Nothing sets off Keima like a first edition of a very hard to find game.
What They Say:
Keima and Elsie head to a game store in a neighboring town to buy a certain game. However, there is a very enticing fair at a different store… Keima dispatches Elsie to obtain the game in his stead. Will she succeed… (“Her First Errand”) Haqua shows up because she needs to write a report about the loose soul which was secured a while back. It appears that she wants help writing the report… (“Tea for Three.”)
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While we’ve had plenty of gaming related moments in the show with Keima playing in the background and making comments, games haven’t figured too awful prominently into the series so far where they’re a driving force. This episode rectifies that as Keima gets an email telling him about a first edition release of a game that someone knows he’d be interested in as being available at a store in the next town over, so that means its time for a roadtrip. While it’s initially closed, it gives Keima a chance to check out another story which has Elsie feeling really impressed by the magnitude of it all with the selection. Keima gets even more excited when he discovers there’s a vintage game fair that’s just around the corner.
What’s interesting about the short chain of events here is that it gets Keima interested in having Elsie know more about who he is and the things he likes, which means he gets to go into some visual detail about how the games that he loves through his very amusing worldview, particularly when he goes on and on about the battle between 2D and 3D games. There’s some fun if basic gaming knowledge imparted here but it’s the way it’s done and the setting combined with Keima’s absolute intensity about it all. Amusingly, this gets Elsie to try and get the copy of Love Tears he wants, but there’s so many versions, alternate covers, limited editions and portable versions that she gets overwhelmed. When she ends up just getting an anime version of the game, he can’t help but to realize that it was a given, but it’s a really nice storyline between the two of them in the first half that shows a real softening of their relationship.
The second half brings Haqua back into the picture and there’s a whole lot to like just from that, even if Keima is just completely in the zone with the game he has. Haqua has a bit of a mission to accomplish here by following up on her previous visit and writing a report about it for her superiors. That has her questioning everyone so she can get her story straight, which include some cute little virtual doll sequence that delights Elsie. Considering how Elsie is, you have to wonder if she’s written up any reports at all, but the whole thing in the end allows Keima to question Haqua about the Loose Soul hunting that’s going on and how he can get out of his contract while learning just how sucky of a position he’s in. There’s a certain sympathy you have to have for him with what he’s gotten drawn into with Elsie, though the two do make the whole endeavor a lot of fun.
In Summary:
This episode is a whole lot of fun all around as it just lets the events unfold in a silly way without going too far over the top overall. It really only does in the first half for example with Keima getting all geeky over the games, the fair and so forth. The second half just has the strange high-end games and tracking things to help recreate what happened before so it doesn’t really go over the top in a real way. Without the focus on a new girl here, we instead get an episode that lets Keima shine and have fun, Elsie to have several very good moments and to bring Haqua back for more interaction and answers that only serve to unsettle Keima all the more when it comes to his mission. There’s a lot to like here and it’s all fun, simple and enjoyable. Definitely the kind of break you need between some of these storylines.
Grade: B+
Simulcast By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.