The fight against the 6 Holy Knights takes a curious turn as the fight will be done via… volleyball?
What They Say:
The sport for Ishiyama’s showdown with the 6 Holy Knights has been decided… It’s volleyball! Kunieda is all ready to start practice when a mysterious transfer student arrives… Actually, it’s Hilda, who for some reason has decided to get involved… But can she find a way to actually get the guys motivated to practice?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Sometimes Beelzebub can go in completely left field movements, which is part of its charm. This one has things starting to move forward for the gang as they’re going to go up against the 6 Holy Knights and out of the blue, Hilda has decided to get involved in the match. Part of it can be attributed to the fact that she’s basically just watching out for Beel himself, but sometimes she just wants to have fun herself. And she’s made sure to cross all her t’s and dot her i’s as she’s a formal student there now, coming in as a cousin. Even worse is that Alaindelon has enrolled as well, though in a different class. It’s comical because both of them have tight fitting uniforms, just for very different reasons.
Hilda brings some real fun to the show as she’s intent on getting everyone trained for the volleyball game that they’re going to have to play. While some of the Holy Knights aren’t keen on match since they just want a fight, Hilda has plenty of incentive to get them set up for the match itself. She’s gotta have her bit of fun first though as she deals with the other girls in school who are quite upset about her arrival. Or more specifically, the arrival of her assets as they definitely stand out. It’s not exactly the Gainax Bounce, but she brings something considerable to the table in a school girl uniform that shouldn’t be allowed. But should be.
With Alaindelon taking on the role as the power behind the team that will rally them together, he shows off how the training is going for the 6 Holy Knights. It’s not all that impressive, though I loved that they did it in old film style with all the dirt and scratches, but everything that they say there just inspires the gang to really take up the charge to go against them. Punks they may be, they can still be motivated to really put all their effort into it. With everyone doing the training, it’s a lot of fun in a basic sports way since you have such a varied cast and some get to really show off like Hilda. The best moment though comes when Himekawa changes his hair style from the big overdone punk version we’ve always seen him as to something a bit more mellow and relaxed, causing him to look like a radically different person. It’s just a priceless moment for the character with all the reactions.
In Summary:
With this episode being a sports setup where you have all the punks from Oga’s side of the equation getting their training on, there are plenty of obvious moments that are worked over. What helps is that there’s enough quirks to it all because of the cast and their situation and the inclusion of people like Hilda and Alaindelon to make it stand out and not feel trite and overdone. While it’s not a big episode and one you can write off easily, it does have a good number of laughs to it and it gets some non-school characters involved for a bit. It’s the small moments that won me over though, such as Aoi’s confidence growing and Himekawa getting into the right mindset to play. And Furuichi pleading with the camera not to pan lower to show that he was sitting on the toilet before Alaindelon kidnapped him.
Grade: B-
Streamed 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.
