him. She apologizes her sword caused him pain and trouble. Helck passes out as the rest try to stave off the soldiers. Cless wakes up from a nightmare that Cless is dead. Only, it is reality. He emerges from the cave and a couple of bounty hunters are here to take his head as the king put a bounty on this traitor. As Helck wallows in despair that he was useless, couldn’t do the right things when it mattered most, blaming this whole mess upon himself, those hunters then mention something about his friends are still alive. Only because they’re going to be executed later. This gives Helck the much needed hope and motivation to pick himself up. No time to mope. There is still hope as he makes his way.

Episode 18
Helck busts his way through all the bounty hunters as he slowly remembers his friends risked their lives to have him escape and let him rest in that cave. Helck is unstoppable and not even the special soldiers can do anything about it. Meanwhile Alicia is about to be executed in public. But the executioner misses in beheading her. Why? He felt a cold chill of aura and soon everyone feels the same. It is Helck. Oh boy, he is mad! He grabs the noble who organizes this and accuses him for everything. But then he starts to blame the people and in turn the people blame him back. Helck has had it so he goes to rescue Alicia and wants them to escape and live in the demon realm where they will have better chances. As they leave, Rafaed talks to him one last time. He praises Helck for all that he has done via his sheer iron will but nothing can stop the awakening now. It seems snow is the trigger? Yeah, everyone starts to change into that hideous form. Not sure what Rafaed explains about everyone having that hidden potential and only rare ones like Helck and Cless can bring it out and control them naturally. He tells Helck to leave the place or he will have to fight enemies that were once his friends. Helck is in despair since Cless died for nothing. WHY THE F*CK IS CLESS RUNNING STRAIGHT IN THE SNOW?! SHOULD HE NOT TAKE SHELTER IN AT LEAST INSIDE A BUILDING?! I guess it is for some last moments of Alicia drama as she wants him to kill her before she turns into an unrecognizable abomination. Helck will not do it and wants her to promise not to give up. In that case, she has a final request of him: Always keep smiling. It’s the thing she likes about him best. Even she ends up fighting him one day, perhaps seeing his smile will hopefully make her remember to try her best.

Episode 19
Helck refuses to kill Alicia. How the f*ck is he going to stop the snow?! Then he stumbles into Zeruzeon. He has awakened and truly relishes with his newfound powers. At first he thought of going to kill the king but realizes that doing so will have everyone go berserk because nobody to control. Helck is mad to see Mikaros still alive. But what makes him even more infuriating is that Mikaros is using Cless’ corpse and turn it into some hideous form to continue this farce. Helck won’t forgive this bastard and tries to kill him. Noting he is still powerful, Mikaros can’t fight him yet and will have him teleport away using Cless’ new power. Helck ended up in the demon realm and got lost. Kenros picked him up and brought him back to his village. Despite Helck telling the truth, the demons didn’t care and treated him well. This is also why Helck has been fighting not because to free his friends but to keep everyone else safe. With the awakened humans, they have obtained powers that are far more dangerous imaginable. Now they have the power to resurrect after being killed and that was why he stopped Hyura from killing one. Because the only one who has the power to kill humans is himself. That is, if he continues to remain sane. But if he were to go insane, that is where Vermilio comes in as he wants her to kill him with this broken Hero Killer sword. Before Vermilio answers, she admits her lie that she is not Anne and reveals who she is. Because she also swears to protect, she wants Helck to promise to fight not with death in mind. With that, she agrees to hold the sword. Long flashback over so now they resume their journey. After a long train ride, they continue by foot. They stumble into an old guy explaining about a dreadful monster that has been destroying their village and taking lives. Uhm, you mean the monster they just killed?! He thought they were lying but seeing it is true, IT’S PARTY TIME! Soon, Harpey from the search and rescue team finds Vermilio. Azudra sent her on this mission to hand her a message. Azudra needs them to head to the southern part of the human realm instead of coming back. Since this is where they are going, Vermilio realizes Azudra’s plan. It seems Azudra’s side will continue to fend off the invading humans. This is all a diversion because Vermilio and Helck will be the ones who will kill the human king.

Episode 20
The winged knights continue to attack as the demons continue to defend. The former still lose but before the demons could capture them, they are killed off to restart the resurrection. We also see Azudra discussing with Hon and Ista about why he put forth this risky plan. Despite he has other backup plans, this is the best. He also throws caution about the humans doing this. They are weak even when awakened. Definitely not enough to defeat Helck. This begs the question if there is another human as powerful as Helck and controlling all this. For now, he believes they shouldn’t be making any moves and might obtain new info. Now we shift to Asta who continues to do her spy mission. It is thanks to those low level winged knights who are just freaking dumb and like zombies, Asta could easily hide and get away despite their sheer numbers all over the place. She also uses various spy tools but as explained, they don’t really work because Asta already naturally has those skills so these tools are just psychological. Asta almost got busted when a winged knight goes berserk, blasting her into the place where Cless is. She escapes through a crevice and continues to wander. She stumbles upon a secret library. She thought it is a good place to hide but she got locked out and couldn’t go back in. Searching for a new place to hide, she stumbles into a room where it seems Shalamy has been held captive. Asta finds it odd she is not awakened like the rest and it seems Shalamy is lonely and wants company to talk as all the people she know have gone away. The only person she has talked to is her father. Asta joins her over tea and listens to her talk about a certain pair of brothers and those fun days.

Episode 21
Zeruzeon leads his winged knights to attack the castle belonging to Demon Lord Shin. However they anticipated their ambush. Zeruzeon is not fazed since monsters are also popping up so the demons have another thing to worry about. Of course this was all coordinated by Mikaros as he planted some groundwork to have the monsters spawn here in the future. With Azudra’s forces showing up, you think the demons have won. However as noted by Zeruzeon, this is all going as planned because this attack is just a diversion. Mikaros is leading his side to storm Thor’s castle to obtain its barrier stone. Mikaros is having a cakewalk beating all the lowly demons. He meets his match with Hyura. Since he has no time to waste, he lets Edil deal with her. As he is about to take the barrier stone, he is suddenly ambushed by Azudra. So the one back at Shin’s castle was just a demon a disguise. Azudra realizes Mikaros has a powerful magic that can easily teleport, powers that are even near impossible for demons. Even more so, a power that could manipulate the new world. He deduces it was him who killed Thor and Urum. Azudra seems to know the trick behind Mikaros’ regeneration and the reason he can’t just kill himself to revive. Mikaros remembers those old days when humans were in power and had the numbers. Always engaging in never ending wars, one warrior who stood out from the rest was Azudra. He mowed down heroes from the kingdoms with ease. He was like a demon literally. Mikaros then was a lowly soldier as he watched his comrades get slain by him. Fearing for his life, he pretended to be dead among his comrades’ corpses. Somehow his body acclimated to the poison in the demon realm and awakened his true power which is the same as Azudra: Eternal youth. Mikaros claims he is doing this not out of revenge but to create a new world. This means destroying the current one. For 1500 years, he roamed across the land to learn all kinds of magic and spells. Now he wants to free himself from his past trauma since Azudra’s presence has no longer strike fear in him. Azudra intended to capture and interrogate him but changes his mind to kill him.

Episode 22
Edil continues fighting Hyura. However it seems his personality is switching back and forth. On one hand he is happy to fight her but on the other, he feels he must remain loyal to the king. Hyura wonders if he is breaking free of the king’s spell. Asta feels bad for Shalamy since she is stuck in here and has no idea about the current events. Since Asta wants to see the king, Shalamy is willing to take her there as long as she is brought along. She is tired of being sheltered. Along the way, Shalamy shows her a secret. It seems she has this power to spread other powers. So like those snow? When they enter the king’s chamber, the king immediately attacks Asta and even mind controls Shalamy to do the same. The farce is stopped by Rafaed who warns this fallen king not to use this spell on Shalamy unless ordered to. Asta tries to attack the king but Rafaed blocks her before winged knights restrain her. Rafaed explains it is thanks to the king that the current humans are all docile. Without him, all would’ve become monsters of death and destruction. This means by killing the king, they would bring forth a greater disaster. Mikaros and Azudra’s fight continues as the former explain once the king’s spell is broken, the power of the new world will take over and all the humans will become those hideous monsters. These humans are those who failed to become proper heroes. Mikaros notes he is not strong to beat Azudra but at the same time he cannot best this army of monsters which are now awakening. Azudra orders Hon to evacuate everyone while he uses his last ounce of strength to restrain all the monsters. Edil saves Hyura from certain death. Oddly, he feels he doesn’t hate her as much as before and now understands what Helck means about achieving peace. Edil is attacked by Mikaros who congratulates him from freeing from the king’s spell. He thought humans who retained their personalities after awakening would be a good asset. Now he changes his mind. They all should be mindless monsters. He breaks Edil’s mind with his spell to turn him into a true monster. Edil saves Hyura one last time before he heads towards Azudra, all part of Mikaros plan to take him down. Mikaros knows Azudra is counting on Helck to save the day. But he too despite being the ultimate awakened being is human. Once he faces the ultimate despair, he will fall slave to his own power.

Episode 23
Vermilio discusses with Helck about Azudra’s plan. At the southern border of the human realm, they have made a base there. Arriving there means reaching the human realm is just a stone throw’s away and they could save time. Although she is confident their strength will be able to defeat the human king, the real battle comes after that since they have to defeat all the mutated humans. Vermilio assures her power is good enough to take down hordes of enemies. So leave the winged knights to her and he can concentrate on fighting Mikaros and the king. Next day as they make their way to the base, a fellow search and rescue member collapses before them. She is injured and claims winged knights have attacked them in droves. Vermilio deduces they have come for Helck since they fear his power. This makes her worry about everything but realizes she is a fool to do because it’s Helck we’re talking about. She is supposed to support him. Helck and Vermilio head towards the base and leave Harpey and Piwi to treat the injured. We see Mikaros slowly generating in his base as he talks about Rafaed about Helck will be a far greater threat than Azudra if they get careless with him. Mikaros also knows where Helck is because on that day when he showed himself to fight him, it was on purpose to take a piece of his hair, flesh or whatever. This enables him to use some high level magic to track where he is. He leaves it to Rafaed to deal with Helck as he continues to regenerate. Hence Rafaed is here at this base, killing all demons and taking no prisoners in his bid to find Helck. It won’t be long before he shows up. Rafaed tells him straight up he is here to kill him since he is in the way of their plans. However if he walks away from this, he will not kill him and nobody will blame him. Go live your life far away in some remote place for the rest of his life peacefully. Obviously Helck refuses to do that and so the battle begins. Vermilio fights Rafaed and believes he doesn’t know the real Helck. He is stronger than he think he is. But soon Helck is confronted with a very familiar winged knight.

Episode 24
As Rafaed fights Vermilio, he tells her she doesn’t know the deep pain and suffering Helck has gone through. He believes this will relief Helck from all his pain. Obviously that winged knight is Alicia and Helck continues to put up his smile. But his aura of despair is so great, it brings other lesser winged knights to their knees. OMG is this like One Piece’s Haki or something? It is believed Helck will kill her and this makes Vermilio heart sink as she realizes the very important thing. She cannot stomach killing her own friends and the nagging feeling of hers wasn’t her concern over Helck. As one who puts others before himself, she is ashamed she never put himself in his shoes. It isn’t killing humans that Helck actually wants. She also realizes telling him to come stay in the demon realm was wrong. What she should have said to him then was they should find a way to save humans! Vermilio screams this to Helck as she also mentions about their travels where they witnessed all sorts of crazy stuffs. That is why they will resist and fight back. This time he is not alone. She is with him. Rafaed tries to rain on her parade, claiming those transformed are impossible to revert back. But she tells him to STFU because there’s no proof of that. You won’t know until you try. When Rafaed mentions Azudra has died in the attack, Vermilio calls his bluff. He has known Azudra for so long that he likes to pull off this crap so many times! He might not have Helck’s super body or regenerative abilities but he somehow always comes back from the dead! Speaking of him, we see him recuperating and alive. Surprisingly Rafaed withdraws from this fight. No point arguing with idiots. They will see for themselves how everything they do will be futile. Helck thanks Vermilio for giving him the courage because now he too wants to save his friends. Now their plan is to head to Shin’s castle to meet up with Azudra. Azudra receives report of Vermilio’s return and also her letter of her plan to save humans.

What The Helck?!
Uhm… Eh? Is that it? Are they missing an episode or something? Oh, I just checked and that is how they ended. Well, shucks. Not the most intense of cliff-hangers but I guess this means a change in goal. Saving all humans instead of killing them would be the best true happy ending for everyone, right? Imagine Helck killing all his fellow homo sapiens and being the last human species in this world. Definitely that wouldn’t bring in any smiles and would just aggravate his despair. Yeah, at least Helck looks slightly better now. No more that stupid smile on his face and this new face that shows a huge relief makes Helck look better and more believable than before.

Looking back at the entire season, personally I feel the whole story was just draggy and longwinded. Having 2 cours, I thought it would be boring if the entire series was going to be about Vermilio trying to suspect Helck and expose him but whatever plans of hers will backfire because Helck being Helck. There. Slapstick comedy all the way. But fortunately it didn’t turn out that way. Instead, the Demon Lord competition was cut short with the intrusion of the winged knights. After blasting Vermilio and Helck to a faraway land, then the story starts to become draggy. Well, it looked like some sort of long journey and road trip home. And then of course the obligatory long flashback to flesh out Helck’s history and circumstances which eat up approximately a quarter of the entire series. Wow. Such huge tragedy. And finally, the big finale boss fight that we’ve been waiting for… DID NOT HAPPEN! Oh man. Sometimes I wonder if the entire 2 cours just wasted our time. Even more so, each episode starts off with a short recap of what happened previously. I don’t know, is our memories that short that such is needed? Or just to fill up some time?

Since I am dissatisfied at how the anime ended in such a way, I did a quick (AKA lazy) check over the internet and found that the manga had already ended quite a while ago. Yeah, that is back in 2017! Way before a certain pandemic hit our shores! Not sure why it took them 6 years to animate or the producers just dug up and saw this title that was never animated before and decided to take up the challenge. Well, I guess it’s better than Hoshi No Samidare. Yeah, that manga ended in 2010 and the anime adaptation came out 12 years later! Anyway… The thing is, when I checked where the anime ended, it was the penultimate volume in the manga. This means 1 more volume left to go. Oh my. So are they going to give everyone some anxiety jitters if the final adaptation will be a single cour or OVA format? Or will it ever come?! Yeah, what a way to end the anime like that. My guess it is to get people hyped up to look forward for the ending and those who are impatient and want to know what happened will rush to find the manga. Great advertising tactic in this context. Me? Oh you know me. I’m willing to wait till kingdom come… In hindsight, maybe where the anime ended is for the best. Because it shows they’re not rushing things.

For our titular character Helck, obviously there is more than meets the eye to this guy. Always smiling and always strong that it puts him on par with all those overpowered characters of the isekai genre! We have a better understanding after watching his flashback and it shows that no matter how strong Helck has been portrayed, he is still flawed in so many ways especially the deep darkness that lurks inside his heart. So it’s like this happy persona is like a seal to prevent himself from losing his mind? Perhaps. He is so strong that he can do anything he wants and nobody could best him, making his actions look comical and perhaps trying to let our guard down and make us think he is a comical buffoon. In a way, yes and no. Helck is just being Helck. Initially just a simple man with simple needs, he got dragged into this complicated mess just because some humans are dicks. In some ways I can resonate and support his kill-all-humans motto! The only trivial thing bugging me is how they named him so. Is a combination of hell and heck? The creator got stumped in naming him so what the hell or what the heck… Yeah, just combined both! Just kidding…

Then there is Helck’s travelling companion, Vermilio. She started out as one who is very sceptical of Helck. Because of that, there is this weird dynamism between them. Helck does something incredulous and this makes Vermilio go into some comeback mode. I swear if this was another parallel world, the duo would’ve made it big as a manzai comedian. I mentioned about their road trip and journey home. While it may look like random fillers, I suppose travelling together helps Vermilio understand Helck better. And then after he tells his full story, we can see the obvious changes in her and one who is now fully behind Helck’s back. The thing that she is questioning now is the trust in her own self. After all that they have been through and seen, if all that does not change Vermilio, she wouldn’t be worthy of the Demon Lord title. But sorry, no Helck x Vermilio romance of any sort! Yeah, Edil x Hyura romance seems more plausible! Now that she has got her confident back, nothing else will stop her from achieving her goal. Not even Helck. The irony that a demon is the one who gave the hopeful idea of saving humans.

I thought Piwi would be the trump card AKA plot convenience in the end or something but I guess I was wrong. At least as far as this adapted anime is concern. I thought this little green bird is going to be more than just a cute annoying kiwi as well as the series’ pet mascot. Oh you know, Piwi could be the secret weapon that could save all humans! Remember how his singing calmed and saved a soul? Yeah. That. However nothing came of it in the end and hence Piwi is just a green annoying thingy that is seemingly having fun at his own pace but I can’t bring myself to hate it because it’s just too cute! GRRR!!! And here I thought Piwi could be revealed to be Vermilio’s long lost sister or something! What the heck?! Piwi isn’t the biggest mystery because I still keep thinking the bigger mystery is that witch. I still believe she is related to Vermilio. Otherwise, how does she know so much? Having such questions unanswered as the series ends is definitely disappointing.

As for the other characters, it feels like they are barely there. Especially the demons who are generally the nicest race ever at least in this anime. Yeah, makes you wonder if they messed up the naming terminology here because humans are the real demons while the demons are more humans in nature. Anyway, from the usual pack I surmise, Azudra looks like your goofy idiotic level that is perhaps on par like Helck. Of course as we have seen, this guy is also as powerful and perhaps he is only playing the joker to hide his strength. After all, we see him being like a simp for Vermilio and no matter how true that is, it doesn’t hide the fact that he is a powerful and good demon guy. Or maybe he is also straight up an idiot. Who says you can’t be both respectable and an idiot at the same time? The rest aren’t so significant like Hon just playing the assistant role, Asta stuck in her spying mission, Ista existing only as a communication tool for Asta, Kenros a very laidback and fun guy, Dorshe the gentle giant and Hyura probably the only very serious one among this pack but don’t let her scary looks fool you. She is still as caring as her fellow demons.

Now onto the humans’ side, it is strange that all humans have this hidden ability to awaken. It’s like they’re some sort of special race. At least as far as this anime is concerned. I have my suspicions that the king is dead because he just doesn’t move. I mean, anybody can play ventriloquist and make him speak, right? My suspicions would be on Mikaros who is the most dangerous human individual ever. He is quite a formidable enemy and it will take him a lot more than Helck’s superhuman strength to bring him down. Ah yes, I’m going to speculate to power of friendship and bonds playing a major role in taking this bastard down. Why else would we have seen Helck’s road trip across the land for?

Of course not all humans are bad especially Helck’s former friends like Alicia, Edil and Zeruzeon but they are now consumed by the spell. But just like all humans have, there is hope to save them in the end rather than kill of them. I feel the latter would be more feasible and save a lot of trouble but I guess we don’t want to paint ourselves as a dick in the end. Wouldn’t we all love to see Helck and Alicia’s greatest reunion and hug with tears streaming down their cheeks! Better share such happiness with us viewers than despair! This means double happiness when they save Cless too. I am not sure about Rafaed if he is friend or foe. In this context he looks like the latter. He is pretty cool and reasonable and could it be that he is fighting on the wrong team? I don’t know, but sheltering Shalamy shows that he knows this whole thing is bad. Speaking of her, she really stayed in there for years without really suspecting or trying to find out what the f*ck is happening? I thought she was smarter than that. Maybe by staying in her safe zone, it saved her from the inconvenience of the awakening.

The action scenes are rather okay. Personally, nothing mind blowing because of the fact that Helck is just overly powerful and heals in a jiffy, there was nothing that put me at the edge of my seat when I see him in battle. He was no danger in dying and perhaps it is the grim reaper who is afraid of him! Hell yeah. Of course Helck’s strength in battle as far as I can see is played mostly for laughs. Because he is so overly strong and destroys the opponent so quick, it just dumfounds Vermilio. Even her powerful flames need some time. So yeah, I’m not sure if Helck’s strength is on par with Saitama of One Punch Man fame but I really do want to know who will walk away the winner if both clashes!

Art and animation are standard with cute girls and cute guys as design. Of course some demons look as funny as f*ck especially those on the road trip. Vermilio could’ve looked cuter if she smiles rather than carrying that frown. On second thought, I imagine she might look creepy so scrape that thought. Of course Piwi takes the cake as looking the strangest and cutest both at the same time. Yes, quote little round thingy but the more I look at him, the more unsettling I feel. Especially those dead fish eyes… Some scenes are dark but that is to be expected since the demon realm is not really a nice place to live in (apart from its nice inhabitants). Though if there is one thing that needs more animation, it is the action scenes because some of them certainly look stiff. Sure, Helck’s strength might end it soon but this is no excuse for the stiffness. This anime is done by Satelight who did Fairy Tail, AKB0048, Log Horizon, Senki Zesshou Symphogear and Guin Saga.

Voice acting, Mikako Komatsu as Vermilio sounds like she is always on standby mode to do a comeback if Helck does something silly. Yeah, that is how she sounds for the most part. The only ones I recognized are Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Azudra, Akira Ishida as Hon and Tomokazu Sugita as the human king. Other casts are Katsuyuki Konishi as Helck (Tengen in Kimetsu No Yaiba), Shiori Izawa is Piwi (Pino in Edens Zero), Daisuke Hirakawa as Mikaros (Makoto in School Days), Atsushi Miyauchi as Rafaed (Niji in One Piece), Hiroki Nanami as Edil (Ayame in Gibiate), Rena Maeda as Hyura (Nike in Soredemo Sekai Wa Utsukushii), Hiroyuki Yoshino as Kenros (Mic in Boku No Hero Academia), Reina Kondo as Alicia (Nagomi in Akiba Maid Sensou), Shuuta Morishima as Zeruzeon (Kobayashi in Tantei Opera Milky Holmes), Yumiri Hanamori as Shalamy (Nadeshiko in Yuru Camp), Shiki Aoi as Asta (Homura in Edens Zero), Haruka Shiraishi as Ista (Asirpa in Golden Kamuy) and Motoharu Ono as Cless.

Unfortunately all the songs didn’t resonate with me. It’s My Soul by Hiroki Nanami as the first opening theme sounds like a generic rock beat. But not as weird as the second opening theme, Help by Aimi. Although still another rock outfit, I find that the opening stretch of this song reminds me of the theme song of Inspector Gadget! Say it isn’t so! The first ending theme, Statice by Saji is more of a slow rock while the second ending theme, Hikari by Kanoe Rana is more of a slow ballad.

Overall, this series is just passable. What started as a story to kill all humans became a long and drag out affair of having a road trip, flashback and a not so final battle that ended in a cliff-hanger. Could’ve been better if they added a few more episodes to end it but that depends on the outcome and direction of that. Too bad no matter how awakened the humans get, they can’t save this series altogether. Hey, better awakened than woke! Now I can somewhat relate to Helck’s eternal smile even when the going gets bad. After years of seeing such animes, I have learnt to put it all up with a smile and just shake my head hoping the next time would be better while the deep darkness inside my heart screaming that it should have been better! Still waters run deep indeed >:-).

Boukensha Ni Naritai To Miyako Ni Deteitta Musume Ga S-Rank Ni Natteta

Somebody picks up an abandoned child in the woods, raised the child as one’s own until she grows up to be a really fine and great person. Sorry if you think this is Dekoboko Majo No Oyako Jijo and while basically having that same basic premise, Boukensha Ni Naritai To Miyako Ni Deteitta Musume Ga S-Rank Ni Natteta is not some outright slapstick comedy. Instead of staying in the boondocks and waste away, he sends his daughter to the capital to train and become a top adventurer. In a short span of 5 years, she has become a distinguished S-Rank adventurer and at this point all she yearns for is to return home to see the father she loves. Mind you, she has never been home once ever since she left. Homecoming is going to be awesome unless…

Episode 1
Belgrieve picked up an abandoned baby in the forest and raised her as his own. 12 years later, daddy loves his daughter and so does our little girl. But soon, wanting to follow his footsteps of being an adventure, Angeline would soon leave her sleepy village of Turnera to train to become one. Many years passed and now she is an S-Rank adventurer. She can’t wait to return home to see her beloved daddy and has already requested some time off. Even Belgrieve has received her letter and is looking forward to her return. But as she packs her bags, what is the guild master, Lionel doing here? It seems there is some demon outbreak in some country and her assistance is very much needed. Angeline actually wanted to screw that just to go home but I guess she can’t risk having a country destroyed. And so you damned insects bear the brunt of her anger! She missed her vacation home for this! Poor Belgrieve thought her daughter is back but it is just a letter to explain it is delayed. So on the way back, Angeline stumbles into a group of bandits attacking a poor girl. This going to delay her trip if she gets involved, right? Yes it does. After handing their asses to them, Seren Bordeaux is grateful for her help. Turns out she is some high ranking noble’s daughter. She was on some inspection duty but heard her father had fallen ill and rushed back but got ambushed. Oh, that’s the buzzword. Angeline will not leave this poor lady to her fate of not reuniting with her father! She’s going to send her home! Meanwhile Belgrieve accompanies the local kids to the mountains. He protects them from monsters but it is clear that his age has caught up to him. More monsters die at the hands of Angeline taking out her frustrations. Sure, Seren made it to her father but at the expense of her own. Only way is for her friends to treat her to food. As they are orphans, they have more of a motherly figure than a father. Angeline then tells them about her own origins. Then she writes another letter to dad, this time describing her friends, Anessa and Miriam. She hopes to see him soon and prefers via face to face than letters.

Episode 2
Sasha Bordeaux is here to see Belgrieve to thank him for his daughter who not only helped saved her younger sister from bandits but even escorted home to see her father before he passes on. Angeline refused any reward and even told them to give it to her father. And so Sasha is here to reward 100 gold coins. Imagine Belgrieve can live off a coin for a year… He agrees to hold onto this reward for Angeline until she gets back. Sasha wants to spar with him as she heard of his many heroics. Of course she loses but is impressed. She keeps forming all those heroic deeds he has done and doesn’t give him an inch to even correct them all. In the end, she wants to be his disciple? Oh well… Meanwhile Angeline is glad there are no great jobs for her but she still can’t take a whole month off! As she sulks while on standby, her friends talk about the legend of a great wizard known as Solomon. His thirst for magic led him to go crazy and his magic went berserk, summoning 72 demons before disappearing. The demons ravaged the land until the hero came to save the day. Nobody knows if that legend is true but there are rumours of a shady group trying to revive the Demon Lord. The friends are glad to know Angeline can easily defeat one. Oh, there’s a call for her for a tough job. Grrr… Helvetica Bordeaux, the oldest daughter has now become the countess to replace her father. What business does she have with Belgrieve? She wants him to serve her family because of his strength. He turns her down but she remains stubborn. She then orders her men to forcefully take him! Is she turning into a villain? But Belgrieve’s scary aura is enough to make the soldiers scared and not want to fight. Now that it has come to this, Helvetica tries to seduce and marry him! This farce is stopped with Seren admonishing her dumb sister. Since it is already late, Belgrieve invites them to stay and to also celebrate their own autumn festival. Angeline realizes she could just ask her father to come join her adventuring since there is short of adventurers lately. Why didn’t she think of this sooner? However she realizes dad may not want to leave his peaceful Turnera. Then she gets news of Helvetica’s wiles. Obviously not impressed but she is awed at how dad handled everything perfectly. That’s her dad.

Episode 3
Angeline is glad to be reunited with retired S-Rank dudes, Cheborg and Dortos. It seems both have been called out of retirement due to the increase threat in monsters. But as Lionel has investigated and put it, it isn’t just a normal threat. He believes the cause of this is because of the resurrection of the Demon Lord. This is why he has gathered a lot of high ranking adventurers to help out. With the help of another retired S-Rank adventurer, Maria, she sniffs out a hidden barrier that is hiding the core of this evil. But first everyone has to fight through monsters and the intense magic of this place has warped some of them to combine and be a hideous motherf*cker. Angeline and Dortos head deeper into the cave where the core is located. Angeline is stumped at first as this creepy apparition is looking lost and trying to find its master. Could have been killed had Dortos not saved her from its bloodthirsty sneaky attack. Although their weapons cannot cut through it, Angeline’s will of wanting to return to her father so bad that her sword manages to do that. Just paid the price of getting a little injured on the shoulders, that’s all. Angeline is hailed as a hero back at the guild. The old farts heard about her case of not getting the day off to return to see her father. Many would’ve left the guild but why did she stay on? She realized she can’t be selfish to go back to her father when the town is in danger. Her dad wouldn’t like it if she abandoned it just to go see him. Wow. How magnanimous. Makes us feel how small a man we are, huh? Yeah, it gives her more reason to brag about her dad. Meanwhile the master of that apparition collects it back. Despite underestimating the guild and wary of Angeline, things are still going as planned. Finally Angeline gets her much needed break to return to her father. At first she is worried and filled with anxiety and questions about him and the current state. But all that is blown away she soon spots him. Can’t miss the only red haired guy in town. She runs faster than her carriage to go see him. Welcome home.

Episode 4
Prepare for all the coddling and spoiling as Angeline can’t help revert herself to a child-like state. Belgrieve talks to her friends and he is grateful they are so. They tell him on their way here, they met Sasha and Angeline almost got the wrong idea that she was the one who flirted with him. Luckily nothing untoward happened and she soon changed her tone when Sasha started praising him. Belgrieve then learns Angeline has been spreading the Red Ogre label all around just to show how strong he is. Then he duels her and he easily defeats her! She throws a tantrum that will only go away if daddy gives her a hug. He hopes she could stop spread such rumours about him and although she agrees, she gets the wrong idea he wants to be the mysterious type. More reminiscing of the past and having a good time. Anessa and Miriam try to have Belgrieve spoil them just to annoy Angeline and it works like a charm. Nobody will flirt with daddy except her! Those who do must duel her! Angeline continues to lose to daddy in mock duels. He worries at this rate she can’t fight higher ranked beasts. Well, she believes the Demon Lord is not as strong as him! He learns she has fought one as she describes the shadow figure. This further worries Belgrieve because if she continues to fight this way, she will lose her life. Hence he throws down the ultimatum that if she wants to continue adventuring, she must beat him. Worse, failure to do so he will disown her! OMG. Can Angeline’s heart take this? She’s now throwing more tantrums but is forced to be on her guard when daddy attacks. However she makes a surprise move to hug him since she doesn’t like all this. Being caught off guard, he realizes his loss. Give an inch, want a mile. Because now Angeline won’t forgive him for that disowning statement unless he hugs her. Okay. Belgrieve realizes his own fault for not realizing she has grown. The friends truly believe he lives up to the Red Ogre nickname.

Episode 5
Cheborg and Lionel see a young couple of the Solomon faith, Ilya Charlotte and Byaku trying to sell people some charms. Looks like some religious scam so as the guards try to stop them, Charlotte uses magic to choke them. Cheborg and Lionel intervene but Byaku keeps them at bay. The gig is up so the scammers flee. As the festival is underway, Angeline is still sticking to Belgrieve. Koala Angeline?! With Belgrieve receiving a task at Bordeaux, Angeline is over the moon that he is going to travel with them back to Orphen. They pack their bags and leave the next morning. As they arrive and patron a bar, Belgrieve notices Charlotte and Byaku in the next table arguing. Not wanting trouble, Byaku shuts the loli up and leave. Soon, Sasha comes barging in to bring them back to her place. Belgrieve goes to see Helvetica and you bet Angeline wants to come. Just in case. As expected, Helvetica still hasn’t given up on him and Angeline is not going to accept this woman who wanted to be her mother! She will not forgive her for trying to steal daddy while she is away! Belgrieve assures her that he doesn’t intend to have any relationship with Helvetica. That’s the obvious rejection sign. Back to business, it seems in a nearby town of Hazel, Count Malta who rules it is objecting to send labourers to other towns. Thing is, the road project there is 90% completed so logically some labourers are to be designated for other projects. They believe he is purposely doing this as he is a fallen noble. Because now that their father is gone, some nobles are unhappy with Helvetica as the heir and are trying to stage a comeback and Malta is trying to egg them on. Though, there is no proof. Next day, Belgrieve trains alone but under the watchful eye of Ashcroft who is Helvetica’s retainer and distrusts him. When Sasha wants to train under him, Ashcroft warns her that he isn’t a good swordsman she think he is. He must’ve cheated when he beat her. Sasha takes that as an insult and wants Belgrieve to teach him a lesson. Ashcroft will be more than happy to take him on. Meanwhile Malta talks to Byaku about their plans. However Byaku is not impressed he is heading into Bordeaux soon. He wants him to delay. Malta will not wait any longer and will take back all the wealth and power he thinks he is entitled to unlike those Bordeaux girls who frolicked themselves with commoners. Tonight we act!

Episode 6
Belgrieve accidentally slips and defeats Ashcroft. The latter cries foul but is told off for being a sore loser. Now it’s Angeline’s turn to fight him and she went all out against him. Because of that, he got a little injured so Belgrieve has to tell off his daughter for going too far and apologize. In turn, Ashcroft apologizes for his insolence. We see a flashback on Charlotte. A happy young girl whose family worship the religion of Vienna. Until one day the people revolted and her parents perished just to let her escape. So much about that faith. People just got too greedy. Reduced to being a begging vagabond, Charlotte is then approached by some Solomon faith guy and given this ring. Now she uses this ring to unleash undead monsters onto Bordeaux. Belgrieve and Angeline go see Bordeaux’s guild master, Elmore. However they receive news that the undead monsters are attacking. The adventurers go into high gear to protect the people and do some warm up of cutting down the undead. Ashcroft rues his injuries as he cannot protect Helvetica at full strength. He might die doing so but thankfully Belgrieve and Elmore are here to help him. Angeline and the rest fight the undead all over town. She stumbles into some darkwalker and when she tries to cut it down, she gets engulfed in it. She starts to experience some creepy visions and a voice telling her she is the same. She starts to weaken but luckily the rest pull her out. It is then Charlotte arrives and uses her light magic destroy all the monsters. Conveniently Malta is also here, claiming he received the news and came with his army to protect. Angeline calls him trash since he arrived at the wrong time. Seeing his disappointed looks that Helvetica didn’t die in the attack, they have no proof of his scheming but will stay on guard since he agrees to station his troops here tonight to help protect the town. Angeline may be injured and weakened but nothing like daddy’s carrying to help heal her. Though, that darkness still bugs her.

Episode 7
Malta is not happy that Helvetica still lives and blames them. Though, Byaku already warned him. Malta threatens Charlotte to make her next move. She agrees to it seeing she can’t stand those people living happily while she has suffered. Ashcroft gives Belgrieve and Angeline some elven remedy. You bet they’ll heal up in no time. Helvetica sends Sasha to deal with Malta as he knows that fatty is scheming something. Along the way, she stumbles into Charlotte and Byaku. Byaku realizes Sasha already suspects them so he attacks her. She is not good enough to beat him but thanks to Elmore and Ashcroft coming to aid her. Still, his magic is just out of this world. Well, who else can beat him? Yeah, Angeline is itching for a fight. She now feels lighter and faster. This fight enables Charlotte to sneak away. When Angeline has Byaku cornered, he won’t give in and turns into a monster. But this effect only lasts for a while before he disappears. As the undead now swarms the mansion, Belgrieve and the rest fight the monsters and protect the rest. Belgrieve then fights the monster in which the perpetrator is Charlotte. She is upset that people always gets in her way. Mad loli fights back but her magic backfires and tries to swallow her. Belgrieve saves her from certain death and now she reverts to being a scared emotional loli. Knowing they have failed, Byaku takes Charlotte and leave. Helvetica is forced to face her father as an undead but she puts the past behind her and cuts him down. Malta gets impatient and goes to check things out. He is brought to where Helvetica is. Long story short, she is going to kill him to end all the misery. Her naivety led to all this and all his shrewdness that steeled her resolve to put an end to this mockery. Hey, the people will find out sooner or later. She has her men dump his body on the roadside and claim he died during patrol. OMG! Helvetica so badass!!! In the aftermath, Belgrieve won’t be returning with Angeline to Orphen. Because by doing so, she won’t return to Turnera. He’ll always keep it safe so she can return anytime. Angeline agrees with that and will work hard to look forward to come home. Before he departs, Helvetica gives him a peck. Boy, Angeline sure handled that slightly better than I thought!

Episode 8
Duncan the wandering adventurer is now settling down nicely in Turnera. Taking care of kids with Belgrieve and teaching young adventurers how to fight monsters. Soon an elf named Graham stumbles into the place. He is looking for one of the elven king’s daughters, Marguerite who wandered off on her own. You see, with monsters getting active lately and running rampant across the land. She has left to vanquish them. He talks about elves having mana in which they imbue in their weapons. Although she is quite talented, recently it has backfired on her. So she left her home and thinks she could defeat the monsters. But those especially Demon Lords are immortal. He is unsure if they are the reasons monsters are rising up. Belgrieve and Duncan agree to help him find Marguerite. Meanwhile Angeline is now suffering from not-enough-daddy-time syndrome. Her pals think she should get a boyfriend to distract herself. Absolutely not! They even suggest Belgrieve getting married so he won’t be lonely. Surprisingly, Angeline is receptive of the idea. She gets hyped up to find a suitable motherly candidate. First up is the guild’s receptionist, Yuri. Yes, Angeline went up to ask her straight to marry her dad. This shocks Yuri. Lionel supports that idea if he brings him to Orphen. Instantly Yuri beats him up. So uhm, if Yuri is your mom, will you get that same treatment? So she’s out. Next is Rosetta from the orphanage. Obviously she gets embarrassed when asked that. Soon Belgrieve stumbles into Marguerite. She gets mad when he knows about her status. Since her stomach is growling, he invites her back to his home for lunch. Wow, how many bowls has she devoured? Learning that Graham is here, she soon takes her leave. Graham manages to catch her in time but she seems eager to prove herself and makes her way. Oh, did we mention that Marguerite is Graham’s grand uncle? King Oberon is his nephew. Confused? Ange is disappointed nobody sees how good her dad is. Her friends suggest to bring him to Orphen and maybe he can find one suitable. Great idea. On her way back, Angeline sees Charlotte and Byaku sneaking around so she confronts them.

Episode 9
Apparently Charlotte and Byaku were trying to return the money they swindled. Of course some didn’t take it lightly and beat them up. Their plan after returning the money would be to settle things with Bordeaux. Suddenly zombie soldiers from the Inquisition are here to kill them. The only way is to kill them and with Angeline around, no sweat. Angeline brings them home as Charlotte explains the Inquisition is a secret organization of the Lucrecia faith to deal with heretics. Her father was a bishop and got involved in a power struggle and got killed. Because Charlotte wanted revenge, she was able to do all the heinous stuffs that she now regrets. Although it was Malta who ordered most of the evil stuffs, she is remorseful over her sins. Angeline may not have forgiven them but she can’t let them be. Meanwhile Marguerite is trying to fight off this Demon Lord. OMFG, this little kid is a Demon Lord?! I THOUGHT IT WAS MINI ANGELINE???!!! She is forced to back down when he is too powerful. Belgrieve deduces this kid is only trying to protect himself and nothing more. Hence they are able to retreat peacefully. More Graham-Marguerite spat back home and the hot headed girl once more leaves. Belgrieve will deal with the situation since he too has a daughter. He talks to Marguerite of his own daughter and in the end, both the elves apologize and reconcile. Wow, Belgrieve can work as a peace negotiator! Next day, Angeline brings the duo to the guild and tells what is happening. They believe staying with Angeline will be their safest bet. Marguerite and co go check out the Demon Lord again since the mana of the forest has started to change. They see the kid sick and soon after, a monster pops up. It seems this monster is absorbing the kid’s mana. They manage to take the kid and run outside before Graham deals with it. Since the kid isn’t dangerous, Belgrieve thinks of raising him for now. Oh, what will Angeline have to say about that?

Episode 10
Wow. Angeline and Charlotte are like sisters now? They’re having so much fun! In town, Angeline takes them to see Maria in hopes she can teach and improve their magic. Shortly, a few guys confront them because they still have issues with the swindlers despite their money has been returned. Not even Angeline can convince them to back down. Only Rosetta’s involvement did the trick because nobody wants to get entangled with the Vienna faith. However this makes Charlotte mad because that faith killed her parents. Rosetta tries to be nice but Charlotte obviously cannot accept it all. She tries to run away but bumps into a guard who wants to kill her! Rosetta uses her body to protect Charlotte and gets a nasty gash. Then they realize other guards are acting in a similar way and have been brainwashed. Angeline doesn’t want them killed and as everyone tries to fight back, she goes to smoke out the ones behind this. Uhm, it seems so unrealistic the way Angeline takes down those spell casters on the rooftop. With this threat over, the mastermind realizes those spell casters are too weak to test Angeline and will send a tougher one. With Angeline feeling a bit down that she failed to protect everyone, Byaku lectures her that she is all the same. Trying to shoulder everything herself and play the tragic heroine. This makes her much worse than before. Suddenly a creepy shadow monster shows up and threatens to kill the citizens. Angeline goes to fight it but with her muddled heart, she gets owned. She keeps telling Byaku not to fight since she will protect him but he doesn’t buy it and continues to fight and assist her. Yeah, Angeline not herself today. Finally after remembering words from daddy, she gets her groove back and easily destroys the monster. The mastermind is satisfied but before he could do anything else, Maria intercepts him. A short magic battle before he flees. Rosetta is in stable condition and an emotional Charlotte apologizes and thanks her for saving her life. Meanwhile back at Belgrieve’s side, Mit (the kid) is now making himself at home. The rest asks if Belgrieve has ever thought of marrying or had someone he loves. They think he does seeing he gives off a smile. But he is just reminiscing his old pals and wonders what they are doing now.

Episode 11
Byaku gets his Spartan training from Maria. Angeline is happy that she can go back to Turnera again soon. By bringing Charlotte and Byaku along with her, this is part of her plan to spend more time with daddy there. Back to Belgrieve’s lovely home, Marguerite mentions she wants to continue her adventuring and this also prompts Duncan to do the same. Going to be lonely here. You know something is wrong when Angeline is mad. She lashes out at Lionel about this letter from Grand Duke Estogal who requests her presence as he wants to reward her for defeating the Demon Lord. That was like a year ago! As you can see, this means she can’t go back to Turnera and heading to a faraway place like Estogal takes 2 weeks. Even Cheborg and Dortos have instructions to escort her there. However they will agree with Angeline if she doesn’t want to go. Yeah, you think a noble and his army can best S-Rank dudes like them? Of course this won’t do for Lionel since his reputation on the line. And by turning down this invitation, do they intend to start war?! But surprisingly, Angeline will go since dad would get angry at her. Oh my, Angeline has matured. Angeline confides with her pals about this. Miriam has the cheek to suggest as Angeline goes to Estogal, the rest will take Charlotte and Byaku back to Turnera. OMG, Angeline crying!!! Don’t go back there without her! Quick apologize!!! As promised, they will stay here and not sneak off to Turnera when she is away. Graham knows Belgrieve is troubled and hears his troubles. Basically he recently has an old dream and from what I see, the past catching up to him. Graham understands this means he needs to go on a journey to settle it but in a dilemma can’t leave Turnera. Graham offers to stay and protect this place on his behalf to repay his debts. After all, he was only following Marguerite out of concern and now he is assured she can take care of herself. A short flashback of a young Belgrieve during his adventuring days. Some parties viewed him as a hindrance. But there are those who viewed him as an asset. However Belgrieve left so as not to cause them more trouble. One of those comrades, Kasim is now languishing in prison, lamenting the things they should have done for Belgrieve. A princess often visits him so as to hear his stories. As long as she brings a bottle of alcohol.

Episode 12
Angeline will not be heading alone as Gilmena will accompany her. Upon arriving, Angeline is trying to hold in and not be rude to one of Estogal’s sons, Villard. Yeah, anyone would like to punch this arrogant guy in the face! Villard seems to be doing this because he doesn’t want his brothers to get ahead of him and get some praise from father. Angeline can’t believe the ceremony is taking place in 3 days. More time to waste. After she retreats to her room, now the princess, Liselotte barges in and wants to hear adventurer stories. After hearing them, she brings him down to the dungeons to meet fellow adventurer Kasim. We learn he was put in here for trying to dine and dash. Angeline feels he has potential and is wasted languishing here. However he claims he has nothing to do outside and prefers to stay here. Kasim advises her to take good care of her friends. Meanwhile Belgrieve and Marguerite arrive in Orphen. Everyone amazed to see Angeline’s dad for the first time especially Lionel feeling apologetic he couldn’t do much. But sorry, Angeline is away being honoured and Belgrieve couldn’t be happier they did the right thing. Belgrieve introduces them to Marguerite and she is here to register herself as an adventurer. Belgrieve also learns Charlotte is fine. Loli hugs him. Do you want to adopt her?! Anyway, Belgrieve hears rumours about him finding a wife so Angeline’s friends are reluctant to say and perhaps he could ask her himself. Belgrieve is also here to look for his old comrades: Percival the swordsman, Kasim the mage and Satie the elf. Lionel knows those big adventurer names but unfortunately, they have left Orphen a very long time ago and their whereabouts unknown. When they left, all were operating individually. Cheborg and Dortos enter because they want to challenge Belgrieve to a duel. First they hold a mock in which Belgrieve loses. Yeah, so much awesome power in this trial, imagine tomorrow’s real battle. Angeline gets dolled up in a dress. Well, she keeps tripping. She bumps into Fernand, another of Estogal’s sons. He is quite the charming playboy as he shows her around as they meet another of the brothers, Francois. Yeah, this military guy is so sceptical of everything.

Episode 13
Before Angeline attends the ceremony, she goes to see Kasim but he isn’t in his cell. At the ceremony, a guy asks her hand to dance and of course she refuses. Yeah, she didn’t know this guy is the crown prince, Benjamin! Like she cares! As the ceremony starts, Francois interrupts and doubts her abilities. Did she really slay the Demon Lord? He wants to test her and she will fight against Kasim. To prove Kasim is that legendary mage, he demonstrates his power. Angeline is given a sword but she throws it down and tells off her skills are not for entertainment but to protect the weak. She mocks the nobles for having no dignity. Estogal praises Angeline for her dignity and apologizes for his son’s rudeness. He bestows her the award. Later, Francois rues this embarrassment because it was his plan to pull a coup d’etat during that confusion. And it seems Benjamin is also in on this. He suggests to take care of Angeline. As Angeline prepares to leave, Francois confronts her again. Rather, he tells Kasim to kill her. Although both Angeline and Kasim don’t want to fight, the latter is just doing it because he has lost hope in living and doesn’t mind dying despite being a coward. He fires all he got at her as he thinks this is his way for atoning his sins. He adds he was once strong like her and believing he could do anything. But he his eyes opened when he couldn’t help his friend who was hurt. He tried to be stronger to find the answer but failed. In the end, he stopped caring.

When Francois threatens her father, she notes he can’t beat him. It’s Belgrieve we’re talking about. That name has Kasim stop dead in his tracks. He is shocked to know Angeline is her (adopted) daughter. He wants to know more about him and in turn he’ll tell about his past. Angeline agrees. To stop Francois from interrupting, he blasts him away! Benjamin is disappointed he couldn’t gauge Angeline’s skill. It seems he is also in cohorts with that mastermind, Schwartz and they need to find a key to determine her success. Angeline returns to Orphen and is surprised her dad is here. Yeah, she brought a surprise too: Kasim! This guy is hiding and too afraid to face his friend? As they drink, Kasim explains after Belgrieve left, all stopped smiling and left. The irony they wanted to help him but ended up hating each other. Belgrieve reveals he was jealous of them since they were so talented and couldn’t acknowledge himself. Even if the rest didn’t think like that, but because of the incident of losing his leg that led him to meet Angeline, he was able to move forward. Another irony that this caused his friends to be stuck in the past. Both friends reconcile and soon Belgrieve confronts Angeline about finding him a wife! Oops! But he forgives her. Don’t do it again. Now everybody parties to celebrate this great reunion.

Always Forever Daddy’s Little Princess
Looks like for now, a happy ending for Angeline and Belgrieve. Whatever conspiracies and troubles that come after, we’ll cross the bridge when they get there. Yeah, it will be bad if something interrupts this holy and precious reunion and I bet Angeline will never let them go! This could be a sweet day for Belgrieve as not only his daughter has returned to him but an old friend too. I am guessing that slowly everyone else will return and before he knows it, Belgrieve will find his family and circle of friends has expended. All except maybe the person that is to be his wife! Maybe someday… One day…

Seriously, I thought the entire series was going to about Angeline and Belgrieve missing each other! Yes, I actually thought the season will play out like that! But come to think of it, that would be super boring and not even funny even if they showcase how father and daughter miss each other and some close ones. After all, the synopsis gave me the impression of it and hence my mind wandered to start thinking this was perhaps going to be the main flow and running joke of the series. Who’d knew that by the end of the third episode, beloved daughter and her adopted father would have already reunited. So I don’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed because it is a good thing the series didn’t turn out like I expected because I’m sure going to talk crap about it! Including how this series should have just invented the handphone and internet so that father and daughter could keep in touch even if they’re on the other side of the world! Heh. Really. Oh man, now I can’t?! Oh well, one less thing to worry about.

So with Angeline and Belgrieve reunited for the first time in as many years, the rest of the story I feel it was just meandering around. I mean, I don’t really see where it is headed after that. A few mini plots in between but nothing really conclusive at least when the anime season ended. So it was somewhat a bit boring to me after that because there wasn’t really much. Like the case in Bordeaux was just pretty meh. Yeah, some evil fat noble wanted to get his dues but gets his just desserts instead. In fact, I was thinking to see Belgrieve and Angeline bonding even closer but they’re so strong and independent, it felt like their relationship has already hit its peak a long time ago. Sure, no signs of decline but I just don’t feel that they can progress any further than this. The only darkest aspect I find here is Helvetica killing off Malta. Pretty face with tainted hands now, eh? Damn, that was unexpected and so badass despite all that happened behind the scenes. But going to be a bit sceptical to wonder if she actually did that and was just a metaphor for something else.

The main focus are on Angeline and Belgrieve. At first Angeline is casted as a girl who is just obsessed about her dad. You can say nothing bad about him and only she is allowed to shower him with all the love and praises. Yeah, I figured at this rate she might become an annoying person. But after coming home and seeing her father a few times, I guess at that point she somewhat matures up. She no longer gets mad that easily to those who badmouth Belgrieve and instead of hogging all his love, feels it is better if others know how much great and even greater a man he is. I believe this is for the best. Because if there is one thing Angeline truly fears is daddy hating her! Now, don’t want to reach that stage, do we? And so what’s a little girl got to do and be obedient and listen to daddy’s girl. That’s my girl. And to note, it was helluva funny to see Angeline reunite with Belgrieve when she first came home to Turnera in 5 years. Because she was hugging and not letting him go like a koala, almost everywhere they go! OMG. Angeline like a koala bear? KoalAngeline… Sorry, bad pun. Clingy, isn’t she? But guaranteed, her love for daddy will never change.

As for Belgrieve, he remains the kind and humble man throughout his life. I believe I have never once see him get mad. I mean, the kind where he actually blows his top. Yeah, I think if he does so, he’ll be more than just a Red Ogre. He’ll be a Demon Lord! Seeing his gentle demeanour, it is hard not to not get angry with him. Is there a reason to? So humble this dude, he downplays his own skills and believes his own talents are nothing compared to others. I wonder if this is an extreme case of low self-esteem but I digress. I wonder if his kindness is a weakness because taking in orphaned children seems to be his thing. Angeline was first and now Mit, what are the chances for Charlotte? Seeing this loli is quite fond of him now, we’re just waiting for her to say it and make it official. Belgrieve, please make me your papa! I’m very interested to see Angeline’s reactions… Because by then she won’t be able to monopolize daddy’s attention. But then again, Belgrieve’s love is too big to be monopolized by one so spread the love around! Now, the next question is when he will take on a wife… And I wonder if Belgrieve will ever have empty nest syndrome. Sure, he thinks a lot of Angeline but he doesn’t look THAT worried. This guy is really easy going. I know Angeline would get papa withdrawal symptoms if she stayed on for another year!

As for the other characters, personally they just feel insignificant. Like Miriam and Anessa. It’s just to showcase that Angeline has her own set and friends so as not to make it feel that she has been isolated because of her strength and being lonely at the top. They do provide some support but nothing that I would say as significant. Then there is Lionel from the guild. This guy seems to always look like he is in a pinch and overworked. He has good intentions but the circumstances always doesn’t favour him and that’s why he has to seek Angeline’s help, making her mad she always has to cancel her homecoming plans. Cheborg and Dortos, need to show that old farts still have it. The thing that bugs me is I wonder if their names came about because the author likes Cheetos and Doritos. I don’t know! It feels so! The other female characters feel like Belgrieve’s potential future wives. From the Bordeaux sisters to Yuri and Rosetta, is there a woman good enough for him? Marguerite? I feel she is more like his student. Will she become his adopted daughter in the future?

For the art and animation, it seems like the whole thing just feels somewhat amateurish. I don’t know, look at the sketchy water colour-like backgrounds and sceneries as well as some of the character designs that are looking quite simple. In fact, Angeline looks quite plain! If anime guys have that plain look, Angeline is the female version of it! Heck, even Anessa and Miriam have more visual aesthetics than her! Oh, what’s this you say about her raven black hair? Yes, sure. But generally she looks as plain as f*ck. It doesn’t help when some characters especially the females have this roundish looks and it makes them look a bit cartoony. Of course, want to point out once again, Charlotte looks like a freaking discount of Ilya! And then there’s those dark shadowy monsters that I don’t know, do they look creepy or just because of poor design? Don’t know if that is better than copy and paste because I still think Mit looks like mini Angeline.

And I also noticed the CGI but that is mainly on horses. Once again, why do they have to give horses CGI treatment?! Do they have something against them?! While I am not saying that the horses in CGI effect look bad, it could’ve been better than this atrocity. It makes me wonder if they are recycling the same CGI assets because come to think of it, I think all the horses used in anime series for the past few seasons look pretty much the same! So are they really recycling the 3D textures and animation?! Can we just go back to the traditionally hand drawn 2D animation for horses? Or must they spend that puny budget allocated for 3D animation? This anime is done by Typhoon Graphics who did Kanojo Ga Koushaku-tei Ni Itta Riyuu and One Room. I can see why animation is a big problem…

Because of the animation, the fighting and action sequences just don’t feel satisfying. In fact, it just feels boring with the stiff animations. Like when monsters were rampaging throughout town and all the adventurers were fighting. I don’t know, it just felt mediocre. Not to mention the whole damn scene was just dark and you’d be straining your eyes to catch a glimpse of it all. Angeline swinging her sword that can almost cut through anything because well, she’s an S-Rank adventurer and the cream of the crop. (Almost) Nothing can stop her. Period. Even the spells that Charlotte and Byaku used to case felt more like light shows than anything. So while this series may not be intended for action, I thought they would’ve just at least animated it decently.

For the voice acting, while Saori Hayami as Angeline is identifiable in her trademark voice, however she sounds a bit different. I think she’s trying to fit into her Angeline character role. In a way, it comes out as somewhat rather strange. The others I recognized are Junichi Suwabe as Belgrieve, Houchu Ohtsuka as Graham, Tomokazu Sugita as Lionel, Koji Yusa as Francois and Hiro Shimono as Schwartz. Once again I missed Marina Inoue as Helvetica. The other casts are Kanon Takao as Charlotte (Latina in Uchi No Musume), Kazuki Ura as Byaku (Gorou in Kamierabi God.App), Maki Kawase as Anessa (Philomela in Mahou Tsukai No Yome), Rumi Okubo as Miriam (Chinatsu in YuruYuri), Ai Fairouz as Marguerite (Takechiyo in Hanyou No Yashahime), Kana Ichinose as Seren (Marlya in Fairy Gone), Saku Mizuno as Sasha (Ryou in Bocchi The Rock), Kikunosuke Toya as Ashcroft (Denji in Chainsaw Man), Taku Yashiro as Benjamin (Ryuuji in Darwin’s Game), Tetsu Inada as Cheborg (Gamagoori in Kill La Kill), Yousuke Akimoto as Dortos (Master in Uzaki-san Wa Asobitai), Hiroyuki Yoshino as Kasim (Mic in Boku No Hero Academia) and Ayasa Itou as Liselotte (Arisa in BanG Dream).

The opening theme, Sen by Yoshino Nanjou (voice of Rosetta) is a rock piece but mixed with some traditional medieval tune too. The fast pace of this rock music reminds me of Basilisk’s opener, Kouga Ninpouchou. Having very similar vibes there. As for the ending theme, Homeward Journey by Nagi Yanagi is also a rock pop outfit but more of a moderate pace. If you’re familiar with her brand of songs, you can feel right at home with this one.

Overall, this series is just okay in my books. It was supposed to showcase the relationship between father and daughter but I just don’t feel so while watching the season. Usagi Drop and Uchi No Musume seem to have better father-(adopted) daughter relationship than this but could it only be because the girl is a loli? Hmm… I don’t know if they are going to have another season because from what I discovered, the original light novel source already ended in 2021 although the alternative manga version is still currently ongoing. Some say the original source was way better (those who do always say that, don’t they?) and true the adapted anime version leaves a lot to be desired especially the darker aspects plotting in the background, time will only tell if this would get a sequel. But sorry, can’t give this series a lot of love or even half of it. Not my ‘daughter’ in the first place! XD.

Konyaku Haki Sareta Reijou Wo Hirotta Ore Ga Ikenai Koto Wo Oshiekomu

Some guy wants to teach a pure and innocent girl naughty things. Holy cow! That enough to get your attention, right? But yeah, that is basically the premise of Konyaku Haki Sareta Reijou Wo Hirotta Ore Ga Ikenai Koto Wo Oshiekomu or basically Ikenaikyo if that name is pretty long and a mouthful for you weeaboos to remember and/or pronounce. You see, when an innocent young girl has been framed for a crime that she did not commit, so what is her saviour going to do about it? Well, one thing for sure, it is not to clear her name of the crime or exact revenge on her behalf. But to teach her naughty stuffs. NAUGHTY STUFFS! Like, uhm, WHAT THE HELL?! Sure, she has been deprived of a lot of things in life from the looks of it. But seriously, naughty stuffs he wants to corrupt her with?! Sorry folks, heads up that this is not hentai or even close to it. Don’t even have ecchi elements! Can you see where this romcom is heading to? Ah yes. Makes us feel ashamed that we are the totally corrupted ones indeed.

Episode 1
Soldiers are chasing after a hot chick deep into the woods. However they caution about rumours that in this area lies a terrifying Demon Lord. Charlotte Evans continues to run until she sees a mansion before her. However she trips and passes out. Next day, Allen Crawford finds her and picks her up. He believes she is running away from abduction because he can tell those knights nearby as they attack him. Of course he swiftly dodges. Despite realizing he is the Demon Lord, they tell him to hand over this criminal and they will spare his life. Obviously he won’t so they attack him again but his spell freezes them. His hypnosis has them reveal the beams before sending them off. Once they regain consciousness, they will have no recollections of what happened. Back home, Allen sees the newspaper. Definitely Charlotte fits the description of a wicked woman gone missing. When she comes to, he further talks about her status as the fiancée to the second prince of Neruz Kingdom. Charlotte is in disbelief that nobody believes her but Allen does. He can tell if a person is lying through their eyes. This brings Charlotte to tears since he is the first person who believes her. She further reveals she is from a noble family and has been betrothed to Prince Cecil for years. During a party, he called her out to announce that she is guilty of some treason and had her locked up. Allen deduces she was clearly frame. Either the prince doesn’t want to marry her anymore or there might be another woman. As Charlotte feels unwanted, Allen wants to hire her to do his house chores. He also mentions about his past where he was betrayed. He joined a group for adventure but after undoing a seal, they deserted him and stole the treasure. Charlotte’s pity proves she is a very pure and innocent girl. This is when Allen puts a death curse on himself that if she doesn’t help him, he will die in 3 minutes! Quick decide! And so that is how she was blackmailed to work for him.

Charlotte splendidly cleans his house and to Allen, this proves nobility is just her name and she is more of a servant of the house. He tells her to do what she likes since she is done. Well, she had nothing to do but count the grains on the wood! OMFG! She reached over 20 thousand???!!! This prompts Allen to ask if she has a hobby. Bridal class. Didn’t like it very much. Always get scolded. Any happy memories? Well, her little sister, Natalia gave her some fruit… And to think Allen’s fun days at magic school were to cause disturbances with his questions and explosive spells! Allen has decided he will give Charlotte a crash course in naughtiness! Yes, naughty things are fun. He buys lots of stuffs to begin her first lesson. Charlotte reminds him they shouldn’t do bad things but he assures, they won’t do anything illegal. Huh? So the stuffs he bought her for her first naughty lesson are sweets and cakes! This is going to be her dinner! Screw unhealthy diet! If she resists, he will put a death curse on himself again. As she takes her first bite, it brings her to tears. Nobody has been this kind to her! Is she entitled to be this happy? Oh dear Charlotte. You think this is happiness? This is only the beginning! Because Allen is going to let her experience a lot of happy things till she is the happiest person in the world till she is bored of it. And she doesn’t have to return the favour. Think of it as going along with this hobby of his. Charlotte will eat the sweets but wants him to eat with her too. Because it’s better to always eat with someone. Ah, the taste of naughtiness, oh sorry, happiness.

Episode 2
What else could be naughtier than sweets? Well, Allen’s ideas all sound rubbish. Back to the drawing board. He notices Charlotte continuing to clean happily. This means she does not even talk or view ill of those who framed her. If this happened to him, he will no doubt crush them all. This could mean she has very low self-esteem and deep down still fears them. Allen is shocked when Miacha Bastetos comes into contact with Charlotte. Miacha works for a delivery company and often delivers goods he buys. Miacha finds Charlotte familiar. Well, her face is all over the newspaper. Thankfully, she is dumb enough and whatever circumstances of customers is their business. Besides, Neruz is out of their service area. Anyway, Miacha is here to deliver the potion bottles since he sells them to make a living. We learn Allen lives by himself here since he hates crowds. Also, he has a scary face and that’s how he earned the nickname of Demon Lord. He recounts one night, naughty kids wanted to check out his mansion to see if the Demon Lord’s rumours were true. They got more than they bargained for when they trespassed on his land and saw his scary face. And that’s how the word spread about. Allen also has Charlotte order anything she likes. Otherwise he’ll order everything from the catalogue! That supposed to be evil? Miacha doesn’t want Allen to bully Charlotte so she hints of letting it out sometimes. If it was her, Miacha will throw her cat punches. But this gives Allen the next naughty hint. Oh dear, that scary face again…

Next time Miacha delivers his order, turns out to be a punching bag. So the ‘naughty’ thing he wants her to do is to let out her stress and punch it. He even puts Cecil’s face on it. However Charlotte’s reaction is still meek despite Allen telling her to let out all her anger. Thing is, she isn’t even angry. This stumps Allen because she has been treated like dirt and even thrown out from her home, how is she not angry? Well, Charlotte always remains thankful to her family for taking care of her no matter what. Allen realizes the scars in her heart is too deep. He isn’t patient enough to let time heal it. Even if she lashes out, she will continue to blame herself. Thus he wants her to punch him! Eh? What?! I hope he isn’t a masochist! Since she still won’t, he uses his magic to force he hand to punch his face! Great punch. He tells her he can abuse him all she likes and he will never abandon her. Uhm, that’s a sign of masochism… After all, she is free to do whatever she wants and he will be by her side. He uses magic to heal himself. There. Nothing to fear. But since he got hurt, she gets mad for him doing something reckless. Hey, she got mad! But she looks so cute! As she has him promise not to do such reckless things (her heart can’t take it), she promises to open up. It might take time but he’ll be there for her. Miacha has been watching this and gets the wrong idea that they’re into each other so she starts suggesting getting stuffs that a baby needs. This has both Allen and Charlotte stumped. They don’t understand?! Oh ho. I guess the Demon Lord isn’t that naughty after all!

Episode 3
Eruca finally finds Allen. She is his sister. More accurately, his stepsister. Allen’s real parents died a long time ago and the Crawfords took him in. As Eruca notices Charlotte, Allen reveals the truth about her (sorry, it’s not girlfriend!). She’ll find out sooner or later so might as well let her know. When Allen explains her circumstances and what they’ve done so far, Eruca isn’t pleased. After all, it looks like he has been forcing her to do naughty things against her will. He should’ve done things that girls would enjoy. Eruca’s initial mission was to bring him home but now she doesn’t want to do it anymore and wants to stay here and also teach Charlotte naughty stuffs. This leads to a competition to see who can teach her the naughtiest stuffs! WTF. In town, Allen uses her magic to disguise Charlotte. Just a change in hair colour? Though he prefers her original blonde and Eruca wonders if he is trying to score some points. First up, they take her to shop for clothes. As Charlotte tries out some clothes, Allen wants Eruca to do some spying on the current state of Neruz and how Charlotte is treated. However he will hold off info about Cecil because if he knows the truth, he won’t hold back and storm the damn kingdom. When Eruca helps Charlotte zip her back, she sees something awful. Then she shows it to Allen. Those hideous scars over her back. Enough to make you mad? He cannot believe the kind of hate directed towards her. Hence he has decided to change his mind. He is going to exterminate them. Who? Those bugs. Yeah. We all hate bugs, right? As they continue this ‘fight’ to buy her stuffs, Allen’s poor taste has him choose lame things. The siblings are about to fight so Charlotte stops them. Fighting is not naughty. It’s just bad. They promise not to do it again. As Allen buys Charlotte a hair accessory, some punks bump into her and blames her. This doesn’t sit well with Allen but remembering Charlotte’s words, he avoids any confrontation and apologizes. He even offers to pay. However they want Charlotte’s body. This is when he snaps and beats the sh*t out of them. Don’t you dare let your filthy hands on my pure Charlotte! As the crowd cheers on him, Allen then apologizes to Charlotte for breaking his promise. However she doesn’t hate him and knows he was protecting her. This brings a huge relief to him because he thought she would hate and leave him. Was this the change in him Eruca spoke of? Eruca watching this notes she has lost the competition. It isn’t over yet as those punks’ boss shows up for some payback.

Episode 4
Allen recognizes this guy as Megath. When Allen reveals who he is, suddenly Megath is overcome with fear as he prostrates himself and begs for mercy! As explained, his father is the chairman of the country’s largest magic academy. Allen became the youngest graduate at 12 and then became a teacher. It is from there he also earned the Demon Lord nickname. Megath has his goons know their place. While Allen is okay with that, he cannot forgive for causing trouble to someone. But he is stumped as he wonders about his relationship with Charlotte. What is Charlotte to him? A freeloader? A second sister? Aha. A woman who is important to him. Gee, that’s a weird way of saying girlfriend! Back home, it seems Allen is depressed. Not because of what he said. Apparently Charlotte has a wish to go to town again but alone. Although she retracted it, a confused Allen who didn’t want her to do that eventually allowed her. Hey, she is allowed to do whatever she wants, right? Of course Eruca and Miacha have a simple solution: Tail her in the shadows! Despite having a map, Charlotte gets lost. This fears the stalkers since she is entering a dangerous turf run by the gang Serpent Fang and their leader is Groh. Not wanting to ruin her first adventure, Allen has an idea. When Charlotte enters the turf, Groh and his men surround her. You think she is done for but suddenly they welcome her! Previously, Allen went ahead to beat up all those guys and warn them to treat Charlotte nice! Charlotte notices their injuries and even offers potions to heal them. The guys are so touched they even promise to mend their ways! As they ask her relationship with Allen, she thinks hard and views him as her master. Sounds naughty… She also notes he is a kind man. So kind he taught her a lot of naughty stuffs and they even do some all night long! Phrasing! She meant snacks and video games, RIGHT?! As Charlotte moves on, the stalkers notice she will be entering even more dangerous turfs. Well, you know what Allen is going to do. Yeah, beat the sh*t out of them all! Once the coast is clear, they stop spying and allow Charlotte to do whatever shopping. Later when they meet up, she brings the hair accessory owner along. She thanks Allen for beating up those gangs because they have been a nuisance. While Allen remains humble, she still appreciates his help. Charlotte has bought gifts for Eruca and Miacha. Why none for Allen? You breaking his heart. Actually, she doesn’t know what he wants despite he always cared for her. He has to point out that anything from her would’ve made him happy. Are you blaming her?! For now she can help fix his broken clothes and hopes he can tell her what he likes so she can get them next time.

Episode 5
Charlotte hints of wanting to take a trip. Though she notes spending time with him here she likes best. After all, doing naughty things once in a while is great and not every day. This has Allen thought that his goal in this naughtiness thingy is not to corrupt her but to let her experience the joy she never had. Are we disappointed?! Such great timing as Miacha is here to grant them tickets to a seaside resort. As they take a carriage there, we see Eruca and Miacha tailing from a distance. On pretence that Eruca will start her Neruz investigation, it was just a ploy because she was the one who got those tickets and these busybodies are going to witness how they’ll take their relationship to the next level! It seems there are places Charlotte wants to go as a child but she couldn’t say. Allen understands and will not pry further and will listen whenever she feels she wants to tell him. He will go wherever he wants. Upon arrival at the resort, the duo are shocked that they have this lover’s package. Obviously. No wonder the staff thinks they’re married. I think even the word couple is enough to make Charlotte go dizzy. They visit the open air bath as the staff takes Charlotte away to rent a swimsuit. Not as risqué but damn, Charlotte still looking sexy. They have fun throughout the day as the busybody continues to watch. At the end of the day, relaxing at the hotspring with a great view of the sunset. The naughty thing they do? Eat ice cream in a hotspring! With his magic to make ice cream not melt fast, this has other customers wanting to the same. With sales tripled, the staff is grateful and recommends a few sightseeing spots. One of them a hill where fenrir reside but since it is their breeding season, they aren’t around. Hence the zoo is suggested and it seems Charlotte shows interest. As they retire to their bedroom, obviously a single bed. The busybodies eavesdropping in the next room and hope something juicy will happen. But we all know better. They sleep on the same bed (hey, it’s big enough) and find it hard to fall asleep. Allen casts a sleeping spell on her. But when he realizes he is looking at her physical attributes and skin, he gets casts a wider sleeping spell on himself, effectively putting those busybodies to sleep too. Next morning, Charlotte wakes up and is happy she got to talk to her late mom in her dream. Allen is glad because he too was in that dream and promises to protect Charlotte.

Episode 6
Now we’re visiting the nearby zoo. Allen uses his magic to speak to some animals and bribes them to let Charlotte pet them. But that won’t be necessary as Charlotte is naturally attracting all of them! Man, she’s like a goddess! So much so the animals are scorning at Allen to stay away from their goddess! Later Allen talks to Charlotte about her hidden talents as a magical creature tamer. While Allen can only do so on lower ranked animals, really talented ones can tame creatures like fenrir. Soon a staff seeks help from them as she believes they are tamers. The zoo’s director is glad to see them and knows the Crawfords. He shows them a wounded fenrir cub they’ve captured. It is angry and won’t allow them to treat it. Allen tries to talk to it but it won’t listen and remains agitated. Allen lets us know that fenrir are rare and protected species. Harming one gets you prison time. But since its fur and bones are good magical equipment, this has not stopped poachers. Worse, this cub’s mother has located them and is on her way. Knowing that no matter what they do, they look like its abductors, Allen will go talk to the mother. As Charlotte wishes to help by talking to the cub, Allen gives the green light. Not too long ago she was like a doll who listens to every word he says. Now she is able to fight back on her own. Miacha and Eruca may be chilling but their holiday is over as Allen confronts them. He knows they’ve been following him and will put them to work.

Allen may be able to deal with the smaller cub siblings but the huge mother is a tough nut. She is not willing to listen to him and continues her relentless attack. This is when a talking hell capybara named Gosetsu pops up. He knows about Charlotte. He snuck out of a zoo and wandered till he stumbled upon Charlotte. However Allen showed up to rescue her. Gosetsu then learnt what happened and continued to observe her and realized in order to protect her, he must eliminate Allen. My, a jealous capybara? Gosetsu is not impressed he is corrupting her instead of saving her. Gosetsu’s plan is to destroy Neruz. Do you think that will make her happy? Gosetsu calls him naïve because that nation is the cause of her pain and she will reduce it to ashes. He is the one who told the fenrir that they took their cub. Charlotte arrives with other animals and it seems this cub is now healed and tamed. Allen is amazed at her talents which took him half a year to master. She translates the cub telling its mother that Gosetsu told them Allen is a poacher. Now all the fenrir turn against Gosetsu but the capybara remains adamant for Charlotte to come to his side since he will only bring her more misfortune. Charlotte dismisses that and corrects him that Allen gave her a place where she could finally live. She will not forgive him for speaking ill of Allen. Now Gosetsu resorts to taking her by force. Allen fights and defeats him seeing Gosetsu’s method will only cause her more pain and that teaching her naughty stuffs is his privilege. Gosetsu gives up thinking their love for each other is strong! Before they leave the resort, Miacha and Eruca have returned and captured the real poachers. Since they are unrepentant, Allen puts some defence magic on them and lets the fenrir rip them as much as they want. Don’t worry about dying. But here comes the pain!

Episode 7
As they leave for home, it seems the fenrir cub wants to join them. Since mamma gives her blessing and Charlotte would love to have this little doggie, Allen thinks it is a good thing to have more family members. Yes, that includes you too, Charlotte. But looks like they will have another family member inviting himself to join: Gosetsu! Charlotte’s bodyguard and family, eh? Oh well, we just want to know when the baby comes next! HAHAHA!!! The fenrir is named Lu and is now spending more time with Charlotte. Gosetsu mocks Allen that now he has less time to teach naughty things to her. True, but he is glad she has a goal now. Since Charlotte has an affinity for tamer magic, Allen teaches her. She has improved so much to the level where she can now do beast conversations. She puts the spell on Lu and voila! Now Lu can speak! Though, Lu still hates Allen for some reason. Now, if you’re wondering why Gosetsu has been speaking like normal since his debut, he claims he has lived long enough and self-taught himself the human language! To celebrate Charlotte’s success, Allen creates an outdoor bath. Sorry, he discriminates against capybaras. Only humans and fenrir allowed! In that case, Gosetsu uses a magic spell to turn him into a smoking hot babe! OMFG! Fapping material???!!! As they take a break, Charlotte is curious about the mansion’s previous owner. Allen is unsure of that since the previous owner, which is an elf, disappeared 30 years ago. Not sure if that elf committed suicide from failed experiments, but Allen bought it at a much cheaper price. You would think Charlotte is starting to get scared thinking this place is haunted. Actually, there are mushrooms popping up all over the outdoor bath now! Poltergeist event? Suddenly a dark elf pops out from the basement and warns them not to steal her mushrooms!

When she realizes the situation, she introduces herself as Dorothea Grimm Wallenstein. Yes, she is the previous owner and has not realized she has been hiding for 30 years! Oh well, you know how long an elf lives, right? Sorry Charlotte, she is still not a ghost! My, clinging onto Allen hard, isn’t she? Boobs! Anyway, Allen realizes the legal implication since the owner is still around as well as there are no other places for Charlotte to stay. He wants to buy the mansion from her. Okay. Deal. That was easy. However she doesn’t need money. She needs help! Oh damn, and you thought paying money would be the easiest way. Seeing Charlotte wants to help, Dorothea is ecstatic. Or would you rather leave the mansion? So now we listen to Dorothea’s back story. She was a famous author, writing many genres and winning many accolades. But one day she was tackling a romance genre and got stumped. A writer’s block. When deadline came, she had not even wrote a single word. Fearing her scary editor, she ran and hid in the basement until today! Thus you can see where this is going when she hints Allen and Charlotte as her new material? If you’re too dumb like them to guess, to make it short and sweet, she wants them to play a lovey-dovey couple for her romance novel. Is this the naughty thing that we’ve been waiting for?!

Episode 8
Fancy seeing Allen and Charlotte in a romantic play? Well, if Dorothea isn’t some strict ass director cutting things that don’t go like her script. Like how Allen uses magic to carry Charlotte to avoid touching her. Each time Allen wants to call it quit, the mansion ownership is a useful threat. You think Allen would think Charlotte is also tired of this charade. Apparently she doesn’t mind doing it with him! And so he sucks it up for the long (acting) ride. Next up, they have to act like newlyweds. Charlotte’s natural cuteness is killing him! Thanks to that, his reaction goes off script many times. CUT! Next scenario casts the pets as high school delinquents as Allen must save Charlotte from them. Allen might have overdone it as his magic gives them a good whack. Allen is confused with this next romantic line because it mirrors somewhat in real life: What is Charlotte to him. He thinks back of all the things they’ve done together and finds excuse that this is just acting. Hence the twisted logic he isn’t telling her how he feels. But he still adlibs and says he is her guardian. CUT! Next scene is Cinderella story. Charlotte as the titular character, feeling close to home? Anyway, the highlight is the dance scene since it is hinted Charlotte isn’t acting but enjoying this. Everyone praises Charlotte’s perfect acting but none for poor Allen. But instead of the glass slipper scene, Allen gives back her lost hair accessory. Once again, you wonder if they’re acting or really putting out their confused feelings for each other. Before the crucial moment, the wall explodes. Who this scary guy? Well, it’s Dorothea’s editor! You can’t hide from him! He never thought she would still be hiding here and wasted 30 years of his life! Yeah well, she set up a super magic barrier that no one could even detect. Now she has to face the music as he takes her back. He pays for whatever damages and leaves. Dorothea pleads for help since she will be drowned! Oh you jest. That would be too lenient. He is going to throw her into the volcano! That supposed to motivate her for a romance novel? Whatever. Bye. But Allen and Charlotte can’t rest yet as Eruca suddenly pops up. It seems Natalia is in trouble.

Episode 9
Flashback shows after Charlotte’s mom died, the Evans took her in. Everyone including the maids treated Charlotte badly although she tolerated them all. The only exception was Natalia as she wanted to become friends with her stepsister. Now we see them on a ship but not to Neruz, but to the magic academy. Yes, this whole island belongs to the school like a mini kingdom. It seems Natalia is studying here but Eruca wants to bring them to see their parents first, something Charlotte panics over. Need to greet them properly. Oh, she’ll be fine. It is Allen that Eruca is worried. You see, 3 years ago, Allen quit everything and left the island. En route to doing that, he fought with his dad in an epic magic battle for 3 days and nights! You bet that left a huge crater on the other side of the island! Yeah, it’s a sightseeing spot now. Shortly, they see a fight among students breaking out. A handsome guy easily defeats both sides. What do you know? He is Allen’s (step)dad, Harvey. I KNEW IT! Back home, Harvey is glad Allen brought home his girlfriend. Allen wants to refute that but with hints from Eruca, he believes she has prepared something for this. So he also hints to Charlotte to play along. Charlotte introduces herself as Allen’s girlfriend and the one who taught her many naughty things! Harvey isn’t surprised seeing Eruca has already told all about her. He hopes they can even marry and settle then. And then think of that offer. Oh you know, he wants Allen to take over his position as the headmaster of this academy. Of course Allen still refuses it. While that title brings honour, Allen doesn’t want the baggage that comes with it. What baggage? See this cute little girl? That’s not Allen’s other sister. It’s his (step)mom, Liselotte! OMFG! Harvey wants to retire so he can get lovey-dovey with his wife and perhaps get Allen another (step)sibling!

Enough of the embarrassing stuff. What about Natalia? It seems the Evans are in turmoil so sending Natalia abroad to study is just a cover up till things blow over. It has been 3 months since she is here. Since she was using a fake identity, they didn’t know until recently. And then there are factions in school fighting. How are they related? They show footage Natalia of being surrounded by gang members. Guess what? She beats them up for bringing the wrong bread! OMG. Natalia the head of her gang! Being a bad girl is worse than being a naughty girl? While Harvey respects the students’ freedom, he doesn’t want to use force. Hence Allen is called since he was a troublemaker and what better than it takes one to know one, right? He hopes he can talk to her since Natalia is going a bit aboard. Though, she still treats her lackeys with respect and kindness. Before Charlotte starts blaming herself if she is the cause of Natalia going bad, Allen agrees to talk to her to stop her misbehaving. Even if this encounter might be painful for Charlotte, she still wants to see Natalia as she is her only happy memories in that household. She will regret it if she runs away. Liselotte has prepared rooms for them to stay. Obviously this is the safest place, right? And you bet they’ll share a bed! It’s only natural as they are lovers, right? Or are they lying? Because mama hates liars and who knows what she’ll do to them! So sweet dreams. No time to argue about this since Charlotte is tired and needs to wake up early tomorrow so let’s just tug in early.

Episode 10
Well, now they can’t sleep. Allen tries to use his sleeping magic but it does not work. That’s right. Eruca has learnt from the last time and has spent a lot on this bed that has magic nullifier. She is eavesdropping next room and hoping they’ll get humping! So as they awkwardly talk, Charlotte asks what he was going to say to her during Dorothea’s scenes. Yeah, this guy is fretting over it and starts thinking the kind of answer he should say and the things he wants to do with her. They aren’t naughty, by the way. Similarly, Charlotte feels she has no right to such since she is still a wanted person. Both conclude this goes beyond naughty. So they just end it there and went to bed. You bet Eruca is not happy that nothing happens. She wants to do something about it but Liselotte tells them to be quiet. Or else! Next day, Allen with Charlotte (disguised as his assistant, Charlo) go to see Natalia who of course gets defensive. Allen wants to be her private instructor but she declines and leaves. WTF Charlotte so happy she could ‘talk’ to Natalia that she is in tears?! You bet this sends the wrong signal that sensei just made her assistant cry! Allen sees her correct a teacher’s formula in class. Since she is such a genius, Allen suggests Natalia help teach Charlotte some magic. She sees no reason to decline. During lunch, the pets visit. This surprises everyone because they are very friendly with Charlotte. This stumps Natalia because if she is this talented, why need her help? Of course Charlotte credits the pets as amazing themselves and she has nothing to do with it. She is further stumped since Charlotte even cares about what she eats. Why care so much for her? As Allen puts it, she has a sister her same age so Natalia reminds her of her. This has Natalia wonder if the Evans sent Allen but he assures they didn’t. He deduces she is studying magic to be free from them. Partly. They might be nobles in name but a horrible family. When he tries to bring up Charlotte’s name, Natalia shuts him down. Don’t ever say that name.

Soon, a cocky rival of another faction, Chris comes here to warn Natalia about beating up his lackeys. She tells him off they weren’t even a challenge and if he wants to fight, make an appointment. When a few of his guys bump into Charlotte and are unapologetic, Natalia immediately beats them up! Forget about an appointment, she’ll beat their ass right now! Allen stops her since the cafeteria is no place for a fight. Natalia is not amused since it’s like he doesn’t care for Charlotte. Of course he does. He teleports all to another dimension as he teaches the few rules to Natalia about fighting. Allen easily defeats all of Chris’ goons and ties them all up. He is about to dump to biggest and nastiest fireball as a lesson to not mess with them again until Charlotte nullifies it. Allen and Natalia both get lectured by Charlotte. She is happy they got angry on her behalf but this is too much. Beyond naughty! You better apologize now or do you want to see Charlotte’s angry face! And just like that, this spat is over and we’re back to happy people. Allen notes this is all part of Charlotte’s growth because now she can use a spell against him when she couldn’t hit a punching bag before. Allen has also done some study on Natalia’s background. Apparently she took in outcasts as her lackeys and of course some resented that. She mentions she just wants to hone her skills and to do that, people like Chris are her convenient targets. Now that Allen knows her problem, he has a suggestion. Sorry, it’s not to get along with others. She must conquer this academy and become its ruler! Oh sh*t! This is way beyond naughty!

Episode 11
Natalia learning diligently from Allen on how to reign supreme! Not sure about this dungeon showdown, we don’t get to see it but once again Natalia wipes Chris’ butt all over the floor. Gosetsu and Lu train Natalia’s lackeys to be stronger. Natalia hates salad but eats them all out of concern for Charlotte. There. Finished them like an adult. Okay. Here’s another bowl! OMG… Natalia is eager to teach Charlotte her magic and can start tomorrow morning. That night when they carry Natalia back to her dorm to sleep, they notice a bag that looks important to her. It is imbued with magic so touching it may trigger traps. I can’t believe the gang stay and watch her sleep all night! Perhaps to note how precious the bag is since she cuddles it while sleeping. Next morning, Charlotte wakes up early for her promised lesson. With Charlotte improving a lot, this reminds Natalia of her old times. She wants to show Charlotte her bag but looks like it is missing. Chris is believed to be the perpetrator as he left a letter challenging her if she wants her bag back. If that is what he wants, so be it. She hopes Charlotte will not tell Allen. However it is her lackeys who do so since Natalia has not showed up in class. Even Charlotte has gone missing. One of Chris’ lackeys turn up to seek Allen’s help. He confirms Chris summoned Natalia to the forbidden dungeon for a challenge and slipped that letter last night. He further reveals Chris was a genius until Natalia came along. She bested everything he did and obviously his pride will not stand for that. He vowed to beat her no matter what it took. Allen will head to the dungeon himself and has Gosetsu tell Harvey just in case. The rest will be on standby. Chris and Natalia have a showdown in the dungeon. He drops her back down the abyss and challenges whoever retrieves it first wins. Obviously Natalia wins again but now a chimera shows up. This is the dungeon’s boss. Chris is so scared he runs. But they are trapped and can only hide. Chris tries to take responsibility to fight it but it backfires and he gets knocked out. Luckily Charlotte is here to save the day and gives some breathing space as her magic scares the chimera away. Charlotte is worried about Natalia. Even if she is strong, she is still a child. Natalia is still confused why she cares so much about her but Charlotte cannot say she is her sister. Allen enters the dungeon, hoping Salamander has not awakened from its laying period.

Episode 12
As Natalia notes about her big sister, she claims that criminal status is all a lie to frame her. But what she hates most is herself who failed to protect her sister and how the family cut ties with her instead. She has always regretted not being able to help her and that’s why she wanted to study magic so when she grows up, she’ll help her. After that incident, Charlotte’s stuffs were all thrown out. The only thing left Natalia salvaged was this bag that belongs to her. Since it has her magic, she hopes to use some detection magic to locate her. However she knows a creep is holding her hostage and is jamming her detection. Once she finds him, she’ll beat the sh*t out of him! Oh my. Allen in danger! But what do you know? Chris overheard the whole thing and is now in tears! Ashamed of himself for doing such trivial matters. Good thing he has repented but now a big problem is at hand. Salamander is here! Charlotte tells Chris to take Natalia away (since her feet is injured) while she stays and distracts the beast. When Salamander fires, the blast affects Charlotte and this dispels her disguise. Natalia confused her sister is here. Thankfully, Allen to the rescue. Nothing is madder than a Demon Lord who sees his beloved hurt! After a single knockdown, Salamander starts being docile and loving Allen? You see, Salamander is actually Allen’s pet he raised from young! Outside, Chris repents his actions and will accept any punishment. Natalia and Charlotte have their moment of reunion. Charlotte apologizing for the deception but Natalia is glad to see her sister again. Because inside the bag is a favourite book that Charlotte often reads to her. Well, now she can read it again. Time for a great emotional sisterly hug! But now Natalia’s anger turns to Allen as she believes he is the creep who prevented her from finding her sister! Zap! ZAP! Liselotte disappointed they’re not dating but as Eruca puts it, they truly love each other. For now they can only watch over them until they are ready to tell each other their feelings.

Back home, Allen and Charlotte ponder about the confession they wanted to say that night. Just in time Miacha interrupts since they have an unknown package. A magic spell that summons. And out from this portal comes Natalia! Oh wow. She wanted to visit Charlotte so badly so she sought Eruca’s help and thus this surprise. More bad blood between Allen and Natalia over Charlotte. So this isn’t fighting but passionate communication? Uhm… WHAT?! Soon, Dorothea returns. It seems her romance novel is a hit and now she is hoping to write a sequel. So any developments from you guys? Well, actually her editor has been bugging her for a sequel so she is back here to hide. Please hide me! To Allen’s dismay, everybody has decided that Natalia will be staying over (to keep watch on that pervert, but of course). And so we have a happy dinner. The more the merrier. That night, Charlotte dreams of being locked in the basement by her (step)mom after accusing her of stealing that she did not do. It’s a dream so Allen breaks through and rescues her. Waking up from this in the middle of the night, she notices Allen still up and sits with him. He has an idea to do something naughty that can only be done at night. Sorry folks! It’s not what you think because it is stargazing while drinking a nice cup of warm cocoa! But wait. The mood seems right as they get closer to each other. Preparing for a kiss! This is it. The naughtiest moment we’ve been waiting for! Only for Allen to call out the rest because he knows they’re spying on them! Oh shucks. What a waste. Natalia, Lu and Gosetsu cooperate to take down their enemy as Allen won’t hold back anymore. Bring it on. Meanwhile, a spy reports to Cecil about Charlotte’s whereabouts. He orders her immediate capture.

Charlotte’s Web (Of Oppression): The Naughty Professor & Little Miss-chief
So the prologue is now done. I assume things are going to get even naughtier when Neruz comes for Charlotte. Yeah, that will be way beyond naughty. In fact, the entire kingdom is more than just naughty. They’re pure evil for doing this to our girl! At least that is the story we see from our side. So until the next season arrives, we are going to assume that more or less the same happy days for Allen, Charlotte and co, doing naughty stuffs and everybody smiling away like nobody’s business. Yeah. It’s so wonderful being naughty. Naughty = Happiness? But I know coffee is not tea. Geddit?! Not. Tea. Naught-tea. Naughty… Sighs, sorry for bad naughty pun…

Okay, first thing I have to call out about the term ‘naughty’ being used here. In short, it is just misleading! Yeah, obviously to bait people like yours truly to check it out. But I assure you that it is not that kind of definition that we think it is. So much so I want to use that meme of they keep using that word, I don’t think it means what it means! I don’t know if this is this kingdom’s definition of the word naughty but it certain is misleading. Therefore when Allen wants to teach her naughty stuffs, it is actually more about teaching her about how to be happy. Yeah, so I am thinking why not say he wants to teach her how to pleasure herself! HOLY SH*T! I think I made it sound even worse!!! But seriously, the more correct term would be he wants to teach her how to enjoy some of the simple things in life and be happy. Yeah. That. Perhaps that sounds too long and thus it is surmised as naughty. Uh huh. Sounds trendier, maybe. After all, girls of such status must be so prim and proper to a T that the slightest deviation would mean they are uncouth and uncultured. My, it’s so hard being a noble.

As you can see, there is not much of a plot. Yet. This entire season dedicates itself to see the development between Allen and Charlotte. Call it a bore or nothing new but I suppose this way, it proves that all that we have seen them done things together, it gives a solid support that vouches their relationship is genuine and true. Now we are just waiting for them to confess their feelings to each other. Of course we veterans now it will be a long and crucial waiting game. If it was this fast, it will be no fun and things would be over. Therefore in all the episodes, we see them in close proximity or doing stuffs that people in love usually do. Yes, those ‘naughty’ bits are actually the usual cliché stuffs that we can see everywhere else in this genre. Yes, doing those ‘naughty’ stuffs makes them get closer to each other and also gives us the much wanted reaction between the duo. Oh you know, being very shy and flustering like mad till their faces are as red as a tomato. That. Naughty, naughty, aren’t we? Or is it just the usual romcom tropes? Don’t be fooled by the next episode’s preview where the narration sounds ambiguous enough to make it sound like something naughty might happen. I assure you, it is not. Clickbait material, yeah… And here I initially thought aside sexy bits, Allen was going to teach Charlotte do other naughty stuffs like playing pranks on old folks and doing ding dong ditch! WHERE WAS ALL THAT???!!! Oh right. That’s not naughty. That’s just plain evil!

So yeah, diehard romanticists may die in frustration to see their romance unfolding at a snail pace but then again, why the rush? It is ironic that Allen wants to teach her naughty stuffs but the whole thing somewhat backfires in the sense that with both of them being so embarrassed with each other, it just brings them closer. Take for instance during Dorothea’s directing moments. Do you not agree with me that Allen and Charlotte are looking more natural as lovers when not acting? Hell yeah, it is even better than the fake acting! But you have to wonder for Charlotte, is she even acting?! Yeah, how convenience for this acting thingy to cover up her feelings or at least Allen sees it as an excuse not to think what it is.

Allen might be a genius in magic but he is a noob in love. There are moments when he is just so dense like holding Charlotte’s hands whenever he has a eureka moment. He doesn’t realize his actions but for Charlotte who is just purer than snow, this evokes that flustering emotions. The reverse is somewhat true too. Whenever Charlotte is in her natural and kind gentle nature, she is just so lovely that it makes Allen’s heart skip a beat. So do you see the misses both of them have in this game of love? True love, definitely. But they’re having a hard time getting their feelings across and I suppose that is to frustrate us and keep the charade going on for as long as possible. I mean, yeah, who wouldn’t love to see more of Charlotte’s cute blushing! One more time, my fair lady! Awww, how cute!

Contrary to his ‘terrifying’ nickname, Allen is very well much like many other anime protagonists. Basically a good person. He can be a little crude at times but more than often ever since Charlotte came into his life, obviously he starts to change a little as now he puts his thoughts in taking care of and protecting her. As opposed to whatever his intentions in teaching her naughty stuffs! I tell you, this misleading word has been done to death! He has the power to change the landscape since he possesses very high magic affinity but chooses not to go down the violent path all because he wants to respect Charlotte’s wishes. If he can’t do anything simple as that, he is in no way qualified to protect Charlotte at all. So yeah, the real Demon Lords are the ones who ostracized Charlotte, right?

And now my dear Charlotte, she has changed a lot but still remains largely the same. Confused? You do notice at first that she was a very insecure and fragile girl with no will of her own. Like a puppet. But as she spends more time with Allen (the process of naughty-sizing, if I should call it?!), she has grown to be more mature and independent. She now has wishes and desires she wants to achieve and she doesn’t need Allen to tell her what to do (or that lame threat Allen will kill himself?). While she has grown into this strong woman, at the same time a big part of her remains unchanged as she is still humble, meek and above all, caring and selfless. This core part of her has not changed and it is easy to see why many has fallen for her charms. Notice how many are friendly with Charlotte but remain somewhat hostile towards Allen for some reasons? Looking at you, Lu, Gosetsu and Natalia! Therefore everything that has happened or why things get done is because Charlotte wills it and everyone obliges her wishes. Makes me want to sing Bryan Adams’ (Everything I Do) I Do It For You!

It is yet to be seen or revealed this season what crimes or treason Charlotte have been framed for. Thus I am guessing that when the time comes as her past catches up to her, although she will still be traumatized, this time she is stronger to tackle and face it head on unlike before. So yes, Allen and her friends have helped much in her development. But I am sure that Charlotte will overcome this greatest trial when it catches up seeing how saintly and angelic Charlotte is. No wait. Make that godly! Charlotte is your goddess! Besides, we might all smile and our heart go ~kyun if Charlotte pouts or gets mad. Cute, right? I don’t think we want to see her actually getting mad because that would be the most terrifying thing in the world! Oh man, I can’t imagine if Charlotte actually loses her temper! I don’t think it will happen considering Charlotte’s personality but the possibility isn’t zero. Overall, because Allen and Charlotte met each other, they both have become vital to each other’s development and it was all a blessing in disguise. Now we’re just waiting with much excruciation for them to make it official. Oh come on, don’t tell me you don’t know already?! Rest assured (or unfortunately), no harem shenanigans in this not-so-naughty love story. Just a food for thought, if Santa is going to give presents to them, will she be on the naughty or nice list? Oh heck, it’s a no-brainer. Charlotte my dear will always be nice no matter what!

With this much focus on the duo, the other characters are mostly relegated to being supporting casts and nothing really more. After all, everybody loves Charlotte, right? Who would dare hate her? These characters are proof that Charlotte’s kindness has spread far and wide regardless of who she is. Her circle of friends and family continues to grow and by the time Cecil or the Evans come get her, she has her own faithful followers to help fight back with her. Don’t you dare touch our goddess! So we have delivery catgirl Miacha to genius wizard Eruca to a couple of intelligent pets to a famous novelist who was once the mansion’s previous owner and now her own little sister has free access to visit Charlotte any time she wants. Even Allen’s parents are behind her so if Neruz wants to get funny with Charlotte, bring it on because there will be hell to pay and more. So yeah, while these characters, some look like they are freeloaders and just here to have fun, just like a certain pair’s genuine love, their friendship and loyalty to the goddess is as authentic as it can be. The more the merrier, right? What a waste of space in Allen’s mansion if it doesn’t house lively (and weird) characters!

Art and animation are standard. It looks pretty bright and vivid, the colours and hues and the character designs are your typical cute Japanese characters. Though, I thought Allen’s character design looked familiar. Heck, thanks to his hair split between black and white, I thought Boku No Hero Academia’s Todoroki escaped here! Even more so there was a scene when Allen’s face was half covered in red blood! OMG! Todoroki???!!! I have to admit that Charlotte may look cute but she still looks as bland and plain like any other blonde anime girls! It’s not blasphemy against the goddess, okay! As for Natalia, she has this strange resemblance to Mia from Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari. Both ran in the same season so, uhm, parallel universe? On a trivial note, do you not think Eruca and Miacha’s uniform is a bit naughty? Baring their midriffs? Is this supposed to distract us or something? Like Gosetsu’s hot babe transformation?! I do notice a bit of CGI but thankfully it is only confined to very small scenes such as carriages. Not to say they look good but at least it is not crappy. Phew? This anime is jointly done by Zero-G (Isekai Nonbiri Nouka, Tsugumomo) and Digital Network Animation (Kimi Wa Kanata).

The other factor attracting me to watch this series is the cast. When you have Tomokazu Sugita as Allen and Saori Hayami as Charlotte, big and recognizable names in the current voice acting industry, how can you not be interested?! At least I know I am. Well, the thing for me is while Tomokazu Sugita sounds as trademark as he can get, Saori Hayami on the other hand sounds too overly cute. Not to say it is a bad thing but sometimes I have this feeling that she is trying too hard to make Charlotte have this innocent and shrieky squeal to her voice and that it gives me the impression that she is struggling to make Charlotte sound meek and fragile. She could be voicing in this manner on purpose but I just can’t help feel that way whenever I hear Charlotte’s (cute) voice. The other casts I recognized are Naomi Oozora as Miacha and Nobuyuki Hiyama’s cameo is Megath. Almost missed Marina Inoue there as Chris. Only recognized her a bit later and only so because in the same season, she voiced another similar young boy character (Leo in Seiken Gakuin No Makentsukai).

The rest of the other casts are Lynn as Eruca (Ayano in Engage Kiss), Kaori Maeda as Natalia (titular character in Kaijin Kaihatsubu No Kuroitsu-san), Rika Nagae as Dorothea (Mitsuha in Rougo Ni Sonaete Isekai De 8-manmai No Kinka Wo Tamemasu), Ryotaro Okiayu as Gosetsu (Byakuya in Bleach), Atsumi Tanezaki as Lu (Anya in Spy x Family), Akari Kitou as Liselotte (Nezuko in Kimetsu No Yaiba), Hikaru Midorikawa as Harvey (Lancer in Fate/Zero) and Makoto Furukawa as Cecil (Shirogane in Kaguya-sama Wa Kokurasetai). The opening theme, Ikenai Etranger by Yui Hizuki tries to have this naughty vibes. More accurately, playful vibes. Apart the jazzy vibes, some parts of the song sound a bit chaotic as well as dramatic. I don’t know, somewhat reminds me of Calendrier from Tasogare Otome x Amnesia but to a slightly faster pace. As for the ending theme, Saori Hayami graces Graceful World with her character’s voice. Sounds pretty decent this dramatic ballad. At least not as weird as the one I heard her sing in RWBY: Kyousetsu Teikoku despite she hitting the high notes in the end.

Overall, this show is just your typical romcom series and there is nothing naughty about it! The closest fanservice we get is Charlotte in her swimsuit and that is not even close to being risqué. The most our couple has done are hold hands and slept in the same bed but as you would have come to expect, nothing much happens. We should have known better but we always have this minute hope that maybe something naughty would surprise us despite the overwhelming odds it would not. And then when it really doesn’t, we get disappointed. What a vicious circle for us with naughty thoughts! So if you like your shows where couples who are in deeply love with each other but are too dense to realize it themselves, have fun and being happy together, this should be right up your alley. No actual corruption or depravation actually occurred. No cute, innocent and pure girls were corrupted or depraved during the making of this series. So I guess wishing for a lingerie episode would be way out of the question, huh? That’s not naughty. That’s just perverted! And perversion is bad! Ecchi nano wa ikenai to omoimasu! Oops, wrong anime!

P/S: Can we stop abusing and misusing the word naughty already! It has lost its context here!

Zom 100: Zombie Ni Naru Made Ni Shitai 100 No Koto

It’s about time! You see, Zom 100: Zombie Ni Naru Made Ni Shitai 100 No Koto could have been another fun or ordinary anime zombie flick of the season. If not for production issues that caused the final stretch of episodes to be postponed indefinitely! Oh yeah. Always production issues, huh? Why can’t they just let us anime fans watch in peace and finish a series like it should?! Heh. Such privileges. Yeah, we are the ones looking like anime addict zombies. But alas and thank goodness, about 3 months later, they released all the episodes together. On Christmas Day. There. There’s your zombie present. Are you happy now? You can now check off this anime as completed on your watch list. Is that what you want to do in your life? Watch animes forever? Yes siree, I would. Even in a zombie apocalypse?! Yes siree, wouldn’t change it even if the world goes bust. But as for our main character here, looks like he has a bucket list of things to do before he gets turned into one. And yes, I still want to watch animes even when I get turned into zombie!

Episode 1
Akira Tendou watches a dystopian zombie flick. Yeah. Such meaningless life. Need to go back to work tomorrow. Oh how he dreads that. How he wishes he doesn’t have to return. Flashback 3 years ago when he started out as a bright and promising upstart in this production company, he was filled with vigour and motivation. Yeah, it seemed like a nice place with nice people. Heck, even having a crush with this cutie pie colleague, Saori Ootori. Then after all the welcoming party, reality hits because it is back to work and they’re pulling an all nighter. Akira and others work through for several days without going home! And when he did, he was tired and sleep deprived. Realizing he is working for a black company, he tries to stay positive. Yeah, funny comments he had for all those negative outlooks! Despite Ootori being the one who kept his sanity for the couple of years, eventually he too realized that she is the chief’s mistress. And as we can see, it really took a toll on him as he trudged through. He kept wondering if he should quit but doing so, it would pile the responsibilities on the rest. Speaking of which, many have already left and now most of the burden is on him. One day, he woke up with a notice about his failure to pay his bike renting space. He goes to see the manager but sees him being devoured by a zombie! RUN! With zombies chasing him and seeing the whole place is now filled with zombies, the first thing that crossed his mind is that he doesn’t have to go back to work! YAHOO! FREEDOM! He is so happy with this vacation and now sees the world in colour! This is so much livelier! He can do what he wants! Wondering about Ootori, he decides to see her to let her know his feelings. Don’t get cold feet now. Yeah, the chief is there. Already a zombie. Akira thanks him for everything and tells him he is resigning. Then he tackles the chief to push him out of the window. Mind you, Akira played rugby in his school days! Confronting Ootori, sad she is already a zombie. He confesses his love but now it’s goodbye. The irony of running away from the girl who is now chasing him! So as he wanders around, he thinks about one’s mortality. No one knows when they’ll die. Hence he makes a list of 100 things he wants to do before becoming a zombie! Roll credits!

Episode 2
Oh yeah. What a great day to clean your house and do the laundry! I wonder who is running the electricity and water. But yeah, Akira feels great after doing his housekeeping. His next plan is to enjoy this vacation by lazing around and drinking beer. Only, he ran out of beer! Oh well, time to do some errands. Better to run through the zombies than the day without beer! As he slides down the pipe (because the stairwells are choked with zombies), he stumbles into a married couple, Kosaka. They too are surprised to see a survivor. They invite him in but Akira is doing errands and don’t mind helping them to get stuffs too. So as Akira enters the convenience store happily, he is shocked to see a girl there. Awkward. But Shizuka Mikazuki ignores him as he tries to strike up a conversation and even hopes to exchange contacts. However she tells him off that she cannot team up with someone who ignores all the risks. It seems Akira has attracted some zombies and they’re entering the store. He jumps in front to protect her but she throws him back! A truck then smashes into the zombies! After she leaves, Akira continues his way home. Nobody is going to mind if he steals a bike, right? So as he returns to the Kosaka, he sees their place all bloodied. Oh. Once again he thinks about mortality and starts writing down his bucket list. Well, he only got 30 or so and some already he did. But I guess it’s good for now. Now we see Shizuka’s side. She too has a bucket list but it is more for survival like securing water, energy and exercise regularly. She observes the different types of zombies because knowing them will increase one’s chance of survival. But she needs raw data and heads out to the convenience store to grab some supplies. As she has set up cameras outside, the reason she knew Akira was coming in. The entire time he was talking and she was being silent, she was analysing his carefree behaviour and stumped how a person like him can still survive. Noticing zombies coming as well as a truck being driven by a zombie going to crash here. She made some calculations for that to crash to happen to take out as many zombies. Of course Akira’s actions surprised her. She returns home with the basic necessary supplies she needed as well as the data of zombies. But she is still perplexed about Akira being so happy for some beer in this state of emergency. Yeah, maybe she should’ve grabbed some sugary treats too.

Episode 3
Shou and his fellow host club guys are defending the place which is a safe haven from zombies. As the internet is suddenly back up, Akira is thrilled to receive some messages. He scrolls down the list of friends and remembers Kenichirou “Kencho” Ryuuzaki. He thinks this guy can’t be dead. Speaking of him, he isn’t. However he is trapped in a love hotel for 3 days and has run out of water. Thank goodness he was playing bondage with this prostitute so she’s all tied up. But how long can he last? Suddenly he thinks of Akira. Yeah, this guy always laughs at his dumb jokes. Speaking of which, he receives a call from Akira. How ‘ya doing! He wants to meet up although Kencho says it is impossible as Shinjuku is swarmed with zombies. Don’t worry, he’ll be coming! And so Akira rides there as he remembers his best friend in college who also plays rugby. When Akira was overworked to death, Kencho was a successful real estate agent, making big contracts and even dating a model. Of course at that time, Akira wasn’t thrilled to listen to all that. So when Kencho suggested he quit that company, Akira blew his top. Their relations strained and that was the last they saw each other. A loud car horn seems to attract all the zombies (saving Shou from certain death). Once the zombies gather around this car, a bomb explodes. All set up by Akira. Kencho comes out of his hiding. All confused. What happened here? Couldn’t be more surprised to see Akira here. But the first thing Akira did is to apologize for not listening to his advice and thus took his anger out on him. All that shouting attracted more zombies so they have to run to the rooftop. Despite blocking it with air-cond units, this won’t last. Akira says to jump over to the next building. That’s crazy! Can we make it? Only jump and we’ll know! Akira does the impossible. Now it’s Kencho’s turn. He can’t do it. Therefore he wants to apologize for lying to him. You see, he wasn’t happy with his job because he had to deceive people and put up a lot of fake smiles. That’s why he was always bragging and putting up a fake front to hide it all. He wanted to be a stand-up comedian. Akira tells him to quit and be one. Remember, always take your friend’s advice! And with that, Kencho jumps! WTF he can strip in the middle of the jump?! Almost didn’t make it! Can Akira stop laughing and pull him up? Yeah, at least he got away with his balls lacerated! The guys have a naked bonfire party, drinking and talking things. This is how you should enjoy life, right?

Episode 4
Rooftop camping is sure fun. Yeah, it’s like their new base. Kencho sees Akira’s bucket list and adds his dream to it too. After all, Akira saved him so he hopes he can consider him on this ride. Since Akira wants a bigger widescreen TV, they head down to Ikebukuro to get one. However they hit a dead end. And behind them is a mad zombie truck driver! OMG! Better think fast before they get slammed! That’s right. Akira doing his incredible bike stunt as he plays chicken with the truck before getting on the car ramp and jumping down into the subway as the explosive fire ‘chases’ them from behind! Unbelievable. Then they escape from those subway zombies and manage to take refuge in this underground mart. Well, well. Looks like there are some survivors here. With food not running out anytime, looks like the duo join the rest in this weird group party. They introduce themselves. The rest are Reika, Maki, Yukari and some old guy who is too traumatized to talk. Learning the ladies are flight attendants, isn’t this one of Akira’s bucket list? To dine with flight attendants? Oh yeah. Being the noob he is, he asks if Yukari has a boyfriend. That disgusted look that she is not impressed! Oh dear. Hey, looks like Kencho is already hitting up with Maki! So as not to lose, Akira drinks tequila via his nose! WTF?! Yeah, everybody’s laughing now. Later he pukes from it all as Yukari comes to see if he is okay. He is happy she is concerned for him but sorry to break your heart, she already has a boyfriend. Meanwhile that old guy was already bitten by a zombie and bites Reika. Kencho and Maki are fresh from making out as Reika attacks Maki. Hope that make out was worth it. Meanwhile Akira and Yukari talk about the downside of their jobs. However Akira notes if Yukari’s dream is to be a flight attendant, so be it. The old guy then attacks Yukari. Oh dear. Yukari talks to Akira for one last time before turning into a zombie. She was happy. Akira returns to Kencho. Yeah, he just snagged a TV so let’s scram! Back at their camp, Akira adds another to his list: Remember his childhood dream.

Episode 5
With all of Japan in this state (who’s posting the news?!) however there are small isolated groups of survivors barricading all over. As Akira has a dream of his younger days of being a hero, he adds to his list that he wants to be a hero. So they head down to the aquarium to get the gears. Meanwhile a bus is stuck and surrounded by zombies. However one of the passengers is infected. Hell breaking loose. Who the unlucky ones? A girl runs towards the aquarium and thought she is done for as she trips but here comes Akiraiger to the rescue! WTF?! He is dressed in a diving suit designed for sharks that can withstand bites. As he rallies the other survivors to safety, he notices one of them is Shizuka. Feeling pretty lame now? Then he gets overwhelmed by the zombies as Kencho leaves him to his fate. Hey, he doesn’t have a suit. Not sure how but Akira manages to free himself and get back inside the aquarium. He tries to talk with Shizuka and exchange contacts but she won’t because she views his actions as risky. Did he not think when he decided to become a hero? She then gets psychology about his inferior complex, blah, blah, blah. True, he saved her but did he consider about putting others in danger when he decided to placate his low self-esteem? Well, can’t argue with that! That is why if he cannot analyse risk, it will lower her survival rate and she will not exchange contacts. Boo hoo.

The guys go to check out a large explosion. Well, what’s this… A zombie shark with legs!!! OMFG! Now I’ve seen everything!!! RUN! Oh, there are zombies in this area too?! As everyone runs to the exit, the panicky girl shoves Shizuka aside. Everyone is saved but Shizuka is outside and the exit door is stuck. Shizuka is about to meet her fate when Akiraiger returns from the vent to save her! Where’s your thanks, girl?! Still b*tching how this is all risky?! It all doesn’t matter to Akira. He just wants to save her. Obviously with no plan, they run around as the shark gives chase. Shizuka has an idea. Something about shocking the shark’s sensory. Akira buys time while she goes to look for something with electricity. When Akira can’t go further, Kencho entices the shark with his naked butt?! Don’t blame it when it wants to eat it!!! With Shizuka returning in time, she throws the batteries to Akira as his punches its nose to shock it out. In the aftermath, Akira and Kencho wonder why Shizuka is not following the rest. They were on the same bus to the harbour and she is done with big groups. Noting his bucket list, she notes the irony she is trying to not become a zombie but they are trying to do things before turning into a zombie. Their methods are incompatible and despite all the warnings, he still risks his life for a total stranger. However Akira notes that she is precious to him and he’d still save her if he wasn’t a hero. That make you blush? Before they part, she allows to share her contacts with him. After all, there’s not much of a risk in doing so, right? Did her risk analysing brain get fried?

Episode 6
Looks like the electricity is finally done for. This means no water to pump and no internet. They need to find a place with secure food and shelter. Aww shucks, like working in a zombie apocalypse? But hey, nice starry sky. This reminds Akira of his parents in the outskirts. And so just like that they decide to pack up, say goodbye to Tokyo and head to Gunma. But first, Akira wants to head to the RV exhibition centre because they’ll need one to cover the long distance and travel comfortably. Guess who is there too? Shizuka! Yes, she has the same idea too but too bad she isn’t too keen to form an alliance with them. The umpteenth time shot down. Akira like a dejected zombie… However they use this risk analysis against her because she has no licence to drive unlike them and that will be pretty risky. So do you not think an alliance is better? Shizuka pressured… As they look into the various RVs, the guys like country bumpkins, getting so excited to see all the weird models. Of course an argument breaks out with Shizuka about the practicality of selecting which RV for the trip. They’ve been so loud and now all the zombies stream in. Just get into an RV and drive the hell out! It’s amazing the key is in the ignition and it has gas! As they drive along, Shizuka talks about this epidemic is likely caused by a virus and that means there must be survivors out there creating a vaccine to fight it. There is still hope.

Suddenly they hit a spike trail. Kencho crashes badly and is injured. They are then cordoned off by a group of baseball ruffians led by Gonzou Kosugi. Who? Kencho’s ex-supervisor who was always yelling at him! Well, time for him to clam up and remember all the trauma. Shockingly, Kosugi seems to be willing to treat his friend and give them new tyres but only if Akira works for him for 2 days. Shizuka calls out this sneaky blackmail tactic so Kosugi reasons this is to avoid looting. With zombies coming in, Akira is pressured to accept this job. Only 2 days, right? His job will be unloading goods at the dock and reinforcing the perimeter. Yeah, noticed others being worked to the bone? When Akira decides to load some beer into the fridge so that everyone could have some chilled beer later, Kosugi blows his top for wasting electricity. But when his lackeys come by and think Kosugi being a generous dude, he changes his tone and claims it was his idea so that everyone can have a welcoming party for Akira. Later Akira is further shocked to see zombies being used to pull loads of cargo trucks. This is why the supplies he unloads seems endless. Kosugi notes these zombies are like equipment. Akira is the same and he is just a worthless guy who can do nothing but follow orders. So be like an equipment and do your job. I’m surprised Akira hasn’t snapped from this trauma yet. Meanwhile Kencho blames himself for letting Akira get into this mess. Though, Shizuka believes it is all calculated. As for why Akira is still clinging onto that unwanted past, it seems Shizuka has also faced something similar and notes that it is that fear ingrained into the heart and mind that makes it hard to forget.

Episode 7
Kosugi is throwing a party for his men. Of course the slaves like Akira continue to slog and serve them. He even has Shizuka pour drinks for him. She just went with the flow and do so. Kosugi continues to yell at Akira for making mistakes. This has Shizuka think of something similar in her past. From very young, she was told to obey her father who was a feared financier. When she found a stray puppy, she was told not to keep it. But she defied him and kept it a secret and even feeding it. Until one day, dad shot down her idea to become a doctor because she needs to be more than that. Also, he got rid of her dog. She started growing up to listen to every word he said. She hated it but had to because if she doesn’t obey, she cannot survive. As Kosugi continues to scold Akira, suddenly he changes his tone. He only did so because he believes in him. This is of course a tactic to brainwash him to stay by his side. He’ll do all the thinking and all he needs to do is just obey. Those same words echo eerily through Shizuka as father said the same thing. All those poor people in the streets? This is what happened if you do what you want. He had great expectations of her and didn’t want her to be an embarrassment. He claimed it was for her own good but she knew it was for his. Shizuka takes a look at Akira’s list. She’s going to add her own.

The day is here for Akira’s side to leave. But Akira says he wants to stay as he needs to repay Kosugi and all. Shizuka is fine with all that. They’ll leave on their own. But since Akira continues to rant about needs and all, she tells him to STFU. As this will be their last time together, she’ll tell him something. Kosugi just wants to dominate him to make him to what he wants. Free will is yours alone. This is why he puts others down and do anything to assert himself. She was in his shoes before until she met him, he opened her eyes. As there is nothing in this world now that is right or wrong, all she knows she wants to get away from that jerk. The clincher is when she gives him his list. She added another task to tell off his jerk boss. He is not a machine or zombie, so what will he do? Akira snaps out from his brainwash and says goodbye to his boss. Because he can never repay him, that’s why he’s leaving. Sorry for everything. When a supply team returns, little do they know a zombie was hitching a ride inside. Time to die! Everybody scrambles as more zombies stream in. The survivors stay safe atop the trucks. Seeing Kosugi in trouble, Akira still wants to help him because people turning into zombies is not part of his list. He has an idea and has all the zombies gather around this truck. The other men then surround the zombies with other trucks. Akira then lights up with the gas explosion burning the zombies away. As everyone praises how amazing Akira is, this time Kosugi’s lackeys are done with him. They call him a dictator and leave. Akira is a better leader than him. He pleads to them to stay but now he is all alone. Akira and co continue travelling. Strangely, he doesn’t remember slaving under Kosugi as his mind always went blank when that happens. As he ponders if he is right for any job, Shizuka says there is no rush to find one. Just do what you enjoy doing and hopefully it becomes the only job you can do.

Episode 8
Along the way, the trio see a horde of zombies converging onto a truck. They think there is a survivor. Time for Akira to don his hero suit and save the day. Akiraiger! But wait! Suddenly an armoured samurai bursts out and starts slashing all the zombies! OMFG! This is not a video game! Damn those slashing combos! Terrifying! Once done, she unmasks herself as Beatrix Amerhauser. Yes, a German babe who is infatuated with Japan’s culture. Don’t laugh, her knowledge of Japan will put us all to shame! Anyway, she is delivering fish to the city when her truck broke down. It seems she was promised by a sushi chef she can have the best sushi if she gets some fish for him. Akira is eager to help her. Yes, eating sushi luxuriously is part of his bucket list. As they enter the city, obviously swarmed with zombies. Our brawn heroes have no plan so Shizuka will have to be the strategist now. The plan has Kencho lure the zombies into a dead end. Then they’ll throw inflammable stuffs and burn them all. But the match is not lighting up and more zombies are piling up. Beatrix thought their dream is over but Akira won’t give up. If he cannot eat sushi, he’d rather be a zombie! That is enough for the duo to head down and chop some zombies but can they keep up at this rate? Shizuka’s backup plan is to use a drone containing Beatrix’s Walkman and lure them to a gas station. This causes a bigger damage but yeah, domino effect burns all the zombies. Now the gang enjoys the best sushi. It brings Beatrix to tears so they welcome her to Japan. Even the sushi chef is brought to tears for this honour. Drink and eat all you like today!

The quartet continue their journey (sushi chef not coming? Probably he’ll die in the shop he worked his whole life), they realize they need to have a good bath since they’re stinking all over. That’s right. Next on the list is to soak in a hotspring. Akira thought it’s a good place to go dating but Shizuka pours cold water about the inefficiency of that. A waste of resources for temporary pleasure and an investment with poor cost performance. Wow. So b*tchy today? Is it because she hasn’t had her bath yet? For Akira, he thinks he can do better if he is doing it with the one he loves. As they soak in, looks like the women’s side is busted. The gentlemen would love to share. Not Shizuka. Thankfully Beatrix as a westerner is open minded and would gladly get all naked! However there are zombies in the hotspring! OMG. Where the f*ck were they hiding if the guys were swimming in there like nobody’s business?! They run and only find safety atop a cliff. This sucks. They camp there in hopes the zombies will go away. That night as Akira wakes up to go drink, he realizes a natural hotspring nearby. He goes to soak in only to realize Shizuka is already there. Please share. He’d rather be zombie if he can’t have his hotspring! As they soak in, Shizuka apologizing her b*tch talk earlier on. Blaming her father for never approving her way of life, it became hard for her to accept opinions of others. Rejecting others is like asserting one’s legitimacy. However Akira is not concerned about winning and being true to himself makes her old habit slip out. She admits she is bad at romance and hopes the person she would fall for is as open minded as him. Uhm, is that a confession? Too bad this is interrupted when Kencho and Beatrix won’t let them hog all the fun.

Episode 9
Flashback shows when Akira told his father he wanted to go to college, he told him to dream bigger. Of course Akira was not happy with his answer. What does a countryside farmer know? Akira and co reach the tunnel but heavy machineries barricade it. Inside, lots of zombies! Well, looks like the only way is to hike up the mountains. Along the way, they saved an old man, Masaru Kumano from a zombie boar! Oh well, at least now we know animals can get infected too. Kumano is from the city but ran away after the zombie outbreak. As a carpenter, he is currently making a tree house. Oh well, the guys are so eager to help out! Part of the bucket list, you know. Kumano tells them how to build one and be with nature! But then it gets a bit emotional when he relates he saw his wife bit his son and then had to put them down. Akira vows to help him finish the tree house. And they did. Of course they won’t stay as Akira needs to go see his parents. But if they feel like it, they can always come back here. The gang has to cross a very narrow strip through the gorge! Many died in the past! In fact, before the tunnel, it was the only access to the village. Because of its remoteness, it is the reason why it is being spared by the zombie apocalypse.

When Akira sees no one around, he gets scared everyone is dead. Don’t worry, the old folks having their usual party in a house! Upon seeing his parents, Akira thanks them for all the hard work they have done to raise him and apologizes for not visiting them in 3 years. However, father instantly beats him up for such nonsense. He should think before saying all those dumb things. Then he goes off to work the fields. So much for the reunion. Mom tells Akira and co how their remoteness made the village self-sufficient. At first when some people from the city tried to seek refuge her, one of them got infected so they had no choice but to block the tunnel. Though, some made it and continued to live here. Akira tries to help around and eventually helps dad with the fields. Well, same awkwardness. But it seems dad is bleeding from something and knows he has not much time left. Like any father, he brushes it off and acts like nothing. On the way back, they pass a group of kids. Akira thought one of them looked familiar. Flashback of Kanta Higurashi shows he is a failure from an early part in life. Rejected by society, he relished when the zombie apocalypse hit. Because it can be summer vacation every day! No need to obey society and their stupid rules anymore! Then when he met a bunch a few fellow rejects, they decided to come up with a list of fun things to do before they become zombies! Mostly all evil fun stuffs and they’re going to have the time of their lives.

Episode 10
Another wish off his list. Yup, Akira wanted to have dreadlocks and one of the city survivors is a specialist in making this hairdo. Not cultural appropriation you woke motherf*ckers! Then there is one who is a movie makeup artist. The irony they were filming a zombie flick! It took her for a while to realize the zombie apocalypse was real! OMFG! Despite all the challenges, the villagers here welcomed them so you bet they are all grateful and want to continue staying here. Because Shizuka advised some old guy on how to treat his wound, everybody now thinks she is a doctor! Line up, old folks. Wait for your turn for your back/stomach/neck/muscles whatever to be treated! Kencho finds a sad girl, Anju and her dog. They are the only survivors from the city and she has not smiled since. Kencho uses his idiotic charms to cheer her up and she laughs after a long while. Hope this doesn’t make him a lolicon because he wants her to stay by his side. Beatrix learns the old waterwheel powers the minimal electricity and although there are electric fences, they are not enough to kill thanks to an old circuit board regulating the electricity. Don’t touch it no matter what. When Kencho spots Higurashi, the latter ignores him. It seems they know each other. From the same university but he quit after 6 months. And what do you know? Higurashi hates them because they’re always having so much fun. Loser. But looks like he has hatched a sinister plan.

That night, Akira drinks with his father. He learns dad wanted to become an astronaut after realizing how small the world is. Too bad he admits he is dumb and couldn’t become one. Higurashi’s lackeys get things going by starting to destroy the circuit board. Then with an excavator, they remove the sandbags and barriers to let the zombies in. Obviously the villagers soon notice this. Too many to take them out with their rifles. Think of hiding in their houses? Well, Higurashi throws bombs! As Akira and friends gather at the electric fence, they realize it has now high voltage and trapping the villagers in. With Higurashi’s groupie here, they realize this villain started this chaos. Yeah well, we’re all going to be zombies one day, right? Learning Higurashi has a list too, among it is to f*ck up society and turn everyone he hates into zombies. While Akira admits to enjoy life as one sees fit, however to put your freedom first, you must respect freedoms of others. Hence his bucket list is nothing like his as he wants to repay his parents. Higurashi takes this as a game and challenges him to see how can finish their list first. Akira’s pals go into action to rescue the situation while Higurashi’s lackeys will have fun in their own way. They are going to smoke the hiding villagers out and turn them into zombie fodder in this game of hide and seek.

Episode 11
Anju is looking for her dog. OMFG, trying to f*ck a chicken???!!! Society and nature have become crazy indeed! Luckily Kencho saves them from zombie doom and then goes up the roof to be safe. All they need is for Beatrix to destroy the waterwheel. However one of Higurashi’s lackeys, Depressed Loser (that’s what I call him) climbs up and is hell bent in pushing Kencho down. Beatrix is interrupted by B*tch Loser while Shizuka becomes bait herself so as to distract zombies from attacking the house many of the old folks are sheltering (they can’t run as they are old). However she is now going to be raped by Perverted Loser! Yeah, this is worse than a zombie! Better turn into a zombie than this! Now we see Depressed Loser’s flashback. He thought it was happily ever after since he got married. But it went downhill. Overworked and even fooling around, it is no surprise his wife treated him coldly and didn’t care. As for Perverted Loser, he worked in a French restaurant and used excuses for his own failures. One day his smoking accidentally burnt down the entire premise. Safe to say, he got blamed and fired. B*tch Loser is your typical strict perfect office lady, not impressed that no one takes her suggestions seriously. Depressed Loser claims he is the victim. However Kencho tells him off he has never appreciated his wife and thanked her, blaming others for his failures. Kencho will go down with him as he wishes. As they fall off the roof, Kencho immediately dives into the fertilizer cesspool! Depressed Loser gets surrounded. Panicked, he runs and arrives at the electric fence. Make a guess what happens. Ironically, sh*t saved Kencho from turning into a zombie!

Meanwhile bedridden old dude Hiko wakes up and wonders about his late wife (Shizuka looks like her). Everyone tells what happened so he is not impressed they’re still here. He lectures them that they have weathered through storms and other natural disasters, yet they are still here. What are a few zombies to them? NOTHING! Shizuka tries to tell Perverted Loser about some theory regarding luck. Not like that stupid asshole understands it. As he is about to rape her, Hiko’s sharpshooting fires off the gun in his hands. He is after all the villager’s best hunter. Other old folks then clobber him. Don’t you dare touch our doctor Shizuka! And so, Shizuka comes out tops in this luck thingy. Guess who ran out of luck with the zombies? Beatrix tries to tell B*tch Loser that some of the things she deemed wrong is acceptable in her country. B*tch Loser doesn’t care about her culture. So as Beatrix tells her to think that she might be in the wrong, she rides up the waterwheel. Their fight has attracted other zombies so as they try to get Beatrix, their weight breaks off the waterwheel. As Beatrix rolls away, B*tch Loser is now surrounded by zombies. Akira fights off the zombies as he claims he still hasn’t repaid his parents. That is when dad switches places with him. If he wants to do that, don’t die first! Looks like his miracle hoe could clobber a few zombies. But suddenly he starts to feel strange. About to become zombie chowder, surprisingly Higurashi saves and pulls him to safety. Actually, Higurashi has thought of the best way to turn Akira into a zombie. If he is so bent on repaying his debts, come out and get eaten by the zombies if he wants to save his father.

Episode 12
Flashback shows Higurashi was a lively kid and had his own circle of friends. But as he grew up, he started to become an introvert and had no friends at all. In university, he thought of changing himself by attending some internship and even some self-development seminar. But he felt all that went nowhere. That’s why when he saw how happy Akira’s group was, he thought he should’ve been the same as a visionless and ambitionless loser. Now, Akira’s father tells him not to open the door. He will not see his family turn into zombies. Besides, he doesn’t have more time. It is then mom reveals he has a huge growth. Father adds if he wants to pay them back, be empathic and help others. He can still give back even when they are gone. Nothing would make him prouder. But soon, Akira opens the door. A loud scream is heard before Akira walks out as a zombie. Higurashi is elated that he has won. But when Akira gets up close to him, he pulls him down from his high horse. You see, Akira had the makeup artist make him look like a zombie. Gee, she had all the tools and can do so in record time?! Anyway, Akira’s scream was to lure the zombies to him before the rest clobbered them from behind.

As Higurashi is in despair, kind Akira still can ask him if this is what he wants to do. Because if so, why doesn’t he look happy? A zombie bites his leg as Higurashi kicks it away. It is then he claims all he wanted to do was to go to the pool with his friends. Akira promises if he gets turned into a zombie, he’ll go to the pool with him as his friend. Flashback shows that Higurashi’s stomach growling did attract Akira’s attention. He invited him to join them but Higurashi ran away. Higurashi then runs away but it is to distract all the other zombies. Before he finally loses it, perhaps this river could be the pool he always wanted… RIP, Higurashi. As all are gathered at the fence, how are they going to break it down? Don’t worry, Beatrix still rolling on the waterwheel! After all runs through, they arrive at the suspension bridge. It’s gone! Oh no! But don’t worry, Kumano heard some commotion and went to check it out. They’re lucky he built wooden planks. Uhm, the gap is pretty far, he could throw that far?! Anyway, with Akira and Kencho holding down this makeshift bridge, after everyone runs across, now it’s their turn to take a leap of faith. Now the zombies can fall to their, uhm, deaths? Slamming into the opposite cliff might hurt but I guess this proves they are alive. As they climb up, Akira tells Kencho about Higurashi. Kencho thought he was a fool but Akira realizes he was like him. Lost. He could’ve turned out like him. That is why despite everything, he cannot bring himself to hate him. Reaching back up, Akira’s father thanks his son that everyone is alive because of him. He couldn’t be prouder.

In the aftermath, the villagers circle back around and after checking the village is clear of zombies, seal off the tunnel again and now is starting to rebuild the place. With Kumano now moving here, everyone is motivated to help build the village back. Even Anju has moved on and decided not to cry over zombies. Things won’t change if you’re always crying, right? That night, Akira makes a tearful plea that he will always protect his parents and their village. That is when he also learns that father is not suffering from cancer but haemorrhoids?! Because he hates hospitals, the reason he didn’t go to seek treatment. This makes Akira have a few new wishes. Because if this zombie outbreak is caused by a virus, perhaps they need to find a vaccine and thus he wants to travel around the country to find one. After that, he’ll convince dad to go to a hospital for treatment. As about becoming a hero to save the world, dad gives the green light! He has his friends add their wishes into his bucket list. Next day, everyone says goodbye to the quartet as they prepare to leave. Akira’s mom stocking him up with seaweed. Don’t know when you’ll get hungry. Anju sees Kencho off with a smile. Gee, she hopes he could show her one of his perverted tricks when he returns?! WTF did he tell her?! Oh well, who cares, right? The friends leave as we see snippets of other survivors (some pretty crazy ones too). Akira’s groupie looks like they’re on a great sightseeing trip. Yeah, they’re having so much fun.

Carpe Diem! YOLO! Live Life Like There’s No Tomorrow
Well, I guess that is it for us. I am not sure if there is going to be a sequel but we are definitely sure that at least this studio who animated this series will not be doing it ever again. Yeah, imagine the embarrassment. I read online how many people were mocking how this studio prides itself in delivering its works. Considering this anime is their maiden series, you can pretty much guess that it has already sealed their fate. Yeah, what are the chances they became the very problematic black company that this anime portrayed. Oh the irony. Everybody has lost confidence and don’t even want or expect to see them touch this series again. So perhaps this zombie flick may get a sequel in the future, just that not with this company ever again. Good riddance. Now they can go back to being dead. Oh heck, they couldn’t even rise up on their debut and now they are deader than zombies. Heh.

The story doesn’t seem like much because it’s just mainly about Akira and his groupie trying to do what they want in a world where societal rules do not bind them anymore. It’s all free to go. Hence I surmised that the episodes will be random and silly adventures as they around fulfilling their utmost desires in the bucket list, hence all the misadventures of the zombie kind. It might sound unrealistic but hey, a zombie themed series itself is unrealistic! I believe that the series doesn’t want to entirely paint the overall theme to be gloomy and apocalyptic. What I think they want to do is to instil some sort of hope in spite of such dreaded times. Because you see Akira and Kencho’s nature as they are just so happy and doing as they please. Yes, they are fighting to survive but not fighting as desperately as you would see in other dystopian zombie flicks that would also serve as a horror genre. Thus from what I can see overall, this is why the series is nowhere close to being a horror and a total comedy. With clowns like these, who needs YouTube or other online social entertainment, no?! So wait for them to find the next fun thing to do and check off their list.

Because as for now, there are many questions left unanswered. Like especially how the f*ck this epidemic started in the first place! I hope this isn’t some sort of warning of what the Corona virus can do! Don’t you f*cking blame China in releasing this one! Because in just a freaking short span, in fact in a single day, suddenly a big portion of the society becomes the undead. So what caused this? And why are some spared? Don’t tell me they have some special genes that makes them immune unless they get bitten directly. Like vampires then? And are our survivors going to find a vaccine to save the world or are they going to leave it to some brainy scientist who knows where they are now. And is this epidemic affecting Japan or the whole world? Well, don’t want to spoil Akira’s Japan tour. Once he is done with that, maybe he can think of other bigger things. I mean, all that he wants to do is done so what else left is there to do? #100: Save the world! And yeah, may I ask if Akira’s bucket list should stop at 100 or if he has more desires to do, can he cross that magic number? Knowing him, I bet he will. Don’t let a number limit your desires.

One of the main contentions of this series that has viewers debate intensely is the blood. Why, all the blood that we have seen here are so freaking colourful!!! OMFG! It just feels so unreal like as though they are just paintball effects! At first it really looks weird because it gives the series some sort of cartoony feel. But remember what I said in the previous paragraph of how they wanted this series to portray hope? That’s right. They want to give off this fun feeling too. Imagine if all the blood you see here are the thick dark red kind for realism, I think that would have made the series a lot more gruesome. It wouldn’t be as much fun to see Akira and co fighting or running away from zombies. Therefore from my personal opinion, the brightly multi-coloured blood effects work well for this series and yes, I do not believe it is because of censorship. Oh you know, sometimes they think blood is too gruesome and ‘censor’ it via different colour. So I guess we can’t say the zombies here paint the town red, huh? Hey, look on the bright side, at least the town is now even more colourful than ever before with all the splattering and gushing of ‘blood’ all over!

For the characters, you either love them or hate them. Especially Akira for who he is. Obviously he is the main character so that’s that. What I want to say is that the irony that Akira has never been more alive than before. He was a zombie when society rules but when that collapsed, he is now a free man. Do you not see the irony in this? The zombie apocalypse freed and saved him. A stern reminder that we are so preoccupied with this thing called life and we become slaves for what purposes that don’t even make us happy. This is why Akira sometimes looks artificial because he is having so much fun when zombies are lurking all around him. So unreal. Imagine, running with the biggest smile on his face while a horde of hungry zombies are chasing him from behind! Too unbelievable! But yes, the point is, he is now a free man and that is what matters most.

Since no man is an island, that is why he has his own group of friends to travel with. Best friend Kencho was also in the same shoes with him and found similar freedom with the fall of society. Both are great comedians together but if you want more adult-like jokes, Kencho is your man. Uh huh. This guy loves stripping down to his birthday suit for his twisted jokes whatever. You think most of the censor would be on hideous zombies or the fanservice of the girls? Nope! It is Kencho and his crotch! Even more mosaic censor in the end when he is covered in sh*t! Do you not love this guy or what?

Then there is Shizuka. Initially starting off as some strict b*tch who places efficiency more than anything else. Have to admit, she does have a point. However she doesn’t seem happy in doing it all. Long story short, by travelling together with Akira’s group, looks like whether she realizes it or not, it is more efficient to stop being efficient and just live life the way you want without all that strict rules and sh*t whatever. Screw the risks! Because taking risky risks is more fun that way! That is life! Damn right, it’s a risk she is willing to take. Because of that, do you not see Shizuka has become a better and heck, a lovelier person who smiles more often! Can you blame Akira and Kencho’s clown virus infecting her?! Now she is part of the group and fits in like a glove. Heck, if you put them in a row, you can’t even tell them apart, personality wise! Where the old Shizuka gone? I’m sure it’s not that she has discarded that personality of hers totally but she has learnt to adapt and move on seeing we have a glimpse of her past and all. In short, this has done wonders for her character and we couldn’t hate her for it. Who could hate a cute chick like her and she’s trying to be a cock teaser with that sexy workout outfit she always wears. This her trademark outfit? Okay. We approve!

Finally completing the quartet is of course the foreigner. Ah yes, this one seems to be the most unbelievable part. Uh huh. Just a personal opinion but yeah, foreigners loving Japan and their culture. It just shows how much Japan has influenced the world having a German girl from half way round the world to visit her holy land. And so yeah, Beatrix isn’t just there to add to the pretty face but she’s quite a lethal fighter too. If you need some offensive power and more accurately, sword slashing action, this German fraulein is your best bet to keep some zombies at bay. And also foreigners’ boobs must be the biggest so that white singlet is the best way to show off her assets and keep us being distracted from the zombies. Yeah.

Such apocalyptic disaster definitely sees the best and worst in human character. That is why we see a few despicable people who want to watch the world burn. For example, Akira’s ex-superior, Kosugi. Even at such times he tries to take advantage of others and he does well in his job in playing psychology. What I want to say is that this mini arc of reuniting Akira and Kosugi was perhaps not only to have Akira move forward but to turn him into a near saint status. Because the best part is despite Kosugi has done a lot of bad things to him, Akira does not have to dirty his hands in exacting any sort of revenge on him. Akira even went so far as to save this fatso and everything else fell into place. Now that Kosugi’s true colours have been revealed, he is now left to his fate. Whether he survived or get eaten by zombies, at least Akira has his hands clean on the issue. Did not even have to kill him and even more so, his reputation as a kind person skyrocketed.

The same can be said with Higurashi. Again, Akira doesn’t need to taint his hands to end up at the ‘best’ outcome. In a way, making some sort of peace with him. A grim reminder that anybody could’ve been like Higurashi. Even Akira himself. Without the proper guidance or friend to stop or guide him, falling to the dark side is easy. Thus a bittersweet and necessary evil to ‘sacrifice’ Higurashi as he needs to atone for his sins. So I figured they wanted to showcase a bit of history on Higurashi and his lackeys so as not to turn them into some one-dimensional villains. Sure, everyone has problems but as we have seen, they themselves were the biggest problems as they lacked empathy. Best part of it all, our heroes don’t have to kill them to get their hands dirty because the zombies did the job for them and their conscious are clean. Such convenience.

Initially, I wonder why there were featured characters that don’t matter. If you remember early on in the series, there was this host club guy, Shou and the rest. It did not make any sense since their story was not even connected to Akira’s side at all. But with the final episode montage revealing scattered survivors here and there, perhaps these are the characters that Akira and co will come in contact as they go sightseeing, oops I mean travel around Japan. Whether they join his group or become rivals, it is left to be seen in the future. And for all the other characters that Akira and co have met along their way especially the old farts at Akira’s hometown, the irony they live longer than you urban punks. Yeah, no social media, that’s for sure! A subtle reminder to love your parents when they’re still around! Oh man, this zombie flick trying to teach us a lot of things! Obviously, Akira’s dad being the best father as we can see why he has been the great pillar of support for his son. Who wouldn’t want a father like him?

Art and animation are pretty standard but as I have already pointed out especially the colourful blood, it makes this whole series look somewhat cartoony. It doesn’t help when Akira looks a bit cartoony himself. Yeah, see his plain looks with his bright round eyes and big smile. Even Beatrix looks a bit cartoony. Or at least, more like a German doll! Thanks to that, the zombies here do not look as terrifying as say, Resident Evil! Hah. It’s like comparing apples to oranges. Yes, even if the zombies here look motherf*cking ugly but at least it is good to know that by my standards, it is not enough to cause some nightmare and sleepless nights. There are some CGI effects as well for example like that weird mutant zombie shark. However it doesn’t break the series entirely (most probably the scene was dark anyway). For the record, Bug Films animated this series and seeing this is their first and only series, can I make a joke that they got bugged by production issues? Oh sorry, I already did! Well, I don’t think we’ll see them for a while…

For the voice acting, my only contention is Minami Takahashi as Beatrix (Megumi in Shokugeki No Souma). Obviously she sounds like a Japanese trying to sound like a foreigner but ends up sounding fake. Yeah, it would be more believable if she sounded fluent in Japanese and had Japanese accent. Yeah. That. On a similar but unrelated note, if you wonder why Anju sounds so genuine like a loli, because this is Kino Sakai’s debut (and so far only) role and she was 14 years old when she took on this role. Okay, not loli enough for you lolicons out there but at least doesn’t sound fake like a grownup woman pretending to be a loli with that fake high pitch voice. Yeah. That. A few recognizable seiyuus include Nobuhiko Okamoto as Higurashi (imagine Accelerator with a lot of angst), Sora Amamiya as Ootori, Shigeru Chiba as Hiko, Mamoru Miyano as Shou and Youko Hikasa as Reika.

This series has a hell lot of voice actors doing small and cameo roles. You need so many people to voice the zombies? Don’t they all sound the same with their moaning?! Don’t ask me, I’m not a zombie expert so I can’t tell them apart! So for the rest of the (selected) casts, they are Shuuichirou Umeda as Akira (Pochita in Inu Ni Nattara Suki Na Hito Ni Hirowareta), Makoto Furukawa as Kencho (Shirogane in Kaguya-sama Wa Kokurasetai), Tomori Kusunoki as Shizuka (Makima in Chainsaw Man), Hiroyuki Kinoshita as Akira’s dad (Doussant in Radiant S2), Naomi Kusumi as Kumano (Magna in Tensei Kizoku No Isekai Bouken Roku Jichou Wo Shiranai Kamigami No Shito) and Kenta Miyake as Kosugi (All Might in Boku No Hero Academia). One of the epic things of this series is the opening theme, Song Of The Dear by Kana-Boon. This epic rock piece gets you in the drive and mood to want to dance along or run along. Yeah, there’s even a group zombie dance (f*ck sh*t, they copy and paste the zombies or what?) but too bad it’s nothing near Thriller Night. Anyhow, this song definitely fits the pace of this series like a glove. Happiness Of The Dead by Shiyui as the ending theme is a lively fanfare. Might not be as epic but it’s to continue the fun run that everyone is happily living the way they want to.

Well, what do you know? There was a live action film of this series that came out at a similar time when this anime series aired. As I didn’t see it, obviously I can’t make comparisons but from the brief comments I skim through online, they are mostly mixed reviews. Strange entry some called it and of course, some didn’t like it. Seeing the manga is still ongoing and briefly going through all the titles that they have released, I’m wondering why they didn’t have one entitled High School Of The Dead… Just kidding!

Overall, this whole series is supposed to be funny than anything scary so if you prefer zombies to stay in the horror genre, you might not like this one. But sorry, this isn’t supposed to be Resident Evil or even The Walking Dead. Otherwise, seeing a group of people having fun surviving in a zombie apocalypse while miraculously managing to avoid being eaten by zombies (so far), it’s all good entertainment to say the least. It would not have been that bad if not for the production issues and so this series became infamous for the wrong reasons. So should I come up with a bucket list of my own in case the zombie apocalypse strikes? Hey, even the US government has plans in case of a zombie emergency! THE. US. GOVERNMENT! Oh never mind, I think I’ll continue to be a zombie and continue watching all the crappy and sh*tty animes for the next few foreseeable seasons. Am I happy and living the life I want or what? :’(.

N/B: Bucket list #1: Get a girlfriend… Oh no, why does this already seem impossible?!

Hikikomari Kyuuketsuki No Monmon

Introverts love nothing more than to stay indoors and not mix with the rest of society outside. Even more so a shut-in. So what happens if such a person is somehow made a commander of a military unit and fight in wars that guarantees slaughter and mayhem? Oh, I don’t know how but Hikikomari Kyuuketsuki No Monmon sounds interesting and funny enough for me to take a peek. Our titular character is also a vampire who hates to drink blood. Eh? Is this some sort of new age vampire thingy? Anyway, due to circumstances she is being trusted into that position and despite her aversion for blood and wars, she has to put up the greatest act that she is a bloodthirsty warlord so as her troops will not lose morale and support. Oh, did I mention those same troops will not hesitate to revolt and overthrow whoever is weaker than them? And so the great pretending continues… Keep this up and she’ll be Oscar worthy material.

Episode 1
Terakomari “Komari” Gandesblood is a vampire of the Mulnite Empire. She is a professional hikikomori who hates to do stuffs or even drink blood. Not giving a crap about society, hence she stays in her room for like 3 years. But one day, suddenly she finds this maid, Villhaze claiming to be her personal maid now and that she is the commander of the empire’s army. You see, when father asked her about when she would start working, she casually answered as long as she will get the throne. You bet daddy was so thrilled that he told Empress Karen Helvetius about this and she in turn made her into this general AKA Crimson Lord. But did Komari sign any contract? Well, Karen snuck into her room last night and kissed her to seal the contract! And so, Komari is now before the empress who lays down the rules in becoming a candidate for the throne. So apparently she must go to war with any of the neighbouring kingdoms and win. Win 100 times and she’ll get that right. Lose too many… Her head will roll! Plus, Komari is put in charge of a group of badass men who will revolt if they think she is weak. But we all know Komari is pretty weak, right? And so she must keep this a secret and act tough before them. That is why Villhaze is tasked to help her. So as Komari goes to see her men for the first time, one tries to kill her! She accidentally slams the door, decapitating him! Oh sh*t! Doesn’t that make you scared? She goes to address the men who get the wrong idea that guy died from a flick of her pinky. Yeah, now they’re respecting her as she pours on the lies as well as giving her convincing speech that she is the boss.

So we see her in her first campaign that ends up with Mulnite absolutely victorious. More lies she can pound other nations to a pulp that revs up her men. A reporter tries to interview her but she stays wise she can’t explain her greatness in words! At the end of the war, all those who died are revived. As explained, all the 6 warring nations possessed this very high magic known as Dark Core. No matter how wounded you are, you recover completely. And since all nations’ magic overlap in a certain area, this is where the wars take place. It’s a reason why Komari can’t stand how absurd this entertainment war is. Next day, the newspaper’s front page is filled with fake news of Komari’s greatness to crush other nations! But she has to deal with Villhaze creep since she is a pervert who greatly adores Komari. Sleeping naked with her is one thing… Then she takes advantage of Komari’s weakness by reading aloud one of her embarrassing stories she wrote. Poor Komari will do anything. Yeah, hug and sniff all over her now, will you? Komari has not talked to someone this long for a long time. When was the last time? Oh, that dream snippet of being bullied. I guess now we know why she became a hikikomori. Pain bad…

Episode 2
Komari meets the rest of her commanders that include Bellius Innu Cerbero (murderer), Caostel Conto (lolicon pervert) and Mellanconcey (rapper dude). Gulp. Later Caostel talks to Bellius about some classified document he got. Something about some murder in the imperial army caused by a single person and he believes it is Komari since they were all killed by a pinky finger. The duo then stumble into an intruder named Millicient Blueknight who claims she is here to kill the empress but she is more interested in Komari. They attack her but she dodges and flees. Komari goes to select her magical beast. She is interested in this dragon but didn’t foresee she will get the ride of her life. Remember that guy who died the last time? Yeah, Johan Helders once again gets killed when the dragon stomps over him! Okay, he still survives. He is crying for revenge on Komari but with her panicking and being clumsy, lady luck is on her side as she makes it look like as though she is easily owning him. And just like that he gets defeated. Too bad this isn’t over as he challenges her to a duel. And now we are here in the arena where all Komari fans are supporting their general. But don’t worry, Villhaze has already planned everything out and all Komari needs to do is follow her instructions. Just stand there. You bet Villhaze already rigged the whole thing like poisoning Helders’ food and even dug pit traps and planted mines! All Komari has to do is flick her finger to make it look like she used magic. The crowd goes while as Helders falls for the traps until it is ultimately Komari’s win. Literally won without lifting a finger. Then Villhaze’s ‘reward’ (and ours) as we see her and Komari bath together naked and the former caressing her fingers all over. Komari wonders why she is so loyal to her. She hints it is to atone for her crimes. Sorry, she doesn’t mean the sexual harassment on you but whatever. Karen holds a party to celebrate Komari’s success. She notes this gamble paid off seeing Komari’s father betted she would leave her room by forcing her to be a Crimson Lord. She assures Komari she is no longer alone and has many to rely on since many love her dearly. Also in this party is Millicient and she wants to talk to Komari.

Episode 3
As Millicient talks to Komari, she gets amused by all her fake lies of being strong. Then she shows her true colours, claiming Komari as the biggest insult to this war. It is then Komari starts to fear her as she remembers Millicient was her bully. Millicient claims she is here to return what Komari lent to her 3 years ago. Millicient tries to attack and kill Komari but Bellius takes a fatal blow. Komari is paralyzed in shock. Karen is not amused she tried to ruin the party although Millicient claims she was here to kill her. But it could’ve been more satisfying to kill Komari but now she’s just trembling like a coward. She then reveals she is part of Inverse Moon whose goal is to destroy the Dark Core of each country and bring true death to everyone. Millicient promises to kill Komari next time and escapes. It seems this is only possible because a traitor helped set all that up before the party began. Komari continues to be traumatized as she locks herself in her room. She remembers the torment Millicient and her group brought upon her and Komari accepted all that until that day when Millicient wanted to take her mother’s pendant. Komari defied her and tried to run. She can’t remember what happened after that but she found herself in her room and started becoming a recluse. Villhaze comes to talk and calm her down and even wrote a letter containing her feelings. Suddenly Villhaze is stabbed from behind by Millicient! How in the world?! Anyway Millicient isn’t here to kill Komari yet as she is preparing for an even greater tragedy. She mocks Komari as useless and a cry-baby although she had the most useless sense of justice. She wants Komari to come to a castle ruin if she wants to save Villhaze. Don’t be late and come alone or she dies. Komari thinks of abandoning that perverted maid and forever by a hikikomori. But will the maid abandon her? Then she reads her letter. Apparently Villhaze was the previous bully victim of Millicient since she was poor. It was Komari who stepped in to stop her before she actually killed Villhaze. Because of that, Millicient turned her attention to bully Komari. Villhaze could only watch from the shadows and could do nothing. That’s why to redeem herself, she trained herself and became employed to be her family’s maid to return the favour. Komari is her hero as she is stronger and kinder than anyone else. Komari can’t believe she forgot all this. But this has made her decide that she is going to save Villhaze by herself. As Millicient waits, the traitor is Helders but he too is in the dark and surprised by the turn of events so she kills the ignorant idiot off. Just in time to face off with Komari.

Episode 4
Millicient accuses her pain started the day she tried to take her pendant. Flashback shows her family is of a political one and her father wanted her to become stronger and hence hired a samurai named Kakumei Amatsu to train her. It was to invoke a special magic that would break the laws of the universe called Core Implosion. While the chances of such are low, it is believed that one may invoke it when experiencing near death. And so Millicient endured all the suffering. But nothing came of it. Father was so angry and even blamed her for being useless, comparing her as a failure to the daughter of Gandesblood. At school, when she heard someone with Core Implosion, it was Villhaze so she confronted her. It seems it is to tell someone future by drinking her blood. Villhaze was reluctant to say what unfortunate incident will befall on Millicient and that’s when her torment began. Then Komari rescued her and Millicient learnt who she was. The shift in bullying was to force her to invoke her Core Implosion. Well, it happened on the day she tried to take her pendant. It happened so fast she didn’t know what happened and all she knew was she was killed in an instant. Subsequently, Millicient’s family fell apart after they were accused for treason and banished. Millicient drifted around and joined the terrorist group called Inverse Moon. She hates Komari for living a carefree life while she suffered. But Komari realizes they’re the same. She is a lost soul who can’t live honestly because of that trauma she suffered. Komari kills off Helders to keep him safe (he will revive later).

Komari and Millicient begin their fight. Obviously Komari is much weaker but she doesn’t give up in her attempts to save Villhaze. Millicient is further infuriated when Komari despite claiming herself as weak and all, she still wants to do her best for those who care for her. Komari is dealt a powerful blow and as she lies helpless, Villhaze manages to wound herself to give her drink some blood. She sees the future of Komari will be victorious. With that, Komari’s Core Implosion activates and now she is like God! Damn, she is so fast that Millicient can’t keep up! She even deflects her greatest and most devastating magic! Millicient remembers that day when the same thing happened. All that bullying must’ve caused Komari to swallow some blood. With the tables turned, Millicient gets desperate but her fate is sealed when her arm is blown off. Then the other one too. Merciless Komari shows her mercy by killing her off as the loser ponders if she had taken a different path, her future would’ve been different. Yeah, definitely. In the aftermath, Komari awakes in her room with Villhaze next to her. Sorry, it’s not heaven. Reality means she won. Villhaze remembers Komari’s dad telling her that Komari’s Core Implosion activated when she was 3 years old by accidentally drinking blood and it killed everybody. That’s why they hypnotized her to hate blood. If she doesn’t remember it, it’s okay. Villhaze is sad thinking she will have no role to play or be by Komari’s side now. But Komari still wants her as her maid so yeah, please stay by her side forever. But sorry, that isn’t a proposal in any way.

Episode 5
Flote Mascarail confronts Komari and claims she is weak. Well, Komari wonders who the f*ck she is and this insults Flote because does she not know who the other Crimson Lords are! It is not Komari’s intention to piss her off but from Flote’s view, it certainly looks so. Flote is not impressed and doesn’t want to be friends with her. She hopes to see what Komari is capable of next time. As Komari goes to confront Karen about this, she changes the subject about her father and a few others being killed. Obviously they got revived. It is because of Core Implosion, they don’t remember how they were being done in. Karen wants her to confront the terrorist so Komari throws a tantrum she doesn’t want to work anymore. Karen will reward her with a week’s vacation. Okay, when do we start? Since Komari won’t be doing this alone, she has Sakuna Memoir to help out. This nice and meek girl seems to be Komari’s type. You jealous, Villhaze? Oh, did I mention that Sakuna is also a Crimson Lord and the only one killed by the terrorist? So you bet she has a score to settle and wants to regain her honour. Komari then talks to her men about needing their help to capture the terrorist and will reward them with a vacation. Uhm, they don’t look happy. Yeah, these bloodthirsty dudes live to kill! So she throws in a ticket to the zoo with her. Oh you bet everybody wants that secret date with Komari! You jealous, Villhaze? Oh, in fact she’s mad!

As Komari goes to see Sakuna to discuss the mission, she bumps into Helldeus Heaven, another Crimson Lord. He is a priest and loves talking about God. Komari has read Sakuna’s letter on how she accidentally became a Crimson Lord (her magic accidentally killing her predecessor and Helldeus recommended her for the role). Can’t have more of Komari fawning over her so jealous Villhaze starts getting down to business on how to tackle the problem. Yeah, it means more work for Komari as she will have to patrol at night. Soon, Komari finds her men all defeated outside. It is the work of Flote. Before you start blaming her of picking a fight, she claims her men were running around and causing trouble so she put a stop to that. Flote is further unimpressed with her and at the next conference, she will seek a vote of no confidence to remove her. Well, Villhaze saw the future of that and it seems that will happen and the results of a Crimson Lord being removed is explosion! Komari panicking now. Don’t worry, Sakuna will always be by her side. Even more so Komari loves being called a big sister. Say that again! You jealous, Villhaze? Since when flirting with Komari is monopolized by you? Anyway, Sakuna is amazed with Komari’s approach in non-violent ways to solve things because Crimson Lords often seek violence as their first answer. Sakuna also shares her views of non-violence and wants to talk things out with the rest.

Episode 6
Flote begins the meeting among the Crimson Lords that is presided by Karen. Flote begins by accusing Komari she is never seen fighting directly in battles. Furthermore, she shows proof of her school’s report card in which her absenteeism is high. However Karen points out where is the proof of Komari using her connections to become a Crimson Lord. With Flote trying to assert Komari is not acting like one, Komari starts acting haughty and mocking Flote. This has Flote wanting to challenge her right now. Okay. Bring it on. Komari will have Villhaze fight her. Only, she won’t! Okay. We’ll fight another day. Flote initiates the vote. Because only Sakuna and Helldeus vote to support Komari, Flote assumes the rest voted against her until Villhaze points out the rest didn’t actually vote so those votes against her remain unclear. So when they count those who do, only Flote and Odilon Metal raise their hands. Why is Delphyne remaining silent? OMG she’s dead! Who killed her?! It seems Villhaze poisoned her before the meeting and dragged her corpse here! OMFG!!! OH SH*T!!! Of course Flote is quick to accuse Komari without proof. She also challenges Komari to a duel. If Komari loses, she must quit as a Crimson Lord and if Flote loses, she’ll do anything she says. Uhm, you mean she won’t resign like her? But Odilon has a great idea. Have all the Crimson Lords fight each other! Karen approves! Oh my.

You bet Komari is fretting over this in her room. But when she finds out she accidentally lent Sakuna her manuscript that contains her real name instead of her penname, she rushes over. Well, looks like Sakuna is a Komari nut. Look at loads of Komari merchandises! Komari can’t say herself about keeping a secret since she too has some. Hence Sakuna knowing her manuscript now looks trivial. Sakuna talks about the war and she doesn’t like it since she is weak and will be killed off first. She also doesn’t want to fight her but Komari proposes to team up. What a great idea. She thinks of asking Helldeus the same. Sakuna then talks about her family being killed and Helldeus took her in as well as her older sister is also named Komari. Sakuna acts weird as she takes Komari to see the stars and asks her opinion about what she would do if terrorists took her family hostage and the only way to save them is to kill somebody. Komari’s answer is to kill the terrorist. It looks like Sakuna is about to kill Komari but Villhaze is here to bring her back. She warns Komari about Sakuna because she felt an intense bloodlust but is brushed off. Later we see Sakuna making contact with a member of Inverse Moon. It seems she is under orders to find Dark Core since her Core Implosion is to peek into memories of others. Because one of the Crimson Lords know its location, they are counting on her to get that info. For every failure, they will kill a family member. Don’t mess up like Millicient. Sakuna falls into despair. But she realizes she needs to find Millicient and talk. There she is and she’s looking fine.

Episode 7
It seems Millicient is in prison but is granted some leeway to go out. She knows all about Sakuna’s predicament, including wanting to leave Inverse Moon. In that case, confiding in Komari would be her best bet. However Sakuna is reluctant to get her involved. In that case when things get tough, let Komari drink her blood. Now the Crimson Lord war is about to begin. The main objective is to get some sphere in some ruins. The one holding it at the end of the day wins. There are also ways they could get points like killing other Crimson Lords. The one with the lowest score will resign. With Flote sending mocking messages to Komari, you bet Komari’s henchmen are dying to kill her. And so Flote thought Komari is a coward who would think of protecting herself. She didn’t expect her bloodthirsty men to come attack her straight. Komari and Villhaze is left behind but they are soon attacked by Delphyne who is out for Komari’s blood, believing she is the one who killed her. They make a run for it. Meanwhile Sakuna is at a lost on what to do. But then she starts to mobilize her troops to target Flote. Karen knows somebody is controlling Sakuna and thus this is to smoke out the Inverse Moon member. When Delphyne corners Komari at the ruins, the former’s desperation to kill her has Komari drink some of her blood (Delphyne uses her blood as projectile and weapon). This causes a huge explosion that destroys everything and takes out almost everyone. Komari is left confused as she is standing in the centre of this crater. Flote confronts her, claiming they’re the only ones left on the battlefield. Mad Flote accuses her of all the lies but before she could kill her, Sakuna kills her off. Komari is shocked to see Sakuna is this strong although she denies. Then she talks about that terrorist question she posed Komari that night. Sakuna realizes Inverse Moon will never grant her request since she is weak. Those she loves will be killed no matter how hard she works. Sakuna reveals herself as the terrorist of Inverse Moon. Komari is so confused as Sakuna prepares to kill her.

Episode 8
Sakuna gives Komari a glimpse of her family. Yeah, a pretty happy one. Then she explains about Dark Core being treated like a God. Hence a group of people who will destroy it known as Inverse Moon. She recounts her family was killed just to force her to become a pawn of Inverse Moon. They find her ability useful as she can manipulate the memories of those she is killed. Her family’s killer told her to work hard and find Dark Core and he might tell her how to get her family back. That is why she is going to kill her. Komari finds it odd because isn’t her family already dead? Well, Sakuna will turn her into her big sister. Like how she turned Helldeus as her father. Shockingly, Komari agrees. As long as she doesn’t get killed. She’ll be her big sister. As they both hug and reconcile, suddenly Odilon beats up Sakuna for getting cosy with the enemy. Obviously he is the mastermind. He even beats up Komari to boot. Sakuna has had enough and wants to quit Inverse Moon. Odilon will not allow that so Sakuna drinks a powerful potion to kick his ass. However the effects start kicking in just before she could kill him. It’s his turn for payback. Remember Millicient’s words, she lets Komari drink her blood. Not enough. She bites her entire neck. Now Komari turns Super Saiyan as she gives Odilon his beat down until he apologizes. Stubborn, isn’t he? He is forced to flee back to his base. He is desperate to form a plan to take Komari down but his subordinates start stabbing him to death. This is thanks to Sakuna manipulating their memories. They will no longer be his tool. To finish him off, here is Komari. Big explosion! Safe to say, Komari wins this war. In the aftermath, Sakuna goes to look for Komari to apologize but the latter doesn’t mind. This makes Sakuna sadder. Karen forgave her, her men forgave her, even Helldeus wasn’t under her spell and pretended to be. Despite knowing she was in Inverse Moon, he did nothing because he wanted her to get revenge by her own hands. So now Komari is going to add to this forgiveness combo? In that case, Komari will have Sakuna hang out with her on this vacation reward. There are things she wants them to do together. Gladly. Oh Villhaze gonna be a jealous maid…

Episode 9
Komari is given her vacation but she doesn’t like the beach? Oh right. It’s outdoors. Sakuna was given her punishment to participate in some wars. She won 3 out of 5. So now she is also vacationing with Komari and of course the unimpressed Villhaze who thinks her beloved Komari has gotten too close to Sakuna. Of course this isn’t 100% vacation as there is also a reason why they are here at this beach which is located at the country of Gerra-Aruka. It seems one of the top heroes of Gerra-Aruka, Nelia Cunningham accused her of fighting in her territory which is akin to aggression. So to ease tensions, she invited her for a tea party. Obviously a trap but Karen didn’t care and sent Komari anyway. So as they meet Nelia, she wonders if Komari is the strongest. As usual, she puts up her grandest act of being one. Nelia is so freaking impressed that she lived up to her expectations and reveals the real reason she invited her: She wants to team up for world domination. While Sakuna thinks wars are bad, Villhaze on the other hand believes Komari is strong enough and doesn’t need help. Not especially with an unpopular commander like her. So as Nelia pouts, Komari reveals her true intentions that even if she had such power, she doesn’t want to dominate the world. She is a pacifist after all. She will use it to seek world peace. Suddenly Bellius barges in with bad news. Komari’s troops accidentally stumble into Gerra-Aruka’s army who thought they were invading. In short, Komari’s troops easily defeated them! And there goes Mellanconcey blowing up their tower! Nelia gets mad. You asked for it! This is war! Komari and co no choice have to retreat.

Back home, no rest for Komari because soon there is Karla Amatsu from Heavenly Paradise who wants to speak to her. She wants to form an alliance with her country. Heavenly Paradise is on bad terms with Gerra-Aruka which was once a monarchy named only Aruka until 5 years ago it became a republic after the current president, Madhart started a revolution. So the enemy of my enemy is my friend? Komari seems to agree with Karla’s vision of peace as Karla continues to add that their powers are the same and that’s why she needs her help. But soon, Komari receives a letter from Nelia. She is hell bent in giving her some payback! This shocks Karla because she thought she was all for peace. Did she lie? Even more so Komari now acts tough like a bloodthirsty killer so as not to disappoint her men. Karla is shocked and wants to call off the alliance but Karen says that won’t do. It was her idea to call an alliance but backs out when talks breaks down? For that insult she must die. She orders Komari to kill her. Wait. What? So as both girls try to outdo each other by claiming how many they could kill, Villhaze just pushes a reluctant Komari onto Karla. This scares the sh*t out of her as Karen uses this to blackmail Karla to form an alliance if she doesn’t want to die. With that, Karla agrees. Meanwhile Nelia is chastised by someone for missing her chance to kill Komari. She is warned not to fail again lest she wants to end up like her father. Nelia has no choice to do it since she vows to change her country. She needs to make Komari her servant for her plans.

Episode 10
Karla panics after realizing the alliance would mean war and that she would die! But don’t worry, she believes her brains will see her through this. Her assistant, Koharu doesn’t seem convinced, though. As the Gerra-Aruka side is having their own meeting, Nelia pleads for another chance but Pascal Rainsworth mocks her for her failure that led to this. She will not be cowed and vows to transform her country. She will be the next president. Since Komari is still asleep, Villhaze brings her entire bed right in the middle of a meeting between Mulnite and Heavenly Paradise. It seems Madhart has declared war on their alliance and what do you know? Komari is now the leader of this alliance. Seeing mass massacre and slaughtering is inevitable, Karen suggests they divide into offense and defensive teams. They also talk about Gerra-Aruka’s illegal move by bringing in lots of ritual articles to this land to construct a Dark Core zone in their resort area known as Daydream Paradise. They want to expose this findings to the other nations but there is a risk that they might take advantage of this war and steal the articles. Soon, Gerra-Aruka teleports in and starts firing a few warning shots. Madhart makes contact with Karen, asking her to surrender or reveal their Dark Core’s nature for his side to withdraw. Obviously Karen doesn’t give a damn, even if he has allied with Haku-Goku Commonwealth and Lapelico Kingdom. She orders her men to bomb Gerra-Aruka’s capital! This is war! Hell yeah! So both sides start blasting at each other as we see formidable enemies like Prohellya Butchersky a crazy sniper from Haku-Goku and a giraffe with a really long neck, Neckson McLongo from Lapelico. Yeah, those names…

With Rainsworth coming in for Komari’s head, amidst the messy war, Nelia teleports her away. In a safe location near Daydream Paradise, Nelia reveals that she was a student of Komari’s mom. Proof, this pendant she keeps from her. Nelia recalls meeting Komari 5 years ago at a party. When they talked, Komari didn’t like fighting and wanted to make friends. That in a way can lead to world domination. Via friendship. Komari wanted to be her friend but Madhart warned Nelia of doing such. Cool Komari noted that whatever rift between the nations, it’s theirs to begin with. She wanted to be friends with him too. Now Komari remembers it all as Nelia continues how Madhart who was the kingdom’s former general overthrew the royal family and became the republic’s first president. His goal is to start war with all the nations and Nelia will expose his evil ways to reform her country. As Komari trusts her and agrees to help, Nelia surprises her by giving a kiss! Sorry, it’s not an Aruka greeting! But jealous Villhaze would love to try this custom. With Nelia missing, Rainsworth suspects she has betrayed them. But he puts his priorities to track down Komari.

Episode 11
Nelia explains the dark secret behind Daydream Paradise. Basically the supporters of the royal family are incarcerated there thanks to Madhart. There are also human experiments being conducted there and rumours has it that ritual articles are being smuggled into there. Some individuals who are tortured enough may have their Core Implosion evolved to a point that grants enough power to move the very stars. Hence the plan is to reveal this truth to the public. Madhart tasks Rainsworth to continue finding Nelia and Komari. At the same time he will activate Daydream Unit in which Rainsworth will take charge once the time comes. Now we see Nelia fighting Rainsworth and she is stumped how the enemies find their location so quickly. They try to escape as Villhaze takes some damage while protecting Komari. Before Rainsworth can slay Komari, here comes the cavalry of Delphyne, Sakuna and Komari’s men. Sakuna has a tracker on Komari so yeah. They buy time for them to head towards Daydream Paradise. Meanwhile the people of Gerra-Aruka are protesting against Madhart. They call for his fall as they don’t want war. When Nelia’s side reach outside Daydream Paradise, some tough warrior named Abercrombie is supposed to await them but he is already killed off. Don’t understand Villhaze’s deduction that this is Sakuna’s work. They both met before and she used her Core Implosion against him and he became her puppet and turned against his own men whenever she wants. As they head underground, Gertrude (Nelia’s personal maid) shows her true colours and betrays Nelia and deals Villhaze some damage. She is Rainsworth’s sister. The reason she is doing this is because after watching all her hard work went unrewarded, she felt if she continued, she would fall apart. So give up and live in peace instead. Rainsworth talks about Madhart’s peace so their goals are the same. However Nelia begs to differ since her method is different. When Komari tells off Rainsworth to apologize to Nelia, he beats her up. Sakuna is not pleased and wants to kill this bugger. But as reminded, he has a bigger task so Gertrude fights her as Rainsworth goes to take charge of Daydream Unit, an elite squad Madhart developed in secret. Yeah, look like awakened zombies to me. Madhart didn’t expect Karen to come see him but of course she won’t tell him where the Dark Core is despite he badmouths vampires as inferior beings. Nelia has fallen into despair and is willing to give up. Luckily Komari talks her out of it and gives her hope. She wants Nelia to drink her blood. Doing so, Nelia powers up and returns to her groove in accomplishing her original goal.

Episode 12
As Karen and Madhart trade bluffs that they will win, a reporter broadcasts directly from Daydream Paradise to the entire world of Madhart’s atrocities. After Nelia has freed all the prisoners, she goes to beat up her maid. Gertrude didn’t do anything because she is in shock that Nelia continues to defy what’s best for her. Gertrude explains how she was always abused by her brother to become stronger. Unlike Nelia who always treated her kindly. Because Madhart is a cruel hero, there is no way she wanted to see her get hurt. That’s why she wanted her to give up so as to live in peace. Gertrude thinks of disowning herself from Nelia’s service but she won’t allow that. She is not going to live in that kind of fake peace and find fault with Madhart. To handle what comes next, now Nelia wants Komari to drink her blood. Big protest from Villhaze and Sakuna but I guess there are things that needed to be done. After all, her mom is her teacher so they’re like sisters. With Komari awakening, everyone now cheers on for her. Flote and Helldeus have done all they can to evacuate the citizens. Thanks to Millicient who is now in charge of a platoon unit, she helps stave off Daydream Unit. She even pops up before Rainsworth to warn him about Komari. She leaves so that Komari can take the credit.

With all other nations now against Gerra-Aruka even their former allies, Rainsworth is not pleased with the tables turned. He uses his Core Implosion to turn his body into steel to fight Komari. Holy sh*t! Komari doing Gate of Babylon move???!!! Her light swords all pierce through Rainsworth. As he lies defeated, flashback shows he always tolerated the abuse by others to protect Gertrude. He hated the royalty and vowed to become strong to get back at them. Komari then finishes him. Now Madhart panics over that monstrosity as Karen tells him about Komari who is able to achieve world domination by being friends rather than military might in a single person. Komari can do it because she is different. Madhart dies as Komari kills him. In the aftermath, Madhart goes missing and a presidential election will be held for Gerra-Aruka. Nelia happily reunites with her father. We then hear Kakumei narrating that this was all part of his plan to destroy Gerra-Aruka. Because some goddess wasn’t happy with the human experiments he was doing and with the existence of Dark Core, that is why Kakumei baited Madhart with some ritual article and lead him into an unwinnable war. It’s also why Karla who is his sister wasn’t happy she was sent on this mission. A month later, Komari leads her troops against Nelia. The latter doing so to improve her reputation and get some votes for the election by defeating Komari. But I’m guessing this is going to be a fight over Komari. Nelia, Villhaze and Sakuna all want a piece of Komari. Regret that you should have stayed a shut-in?

Liar, Liar, Vampire
Maybe this is how people of the world is going to seek peace. They fight each other with all their heart’s content and at the end of the day, they shake hands and laugh it all off. I mean, fighting each other freely with to their heart’s content is still way better than being mind controlled and under the thumb of a single madman and selfish megalomaniac. So yeah, Komari is going to have a lot of work cut out for her now that she is quickly earning a great reputation. I guarantee there is no way in going back to her hikikomori life. And miss out all the fighting? Especially now she has (at current count) 3 twisted b*tches hot chicks who want nothing more but Komari herself? My, the world’s most eligible vampire if I must say. Good luck Komari. You’ll need it.

I don’t really know or where the direction of the series is heading and it feels like all over the place. While I’m not saying that it is confusing or a bad thing but the way I see it, the entire series is just trying to pit Komari into one troublesome affair to another. After all, where’s the fun when you have a certain Dark Core zone in which battles can take place but no real deaths. Sure, you get killed but you get resurrected soon after. I suppose if you love killing and shed blood, it would be okay but other than that, don’t you think it is all just meaningless? I mean, you can’t die and the whole war thingy between nations just felt like one big military exercise or something. Sure, there’s that Inverse Moon cult thingy who wants to bring true and permanent death (life’s so much more interesting dicing with death, no?) but as far as this season is concerned, it’s all about showcasing Komari and her, uhm, aptitude?

So basically the entire series is trying to showcase how lucky our vampire princess is. I think that is the charm of the whole series. Komari being a meek vampire who doesn’t want to fight, she is forced to put up some fake and lame acting (which would instantly win her a few Razzies) just to act tough so as not to be perceived as weak. Of course things get out of hand, lots of chaos ensuing, Komari must have lady luck on her side as she gets by one way or another. Either everyone thinks she is a cunning son of a b*tch or she is a totally competent and skilful bloodthirsty commander of her platoon. Everybody really overthinks and have quite a perception on her. Thank the newspaper reports that play up and exaggerate her exploits. Komari will be your new Kim Jong Un or Vladimir Putin if you’re not careful, damn! It doesn’t help that Villhaze and Karen stoke the fire to further portray Komari as one tough mother and make things even worse but as we all have seen, things somehow just work out nicely in the end. That includes Komari invoking her special power.

This series has got a few terminologies of its own and I’m still wrapping my head around terms like Dark Core, Core Implosions and ritual articles. Thankfully not that hard for me to understand them like those darn sci-fi series but still need to get some used to. But I’m still confused about the lore of this series. What goddess are they talking about overseeing all this?! Am I thinking that this goddess loves watching some (fake) bloodshed and that everybody fighting is like some sort of tribute to her? Could be wrong but yeah, I must not be paying close attention.

Love her or loath her, Komari is one of those that seeks peace and a pacifist but due to circumstances not under her control, she is forced to go on a ride of her life. It is definitely a dangerous world out there so was it better she had stayed locked in her room and never come out? Obviously by doing so we won’t have this anime! But despite all the rollercoaster ride, this new position has given Komari a lot of new breath in her life. Had she remained a hikikomori, she would have never meet the various people and learn what is going on in the current state. Not a pretty world but it is not going to change if she continues to stay in bed forever, right? After all, Komari possesses a unique power that could change the fate of the world and it would be a waste for her to just let it rot with her. So yeah, for better or worse (most likely the latter as I’ve seen her reactions) it was definitely more of a good thing that Komari has come out from her shell. Like they say, no pain no gain. Uhm, I think I would agree with Komari that no pain at all would definitely be more preferable!

Making Komari’s life a living hell or I would rather say exacerbating her misery is her personal maid, Villhaze. She is both resourceful and annoying. You can’t truly like her but at the same time can’t bring yourself to hate her. No, it’s not because she is a maid, mind you! Anyway, to sum up Villhaze in a word: Pervert. That says it all about her. We have seen her back story so we understand her circumstances and loyalty to Komari. But at the same time, it’s like she wants to have some fun with the admired person and hence a lot of perversion, much to Komari’s chagrin. Characters like her make the whole series a lot fun and funnier because imagine if Villhaze remains the stoic and serious maid without all the perversion. Is that Villhaze to begin with?! So yeah, forgive me if seeing Villhaze tormenting Komari with her unwanted perversions brings a smile to my face and at the same time makes my skin crawl on ends. Creepy. Of course sometimes she gets karma handed to her as she gets jealous of other characters getting closer to Komari or she being denied of whatever sick perversion. Just a little price to put up for loyal maid, no?

If there is a disappointing character, actually I want to point out they are the men under Komari’s wing. I was expecting to see more of them and especially Bellius, Caostel and Mellanconcey. They seem like really weird and wacko people. The crazy kind who would stir up trouble and be Villhaze’s partner in crime but provide useful when the time calls for it. However they are just like the rest of those bloodthirsty uncivilized and unnamed guys in the rest of the platoon: Forgettable. They don’t do much except causing a few havoc and chaos once in a while, especially when they fight over whatever weird Komari rewards. Yeah, makes them feel like rabid Komari fans who would stop at nothing to fulfil their whatever Komari desires. What if their tough and bloodthirsty façade is just the way they talk? You know, crude rude dudes? But deep down, they are actually nice and amicable people once you really get to know them! But for now, they serve as a stepping stone for the running joke for Komari to act as a tough leader so these losers can love her more when something brutal happens and is credited to her. Gotta love our Komari even more! Hell yeah! Better than the running joke of Helders getting killed off unceremoniously by her, right?! Yeah, thank goodness that stopped somewhere…

Other characters, they have their own charms, hits and misses. Like Karen being the current empress of Mulnite, she acts like a ditzy and carefree person but I assure that is all a façade to let your guard down. Which do you prefer? A strict and uptight b*tch ruler? Oh yeah. Having Karen as a lively person seems to be the better option but I’m sure this is just a distraction as she is a very powerful person. She is not the supreme commander of the Crimson Lords for nothing, you know. Then again, she could be a very dangerous person too and you don’t want to even know that persona of hers. Then there’s Sakuna who is shy and a Komari fan as well as Villhaze’s biggest rival to Komari’s heart. Need I say more? Helldeus is like a father figure so you wonder how such gentle people can become Crimson Lords. Circumstances like Komari, perhaps. Because the rest are just crazy like Flote, she’s one helluva crazy b*tch and Delphyne is hard to decipher since she is always wearing a mask.

Millicient was truly a cruel character whom you would love to hate seeing how she tormented Komari and she revelled in it. Obviously we were shed light on her past so is she to be entirely blamed? Still, a very cruel woman in my books but strangely, she has been given some freedom after her defeat? Not sure why but I think it’s to help soften the blow for us not to further think she is truly some evil b*tch. That’s why Rainsworth and Madhart helm that role because we all do really hate those people in power trying to do as they please, right? No love lost when they go down. Yeah, this series really has a number of characters seeing each nation has their own elite troops and bunch of crazy characters but too bad we don’t get to see them all here. From the noble Nelia trying to restore her nation to the clumsy and comical Karla (why do I feel her character was written to be a clown?), it’s definitely a huge world out there.

Art and animation are quite high quality. At least in many scenes I see they don’t skimp on the details. There are also quite a number of bright and livid scenes as well as dark ones. Also some blood but don’t worry, nobody really dies. While the character designs are typical and I find that many of the female characters have this one kind look, the one I want to point out is Komari. When I first looked at her, I was wondering what the heck Yami from To Love-Ru is doing here?! When did this assassin turned into a shut-in vampire?! I thought they were created by the same author but nope. Did this series do some plagiarism? Because some other characters also look like from other anime like Sakuna having this uncanny resemblance to the titular character of Tejina-senpai, Karla could be Nekopara’s Chocola, Nelia perhaps a grown up version of Spy x Family’s Anya and Millicient a rip-off from Genshin Impact’s Ganyu? But I think the best design is that t-shirt bearing Komari’s derpy face! Classic! A bit of CGI also but considering I noticed them only on Daydream Unit, it seems to fit those stiff armoured knights. This anime is done by Project No. 9 who did Ro-Kyu-Bu, Tenshi No 3P, Ryuuou No Oshigoto, Watashi Nouryoku Wa Heikinchi De Tte Itta Yo Ne and Shachiku-san Wa Youjo Yuurei. So if you’re wondering why the characters have a little bit of loli looks, now you know.

For the voice acting, I recognized Sora Amamiya as Millicient, Nobuhiko Okamoto as Rainsworth, Natsuki Hanae as Chaostel and barely Youko Hikasa as Karen (since she sounds a bit like a retard). Not forgetting cameos like Ayako Kawasumi as Komari’s mom and Aoi Yuuki as Prohellya while I almost missed Yuuichi Nakamura as Kakumei. Other casts are Tomori Kusunoki as Komari (Annette in Spy x Kyoushitsu), sayumi Suzushiro as Villhaze (Oono in High Score Girl), Manaka Iwami as Sakuna (Chiaki in Gamers), Ai Fairouz as Nelia (Takechiyo in Hanyou No Yashahime), Miyuri Shimabukuro as Karla (titular character in Yuragi-sou No Yuuna-san), Riho Sugiyama as Flote (Rosary in Slime Taoshite 300-nen Shiranai Uchi Ni Level Max Ni Nattemashita), Rina Hidaka as Gertude (Last Order in To Aru Majutsu No Index), Masaaki Mizunaka as Bellius (Ryuuen in Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi No Kyoushitsu E), Tasuku Hatanaka as Mellanconcey (Kaminari in Boku No Hero Academia), Kazuhiko Inoue as Madhart (Gildarts in Fairy Tail), Hidenari Ugaki as Helldeus, Natsumi Fujiwara as Delphyne (Damian in Spy x Family), Yuusuke Kobayashi as Helders (Subaru in Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu), and Tetsu Inada as Odilon (Gamagoori in Kill La Kill).

Well, the opening theme seems kinda familiar. That lively techno beat… Oh damn, it’s Fripside! Thankfully not a clone of any of the songs I know (like Only My Railgun) but Red Liberation still retains all that trademark that it is identifiable and uniquely Fripside. Too bad I didn’t quite like this as it is quite heavy on the rock side as well as too much techno beat and yeah, the dubstep that was just really heavy. For the ending theme, it is definitely something that is way calmer compared to the opener. Nemurenai by Miminari featuring Tomori Kusunoki isn’t entirely a sleepy song but Komari singing the entire song in a breathy manner gives it a sultrier feel than sleepiness. Otherwise, this feels like a normal anime pop song.

Overall, I have mixed feelings over this series. While it is entirely not boring but on the other hand it is not that great either. Seeing a reluctant shut-in vampire being trusted into an important leading position and then run riot with all the helter-skelter frenzy chaos while she continues to put up with all the tsuyogari (bluff strength) as her exterior and everyone gets trolled or vexed by it, can be fun at times but at the same time a whole lot of cringe. I mean, lots of twisted, sick and perverted characters here, right? Don’t worry, all in the name of comedy. Thank goodness the internet doesn’t exist in this world because Komari would’ve continued to stay inside and become the greatest internet troll that will kill everyone who crosses her online and die a horrible death a million times from her toxic insults and memes! Oh Komari, what will the world be without you. Now, where can I get that awesome Komari t-shirt!

Jashin-chan Dropkick: Seikimatsu-hen

OMG! It’s back! Didn’t see this coming! So did Jashin-chan Dropkick: Seikimatsu-hen got crowdfunded by fans?! I don’t know about that but it was made in collaboration with a town in Japan. Yeah, maybe they want to have some tourist promotion to their prefecture and thus the only way is to, uhm, advertise via a violent and nonsensical slapstick comedy? I bet that nobody especially the general public and foreigners outside Japan don’t know where, let alone know the existence of Takamori in Kumamoto. I hope they don’t give this town the wrong impression. Because there’ll be hell to pay! Oh never mind. It’s Jashin we’re talking about. Let the death massacre begin! Omae wa mou shindeiru yo!

Fight Back To Jinbocho!
A huge comet drops on Jinbocho, reducing it to a desolated state. Although humanity wasn’t wiped out, Yurine somehow became its ruler and now Jinbocho is known as Yurine Kingdom! Jashin and Medusa has returned from hell to see their beloved town in this state so they need to overthrow the dictator. But first, they need to head to Takamori to learn some Assassin Fist technique! Yeah, Jashin gonna kill Yurine with this! So we’re here at this picturesque mountain escape as we see a familiar figure! Omae wa mou shindeiru! Jashin pleads to Kenshiro to teach her Assassin Fist but he refuses as he deems her not worthy. But with her lame pleading to save Jinbocho, he agrees. After she learns it, she believes she can kill kick Yurine to her senses. However Kenshiro says this technique doesn’t work outside this area. Bummer. After giving a message to some phantom thief pigeon to be handed to Yurine, Jashin wants to gather allies to fight against her. First stop, those jiangshi sisters. Jinbocho is a wreck so they’re here doing some part time jobs with cats? Whatever. At first they refuse to join Jashin against Yurine but after being duped about China hell being wiped out, they agree. As they eat skewered fish, WTF Pino comes out to stab Jashin to kill her and run away?! WTF???!!! They have to run since Mei is here looking for cute things… This leads them to a sewer with Christmas trees? Oh well, Jinbocho is done for so Pekola is doing some part time job feeding the fish here. Huh? Learning that Lierre and Poporon are here, Jashin tries to recruit them. Uhm, what’s this about Lierre wants to get her powers back via the godly powers of this water? Anyway, Lierre refuses to join forces with demons but with Jashin claiming her favourite park ride will be conquered, Lierre agrees! Wow, she just bended her back for this. Jashin practises her dropkick but cracks the wall and the water gushes them out to a nearby farm where Minos and Persephone are doing part time job because, you guessed it, Jinbocho is done for. Again, they don’t think Jashin can win over Yurine but as usual, they only agree just to safeguard whatever Jashin said that was in threat. Finally, they go recruit the snow woman sisters. Hanako even volunteers to join Jashin.

Now both sides meet as we see Pino and the vampires on Yurine’s side. Obviously Pino’s defection is because the b*tch still fears Lierre and thinks of conquering heaven with Yurine! They wonder where Yurine is but that sneaky snake is hiding in a mascot suit to do an ambush. Luckily the vampires protect her. Minos fights Atre while the angels go head to head with each other. The rest fight those zombie fans and civilians. The tables are turned when the farm animals and cat rush into the picture. With Yurine’s lackeys pinned down, it is chance for Jashin to move in. Hell yeah, she’s gonna kill Yurine! But we know better. Yurine easily stops her and does the Assassin Fist on her! How does she know?! Apparently Kenshiro walked past her and realized she is worthy to inherit his technique! Kenshiro you traitor! And just like that, omae wa mou shindeiru! Hidebu! Boom! With this over, Yurine wants to head back to have sukiyaki. Uhm, what about ruling over Yurine Kingdom? Oh, that was just a part time job so she wanted to try out being a dictator. Now it’s over. But what about Jinbocho? With some smokescreen and magic, Jinbocho reverts to normal! OMFG, all BS but whatever! Life returns to normal and of course, Jashin’s punishment is to become a skewered fish. This is supposed to be some gift to pay hometown tax? Whatever. She’ll benefit the locals. Skewered Jashin, anyone? And so everyone minus Jashin returns home to enjoy a delicious sukiyaki meal. Wow. So much fun.

Hokuto No Cunt: Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru!!!
Holy f*ck! What the heck did I just watch?! Oh well, it is not surprising since this is Jashin-chan to begin with. Whatever nonsense and garbage they put in this special episode, it is all okay because that is what is to be expected. This means for some unknown reason why a comet crashed and destroyed into Jinbocho up till the ultimate f*ckery of how the city gets reverted back to its normal state with the silliest of most excuses, it was all part of the ‘charm’ that is only unique to Jashin-chan! Oh yeah. They lived up to their craziness and didn’t disappoint. Sure, it was all pretty predictable because you know, a certain stupid snake still trying to kill a certain superior witch. How many seasons in and she has not learnt her lesson? You know what they say, those who failed to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it again in the future. Oh Jashin, please do not learn from your mistakes because we want to see you dying over and over again! Hell yeah! That’s your best contribution to society ever! Omae wa mou shindeiru!

So obviously this episode was produced because they want to promote a certain town. I don’t know about the popularity it got after this but I suppose like in the previous season, the usual showcasing of some of the town’s famous sightseeing spots and specialties. Thus the plot of trying to recruit allies to take down Yurine was just a blatant cover up so that Jashin and Medusa could go around the area to find their fellow comrades and at the same time introduce us to those places of interest. Yeah, isn’t it strange ever since Jinbocho got burnt down, why they all end up in this particular town? Hmm… Suspicious… Yeah, this ally recruiting flow was also the only way that the characters of the series could get their due screen time. Uh huh. But I noticed a character that is missing: Miku! So I suspected this was the person who contributed the most crowdfunding for last season and since none were made for this episode, no appearance for you! Hmph! I know, dumb reason. Blame Jashin for infecting me with her stupidity. Hey, at least I didn’t get killed ;p! Omae wa mou shindeiru!

Well, if you notice the slight difference in animation style and quality, it is because this special was animated by Makaria. Who the f*ck?! Never heard of them? Damn right. Supposedly a new animation studio and I found out they were supposed to release an anime back in mid-2023 but that was delayed and postponed for ‘various reasons’. Oh dear. So could this special Jashin-chan episode be the turning point for their comeback? It remains to be seen. But yeah, although the overall animation doesn’t break the series as a whole and that you can still identify the characters, oh heck, even at the beginning of this episode, Jashin was making jokes about the different animation quality! You have been forewarned! So I don’t know if it was done on purpose because the big brawl scene when both sides were fighting each other, the animation was f*cking paltry! Not to mention when Pino tried to kill Jashin. Uhm, that scene certainly looked strange. But otherwise, the sceneries and backgrounds of Takamori are quite good to look at.

If there was something supremely epic about this episode, it is the opening song! Oh yeah, damn the opener! Apocalypse Da by Aina Suzuki starts off with this hard rock music! OMFG!!! This is so freaking epic! Makes me want to do some head banging action!!! Not to mention at times I just want to give out some heavy metal rocker scream while my fingers are already in a frenzy air guitar play!!! AAAAARRRRRGGGHHH!!!!!!! OMAE WA MOU SHINDEIRU AAAAAAHHHH!!! Oh yeah. Epic indeed. A total u-turn for the ending theme. Because Tadaima by Leola featuring Exile Nesmith is now a calming and easy going sunshiny song. It’s like the kind of song you sing about the normal everyday life and that life goes on. Those kind of scenes. Somewhat ‘fitting’ but at the same time just strangely calming too. Not bad actually.

Overall, this wacky special episode certainly makes my day. Especially since this was released somewhere at the very end of 2023 so what a way for the year to go out with a bloody bang. I don’t know if this will spur the series to have another season because hell yeah, I’m all for it. So if that doesn’t happen, crowdfunding better weave its magic again because we all know it has happened before and it can happen again! Heh. Oh Jashin, you must be fuming mad that we fans can raise such money for the series but none for you! May I suggest coming to my town and running riot with it? Pretty please? Yeah, I know Jashin will definitely paint it with red. Make that bright red colour! Tax money well spent, maybe. Once again, thank you for dying for our sins entertainment. Omae wa mou MATA shindeiru! Yeah. That never gets old…

16bit Sensation: Another Layer

Oh wow. That 2D bishoujo art and drawing sure does make your heart squeal, eh? Oh yeah! 2D lovers are going to love the tons and endless forms of bishoujo art floating all over the internet. Yeah, 1TB of 2D maid porn pictures on my hard drive is not enough for my endlessly growing obsession collection! Oops!!! Revealed too much there… But yeah, those stunning 2D and 3D graphics weren’t the way it always used to be. They came from a long way back in the 80’s and 90’s where many of you young pups were still not even born. Yup, it is time for a bit of nostalgia as 16bit Sensation: Another Layer is going to have our main character getting the blast to the past treatment and learn the awesome and humble beginnings of the bishoujo world since her current graphic designing job sucks. But hey, at least it is not isekai! Heh. Alright folks, let’s make bishoujo great again! Or rather, make bishoujo even greater!

Episode 1
Understandably, Konoha Akisato is panicking. Because she finds herself back in time. More precisely, December of 1992! She’s trying to leave some desperate message in her phone but it ran out of battery. As always. Flashback to see how she got into this predicament. You see, Konoha loves bishoujo games and designing such characters. Her dream is to be a great illustrator. However she is stuck in some illustrating assistant job. So much about her big dreams. Even when she goes home, she continues to have this spark of hope that her designed character will one day see its day as she works hard on her designing. Next day when her boss asks for game opinions, Konoha starts ranting about the most epic and ideal opening ever. Yeah, all that and just the opening! No wonder the boss chews her out because nobody today is into such monumental games. Yeah, this MILF hypnosis game is all they can manage now. Bummer. During lunch, Konoha stumbles upon a game shop that sells retro bishoujo game titles. Was there such a store. She is even shocked to see legendary titles selling at dirt cheap price. She asks granny all about it but obviously she knows nothing. Granny is willing to listen to Konoha’s explanation and oh boy, did she start ranting away all those games! She also talks about her dreams and how designing bishoujo characters cheers her up. Granny is sure that any games she makes will be good. This makes Konoha feel sad as she laments about the culture at her workplace. Basically nobody dares to dream and such games cannot be called games at all. Due to circumstances, she can’t quit the company. But all that blurting made her feel good so she hopes to come back here soon. Next day as she returns, the whole shop is empty and is for lease. However granny left a bag of games for her. A shocked Konoha takes and opens one of them. A bright light flashes and before she knows it, she has gone back in time. Meiko Uehara and Kaori Shimoda seek Mamoru Rokuta’s help to debug some programming line. He doesn’t look too happy to clean up after their mess. As he takes a break outside, he vows to quit this once the game is completed. After all, he doesn’t see any potential in bishoujo games. Shortly, a panicky Konoha crashes into Mamoru. She is now truly in shock that she has gone back in time. This is supposed to be where her workplace is but it’s not.

Episode 2
Konoha still can’t believe she travelled back in time and must have took a wrong turn. See? This workplace is a different company. So bye. But seeing she has no place to go and a stranger in such times, she returns and wants to seek help. Mamoru isn’t impressed but Meiko and Kaori are happy to help her. So Konoha explains about this time travelling thingy to them. The other staffs include Kiyoshi “Kyonshi” Gomikawa the scenario writer and Masaru Rokuta the manager. The find it hard to believe her words. Yeah, don’t understand what she’s saying. Too futuristic her words! Fearing she will be kicked out, she claims she is a bishoujo game illustrator and can help them. She tries to show some of her works but remember, PDA dead battery! Masaru isn’t hiring but the girls could use extra help. For now, Konoha is hired but unpaid. Uhm, so, volunteer work? Happy Konoha thinks she can get by. Especially using her knowledge from the future to make bishoujo games invincible. Well, only one small problem: Ancient technology! Oh man, you’re not expecting to use the mouse to paint your image?! How barbaric is that?! Photoshop? Tablet? SSD? Alien words! Your knowledge is useless here!!! Mamoru teaches her some of the basics as Konoha gets used in learning the ancient technology. She finally gets the hang of it and completes her first task. Such an achievement. Later she asks Mamoru why he is working here. Apparently he claims his programming is perfect and has no bugs so he does debugging for fun. To her shock, he claims he wants to leave this company once it is over as he sees no future in the bishoujo games market. Those aren’t real games made by people who can’t make regular games. Konoha would sure love to disagree with that as she rants in the future bishoujo has become so popular and everywhere. You think all her innocent passion that she wants to make such games would make Mamoru change his mind. Too bad he still thinks she is nuts! He still dismisses her as having such experience in the industry although he finds her passion for this genre rare and genuine. Then as everyone celebrates the completion of their game, Konoha fools around with Mamoru. She accidentally slips. When she wakes up, she finds herself back in her own time. Back to the future?

Episode 3
Well, Konoha might be back in her rightful timeline but she’s doing the job she hates. She checks online for that company, Alcohol Soft. Yes, the game she made is up there but it is out of print and when she tried to call that company, no such number. Worse, this new generation of gamers don’t know who that company is. None of the shop owners know them either. Yeah, it’s been quite a while they’ve stopped stocking on DOS games. Konoha then returns to the vacant lot where granny once lived. She takes out one of her games only for a naughty doggy to steal it. When she gets it back, magic happens. Oh, another time slip back. This time to 1996! Damn, those guys at the pool didn’t find something strange a girl just popped up in the swimming pool?! Happy Konoha rushes back. Yes, Alcohol Soft is still around! Yahoo! Even more so to see Mamoru. However he is not pleased and leaves. Oh. Some argument? The other girls recognize her. I suppose they don’t understand her time travelling story and think she lost her direction for 4 years! Anyway, the thing is, Windows is now all the rage and they are going to make games based on that. However Mamoru as their only programmer refuses to do it since he wants to work on only his PC-98. Well, Konoha thinks she now has what it takes to work here. It’s Windows, baby! Win10! Yeah, WHAT’S THAT?! When she tries to show her app, now it doesn’t turn on. That water must have shorted its circuit. Dang.

So if Konoha wants to work here, she must first bring Mamoru back. Troublesome task but oh well, gotta do what she gotta do. Along the way, she bumps into shy girl, Touya Yamada who has trouble entering a game store herself to buy a bishoujo game. It’s a very discriminated time, if you know what I mean. So Konoha has that looks she is a veteran? She sees no issue to accompany Touya in to buy a game. Touya is grateful but Konoha needs to return to her main mission. She finally finds Touya and it seems he is not too fond she disappeared on him like that after that passionate vow. He remains adamant he will only make games on PC-98. Nothing else. Since Konoha says it doesn’t matter if it’s Windows or PC-98, this makes him mad. So he shows him the PC and if she can name every port and cable, he’ll return. F*ck yeah, know any cables other than that power one?! This makes Mamoru mad and sad. The irony that those passionate about making games don’t know the basics of PC. You must talk to them! F*cking hell, see how Mamoru talks to his PC! CREEPY! However Konoha is impressed. None of her colleagues have this sort of passion and that is why she is adamant she wants to work here. As usual, he maintains his stand, PC-98 only. He also warns her, seeing she is a time traveller, don’t do anything to change history. Hence don’t interfere with what he does.

Episode 4
Well, Konoha turning into a stalker outside Mamoru’s place! Since he remains stubborn of not budging, vows to be back. And about that not changing history thingy? Nobody listens to her so she’s not worried! So I guess this means Mamoru won’t be listening to her too, huh? Meanwhile Meiko and Kaori has seen other reputable game companies using the latest software and tools. So much easier to use and the results are fantastic. They definitely want to invest their new games in these. Konoha returns. But it is to bring her camping gear as she is going to sleep outside Mamoru’s place until he gives in! Okay. Ganbatte. Along the way, she bumps into Touya. She has more confidence now visiting such stores. They have lunch together and Konoha almost gives away the future by telling the mainstream things that will become big. Oops. Uhm, she feels this is how the future will be. Konoha camps outside Mamoru’s place but falls asleep like a baby. So it’s no surprise the next morning, she makes a panic call to Alcohol Soft that Mamoru has gone missing. No time for that as they have to prepare for Comiket. During that, they have to discuss whether or not to replace Mamoru. If he doesn’t return, that is their only solution. But be surprised, her shows up in a PC-98 cosplay?! He’s back! Later he talks to Konoha and claims this cosplay is his goodbye to PC-98. When she was asleep, he saw his tablet. He realized nothing in this age has such device. This means it is true in the future PC-98 will die out. Actually he knows it is on a path of decline but refuses to face reality (since he has grown up with it). However Konoha tells him to work his ass hard off so that PC-98 will continue to exist in the future. It always happens in the movies, right? Screw changing the future. Is this how deep your love for PC-98 is?! Mamoru is happy but also feels weird since nobody is this passionate about eroge. They return to their booth and it’s a sell-out. Even Touya pays Konoha a visit. With Mamoru back at Alcohol Soft, he programmes their next game and they eventually finish it. As they celebrate their completion, Mamoru has taken the initiative to fix her broken tablet. At least, connect it to some power source. She shows him her art and he is stunned with the visual quality. OMG. This is how bishoujo looks like in the future?! For some reason he doesn’t want her to show the rest this so a little struggle ensues and she falls on him. Then she disappears. Now you believe! Hope this doesn’t mean she is a ghost!

Episode 5
Konoha could be one of those characters who hates returning to her timeline. But she isn’t giving up. She thinks she knows the trick to time travelling. She realizes the date she returns to depends on the game box she opens. It is the release date of that game. However it seems only games from granny will work and not hers. This is when she realizes something terrifying. There are a few empty spaces on her shelves. Those were filled with games. Uhm, so did she change history? Oh my, she’s getting scared now. She returns to the job she hates until she gets her courage back once more to try. Opening another box, now she is back in 1999. Yahoo! However to her shock, the building Alcohol Soft once stands is no more. It is now a huge corporate building. But to her relief, there is Meiko and Kaori. Yeah, Alcohol Soft has a huge upgrade in terms of building. Everyone is older and it’s like time stood still for Konoha. So she went to change clothes and took 3 years?! More believable than time travelling! They have a lot more staffs too and yeah, Konoha has got a reputation for being that legendary part time staff that disappears and pops up again in a few years! Obviously Mamoru is not happy she disappeared. But as she is about to tell him the trick of time travelling, Masaru comes in with great news: They are going to have a game on console and the one who is backing them is a famous producer named Ichigaya. He has a vision that bishoujo games will be the future, something the current people in the industry will not accept. Thus he is going to hit while the iron is hot and rake in the cash. So as everyone gets hyped up for this, Konoha further talks to Mamoru about the time travelling and this time her fears of changing it. He finds it strange. Wasn’t it her who told him to change history? And what’s her reason of coming back in time? Sure, it is to make games and meet the nice people of Alcohol Soft again. However she is really worried so she is fine not wanting to be directly involved. Hence she is going to be a cleaner? Going to make as little influence as she can. Later another talk, Mamoru is worried about Masaru because he can tell he cannot keep up with all the changes this industry is going through. He is putting up a tough act just to show he is still useful. Then some card slipped out from Konoha’s garbage bag. Mamoru notices this is a cosplay club Ichigaya runs. Time to investigate this shady mother.

Episode 6
Well, Konoha doesn’t want to interfere with this timeline so she’s not doing anything game related, right? So what better way than to make her stake out at the club! Wished you did something game related now? Must be bored staying there to whole day. She sees a boy trying to get his dropped coin under the vending machine. After she helps him, she bumps into Touya who is now looking different. She thanks Konoha for that talk since she has found great success in this line of business. She is working with a studio that makes great games. With Masaru showing up, Konoha cuts short the conversation to inform Mamoru. Yes, please tail him into the club too! So she eavesdrop him badmouthing about the staffs and that he should be taking the credit for all the business deals. But the straw that broke the camel’s back is the amount of money he ‘invested’ to get Ichigaya to land this deal. This conversation is recorded as Kaori and others confront him about this. Especially about using the company’s money for such shady deals. When the staffs do not buy his denial, he lashes them about working his ass off in making such deals and does not even take any credit for it. Things are about to get worse because right now on the news, Ichigaya has been arrested by the police for fraud. Masaru goes into shock because he trusted that guy. Give back my 1 billion yen! ONE BILLION!!! With Alcohol Soft in massive debt, looks like the only way is to close down the company. For our original Alcohol Soft staffs, oh they’ll still make games. Just not for this company. As Konoha talks to Mamoru, he blames himself for letting this happen. His dad had never played games before and went into this business with no knowledge (he is in hospital now recovering from the shock!). Mamoru let him do what he wished he had done something. He could’ve prevented all this by paying attention to what dad does (he felt suspicious when Konoha doesn’t know who Ichigaya was) and at least could have in some ways kept everyone’s dreams alive. That is when Konoha claims they will make a game to save Alcohol Soft. Mamoru doesn’t sound enthusiastic about it but Konoha is done not changing history. She has always wanted to make a game with them but her fear of changing the past stopped her. If she doesn’t use her powers now, then when? But can her drawings rake in a billion yen? Don’t underestimate the power of bishoujo! As someone from the future, she can guarantee it. Mamoru gives her the green light. Make the game she wants and he’ll bring it to life.

Episode 7
Mamoru has a plan for what’s going to happen next. As Alcohol Soft now with Kaori as the de facto leader trying to chart their next path, Mamoru has Konoha spill the beans. Actually, the story of her being from USA so she has the experience in this industry. As proof, she shows her artwork on the tablet. Amazing! However, even if it is so, they don’t have the technology to do it. Don’t worry. This is where Mamoru comes in. He has improvised his PC-98 and stacked them up into some super multi-core processor! It can handle the pressure and demand of such art! One more thing that worries Kaori: Will Konoha not disappear this time? She promises she won’t and hence will take responsibility in seeing this through. Time to go get that billion back. And Konoha has come from across time the sea to help them! She guides them on how to draw this awesome and everyone does what they can to help out. Konoha also suggests adding lots of merchandise to their game like dakimakura. Hashimoto wonders if they can sell as they are so pricey. Konoha guarantees fan will splash the cash especially on their favourite characters. Soon, Masaru escapes from hospital and barges back here. Why? Ichigaya sent him a key to some locker. Inside is a bag. Masaru thinks it is money but it turns out to be visual concepts of the console game. In a way, it proves that he was serious in trying to port the game on console so he is not totally a scumbag although generally he still is. Masaru gets his motivation back. He pleads to become manager again and will raise any amount they want for the budget. Welcome back, boss. With lots of ups and downs, Alcohol Soft progresses well in making the game. One night as Mamoru works late, he suddenly notices Konoha’s bag on fire. Well, the bag is okay but her game content is all burnt except for 1. When he opens this really old retro game, he vanishes!

Episode 8
Mamoru finds himself back in 1985! In this spot before Alcohol Soft’s building, it is a game company called Echosoft run by a pair of strange people. Both are named Echo! Even their dog too! So for identification, we’ll call the guy as Echo 1 and his cute little assistant Echo 2. Doggie is 3. As Mamoru has no way of returning back, he agrees to stay and do chores. He also helps them with their programming (as long as it is PC-98!). Take out your pen and paper if you’re interested to know some of the back water programming techniques of yesteryears! Too ancient for you to even know it exists, eh?! As Echo 1 could make games in record time all by himself, Echo 2 dresses up in strange cute outfits for Mamoru to give points. But there’s something strange and I believe it is not from 1985! Because Echo 1 drops his finished game into some liquid to see if it is fun! If it doesn’t light up with energy, it means it is not. I don’t think that is how it works in 1985! It seems Echo 1 claims he is from a place with no imagination and thus has none. Each time he calculates in making a game, but the results turn out otherwise. As Mamoru tries to explain imagination but he (and me!) getting even more confused by it! So experience in others is just some sort of analysis? WTF I’M CONFUSED! One day, Echo 2 goes missing and since Echo 1 couldn’t be bothered since he believes she will not be in danger, Mamoru goes to look for her anyway. He finds her wandering in the streets walking Echo 3. Then it’s like she felt compelled to return with him. Then after another round of judging in which he gives zero points, suddenly she understands what imagination is. Echo 1 too. They decide to merge. Mamoru is told to meet them at the rooftop. Echo 1 says he feels this place will have a future and brimming with energy. A place where anything is possible. Not analysis or observation. Just his imagination. He further talks about the power of human imagination. They hint about creating everything from the past and future. You’re not imagining things now, are you? So are they aliens? Are they gods? Uhm, through imaginations, humans become multi-dimensional beings to access the past, present and future. Imagination alters time and space. Imagination defines reality. Holy f*ck, I think I’m pretty confused with this sci-fi trip now!!! They believe they will meet again in the future and vanish. Mamoru wakes up back in 1999. All a weird dream? Or just his imagination?

Episode 9
We are given a few brief details about this game they’re making, The Last Waltz. How many endings and CGs, etc. Even how much curry they ate and baths they took?! How relevant are those?! Oh well, all towards the completion of the game. Everyone is so happy and starts celebrating. They even talk a walk downtown to see their promotional poster on the stores. Meiko talks to Konoha that she was initially sceptical about girls making hentai games but now it doesn’t matter. She wants people to play their games. Konoha soon realizes she is going to disappear. Looks like time is kind enough to give her some time to talk to Touya who once again is impressed with Konoha’s vision. Yes, the bishoujo theme is taking over and blooming. So spot on like as though she predicted the future, eh? Touya intends to create her own game company and hopes Konoha can join her to make games. However Konoha says she can’t stay for long this time. But the next time, she hopes to and they’ll talk a lot about games. Meanwhile Mamoru is at a store and sees an old game by Echosoft. The storekeeper mentions about some rumour he heard the company went into some shady dealings and caught the eye of the police. Though, nothing much conclusive. Mamoru realizes he really went back in time and it was not all his imagination. He also remembers telling Konoha about her games burnt up since she only has 1 copy left. He wonders if it was right for him to use those games to time travel since it was Konoha’s privilege to begin with. Now Konoha talks to Mamoru and wants to thank him for everything. He believes their game will sell because he could feel the energy brimming from it. Imagination? Although he thanks her because it was mainly because of her that Alcohol Soft got through and is where it is today, Mamoru also feels he doesn’t want this town to change. He would want things to stay the same but obviously change is rapidly coming at a lightning pace. When Mamoru realizes Konoha being quiet, looks like she has disappeared again. He expected it and feels sad. Konoha returns to her own time. She is done going back to the past and has learnt a lot from it. Time to make do with all that in the present. But as she exits the building, she realizes many of the buildings are different. Eh? Where is she? Is this Akiba? She runs around panicking, looking for any trademark she recognizes. When she does, it is being demolished. The workers try to remove her from the site but their boss will handle this. Guess what? It’s Mamoru! Oh man, he is older!

Episode 10
Sorry Konoha, all is not a dream! She explains that this year 2023 is where she originally came from but all the usual otaku buildings at Akiba are gone. Actually, Akiba has turned into a residential place and if you want some otaku stuffs, you have to go to the outskirts like Ikebukuro. Technically games still exist and currently the one being released is the hit from America: Fate Gears Of Order! WTF?! Saber looks like an ugly mother!!! Yes Konoha, now know the true meaning of fear! Mamoru further explains after The Last Waltz was released, it became a hit worldwide. It got ported to consoles and adapted into a TV anime and drama. Yeah, Americans loved it. Long story short, Alcohol Soft is now based overseas in USA just as many other big game companies because it is easier to raise capital and make your games there. Alicesoft is the only big name in Japan. Mamoru remained here to supervise things in Japan. Obviously Konoha cannot accept this. Even more so bishoujo is so f*cking ugly! In short, bishoujo is dead! Then she goes downtown to check if any games she recognizes are still available. Well, there store has a special section that encases The Last Waltz and it is the last original box. Everybody staring and worshipping it like God! More horror for Konoha as all the games that came out, she recognizes not a single one of them. She starts to blame herself the success of The Last Waltz for the change in history. And what’s this? The new cool slang for moe now is cuu? Coined by Americans as it is short for cute! Meanwhile Mamoru does some sci-fi thinking about parallel worlds. In short, she did not return to the 2023 she wanted and has nowhere to go. Konoha leaves heartbroken and sees on the news that Touya as a game CEO, trying to merge with another game company. Her tears start to flow as she sees Alcohol Soft’s original building is slated for demolition.

Once again Mamoru has to tell her about reality and remind her that wasn’t she the one who said it was okay to change history and go for it? Yeah. But she didn’t expect to turn out this way? Shifting the goalpost? Still blaming herself that because of The Last Waltz, all other amazing games thereafter ceased to exist, Mamoru takes her to his special warehouse. Why, it houses tons of PC-98 machines! Guess what? In this timeline no matter how hard he tried, PC-98 never became popular! So he blames her for it! She murdered PC-98! However he is quick to say that he wouldn’t know it would turn out this way. Thus it is the same for her as she cherry picked the info to blame herself. Everyone through the era made their decisions so this is where they are today and it’s not because of solely her doing. He asks if she would like to go back to her original timeline that sucks. Because thanks to The Last Waltz, Meiko is now a legendary artist. Is Konoha sure she wants to undo all that? Konoha still hates her own world but doesn’t want this to go away. Oh my, how to have best of both worlds? Mamoru has an idea. Konoha is now in possession of 1 last game box that is released in 1999. In summary, after The Last Waltz is released, Konoha must release this game from another company. Doing so will maintain Alcohol Soft’s success while preserving the games at Akiba. This will create course of events that will lead to the 2023 she knows. Bring both histories into simultaneous existence! Is it even sci-fi possible?! Only 1 way to find out! Of course she won’t have to make the game alone as Mamoru promises he and his PC-98 will help. She is glad he has never changed so one last advice that the world has only changed on the surface and it’s her job to change it. Konoha gets ready to go back in time and face herself to make an even greater game.

Episode 11
Get ready to put in all the work, Konoha. Even though Mamoru has created some AI programme to help with the design (wow, in this timeline, AI has helped created many games?! Where have I heard it before in reality?!), you still have to draw thousands more illustrations for your game. Your future and history depends on it! Don’t complain! Just start working! Besides, isn’t this supposed to be your dream? If she needs some help in working overtime for the crunch time, there’s the energy drinks and other shady stuffs that only exist in sci-fi to help you stay awake! Konoha continues to work hard and also complain a lot. Mamoru notes how she is talking more like an adult but this baffles her. Hasn’t she talked like this all the while? Mamoru is worried that Konoha may be changing to blend in to today’s era. She might even forget her original memories. Better make that game fast. Suddenly she gets a call from Touya and she wants to meet. Hmm… After years of being unable to contact her and now the call goes through? So as Konoha waits at the designated place, suddenly shady MIBs kidnap and usher her into their car! At the same time, Mamoru thinks about the herculean task Konoha needs to copy and distribute the games when she returns to her original time. He notes Konoha standing across the street but as he turns away and then looks back, she’s gone. Wow. Magic? OMG, Touya’s office looks and feels like some evil villain’s HQ?! Anyway, she contacts her American counterpart, Glenn Faulkner about the merger deal they’re about to make. Glenn receives the good news that they have Konoha with them. This shocks Touya. You see, Glenn uses AI to fake Touya’s voice to contact Konoha. They believe Konoha was the genius behind the release of The Last Waltz and need her creative juice. Although she was a legend, nobody knew her whereabouts or have spoken to her save for a select few like Touya. Konoha’s talents will help them become global entertainment masters. Touya threatens to call the police but Glenn believes she will not. Promise to go along with this and he promises to make it worth her time. Meanwhile Konoha wakes up in a room. Futuristic looking room and in a futuristic looking suit. As she walks out, she is shocked to see humans lined up in incubation chambers?! WTF?! Did she time slip into the wrong anime???!!! Meanwhile sharp Mamoru realizes Konoha can’t just disappear like that. He remembers a vehicle passing by before she was gone. Now he enlists the help of all his PC-98 to search for her whereabouts! Oh my, does it have enough processing power? You bet it does!

Episode 12
OMFG. The power of PC-98 allows them to track Konoha’s whereabouts to the unfinished Akiba stadium! As Mamoru makes his way there, he knows something is shady. Lots of MIBs. Definitely not the right construction worker uniform, no? Needing to get in, he remembers there was an old abandoned underground railway project connected to it. That’s right, hacker expert can hack his way through the authorized-only doors as he makes his way there. Meanwhile Konoha is further spooked when robots surround her. To her relief, Touya pops up. However Touya is not amused. Konoha looks the same when she first met so who is she exactly. A video of Glenn pops up as he talks to Konoha. He tells her the truth that this place is where they develop games. Huh? What is CI? Cybernetic Intelligence?! You see, when AI started creating games, it was a game changer because what humans took to make in years, AI can do in a day. However it hit its limit. An AI’s creativity is only so much as all the games start to become the same. Then they realize an idea. Why not put humans back to work? Hence all the humans in these pods are actually hooked up to CI and their creativity is what helps AI to create better games. Thus it is now humans assisting AI! Now, Glenn wants Konoha to become part of CI because as the original genius creator of The Last Waltz, she can utilize this 100%. Meanwhile Mamoru stumbles into a room with humans wearing VR equipment. They’re like zombies. He realizes this is hell. Touya now tries to convince Konoha to get into CI. In tears, she explains how her company almost closed down and seeing she had staffs and fans expectations, she couldn’t betray them. Thus this cooperation with Glenn who is the CEO of Planet Games of Japan. She regrets getting Konoha involved. Oh dear, Konoha now crying too?! She apologizes about not being the genius Touya thought she was. But she vows to make a game to overwrite this world and make everyone happy. Too bad that is not what Glenn wants to hear and seeing Touya is uncooperative, he’ll take matters into his own hands. During this distraction, Mamoru comes in to take Konoha and run. Also with the amazing power of PC-98, Mamoru has managed to hack the robots here to become his underlings and zap those hapless MIBs! OMFG! Touya tries to convince Glenn that she will take Konoha’s place in CI. However he tells her to GTFO because she is not even qualified. The gig is up as Glenn and his MIBs surround Mamoru and Konoha. Oh, now what? A giant UFO over the stadium?! Am I watching the right anime?!

Episode 13
Coming down from the UFO is Echo 2! Using her finger gun, she turns Glenn and his goons unconscious before zipping away Konoha and Mamoru. Inside the UFO, Echo 1 pops up to meet them and wonders if they have tried playing the game he made. It seems Echo 1 has been making some very long trip to come to just see Konoha. He is her biggest fan and wants her autograph! If something had happened to her back then, he needed to make another long trip and who knows when they’ll meet again! He claims Konoha as a genius and has made a masterpiece game. He shows samples of the game she makes. Uhm, colourful light balls? He claims these are all human creativity and each human possesses them. These balls then float down and get absorbed by the humans below. Echo 1 didn’t understand the game when he first played it. But after a long journey, he now does and is glad to have met her. Out aliens leave with a smile as the duo are thrust back down to the stadium. They are fine when a helicopter hovers over them. It is the Alcohol Soft colleagues as Mamoru has called them back here to help Konoha. Must be a long trip back from USA. After all the help Konoha has given them, it is now their turn to help her back. Konoha wants Touya to come with them as she still remembers their promise to make a game together. However she needs to do some cleaning up first and only then she’ll join her. Once the gang leaves, Touya calls the police to take Glenn into custody. As the gang sets up the PCs, Konoha notes there are extras. Yes, other Alcohol Soft employees like Hashimoto are back to help! They work hard on the game as Konoha makes what she wants to make. All that is left is to release it.

Konoha’s final request is for Mamoru to walk with her through Akiba. As they talk, Mamoru hands her a letter to be given to himself in 1999. He hopes his past self will figure the rest. Konoha is sad upon learning Mamoru wants to keep watch over history for the next 20 years. She also wonders if by changing history, all these memories will be forgotten. Yes, this is also making her sad as she doesn’t want to forget all these. Mamoru tells her his experience with Echo 1 so he is confident he will remember. He challenges her to remember everything. They part ways as Konoha uses the last box to return to 1999 before coming back to present time. She is glad Akiba is bustling with otaku stuffs but crazier. She goes to look for Alcohol Soft place and bumps into her current boss. As she vows to make a good game, her boss is unsure of what she is talking. Because his company doesn’t make games and is doing a MILF café???!! If she is talking about a video game company, that would be Alcohol Soft. However they become so successful and shifted their base to America. He laments he should’ve gone into the video game business where the money is. As Konoha gives her thanks to Mamoru, she also makes her way to Alcohol Soft’s old place. And what do you know? Mamoru is waiting for her! Immediately she hugs him as he welcomes her back. It wasn’t easy trying to keep a small company alive without making games. So what are they going to do now? Let’s make games!

Error 404: Bishoujo Not Found!
Well, uhm, this is how it ends? I can’t say that I am impressed but at the same time I won’t go so far as to say it is a disappointment. It’s like Konoha finally gets the kind of ending she really wants so I suppose that is good for her. She can now live her dream job and future of creating all her cute and favourite game bishoujos. Whatever the future holds for her and the rest, I am sure it will be a great one. She better make it great and successful because she no longer has those ‘cheat boxes’ to go back in time to change history!

I wasn’t sure where the story was heading because I thought this was going to be another blast to the past and change the future kind of story. I didn’t expect Konoha to be travelling back and forth in between the years as I thought this would be some sort of big nostalgia trip to the 90’s and that Konoha would stay there until the rest of the season. Yeah, here I was going to think up some time paradox parody but I scraped that seeing they decided to make her jump between the years. I believe this is to stem the boredom and avoid people like yours truly to make predictable predictions about what was going to happen. Imagine Konoha being trapped in the past and had no other alternatives to return to her own timeline, it would be just one huge boring nostalgia trip back to the past because the only thing to ‘interest’ viewers would be the nostalgia of PC gaming in the 90’s. Unfortunately only old people and those from that time may understand the lexicons and the stuffs that happened in that era. For the many younger anime viewers (many who aren’t even born yet!), they will be definitely lost! Yeah, WTF this outdated technology that they don’t even understand! Even an old fart like myself who is not into this line, I found it confusing too despite they just touch the surface and did not go anywhere deep. So yeah, had they stayed on this route, most probably it would just appeal to a particular demographic and alienate the rest.

I don’t know if I should say when Mamoru then had his own time trip, I felt that particular episode was a bit interesting as well as strange. Oh wow. Now they’re really trying to confuse the hell out of me with this weird alien and abstract thingy. I suppose creativity is something that you cannot explain in words. Yeah, it’s like they want to hammer into us that all of us including useless otaku guys have this potential and you just need to find that opportunity and seize it. Thanks for the tip but looks like I still haven’t found mind yet… Anyway, what I want to say is that with this strange entry, it felt like a plot convenience to end the season. Because I started to have this feeling as the season heads towards its finale, they don’t know where to go or what to do and that is why suddenly that UFO sci-fi thingy out of the blue. It was just bizarre. It felt so unreal. Even more unreal than Konoha jumping back and forth in time! Oh well. Maybe there is some subtle creativity thingy here which I didn’t catch…

Of course as already seen, one of the biggest factor and pull of this series is the feature of old nostalgic games of the 90’s. Yes, they are real and not just pull out from the air. Because I can recognize a few titles (although I didn’t play them) such as Kanon and Comic Party. So if you played those games during those times, you might be hit with a sense of nostalgia to see these titles featured here. I don’t know about the copyright issues to feature so many of these titles here but yeah, they are great Easter Eggs and references for you otaku and nerds to catch. As also pointed out about the olden days of such games in Japan when they are at their infant stages (you can tell by those retro pixels), it is great to note how long that games of today have come such a long way and all those humble beginnings that really had the creators put all their passion, blood, sweat and tears into it. These methods are not delved in too deeply (because younger generations may not understand) but just scratching the surface. So if you are interested to know such humble beginnings, feel free to do your own research. The internet is now a great and easy place to extract such information. Right?

Then there is the other contentious issue for this industry. No, it is not black companies and yes, while that is still an issue, what I want to point out is the effect of AI. That’s right. What we have seen from the recent potential from ChatGPT, you can say its potential is very scary. Even though I would like to point out that AI is only as smart as the human programmers programmed it to be, now I have to take into consideration about AI learning and evolving. This series probably would have started a few discussions regarding the use of AI generating games. However it seems they also went further with this notion that humans now assisting AI in doing so. Roles reversal. Which is also a scary thought because now imagine humans now become slaves to AI strictly in this context. As a human, I would say that I definitely would prefer the human touch in making games because well, there’s a human touch and emotions to it. At this point, I believe AI cannot replicate the passion that humans put into their games. At this point. So as we currently see the gaming industry right now especially in the west with big corporations making their big corporate moves just to make quick big bucks, all at the expense of poor game creators, it is a reason why I believe we must go back to basics. AI and other technological advances should be assisting us and not the other way round.

Konoha as the main character, yeah obviously she looks like the main heroine of a game! So to speak. Anyway, she’s a bit whiny and scatterbrain, mostly complaining and the likes. Her dead end job is one thing but now she has been given a chance to live out her dream, she finds it impossible or at least it is going to take some herculean effort. She somehow gets by because she is the main character. The better character I would say is Mamoru. He might start off as a grumpy kid with some issues especially his bias for PC-98 (they sure want to make it look like it was the ultimate machine, huh?). He might not be as cute and cheery as Konoha but he has this resilience and gets the job done no matter what. He keeps his promises. I would definitely say that it is because of him and his unwavering support, Konoha has managed to get through without much difficulties. Sure, she still struggles but without his push, she would definitely have a different future.

There were so many times, in fact I would say all the time, Mamoru has been by her side and ally from start to finish. Through thick and thin. Without him, she is dead. Guaranteed. With Konoha traversing between timelines, Mamoru manages to stay the same with his same demeanour throughout the years. Such is a long time and enough to change a man but look at Mamoru. Damn, this guy is so resilient. So if there is a character who deserves the most credit, it is you, Mamoru. So why hasn’t Konoha date him and make him her husband yet?! Oh, this is not romance genre?! Yeah, what a waste. Because if it was, it would be distracting and I would have painted this series a cheesy one for adding in something irrelevant! Konoha just wants to make games and imagine romance getting in the way. Yeah, that would be even weirder than those visiting aliens! Or whatever they are. So sorry folks, hoping to see some sort of chemistry in the romance department blossom between the duo? Don’t hope for it. Their interaction may be amusing and solid but nothing that would lead to the lovey-dovey type. Not when the future of the gaming industry is on the line!

Fortunately or unfortunately, the other characters feel like they don’t make much of an impact. I believe it is not to take away the dynamism between Konoha and Mamoru. Because of that, the rest felt relegate to supporting roles and nothing more. Like Kaori and Meiko, yeah, uhm, great Alcohol Soft colleagues. It’s about time they realize Konoha is a time traveller as she has not aged each time they see her! Oh, even better. They think she’s an angel! After aliens and UFOs, you bet angels won’t be so far off! Masaru had his issues at first but slowly redeemed himself although that is mostly played in the background. Kyonshi feels forgettable since he doesn’t have much lines and even so, mostly pertaining to his scriptwriting scenario part.

As for the Echo aliens, they could be from the future or different timeline or some extra-terrestrial life form and although they may look like some plot convenience, there is nothing much about them we know. Perhaps that episode on them was confusing and it’s like I didn’t really understand anything on them. After all, they are of a different being and how can creatures like us humans understand higher beings when they turn up in the flesh? Like God and angels, right? Yeah, creativity has nothing to do with it.

Touya’s character felt like she was just written for that single role for her to play in the end. Ever since Konoha met her the first time, each other time trips we see her moving up to greater heights. In the end, regretting getting Konoha involved in a dastardly scheme by a westerner. Oh yeah. The white guy is always the baddie. I won’t say it is strange considering the video gaming industry in today’s time and culture. Ah yes, big western studios and game companies with executives at the top calling all the shots and they know nothing about making games except for the idea of making money. So yeah, Glenn needed to be that necessary villain so that Touya can get her redemption and freedom. Never gonna trust a white guy from a western country in making games again, huh? Yeah, I wonder how she’ll handle and clean up all her zombie employees who got hooked up to CI. How will she compensate them? Remember people, it’s not AI that is evil. It is the human touch that makes it evil! Basically humans are the root of all evil. Heh.

Art and animation are standard. The characters look like your conventional Japanese anime of today’s era. Yeah, all the girls looking cute. They are the bishoujos of this anime! Heh. Cuu are they not? Oh sorry, the correct term is moe! Of course there are also some retro at to reel in the nostalgia like those pixelated art work during Konoha’s trip back in time. Even more detail is given to all those game box arts and those Easter Eggs so it feels like you’re really holding up a piece of the past. Some CGI too especially when Konoha showcases her futuristic bishoujo works. Yeah, if only other animes could put this much quality into their sh*tty CGI effects. Don’t have the budget? Don’t even think about using CGI then!

For the voice acting, once again Aoi Koga is doing her scatterbrain Kaguya-sama mode. Strangely in that same season, she also voiced an anime character in that way (Alyssa in Dekoboko Majo No Oyako Jijou). So is she cute or what? Cuu! Oh sorry, I mean moe! Then there are a few veterans I recognized like Atsushi Abe as Mamoru, Yui Horie as Meiko, Ayako Kawasumi as Kaori (did they hire her so she could also make that single line for Saber?), Showtarou Morikubo as Ichigaya, Tomokazu Sugita as a game shop staff and Ayane Sakura as one of Mamoru’s staffs in the future. The other staffs are Jun Fukushima as Kyonshi (Kazuma in KonoSuba), Kentaro Ito as Masaru (Renji in Bleach), Aya Yamane as Touya (Riho in Megami No Cafe Terrace), Atsushi Tamaru as Echo 1 (Ethel in Saihate No Paladin), Riona Imaizumi as Echo 2 (Anna in Mashle) and Yasuyuki Kase as Glenn (Kankurou in Naruto).

The opening theme, 65535 by Shoko Nakagawa starts off by baiting you with retro beeping sounds before the fanfare blasts in. However my beef with the song is that the singer’s voice sounds bland and when she sings the song, it’s like in a single monotonous tone. Overall it just feels flat and the whole song soon comes off as weird, if not bland. In comparison, the ending theme, Link ~Past And Future~ by Aoi Koga sounds better despite being a slow moderate dramatic piece that seems to fit games created by Key like Kanon, Air and Clannad. No kidding. That kind of image conjured up in my mind upon hearing this song.

Overall, this series is just rather okay. The series didn’t hit me as hard on the nostalgia side since I am not into this side of the gaming world and industry during my childhood days. With its sci-fi elements of time travelling, definitely this is not just another anime series about a motivated main character trying to make the greatest game such as New Game and Saenai Heroine No Sodatekata. Oh, what’s this? Just like in many Japanese games that have true real hidden endings, there was a preview of the true ending of the series after the final episode aired. Okay, let me see… Hmm… Why does it all look just like recycled scenes and a montage summary of Konoha’s time trips?! I didn’t see anything special from that 5 minute clip! Yeah sure, Konoha being grateful for everybody, blah, blah, blah. I wonder this will unlock a sequel! So yeah, be thankful your beautiful gaming art and graphics have come from such a long way in such a short time span. Look at all those lovely bishoujo pics posted up over the internet for your endless viewing pleasure! Keep scrolling and scrolling. Right click and save. Cuu! Thank goodness not NFTs!

Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari S3

When the next round of threat threatens to destroy the world, who are you gonna call? The shield hero. That’s right. Only this moody guy is strong and dependable unlike the rest of the other heroes. It is without surprise Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari S3 is another season under this series’ belt since it was announced they were going to have a second and third season. Just not airing continuously or back to back. Time to see our titular character rise to even greater moments as the fruits of his efforts (and betrayal) have come to fruition. He’s going to be your next God now at this rate.

Episode 1
Naofumi narrates after the defeat of the tortoise, the next beast AKA the phoenix was supposed to be next. But thanks to the energy he took back from Kyo, this bought them about 3 months of time before this next Wave hits. He wants to use this chance to strengthen their defence. However the fight with Kyo also took a big hit on their stats. Mirelia speaks to him about the other 3 heroes going missing. AGAIN?! There are also other issues to deal with like the Faubrey side stationing their soldiers around despite the tortoise have been defeated so Melromarc and its allies have also stationed theirs nearby just in case. As for the Seven Star Heroes, it seems she has no way in finding or contacting. Save for 1 who is right here in Melromarc. Well, who would’ve guessed it is Aultcray, oops I mean Trash. Speaking of that, Myne, oops I mean, Bitch/Slut is also missing. WTF these people… Naofumi then goes to see Berocas. It seems based on the new ruling by Mirelia, most of the slaves have been bought by nobles and then sold outside the kingdom. Naofumi wants to buy all the slaves back but it is going to cost him and very expensive. 10 times the price he paid for Raphtalia. Berocas then says if he still wants demi-humans from Lurolona village, go to Zeltoble. It is rumoured many are at this city. So his team head there to meet… Berocas? Oh, that’s his uncle. I thought he was his twin… They are taken to a secret underground auction where demi-humans are sold to the highest bidder. Obviously the slaves lie they are demi-humans from Lurolona. It doesn’t matter where they come from because that name is now a brand. He also notes Naofumi has not much money left after buying the remaining slaves. This means he needs to make money so head over to an underground arena where there are practically no rules for you to win. In here, money is everything. Naofumi recces the place and this hot babe. Nadia gives him some extra useful info about the fights if he buys her a drink. Hence Naofumi is going to enter this tournament with Raphtalia and Filo to win some money. I’m sure these masks will mask their identity… Folks, meet Team Rockvalley. Poor acting to fool the audience they are a weak team but they defeat their cocky opponents to cause a major upset on the betting odds.

Episode 2
What’s this? Many teams forfeit their matches? Are they scared of Rockvalley or something? Later Nadia talks to Naofumi again. He thought she set him up when bandits surround them. Apparently not. These are loser of those teams who forfeited. Nadia shows her great lightning magic that takes them out effortlessly. She then flirts with him but he is not impressed. She warns him to forfeit his match or pray they won’t meet. With more teams forfeiting, Rockvalley is reduced to fighting monster griffins? With the money they made, they go shop for some weapons and the famous merchant is more than happy to be their sponsor. With no more teams left, looks like the next match will be the finals pitting Rockvalley and Nadia. Nadia knows Naofumi’s intentions to win to get the money to buy the Lurolona slaves. She cautions him she won’t lose to those who only care about money. The final fight begins with both sides pulling no punches. To make things more interesting, the arena is filled with water because Nadia then transforms into her true form, a killer whale. As she is about to kill Raphtalia, the latter recognizes her as Sadeena. In turn, Nadia also recognizes her. Realizing who Naofumi is, Nadia now understands why he is in this tournament. In the final clash, Rockvalley defeats Nadia. However because her sponsor isn’t pleased, he forces the announcer to invalidate this match and instead both teams will team up to fight the next exhibition match against this Murder Clown and her marionettes. Another round of fighting until Naofumi and Nadia imbue Raphtalia with more power. Raphtalia could have beaten Murder Clown with it but she escapes. She then notes how weak they are and notes the other world will destroy them if they have trouble fighting her. As she has fought enough for her pay, she leaves. Nadia’s sponsor is still not wanting to give Rockvalley the victory they deserve, accusing them of using a fake name and betting on themselves to win more money. But when the slave trader and merchant vouch for Naofumi and that he will receive all the winnings he deserves, everyone soon realizes the shield hero. Also, Nadia is the rightful owner of the Lurolona slaves since she bought it with her prize money. With this over, Nadia now joins Naofumi’s team. Sorry, make that Sadeena. A racoon, a chicken and now a fish!

Episode 3
Fohl returns to his cell to feed his heavily wounded and sickly sister, Atla some food and medicine. Naofumi comes in to look for some slaves and calls out those pretending to be one and trying to be saved by him. Fohl catches his eye seeing he wants Naofumi to buy them. As explained, he is of a white tiger lineage and possesses very high combat ability despite at a young age. He can further upgrade when he grows up. This means he is quite pricey. Learning about his sister, Naofumi is able to heal her with this elixir so Fohl has to prepare himself to work for him for the rest of his life. Fohl assures he will quadruple that payback amount. With Atla feeling much better, a few more dosages and she’ll be back to health. The siblings are taken back to Naofumi’s village as well as the rest of the Lurolona slaves. Although the village is making some progress, he notes the holes in the defence. Yeah, they’re just a bunch of kids. Can they defend the place? Atla’s rehabilitation is done as she is able to take off her bandages although she still remains blind. At least she is learning how to walk. One night when Naofumi is away, the village is under attack by bandits who intend to kidnap the demi-humans to sell them for a high price. Fohl manages to head to a secret spot as told by Naofumi to light up a flare before being captured. The bandit boss is going to kill him to make him an example but that is when Naofumi and co return. They kick all the bandits’ ass and will not let any one of them escape. Even when the bandit boss surrenders, Naofumi wants to execute him. However he is told not to. Because of the crest on the armour the bandits were wearing, they belong to an important noble. This means there’ll be hell to pay if these bandits die. In that case, Naofumi will sell them to Siltvelt as slaves. Now the bandits are panicking and begging not to be sent there. Death would’ve been much better? Off they go as Naofumi even fetches a high price selling them. With Fohl needing to get stronger as he can’t protect Atla, Naofumi resets their stats so they could take advantage of his hero buffs. When Naofumi’s side visits Mirelia, they bump into Aultcray Trash. But upon seeing Atla, he is overcome with sadness and pity. Mirelia explains the staff hero’s heroics. Yes, apparently he too had a story. Luge Lansarz Faubrey abandoned his name and country all for the sake of his sister. As a soldier in Melromarc, he gained fame and glory. But his sister was kidnapped by Siltvelt and he was driven mad with vengeance. But enough of that loser’s story, the real reason Mirelia calls them is because they have found Motoyasu.

Episode 4
Naofumi’s job is to find Motoyasu and convince him to help fight the next Wave. The only other info Mirelia has is that Ren’s comrades are all dead. As Naofumi returns to his land and feeds his demi-human kids with lunch, a strange girl named Syne Lokk pops up to ask for food. Don’t remember her? She is Murder Clown. She is willing to pay but Naofumi distrusts her and shoos her away. Well, how many times is she going to glance over her shoulders to see if he changes his mind? None. Be gone! Naofumi, Raphtalia and Filo head to town to begin their search. They see Motoyasu trying to beg a former comrade, Elena to rejoin him. However she shuns him. When Naofumi confronts him, he flees. Naofumi then talks to Elena what happened. Apparently Motoyasu’s team tried to attack the Spirit Tortoise first to get some brownie points. But he failed. And just like that, the comrades realized they picked the wrong guy to suck up to and left! Soon, Naofumi finds Ren alone at the tavern. Talking to him, he confirms all his members are dead but blames them for being weak so it’s not his own fault. Naofumi tries to convince him that he can still fight but oh look, here comes Myne Bitch to claim that this was all Naofumi’s doing. She accuses him of that mock trial was a sham, a conspiracy to take the throne away from her and give it to Melty and that he was controlling the Spirit Tortoise. Oh Ren won’t believe this Bit- oh wait, HE BELIEVES HER???!!! Because it seems her slave crest isn’t lighting up, proving she is telling the truth. More complication as Motoyasu comes in and wants Bitch back in his fold but she won’t allow him. So when Ren is now turning against Naofumi, the latter tells him off that his refusal to face reality and treat this like a video game is the root of his problem. However, Ren still refuses to acknowledge it and even attacks him with all the people around, luckily Naofumi deflects it. With Bitch’s advice, they flee. Poor Motoyasu is now in despair after being abandoned once again by that Slut. As Filo gives a sterling idol performance to the tavern, Motoyasu regains his confidence and finds his love for Filo again! Oh great. He’s scaring her now! Now he is calling Naofumi his father and wants to marry Filo! OMFG! LOLICON ALERT!!! Nobody is impressed or give a damn until he calls Raphtalia a pig. She beats him up and they all return home.

Episode 5
Naofumi, Raphtalia and Filo are suddenly attacked by a couple of strange guys. Holy sh*t! Did one of them summon a meteor to crash on them?! You think a few puny shields and a shield prison could protect them? Well I don’t know, somehow it did. Thanks to Syne popping up to help, those guys are killed off. However Naofumi finds it all pretty convenient. He thinks she is working for them and still doesn’t trust her. I understand him being cautious but doesn’t he sound like a dick to a person who just saved him? Nevertheless, he takes her back to his village since she is hungry. From what those guys said, Syne confirms she is from another world and a vassal weapon wielder. Her world was destroyed and those heroes killed. She helped him because she doesn’t want to see another fellow weapon wielder die. As for her timing, she placed a needle on him during their fight and you could say she has been watching him ever since. Although Naofumi still doesn’t trust her, he lets her stay but keeps an eye on her. Well, she’s quite popular with the kids. With Keel and some of the kids levelling up, Naofumi takes them to the capital to upgrade their class. Then he goes to see Elhart because Tollynemiya wants to be a blacksmith apprentice. Apparently both know each other as they used to train together. Eclair reports to Naofumi about her findings. The Spirit Tortoise’s rampage destroyed some prison and while many prisoners died, some survived and escaped. They are the ones who then attacked his village but she is unsure if both incidents are related. She also discovered another group of bandits that is active lately. Their leader is very cautious and doesn’t make himself known. Naofumi rounds up the gang to go hunt this bandit group. He splits up the team to search the area. I bet Naofumi teaming up with Raph-chan is to give this mascot some decent screen time. To his surprise, he finds Motoyasu fighting Ren! OMG, Ren wearing a mask, he trying to be Batman or something?!

Episode 6
A glimpse of Ren’s previous high school life. Basically he is an avid gamer. When he came to this world, he realized it was exactly like the game he was playing: Brave Star Online. That was why he was so confident he could defeat the Spirit Tortoise. Until he realized he couldn’t. His comrades dead and he sank into shock. Compounding his misery is that b*tch who told him he was the only one. Yeah, I’m sure those tits swayed him to join her side. But soon, he realized he has been duped as that slut stole his equipment and left a note that he is no longer useful to her. Yup. Useless is a taboo word for him. Then he gets attacked by a couple of strange guys. He felt weak and ran into hiding. However he was chased out of homes of ordinary people who claim he did nothing to protect them from the Spirit Tortoise. Sinking further into depression, he stumbled into those mocking bandits. He killed them and took their mask and became the new Batman. Soon he fought Motoyasu who has been smoking out the bandits for attacking the town and he thought Ren was their leader. Naofumi stumbled into this and that’s where we are now. Because Ren is so desperate to become stronger, Naofumi realizes his curse is attacking. Despite all the tricks Ren does, Naofumi and his comrades could overcome it. Eclair offers to fight Ren. Naofumi realizes she is a better swordsman than Ren and allows it after buffing her. As they clash, she asks about his ambitions. He wants to be strong to save the world. That felt so flimsy that Eclair is able to best him. This aggravation invokes his curse further as Naofumi realizes his curse resembles both greed and gluttony. So the curse series resemble the 7 deadly sins? Fortunately, Eclair once more puts him down. Then those strange guys come to attack but are easily taken care off by Motoyasu. Their souls are trying to escape but Raphtalia takes care of that. Naofumi is surprised that Motoyasu did what he is told to get stronger and now the fruits are showing. Eclair offers to train Ren and with some sound advice that he can get stronger (although he cannot change the past), Ren agrees. I take it that he has found salvation. A brief clip shows Ren was stabbed to death when he tried to save a group of girls from a knife assailant.

Episode 7
With Sadeena’s training, Keel can now turn into a cute little puppy. Ren is also adjusting to life in Naofumi’s village. Ratotille Anthreya AKA Rat soon looks for Naofumi. She has a letter from Mirelia. It states she has been exiled for causing trouble. However her alchemy might help Naofumi. Of course Rat calls out those lies. Apparently people didn’t like her experiments so they shut down her lab and killed her test subjects. Rat thinks it is a good thing to be posted here since she is interested in testing Filo! Run, Filo, run!!! Naofumi would like to see what she can do so she tends to some caterpillar monsters they have in the shed. He notices they are breeding and have eggs. The kids don’t want him to throw them away although clearly he doesn’t have the capacity to take care more of them. Rat believes she can handle this since she is able to make monsters stronger. Naofumi still distrusts her and will have her a slave crest. She is okay with it as long as she can do her research. Then Siltvelt sends them a dragon egg. To help keep its good stats, looks like Naofumi has to carry it around. Yeah, no wonder some can’t stop snickering how funny he looks! There’s the case of Atla sneaking into Naofumi’s room to sleep with him. Nothing sexual, mind you! She even has the gall to tie up Fohl to prevent him from stopping her. Soon the egg hatches. Uhm did this dragon come from the wrong anime? Oh I don’t know, did he fail some Pokemon audition???!!! HAHAHAHA!!! Sighs… Since Wyndia names him Gaelion, Naofumi tasks her to look after it. So we see the cute little critter with the gang. Yeah, Filo is going to have a rival in getting Naofumi’s attention as his pet mascot! Hey, where the heck is Raph-chan?! Gaelion seems to crave for Naofumi’s attention so Raphtalia suggests letting him live in his room to serve as a guard dog and stop Atla’s nightly visit. Naughty Gaelion then swallows this jewel from Kizuna’s world. WTF?! Now it turns into huge menacing dragon. So this Pokemon finally evolved, huh? He creates a bit of havoc before flying off.

Episode 8
As explained, the Emperor Dragon may have taken over Gaelion’s mind since all dragons have a dragon that contains a core that contains their mind. They need to go get him back before it gets worse but looks like there is another problem. Filo has collapsed. Turns out she is suffering from some curse and Gaelion is absorbing her stats. At this rate she will die. At this point, everybody wants to come along with Naofumi so he has no time to argue. Even Filo. Arriving at the village, the villagers hope Naofumi will help save them from the dragon as there is a dragon’s den nearby. As they make haste, a porcupine monster shows up but I guess this is to showcase Wyndia having some magic ability. More precisely, to use the dragon veins around to summon magic. Meanwhile Filo’s curse gets worse. Oh my, she turning into an evil chicken? Then as Naofumi’s side enters the cave, there is Gaelion. But wait. Filo is here too! OMG. Dragon vs chicken?! Not much of a fight as Filo gets owned and devoured! Seriously? Does it taste like chicken?! Just kidding! This evolves Gaelion into a huge dragon. As everyone makes their attack to bring it down, Wyndia soon stops everyone. She tells dad to even stop. Eh? What? Her dad was the dragon that lived in this area. After he was killed, she lost faith in the heroes except Naofumi since he was the only one kind to her. Ren realizes the zombie dragon he slew was her father. He became a zombie to protect her. As Wyndia pleads for her dad to let go, he attacks her. Luckily Ren protects her as he now transforms into another form. Is this his final form? Perhaps. Herald, Emperor Dragon. Naofumi realizes combining the dragon’s core with the one from Kizuna’s world caused their souls to mix. Emperor Dragon wastes no time in telling his goals to control this world from weak humans and has a grudge against Kizuna’s group who stopped his plans. Well, he is kind enough to show Filo at the core of his heart. She’ll be part of his flesh. Better get going and slay this dragon. However his defence is high and only because he is absorbing Naofumi’s shield abilities. Naofumi thinks of using his wrath shield and fail a power up to weaken him. Too bad Emperor Dragon saw that coming and seizes control of his wrath shield. He can do that?! Then his blast takes out everyone. Naofumi left standing. Can his puny shield protect the kids?

Episode 9
Saving them from certain death is Atla’s mysterious magic touch. This causes Emperor Dragon to miss and blast the water basin above, flooding our heroes out. As they camp for the night, Atla asks Wyndia if that is her father. Before you wonder how a scaly reptile can have a furry mammal as an offspring, here’s a short flashback. Apparently they’re not related by blood. But of course. Her real father was running away and left her in the care of this dragon who happened to be nearby. He died shortly after. Dragon knew nuts on how to raise a kid so I don’t know how Wyndia grew up normally. Unless she’s a genius but whatever. So you can see the awesome times Wyndia spent with her dragon dad. Then one day, she saw an upside down scale and tried to fix it but he went berserk. Hence she remembers that is the dragon’s weakness. Telling this to Naofumi, he hatches a teamwork plan to take Emperor Dragon down. When day breaks, everybody is in position to fight Emperor Dragon. Just when it all seems hopeless once more against the dragon’s might, here comes the white tiger siblings to turn the tables. Fohl breaking through its barrier and Atla once more using her magic touch to paralyze it. This allows Filo and Gaelion to be freed. Once rescued, Emperor Dragon tries to flee but everyone does a final teamwork combo to slay him for good. Sad for Wyndia to see her dad go this way but she thanks him for being her father. In the aftermath, Emperor Dragon’s essence gets absorbed into Naofumi’s shield as he warns him about wrath will always dwell in his heart. While the villagers are thankful, Naofumi chides them off as the ones at fault. Because they manipulated the dragon to steal his treasures so it was not Ren’s fault to begin with. Thus they got what they deserved. Ren apologizes to Wyndia and knows what he has done cannot be atoned. While she cannot forgive him, but she still thanks him for saving her twice. Naofumi learns Wyndia’s dad’s core got transferred into Gaelion so he is somewhat saved. He hopes Naofumi will keep this a secret since his daughter is learning to overcome his death. The rivalry between Filo and Gaelion continues. Chicken wants her stolen stats back. Not giving back, loser! Gaelion further infuriates her as he evolves into a larger dragon. Now he can give Naofumi rides. In the sky! Rides are no more exclusive to you, Filo!

Episode 10
We still need to remember Lecia’s problem. Yeah, being kicked out by Itsuki’s group because she is weak. Flashback reveals she was accused of breaking something belonging to Itsuki and her comrades saw it. However she claimed innocence. And just like that Itsuki kicked her out not because she was right or wrong, but rather she will be a burden to him. Naofumi needs Filo to level up and sends her away to train with Melty and Raph-chan. While Filo is more than happy, Melty is not. But she has no say about it and that’s that. This is all part of Naofumi’s plan to have Melty relax a bit since she has been working hard. Also with Melty’s absence, he wants Eclair to pick up the slack and continue Melty’s work. With Syne making some money from the underground arena, she also mentions of a participant who is an archer that goes by the name of Perfect Hidden Justice making his rounds. Well, that’s Itsuki, right? So as they head there to check it out, speak of the devil, Lecia spots Itsuki but he doesn’t respond. She tries to finally talk to him in his room but he mutters about people needing his help and that he needs to save others. Since he continues to ignore her, Naofumi wonders if that b*tch is behind this. Yeah, looks like it. Warning him about her lies, if he doesn’t believe, Ren is here to tell him first hand his experience on it. Too bad he still doesn’t believe. We see Itsuki fight like a barbarian as he remembers how everyone was disappointed in him after the Spirit Tortoise incident. They left him but after that b*tch believed in him, everyone came back to his side. That is why he is fighting for them who believes in him. Naofumi notes his weapon doesn’t activate like usual and gives off a bad feeling. Lecia wants Naofumi to let her fight Itsuki as a way to talk to him and thank him for saving her life. Berocas has an idea. Itsuki delivers all his winnings to his ex-comrades and that certain b*tch. They put up the fakest act that this is still not enough to save the slaves. Itsuki tells them he stumbled into Naofumi. But don’t worry, he doesn’t believe his lies and will make him understand. After Itsuki wins the next fight, he receives an invitation for a special fight. Now he comes face to face with Lecia and thinks this will be an easy win. But Lecia has different ideas. This time she is going to save him.

Episode 11
Itsuki believes everyone tricked and set him up for this fight. No worries, he’ll let his justice prevail. F*cker tries to shoot at Naofumi’s group but of course he deflects it. He then accuses Naofumi of all his evil doings. Basically a certain b*tch told him that Naofumi bought all the slaves to be worked to death on his land. As for one mother who lamented about her son could not be saved, that son was already dead. You’re not expecting a shield to revive the dead, huh? Naofumi calls him out for trying to paint him a bad person and to hide his failures from the Spirit Tortoise incident. Itsuki thinks he wants to change the subject so now Itsuki fires multiple shots. Naofumi blocks them but some of the crowd gets hit. Apparently now they become fans who worship Itsuki. Yeah, that bow given by a certain slut is just brainwashing people. It’s not justice. Lecia refuses to accept his justice and the person he is now. So they begin fighting and with Lecia having levelled up from her training, this surprises Itsuki. Always thought of her as weak, huh? Itsuki so confused now he is sprouting devil wings! Even after Lecia’s sword breaks, she will not accept a replacement since it goes against her justice. So how to fight? Sure, one way is not to give up. But without a weapon? Oh I don’t know but it feels like plot convenience because now she got some translucent weapon that can change shape. In short, Itsuki is defeated by her boomerang! As he lies in shock, flashback shows a young Itsuki wanted to become a hero of justice. Everyone praised him for his dream. Even mom was proud. So when he enrolled in some magic school, his stats were the lowest. A huge shock. Even for mom. Now Itsuki believes a certain someone still believes in him. Yeah, Bitch telling him how he cares about everyone more in this world. Such sweet words. No wonder he was taken in. As he rushes back to her place. Oh my, she’s gone. Just a letter. She has already spent all the money he earned and if he wants to see her again, defeat Naofumi. In the meantime, she has left him all the debts. Have fun repaying. Enough justice for today? Yeah, he can’t handle it and faints. No joke. He wakes up in Naofumi’s village with Lecia by his side. I don’t know if this is heart breaking or not as we see a patient Lecia nursing him like a crippled patient. Still in shock but she remains by his side.

Episode 12
Sadeena talks to Naofumi about what he thinks of Raphtalia. She is trying to say that if he wants to marry her, he’ll have to watch out whenever Sadeena is around. Disappointing or not, Naofumi only views Raphtalia as his daughter. When Elhart visits the village, he brings some goodies. Among them is an outfit for Raphtalia. Naofumi insists she wears it. Raphtalia fans can droll over how pretty she looks in a miko outfit! But as she walks around in this village, suddenly a very alarmed Sadeena tells her to take it off now! But it might be too late because suddenly a house explodes! OMFG, who the f*ck these furry ninja assassins?! Sadeena claims such miko outfit means a declaration for the throne in a certain country. As everyone fights the ninjas, it seems the heroes’ attacks have no effect on them. Raphtalia and Naofumi have to combine their magic and use the dragon veins to confuse them before they are dealt the final blow. But everyone has to run because the ninjas self-destruct! Must be the next level hara-kiri. In the aftermath, Sadeena explains the details. Apparently in a faraway country in the east known as Q’ten Lo, such outfit is only worn by the ruler. Others doing so means a declaration of war. Oh, did we mention Raphtalia is of royalty blood of Q’ten Lo? Flashback shows her father who was tired of all the political struggles, ran away with his wife here. Sadeena has always been protecting them and went with them. When the first Wave hit, Sadeena was away and by the time she returned, tragedy has already struck. What makes Naofumi mad is that Raphtalia has been watched since the day she was born. In that case they should have known she was never interested in the throne. This means they were using this excuse just to kill her and at other times, they watched her in trouble, hoping she got killed. Obviously Naofumi will not accept this. He will head to Q’ten Lo to talk to them. If they refuse, he will force them to submit. First he sees Mirelia and she will send some knights to his village for protection. As Melromarc has no official ties with Q’ten Lo, she can only advise the fastest route there. A ferry that departs from Siltvelt. Meanwhile Aultcray Trash speaks to Fohl and Atla and is glad they are okay. Because he still faults Naofumi, they correct him that it was Naofumi who saved them. He leaves when Naofumi is heard returning but knows they will meet again. Naofumi will fly to his destination with Gaelion and Wyndia. Once there, he will open a portal back here for the rest to come. He notes he has no time for this when the next Wave is coming. But if this is concerning his comrades, he will have to fight an entire country if forced to.

Lost & Found
Uhm, so this is how this season ends? Are they saying that we are going to have another side distraction instead of fighting the Wave if they ever make another season? It is most likely that as the ending hints that there might be another season although at this point of writing there is no announcement of it yet. But I’m betting that my guts say it will. I mean, can’t end the series at this point, right? So I guess even if we have to go on another detour for another season, then I’m afraid we must. It is the fate of the shield hero after all. So yeah, I’m waiting for the next announcement of double seasons like how they did for the second and third season simultaneously years ago. Season 4 at Q’ten Lo and season 5 back to fighting the phoenix. Oh yeah. Just wait for it. Oh well, what do you know? And they did! Though, season 4 looks like it is going to be a movie…

Sorry folks, but I seem to find this season a bit underwhelming compared to the previous season. It’s like taking a big detour before the next Wave hits. In a way, it felt like one filler filled season. However it is wrong for me to paint it so because this tour isn’t actually meaningless. Before the next Wave comes, this season is all about Naofumi rebuilding his side and gaining comrades to his fold. I believe we are going to need more than just the usual shield hero’s team in fighting the next Wave. Oh you know, Raphtalia, Filo and Lecia being the only party members that Naofumi could count on. Therefore to add some more firepower and arsenal (and variety for the fights), this season is all about Naofumi gathering and amassing more party members like Sadeena to even Rat (who can’t really fight but at least could provide some useful research material and info).

The other important part of this season is the redemption of the other (lost) heroes. Before we can paint them as being dicks who just go off and do what they like at their own pace, this season will put an end to all the heroes acting solo and by themselves and to be united, strangely under the guidance of Naofumi. It is with mixed feelings to see those heroes fallen from grace and now karma being a b*tch serving them the just desserts they deserve after what they did to Naofumi in the first season or at least the way they mistreated and disrespect him just because of the kind of weapon he wields. It is good to see them back together again but at this point I am guessing and highly doubt that they will surpass Naofumi. What is the name of this series again? This means I am predicting that they will mostly be lackeys to Naofumi. If that is too strong a word for you fans out there, let’s just say that they will be playing more of a supporting and assisting role while Naofumi is the one calling the shots. I mean, he has the right and credentials after all that we have seen, right?

Among all the heroes, Ren struck me as the most surprising one. I didn’t expect him to have this insecure personality because I have always think that he was that selfish and taciturn swordsman. So it was a great surprise to see him fallen like that to a point where I just couldn’t believe it was that Ren I thought I knew. He was like a totally different character. Because for Motoyasu’s case, we all know this guy is an idiot. So even when he found his salvation in Naofumi, he still remained somewhat of an idiot! Hence this spear hero’s character did not come off as surprising as Ren. Though, still a creepy weirdo. Now that Ren has repented and atoned his ways, it looks like he is very more subdued and subservient to Naofumi. You know what they say, once bitten twice shy. Ren feels a lot like that and despite of this change, at least it is still way better before he got screwed.

But now that Ren is staying at Naofumi’s domain, I wonder why and where Motoyasu is. Uhm, shouldn’t he be also at Naofumi’s village? Oh right. Don’t want to be annoyed by the constant harassment of Filo! Imagine every day you hear the chicken screaming and running away from her stalker! YIKES!!! Thus I don’t know where Motoyasu is during all that time but yeah, at least it gives us a peace of mind as long as this idiot doesn’t his face. Finally there is Itsuki. Another broken soul who has been saved mainly by Naofumi (and Lecia). From the looks of it, it is going to take a while for him to get out from his shocked state. He’s like a vegetable now. So far he is recovering well and now as docile as Ren ever since. Is this how heroes act when they recover from betrayal? Oh right, Motoyasu still an idiot. Waiting for the day he calls Naofumi his real father… Yikes.

And of course the main antagonist behind all these troubles is Bitch/Slut. Yes, they actually want us to hate this scheming and cunning woman! They did a good job because we do. Don’t you wish this woman would just die! If this woman works as a scammer, she’ll be very successful! And scam indeed she played those heroes. Oh man, they really were taken for a ride. From our point of view, we might call the heroes to be stupid for falling for such obvious trickery and that they deserved getting betrayed in the end. However I can’t entirely blame them since they have been at their lowest after failing so badly at the Spirit Tortoise incident. Bitch/Slut being the perfect smooth operator took her chances and swoop in for the kill. Gotcha, losers. Sometimes I think she is blessing for those heroes because they have to learn the very hard way in order to realize what is right. Thanks to her, at least Naofumi do not have to worry about having the other heroes as his enemies and can put his focus in other more important things. But for Bitch/Slut, how she was able to break free from her restraint and her ulterior motives in doing all this, remains to be seen. At least the next time we have somebody we can truly pour our hate on! And what are the chances that she was the one who sent Elhart the miko outfit for Raphtalia! I bet on it 100% it was her doing! After all, we saw her riding a ferry across the city. Wanna guess where she was heading to?

After 3 seasons, it seems that my perception of Naofumi as being distrustful has waned a lot. Because otherwise he wouldn’t have been taking in so many new people into his domain. Yes, he is still sceptical but I can see that he is more open to trusting others. It’s a good way for him to move on otherwise he will be no different than the rest of the other heroes if he had clung on to his past. We are reminded that he can still get angry whenever it involves his comrades. Don’t try to take make a move on them because he’ll f*cking make you regret it. Raphtalia continues to support him although I feel not as prominent as before due to the influx of new characters. Of course that is before the final episode revelation that she is some faraway country’s royalty. The much needed emphasis to throw Raphtalia back into the spotlight. Next season we expect to see more of her, right?

And Filo, why do I have a feeling this chicken is going to be in distress in every season? Last season whereby she was sold in auction was distressing enough. Now we have to see her being the target of idiot Motoyasu and also becoming the core of that dragon. Is it so fun to torment a filolial? Lecia still feels like a she is insecure although last season she proved herself when it matters. But this time it bears fruition as it is her turn to return the favour and save Itsuki. Maybe it’s her character but I can’t say I dislike her. Melty at least has some dialogue this season but I don’t find her making any impact and was almost forgettable. Last season Mirelia had her fair share of screen time and now she’s back in the background. As for Eclair, I wonder if the reason she gets more screen time is because she is paired up with Ren so as to train him. Uhm, I don’t know about you but I feel that they’re trying to come up with some romance between the two.

The new characters are pretty okay but I suppose more time is needed to flesh them out. For instance, the white tiger siblings feel a lot negligible after Naofumi buys them. After all, Fohl continues to train and train while Atla could be the dangerous one. Oh you know, she doesn’t bat an eyelid into doing adult stuffs with Naofumi, if I should go so far as to say that. Oh Raphtalia, you’ve got a rival in this context. So better keep your eyes peeled (pun not intended) for this little white tiger girl because who knows when she’ll snatch Naofumi from under your noses. Considering her character, it’s not possible. And then we have Sadeena to add more offensive firepower to the group but for now it seems she is playing the nanny and taking care of the many young ones at Naofumi’s domain. As mentioned about Rat, she provides science! Period. Then there is the strange entry known as Syne. She’s like the most unwelcomed member in Naofumi’s group. Always tagging along and trying to prove herself, hoping Naofumi’s goodwill will accept her. She looks pitiful enough of wanting to just be accepted. There are a lot of mysteries surrounding her origins (especially her strange way of talking because some words are censored by interference) and for all we know, she could be like another Kizuna.

Speaking of Kizuna, I guess with last season solving her world’s problems, she won’t be appearing anymore alongside L’Arc, Therese and Glass? Because of that, this is the reason why Raph-chan became the pet mascot and hangs around Naofumi. Like as though a memento and keepsake that they were real. Going to Kizuna’s world was not a dream. Yeah, losing Ost wasn’t a dream either. And so with this little critter, it’s like a reminder of last season’s fling. Speaking of pet mascot, looks like now we have Gaelion who is going to be another pain in the ass in terms of rivalry for Filo. Yeah, this loli sure has a lot on her plate. Motoyasu’s harassment and now a Pokemon reject going to steal Naofumi’s attention. Oh well, competition is healthy. I hope.

Action scenes are still decent but I have to admit even at this point I am still lost at what kind of shield gives what kind of powers or abilities. Uhm, what does the meteor shield do again? I am so ashamed. Yeah, there’s a bunch of them in Naofumi’s arsenal. But I noticed that Naofumi didn’t very much go into his cursed mode and even so, just once against the Emperor Dragon. Shows that there weren’t formidable enemies enough to make him go all out like that. In a way it is good because would you rather see him get mad and pay the price from using such cursed skills or using others that are more powerful and surpassing the need for such quick fix? I’ve got a feeling the beasts attacking this world are of the 4 heavenly beings. Oh you know, the tortoise, phoenix, tiger and dragon. My guess the Emperor Dragon here only serves as a warm up and this beast will be the ultimate and toughest final Wave our heroes will have to face yet. But that’s for another time. Assuming I am correct. On a trivial note, seeing others like to hit on Naofumi’s village, I feel this is going to be some sort of running joke as some houses get destroyed and it looks like some parts will always eternally be in state of repairs. Oh well, at least it keeps those kids busy.

Art and animation are still consistent and this time I didn’t notice much downgrade during the fight scenes. But still the use of CGI especially on the Emperor Dragon. Yeah, last season’s CGI on the Spirit Tortoise was weird. However the fight with the Emperor Dragon in the cave was dark so in a way, it cleverly hides the CGI flaws. But still looking weird if you ask me. Especially Gaelion who is mostly animated in CGI but thankfully doesn’t break the series as a whole.

New seiyuus this season include Ami Koshimizu as Sadeena, Konomi Kohara as Atla (Chika in Kaguya-sama Wa Kokurasetai), Kouhei Amasaki as Fohl (Kirill in Double Decker! Doug & Kirill), Hana Hishikawa as Wyndia (Yui in Delicious Party Precure), Satsuki Kokubu as Rat and Maria Naganawa as Syne (Kanna in Kobayashi-san Chi No Maid Dragon). Once again, Madkid sings this season’s opener, Sin. Can’t say I like this rock and hip hop infused with dubstep music, which somewhat feels like a downgrade from last season’s opener because that rock music somewhat reminds me and fits to be a spinoff BGM for the retro hit first person shooter game, Doom! Serious! Chiai Fujikawa who sang last season’s ending theme is also retained for this season’s ending song, Suki Ni Natte Wa Ikenai Riyuu. Is it me or does this rock song has similar vibes to last season? But if you want something cute, special ending for episode 4 has Filo singing the idol-like Kirakira Kyu that will definitely make your heart go ~kyun if you are a lolicon and chicken lover. Heh.

Overall, I can’t say that I am totally impressed with this season because it feels like a detour and a season to see how Naofumi gathers up his comrades for the next big fight. Yeah, if they suddenly jumped into fighting the phoenix, I’ll be b*tching why they skipped a lot of material and get confused! After all there are still a lot of intriguing mysteries in this world like that Faubrey legend especially some hints about that fallen king, Aultcray Trash. Then there are those vassal weapons that adds to more interested. Oh, what’s this I found on the internet about a sewing kit vassal weapon???!!! Not surprising as we had a fishing rod for Kizuna the last time. I hope there’s none in the form of a dildo. WTF did I just say???!!! Hey, at least I didn’t let all the anger from last season built up. Was I even angry then? Nah. A major improvement in handling my emotions better? Nah. I was pointing my disappointment at other disappointing animes of the season. You got lucky this time, Shield Hero S3!

Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari: Dantoudai Kara Hajimaru Hime No Tensei Gyakuten Story

Oh no desu wa! OH NO DESU WA!!! Not again! Not another of that doomed villainess flag anime!!! You better believe it is but wait. Something slightly different about Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari: Dantoudai Kara Hajimaru Hime No Tensei Gyakuten Story. At least this is not a video game and that some hapless person working in a black company dies and gets reincarnated into it as the villainess. Phew. But still, it is that villainess theme whereby the princess of a fantasy world who has been executed for her crimes for being indifferent and apathetic over her citizens. She happily indulged in luxury while they were wallowing in misery. However right at the moment of her death, she gets a second chance and goes back in time. So in order to avoid all that pain of guillotine decapitation, she is more than prepared to work hard and her ass off just to avoid that doom ending. You bet the pain of death sucks more than the pain of hardworking (of sore muscles and headaches). This must be one of those rare instances where we learn from the past and improve ourselves or do better, right? Uhm, rather learn from the future? Better get your ass off and start working if you know what’s good for you, desu wa!

Episode 1
A kingdom in rebellion. Princess Mia Luna Tearmoon has been thrown into prison. For 3 years she endured such misery and her last day in her cell means she will now be facing the chopping block. Yes, it’s off with her head with this guillotine. And it comes down hard. Next thing she knows, she is in bed but reverted to her 12 year old self. She thought it was all a dream but realizes the bloodied diary she has been keeping during her imprisoned days is still here. It’s real! As she goes to eat, her servants are afraid of her. However she finds the food served to be delicious even if it is the vegetables she hated and ate during her imprisonment. It tastes so good! Mia is mindful as she remembers she fired this chef many years later for serving her foods she didn’t like. The servants find it strange she didn’t get mad. Then a she is about to have her cake, clumsy maid Anne Littstein drops it. She tries to control her anger but blows her top when that’s the last cake for today. Back to her usual self, the servants are relieved?! But Mia soon realizes who Anne is. During her imprisonment, she was the only one who never failed to visit her and comb her hand. Mia then felt ashamed she couldn’t repay her kindness and could only say thank you. Before her execution, they hugged as Anne prayed for heaven to protect her. Now Mia designates Anne to be her personal handmaid and won’t have it any other way. Mia goes through her diary as she recalls the events that led to that fateful day. In a few years, Tearmoon Empire’s finances will deteriorate, the people will go into famine while Mia couldn’t care less about the outside world and enjoyed her sheltered princess life inside the palace. Mia needs to avoid that revolt but she has no clue on how to deal with politics and economics. Oh well, better try harder now that she has been given a second chance. She soon remembers a loyal retainer other than Anne. However she never addressed his real name in the diary save for the nickname she gave him: 4 eyed dour nerd who was sent off to the provinces. He is a civil servant who tried hard to balance Tearmoon’s finances.

Episode 2
Mia remembers her beef with Ludwig Hewitt. He tried to warn her that her hefty food expenses was what drained Tearmoon’s finances. Of course then, she wasn’t too happy about it. So she confronts him about this and stuns him about the current finance problems the empire is facing. Though, mostly are borrowed words from her future self. He is taken in by her consideration for the finances and pledges to his loyalty to help her in any way regarding financial matters. Mia soon notices the change in history, some entries in her diary have also changed. But still the guillotine ending! Try harder. Knowing an epidemic will soon spread, she takes her loyal retainers to visit a poverty stricken area of the empire. While the dilapidated conditions and stink may put anyone off, Mia is used to worst conditions during her imprisonment. With many people here malnourished and starving to death, the only way for Mia is to sell this very expensive hairpin ornament of hers. Such generosity! She’ll put it to good use. After all, it’ll get stolen in the future anyway. With the funds, Mia is able to order the construct of a new hospital that starts treating the people. One of them is Eris who is Anne younger sister born with a frail body. The girls visit her and soon Mia learns that she is an author. But does this story sound familiar? Anne often read this story in her cell. Although Mia was captivated and looking forward to the next chapter, the story was unfinished as Eris died. Now Mia wants to hire Eris as her author. However Eris refuses, thinking she is doing so out of favouritism. She wants to do it on her own merit. Mia shows she is passionate about Eris’ story by narrating it. Well, perhaps too much spoilers because how does she know the parts Eris hasn’t written yet! Oh dear! Luckily Eris accepts Anne’s thinking that Mia could see where the story is going. With that, Eris accepts the job and Mia hopes to see the conclusion of her story.

Episode 3
Mia attends a school for royals and nobles: Saint Noel Academy. She remembers there are 2 individuals whom she must stay away at any cost: Sion Sol Sunkland, the first prince of Sunkland Kingdom and Tiona Rudolvon, the daughter of a lower noble family. You see, previously Mia had a crush on Sion but he had eyes on Tiona instead. This made Tiona the object of bullying for years. So when Tearmoon was under revolt, Tiona led the rebels along with Sion to dethrone the empire. Then she sees a few nobles trying to bully Tiona protecting her maid, Liora. Mia didn’t want to get involved but with Anne believing she will step in, Mia is forced to as she tells off those b*tches and sends them scooting off. Tiona is impressed although Mia quickly takes her leave. Sion has also been watching this and is very much impressed. At school, Mia stumbles into Rafina Orca Belluga, the eldest daughter of a duke who serves the holy ruler of Belluga in which where Saint Noel is located. Previously Mia tried to get close to her but was often shrugged off. Mia may have her reservations but it seems Rafina is being friendly with her now. And then talking about the ball, Mia realizes she forgot that humiliating incident. A ball was held to welcome new students. She was waiting Sion to choose her as her partner but dang, he chose Tiona! Imagine having to attend the ball all by herself without a partner. Humiliating indeed! Now Mia assigns Anne to help think of romantic strategies. She targets Abel Remno, the second prince of Remno Kingdom and her classmate. She thinks it would benefit her since Remno is situated across Sunkland and can be Tearmoon’s shield. She drops her handkerchief for him to pick up. He didn’t. He goes flirt with another girl! Worse, Sion picks it up! Mia hides but Tiona can tell it is Mia’s handkerchief. Sion wants Mia to be his partner for the ball. She doesn’t want to offend him and reject him but manages to find an excuse to get away. That is, she goes to see Abel being taken away by his brother, Gain who slaps him for being pathetic. He tells Abel to train himself in swordsmanship if he wants to pick up chicks. That is when Mia butts in and claims Abel was asking her to be his partner at the ball. Got a problem with that?

Episode 4
Mia also uses this chance to reject Sion since she already has a partner. She relishes in this rejection. While Abel is grateful for this, he feels he can’t live up to her expectations. In that case, train hard to achieve it. Since she believes he can surpass Sion and Gain, Abel now has more confidence. During the ball, Mia stuns everyone with her minimal dressing. Her original dress was sneezed upon by a horse so they’ll have to make do. You boys jealous? As she dances with Abel, many girls think she isn’t a good dancer. On the contrary, she is dancing in a way to match Abel’s level. But after that, Abel lets Sion dance with Mia. Both are so good that they enthral the crowd. Those who continue to disbelief are being told off by Rafina how such captivating dance is only possible when both partners are skilled. Meanwhile Anne is out shopping when Liora seeks her help. Tiona is kidnapped in that tower. Luckily Keithwood (Sion’s bodyguard) heard it all and offers to help. After taking down the guards, they find Tiona safe. Apparently she got a letter stating her dress has been stolen and must come here if she wants it back. Of course when she arrived, it is all messed up and she got locked up as a measure to prevent her from attending the ball. Keithwood thinks Mia is behind this since her family crest is found. Of course the girls brush it off that Mia would do such a thing. Anne gives her money to get Tiona a new dress. She makes it in time to the ball and hands a letter from Keithwood explaining everything. He too doesn’t believe Mia is behind this. As Abel is still low on self-confidence, Mia offers to teach him dancing so he can be of Sion’s level. Later Mia is shocked to learn what happened from Anne. If she doesn’t take action, she’ll earn Rafina’s ire. Hence she summons some of her attendants who were behind this. Instead of using her own values to judge them, she will have them blame on Rafina instead. She reasons they are not in their kingdom so they can’t do as they please. This matter will have them expelled but Mia will go talk to Rafina. Now she’s scared sh*t on what Rafina would do. However Rafina reasons Mia’s actions to let the offenders reflect and learn as suitable and is quite impressed. Mia doesn’t understand what’s going on but she’s on board with it. Even better because Rafina now wants to be friends with her!

Episode 5
Chloe Forkroad is a daughter of a trader and is very shy. Basically she has trouble making friends. Until Mia wants to be friends with her as she claims she is also a book reading enthusiast like her. Mia then goes to see Lin Malong of the equestrian club. Yeah, she thinks of getting better in her horse riding skills to run away faster from the rebels! Can a horse outrun a guillotine? You bet. Since Abel is also here to learn horse riding, Malong has him teach Mia. And so they ride together, Mia being a little scared upon realizing the horse a little higher than expected but gets used to it. But she fools around and causes her to fall. Luckily she falls on Abel and with this close proximity, both start to feel that strange prickly thing in their heart. My, bashful aren’t we? Mia thought with these events, it would change history. Nope. Guillotine ending still. With the sword tournament coming up, Mia once cooked a lot for Sion but was turned out. She ended up eating them all herself and alone. Such sad memories. Now she goes to ‘secure’ Abel as her lunch partner. But she hits a dead end when all the places are fully booked because of the tournament. Will she end up eating alone again? Anne suggests they can cook themselves. Well, both can’t. What about Chloe? She only read it from books. But it’s good enough. Anne then finds one who can really cook: Tiona. Oh dear. She sounds like she cuts vegetables like a guillotine! But Mia hatches a silly plan to poison the food and take both princes down? Keithwood hears Sion wanting someone to make lunch for him for the tournament. Then he finds out from Tiona about the group lunch and since she is willing to make some for Sion, Keithwood will inform him. Then as Mia and Abel hang out, he laments it’s a shame he can’t be the only one who east Mia’s lunch. Because that would probably give him the strength he needs to beat Sion. Mia realizes too late the high expectations surrounding her lunch…

Episode 6
Keithwood has a bad feeling so he goes check on the girls cooking. What’s this? Mia created a huge horse shaped bread?! Tiona cut loads of vegetables? Liora had an open campfire cooking meat? Chloe going to follow the recipe book to a T despite wrong?! Yeah, better put your foot down and take charge! No buts! With his guidance, lunches are saved. During the festival, Mia accidentally eats something spicy. Luckily Abel is nearby to give her some water. Gain then interrupts them as he mocks Mia’s wasted lunch. This is because Gain will be Abel’s first round opponent and he expects his little brother to lose. Instead of antagonizing Gain, Mia continues to cheer for Abel. The first round matches begin. The brothers face off. Gain continues to mock him but when he goes too far mocking Mia, Abel will not allow that to slide. He powers up and unleashes a move that scares the daylights out of him? Anyway he won. During lunch, Mia is impressed with Abel and rewards him with this horse shaped sandwich. But Mia isn’t impress when Sion’s side comes to join them. The guys renew their rivalry while Mia’s attempts to get praised for her sandwich is ignored. Soon it is Abel vs Sion. Both sides analyse each other’s attacks and try to get the advantage. In the end when both go in for the decisive blow, the referee stops the match because IT IS RAINING???!!! WTF?! Are kids not waterproof?! Sion and Abel promise to have their rematch another day. Wait. This isn’t continuing?! What kind of tournament is this?! Later Mia goes to praise Abel and how close he was to beating Sion. You can tell she is frustrated and blames the rain. Well, it could be her own doing because in her previous life after Sion rejected her lunch and being all alone for the tournament, she started cursing the weather and hoped it rained to deny Sion his victory. Yeah, she got her wish a lifetime late.

Episode 7
With the break, Mia returns to her kingdom. Noticing that food shortage is still a problem, she decides to make some friends to import wheat from overseas. She summons Chloe’s father, Marco to make a deal with him to import wheat at fixed prices. At first Marco is reserved seeing there is no benefit for him and this could be a test from the princess. But with Ludwig ironing out the details, Marco realizes he can profit high from this. Don’t really understand but everyone misunderstands Mia’s intention and hence everything wraps up nicely. Mia visits the slums and sees it is doing fine. The boy she saved gives her a unicorn hairpin in return. She realizes too late he is from the Lulu tribe. That is one of the tribes that came into conflict with the empire that led to her beheading. Since Mia cannot have nothing to do with it, the only way is to befriend them. Meanwhile because of the ambiguous borders, Viscount Berman tried to develop the swath of forest where the Lulu tribe lives to expand his land. Of course they resisted so he bribed the military to invade. Luckily the commander, Dion Alaia refrained from such foolish act and had his men stationed there ever since. Because of that, Berman goes to see Mia about this and wants permission to develop the forest and immediately she wants to visit it now. Mia knows the true dangers from her past life. When she forcefully developed the forest, its area is next to Tiona’s land and that’s partly the reason their relationship soured. When she sees Dion, immediately she faints from shock! Well, he was the one who decapitated her!!! After she regains her composure, it seems Ludwig has this idea of having Mia walk through the forest to see what is going on herself. But she trips on the roots and in her anger, kicks the stupid tree. Oh well, that is desecration for the Lulu tribe as they shoot their arrows! Mia orders the full evacuation of the army to guide her back safely to her palace. Berman is not pleased the development is called off as Mia will speak to her father further about the land. Later it seems Dion knows Mia being disrespectful was all an act. By doing so, it gives the guards stationed there an excuse to withdraw. Mia realizes she dropped her hairpin in the forest. Oh dear. Fearing the guillotine revolution, she must get it back at all cost!

Episode 8
Dion is willing to escort Mia to the forest to retrieve her hairpin. Wow. Alone with the guy who executed her. Must be fun, huh? As they head to the area where she dropped it, Dion then calls out the Lulu tribe who has been watching them. The chief wants to know where she got this hairpin since it is a present she gave to his wife who then gave it to her daughter. Mia explains how she got it and apologizes that his daughter has died. While the tribe calls it all lies, Liora tries to vouch for Mia as a person who wouldn’t do so. Mia then suggests the boy who gave her the hairpin to return here seeing remaining in the slums will do him no good. The chief takes it as she doesn’t want him to do the same mistakes away (his stubbornness was what caused his daughter to ran away and marry a man outside the tribe) and accepts her wisdom. Yeah, Mia had no plan all along except to avoid that guillotine future! Mia returns and has an audience with her father. Make that a very doting father. She requests the forest to be placed under her jurisdiction and so father orders Berman to construct a town and castle next to it. Ludwig wonders if this was the right move seeing Berman will hate Mia even more as he has to build it all out of his own pocket. Surprisingly Berman happily accepts. Ludwig realizes nobles value honour above everything else and is ashamed to have doubted Mia. Would he like to know?

Mia soon receives word about Tiona’s little brother, Cyril. In the past, Cyril’s genius developed some cold resistant wheat in Rafina’s research lab. You bet Mia was frustrated about it. Knowing Tiona’s family has not much money to send him to school and thus wanted her to mediate with Rafina, this time Mia has a plan. She visits the family and makes a good impression before Cyril. Talking to their father, Mia wants Cyril to become the first student in her school that she is building at the forest. This would save them money and distance. In return, Mia wants them to store wheat and distribute them to the people. They can use her name too. This brings much relief to them because the last time they did it, the nobles accused them of treason. So by using her name, it is as though he is under her orders. He is grateful for her compassion and wisdom! Obviously Mia doesn’t understand what’s going on and was only thinking of dumping all the work on them and getting all the credit! As Mia returns home, she is about to check her diary when it disappears! Oh no! How will she know about the guillotine?! Then she realizes, no diary means no guillotine! Yahoo! She’s free from the curse! Time to celebrate! Little does she know, a group of shady men aren’t happy with the progress of Mia and Tearmoon. Whatever plan to have Tearmoon experience famine or breakup Mia with Abel has failed. They decide to change their target.

Episode 9
Mia feels good to be back at Saint Noel. Rafina invites her for tea and she heard about Mia building a school for commoners. At first Mia thought Rafina is displeased but surprise! Rafina is impressed and takes a further liking for Mia. Suddenly Anne barges in with bad news of revolt. Mia’s heart stopped for a while there. Well, the ‘good news’ is that it is not Tearmoon that is revolting but Remno. Gee, that’s Abel’s kingdom, right? As the rest further discuss this, it seems the revolt hasn’t started yet. Because the king wants to raise taxes to maintain his strong army, obviously the people are against it and are hence planning to revolt. Although the Prime Minister Dasayev Donovan is working hard to mediate between the king and people, there is no telling what will happen since the whole kingdom is under great tension. Since Mia is worried about Abel and wants to go there, Chloe can arrange for a merchant caravan there. Sion, Keithwood and Tiona will also come along to keep her company. Anne wants to go too but Mia tells her to stay here and promises to come back. Along the way, bandits attack the caravan. As everyone tries to protect Mia, she falls off. Sion jumps off to save her. Gee, why the rest didn’t jump off too? Sion also saves Mia from drowning. Oh my, CPR time? Well, at least Mia’s first kiss is saved because Sion’s CPR is turning her head sideways and putting his fingers in her mouth to clear up the inside! WTF?! As they camp out, Mia talks to Sion about the possibility of killing Abel depending on the situation. Obviously this is about avoiding her guillotine future but Sion overthinks and believes Mia is trying to say if he has to right to condemn Abel seeing all he knows about Remno’s situation is through the intelligence he obtained and yet he didn’t think about doing anything about it. Could it be that Mia is trying to stop the revolt before Abel does something bad? Just your imagination… Next day, as they continue their journey, Sion notes those bandits aren’t ordinary ones. They are well trained assassins. Gee, if they were after Sion or Mia, why didn’t they jump off then to attack them? Heck, where are they now? They are soon picked up by a hunter named Muzik. Under the pretence that they are lost merchant children, Muzik brings them back to his village for some food. Despite knowing the revolt in the kingdom, those in the outskirts are too busy with their jobs to think about it. Mia finds it odd that although a famine will hit in a few years, a revolt is still happening. Uhm, I thought this was a tax issue?

Episode 10
As Sion and Mia are being guided to the capital, they are being further told about the elite group of knights that serve directly under Remno’s king, Adamant Infantry. If they are used to quell the rebels, there will be a huge massacre. So far word is that they are just on standby. Meanwhile Graham who belongs to Sunkland’s intelligence agency, Wind Crows, is operating under the guise of Remno’s civil servant and trying to decipher this love letter from Mia to Abel. Is this a secret code?! Obviously overthinking… He discusses with his assistant about their failure to bring ruin to Tearmoon and thus they have to accelerate their plans. This includes spreading the word that Donovan has been imprisoned by the king so as to get the people mad and start a rebellion. The king will then deploy Adamant Infantry to massacre them. However there is no movement from that elite group. It seems their commander, Goliar is reluctant to move because he has been given instruction by the king not to lose a single soldier! You know the reputation if a single one dies, right? So yeah, he’s staying put. Further revelation shows that Graham belongs to another group within Wind Crows called Albus and their mission takes priority as he tasks his assistant to spread more fake info. Obviously she is not proud to do that. But after she bumps into Abel and he notes how much Mia has changed him, she too tries to change and writes the truth in her info. As Sion and Mia try to find a transport, Mia is kidnapped by kids! She awakens in their base but their big sister, Lynsha scolds them for trying to extort money from her rather than bringing her to Jem as instructed since Mia is believed to be a threat to their cause. Lynsha introduces herself and it seems she is part of the rebellion that her brother, Lambert who is the leader is taking part of. She wants Mia’s help to stop this rebellion madness and believes Jem is manipulating everyone. Meeting up with Sion (who thinks Mia’s brilliance has the rebel now aligned with her), Lynsha reveals the people’s revolt is not for the taxes to be reduced but the release of Donovan since he has greatly helped the people. Suddenly everyone heads to the mayor’s manor. This is 2 days earlier than planned. Lambert ordered this to rev up everyone to fight against the oppressors. They see Lambert giving a fine speech. Lynsha then draws her brother’s attention and hoping he would hear out Mia.

Episode 11
Lambert actually knows Sion and Mia’s identity. He wants Sion’s support in this rebellion. Sion cautions if his kingdom supports him, there is no way the rebels can hold out since here to the capital is quite far. However Lambert’s plan is to hit their supply lines and divide Adamant Infantry from the capital. Sion then realizes the whole thing is create diversion and confusion. As Remno has the best highways and access compared to other nations, this means their army is better mobilized and that is what the taxes are levied for. While Lambert would trust Sion as his ally, he is unsure of Mia and needs to keep her mouth shut by letting her stay here. But soon word comes in that the military has been deployed to a fortress on one of the highways and the one leading them is Abel. Sion fears Abel has taken this path and wants to go see him to settle the score. He doesn’t want Mia to come along since it is not best for her to witness what comes next. Not wanting to see both sides kill each other, Mia stays firm in coming. Soon both of them have an audience with Abel, much to his surprise. Abel is in a dilemma wondering if Mia came to see him and in worst case, she won’t take his side. Sion suggests continuing their duel. Abel’s right hand man, Bernard advises him not to but Abel decides to accept it to prove his own justice.

So both guys start clashing their swords and Mia becoming their witness. During the duel, Sion asks Abel’s moral compass about sacrificing himself for the rotten royalty. Abel believes order is needed and if it is corrupt, he is to correct it. Of course Sion will not stand for it if that means oppressing his people. Mia tries to get them to stop fighting but they keep on striking at each other. She is sad that just like in her last life, nobody listens to her words. Thankfully it is Dion who comes in between to stop this. Bernard tries to fight Dion for this insolence but Dion’s sword slices off his iron axe! HOW?! With Ludwig and Anne surprisingly here, this brings Mia much relief. But wait. Now she has to address the army? Obviously she is lost for words as she has no plan to even stop all this. She tells the army to turn back. Bernard scoffs at her to let the rebels be. As Mia further analyses the situation that doesn’t add up, she finds it hard to articulate this whole thing is probably set up by someone. Fortunately for her, Bernard thinks from the words she say, someone behind the shadows is trying to divide the nation. Well yeah, you took the words right from her mouth. Even if that is true, they still have to deal with the rebels. And the reduction of taxes will not be entertained. This is when Mia reveals the goal of the rebellion is for the release of Donovan. This shocks many as this is the first time they know about this. But what are the chances he is dead? Well, it’s about time Keithwood and Tiona show up because they relay the good news that he is still alive. Though, technically it is bad news for them.

Episode 12
Sion apologizes to Mia because word is that this insurrection was started by a rogue unit of Wind Crows. This has Mia realize that all this was to make Sunkland look good and she will still have to face the guillotine. All the events that led to Mia being put to the guillotine were actually brought about by those who condemned her. While Abel does not blame Sion and forgives him, Mia still wants to get back at Sion. How? Uhm, she kicks his behind?! For Sion, it didn’t hurt. But he starts thinking this punishment is to make him think and repent his actions. Thus he thanks Mia for opening his eyes. WTF Mia so confused but whatever. As they have found where Donovan is being held, they have Lynsha guide them there. This is where the mastermind behind it all is. And it is no doubt Jem and he is condemning Mia for ruining his plans of starting a chain reaction of collapsing of other nations after Tearmoon. Imagine kids beating grownup bandits as they storm the place. Mia’s clumsiness has her tumble right at Jem’s foot. He takes her hostage despite the rest tells him to give up and Donovan has been rescued. Jem is bitter with his ruined plans so he is itching to decapitate her! Taboo word! Just when everyone thought Mia wet her pants, it is actually the slippery shampoo Anne passed to her earlier. Anne tells Mia to run. She does so but slips. Jem tries to slice her head off but he also slips. In this unbelievable moment, Mia’s tripping has her feet kick his crotch! OMFG! OUCH! And just like that the mastermind is defeated. As all are tied outside, Mia wants their life spared. Jem mocks them for being softies and aren’t afraid of being tortured. Sion and Abel think deeply about Mia’s wish and its implications of letting them live. Of course Mia is doing this to avoid that guillotine ending and the possible conditions that will trigger that. But she is more concerned if these conspirators get the guillotine treatment, what if they get a second chance like her to redo thinks and undo all her efforts! Oh my! Into parallel timelines now, aren’t we?! However Mia thinks hard. She is unlike before. She now has friends. Roll call for our characters. Hence her punishment is suggesting leaving them under Rafina’s care where they’ll get lectured every day for 3 years! A fate worse than death and torture! Jem looking pretty scared now! With the rebellion over, Tiona and Ludwig plead to the king to give clemency to Lambert, Lynsha and other rebels. Back at the academy, Mia has a wonderful picnic with her friends. While her future remains uncertain, she still wants to experience more happiness and for that she will let nothing compromise that or the happiness of her beloved ones.

Be-heading Towards A New Future!
I’m sure as long as Mia doesn’t get the guillotine future, she’ll be more than happy to be, uhm, happy. So don’t need to rush because that future is still a long way off. Take your time and accumulate all the happiness. Even if the guillotine future is inevitable, she can look back and relish that she has given her best. She can die with a smile. NOT! Anything but the chopping board! One beheaded, twice scared! Heh. Sorry, bad pun. But you get the picture. Desu wa.

The story overall seems pretty okay. Basically it is still a villainess themed anime and the bad princess has been given a chance to undo the wrongs of her ways. Yeah, I am starting to feel that this theme is going to be a dirty word, close to being with the dreaded isekai theme up there. And yet I still keep watching them. Anyway, while the plot may sound generic and in a way amusing in its own right, basically the ‘charm’ of this series is seeing Mia fumble and stumble her way through as she desperately tries to avoid her guillotine future. In other words, she only thinks of herself just to avoid that public execution but at the same time she needs to be mindful of her actions so as not to lead back to that doom route. Desu wa.

This is why her actions and thinking may sound like she is being noble. We viewers would of course have seen right through her but as for the rest of the characters who interacted with her, they would start believing her magnanimous words and noble actions. Both sides are not on the same page and the irony that despite their different thinking, they surprisingly arrive at the same conclusion. That’s right. Everyone tends to overthink and on a positive note but I guess that is natural because only a baddie would have sceptical thoughts, right? Mia is after all a princess so it is natural to assume that she would do things for the benefit of her nation. How convenient for such to play out every time. Such a great win-win situation. And Mia doesn’t actually have to do anything about it and it all works out pretty fine in the end. Even more so, earning the nickname the Wisdom of Tearmoon. Yeah, everybody so smart on her behalf, if you know what I mean. Desu wa.

Mia isn’t exactly a princess who has totally turned over a new leaf. Yes, she has changed but not entirely a saint. After her harrowing death experience, any sensible person would definitely be spooked and want to change their ways. So it is good that the guillotine was a wakeup call for Mia to change. However that is only so much about it. Mia changes only because she wishes to avoid that painful experience and nothing else. It’s not like she really cares about everything else, right? Of course she has to at least in this context to avoid that doom. Therefore in this sense that is why I said Mia hasn’t exactly changed into a 100% good person. She is still selfish in wanting to avoid that fate. If not, get back at last life’s humiliation. Desu wa.

But of course and obviously in her bid to do that, she has to bring about some changes and do good. That in a way has benefited many and surprising even some. In short, in her bid to stay alive, she has done tons of work that would put many in such positions to shame! So yeah, there is good and bad about it. But now that her diary has disappeared and nothing else to keep track of her doom flag, I am guessing this would mean Mia will have to work as hard as she us until the day she breathes her last breath! Not a bad thing, though. At least with no ‘guide’ she won’t rest on her laurels and return to square one. So keep working hard. As long as the running joke of her phobia for the guillotine remains high (yeah the guillotine in her mind is some sentient being out to get her!), she’ll be on her toes. Desu wa.

Although the original previous was painted to be someone who doesn’t cares, she isn’t entirely a bad person. She was just selfish in the sense that she doesn’t care about her citizens and only her own wellbeing. Sure, this is also bad only because as a princess, she has her duties and responsibilities. What I’m trying to say is that in some villainess themed animes, the villainess was indeed even crueller than her. If you have seen the one in Lastame, you know what I mean. Mia here doesn’t crave for absolute power nor does she want to manipulate others. She is just simply like a spoilt brat and a very sheltered princess. Sometimes seeing her fate in the future where she languishes in prison and her sluggish outlook that screams void of any life, her face filled with regrets and grief. It is a pity to see her in that state. But have to remind myself that no love lost. She got what she deserved. No wonder the Mia now is so filled with emotions and all. Don’t let the guillotine get ‘ya! Uh huh. Somehow guillotines in her mind can run and chase after her! Yikes! Run like hell!

The one thing that bugged me during this season about Mia is that after being given a second chance, it seemed that a lot of decisions were made by her. So what am I getting at? Uhm, why is she making such important decisions because doesn’t her parents, the king and queen are still alive and supposed to be making the important decisions?! Especially that involves international connections?! Why is a mere young princess calling the shots?! Even more so, helping to quell a rebellion at Remno?! Kids solving Remno’s civil war?! It just doesn’t make sense and at first it seemed like Mia was the only royalty in this second life. Of course subsequently we see her dad the king but the way I see it, he is more like a joker (f*cking hell, I think he almost looks like the Burger King’s mascot!). Sure, he may have been pulling strings in the background and making decisions away from our eyes. I mean, this series is about Mia, right? Why bore us with unrelated stuffs like the life of the king. So yeah, this seems pretty understandable. That is why when Mia ordered the rebuilding of the slums and all, it looked like she was calling the shots. But behind our backs and not seen on screen, she must have confided with her father to take action and do the necessary. Yeah, I think this is more logical. Desu wa.

The other characters are rather okay. As pointed out, because of their overthinking of Mia’s words and actions, they simply elevated Mia’s status into some brilliant and caring princess. At least in this timeline, Mia has made a lot, if not all of these characters as her friends. Whereas originally many of them like Sion and Tiona were her sworn enemies. Better to have them as allies than foes, right? Of course Mia is still haunted by her previous life’s trauma and humiliation from some of them and in a way still keeps her distance and to a certain degree stays wary. Like Rafina who once snubbed her despite Mia’s attempts to befriend her. But now Rafina is like as though her lifelong best friend. Oh my, look at how things have changed.

From another perspective, can I say that this new and current timeline, it is all about Mia amassing allies and friends? Because when you think about it, there are many characters that seemed a bit out of place. Shown for a while and then go into obscurity. Like Elise. You do remember Anne’s sister, right? And Chloe? Felt like her character was just a stepping stone so Mia could forge some alliance with her merchant dad. Remember Cyril? So what about Tiona’s brother becoming Mia’s first student in her school? Oh right. Investing in the future. Even Anne and Ludwig also feel less significant when the season draws to a close. It makes them feel redundant at least for now. By the way if you’re interested, there’s a whole list of allies Mia made in her current timeline if you know where to look for over the internet. Yeah, I’m spoilt already… This includes a whole bunch of nobles named (insert colour here)~moon. Oh my… Don’t see any Goldmoon or Blackmoon character… Desu wa…

There is now even a possibility of a love triangle happening for Mia. Sion and Abel look like potentials to be her partner. At least that is how I viewed it seeing what is a princess’ life without having such royal romance, right? Okay, maybe I am just getting ahead of myself. With Mia being altruistic (although she is actually being selfish), this makes the guys think very highly of her and doing things on her behalf. Like in the final arc for this season in quelling the uprising in Remno, do you not think Sion is tagging along isn’t it for Mia’s sakes? Whatever issue that concerns his kingdom felt like a cover up. He just wants to prove his worth to Mia, right? That is why he is going so far as to challenge Abel and giving excuse that if he has turned bad, he won’t hesitate to cut him down. Isn’t all that for Mia? Or have I been influenced by the overthinking bug???!!! But this version of Mia has definitely changed them. Sion now her close ally and Abel who was once a playboy having multiple partners is now solely focused on and devoted to Mia. Though, he still has a bit of inferiority complex and thinks Sion is better than him in many ways. Well, only way is to improve yourself and be better than Sion. Are you going to let that Sunkland prince take Mia away right from your clutches? Desu wa!

Art and animation are standard. The visuals are mostly bright and livid except of course slum-like areas where it is dark and dirty but otherwise mostly clean and clear visuals. The character designs lean more towards the cute side so the series may give off the impression that it is a show for younger audiences. I mean, just look how cute Mia is, right? Yeah, could be Disney princess material. Not! Oh well, revel in various Mia’s facial expressions like her smug look to her flabbergasted reactions. Desu wa. I also need to mention about the CGI. In short, still bad. I don’t know why but do animators have something against horses? In a few animes that I have seen for the past seasons, it seems the horses have now been given the bad CGI treatment. They look so unreal. Like, WHY?! Do you not like horses?! Even so, why the crappy CGI quality?! Please, no more sh*tty CGI especially for horses! This series is done by veteran Silver Link who did Masamune-kun No Revenge, Strike The Blood, Kokoro Connect, Hamefura, Non Non Biyori, Jahy-sama Wa Kujikenai and Isekai Shokudou.

For the voice acting, I only recognized Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Abel and Yuuichirou Umehara as Ludwig. Yeah, these guys sound the same as always. Because I barely could for Nao Touyama as Rafina and Rie Takahashi as Chloe. The rest of the other casts are Sumire Uesaka as Mia (Sanae in Chuunibyou Demo Koi Ga Shitai), Shun Horie as Sion (Kazuya in Kanojo Okarishimasu), Kanon Takao as Tiona (Hermit in Edens Zero), Toshiki Masuda as Keithwood (Kirishima in Boku No Hero Academia), Tomori Kusunoki as Anne (Makima in Chainsaw Man), Fuko Saito as Liora (Shiina in Angel Beats), Makoto Furukawa as Dion (Shirogane in Kaguya-sama Wa Kokurasetai), Haruka Shiraishi as Lynsha (Asirpa in Golden Kamuy), Wataru Katou as Lambert (Touka in Yuusha Ga Shinda), Toshinari Fukamachi as Gain (Hajime in Arifureta) and Yuuki Tamai as Donovan. The opening theme is sung by Mia herself, Happy End Princess (you mean it’s not Desu Wa?!). A lively denpa song that reflects all the bubbliness and spunky that our princess has to offer. Amusing to see the myriad of her funny faces in the animation. Desu wa. As for the ending theme, Queen Of The Night by KanoeRana starts off slowly like a song for a tropical beach before turning into a dramatic piece.

Overall, despite the usual villainess trope, this series is also mainly about politics. Thankfully they are not very heavy that will give casual viewers any major headaches. Still, fun and enjoyable watch only because of the different intentions of the characters that miraculously works out fine in the end. All the time. Not even God can perform such consistent and consecutive miracles. Heh. Yeah, can’t hate a cute princess with such smug looks too, right? Desu wa. So keep working hard for everybody and yourself to avoid that decapitating future. Yes, working hard for the sake of the people and dying on the job AKA work till you die still beats dying in a revolution. Like how most of us are in today’s reality… :’(. So uhm, Tearmoon… Tears for Fears (concept of expression that tears are a healthy way to help release fears)? Better than turning into Tears of a Kingdom! Desu wa!