It’s time to get a little serious, and that means some real questioning of how the two sides of these demons line up.
What They Say:
In the aftermath of the cave-in, Emi sees a side of Maou that doesn’t jibe with the demonic king she knew in Ente Isla. Meanwhile, everyone sees a side of the landlady that nobody could have expected…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Although the pattern of the series so far should indicate what kind of episode we’d be in for this time, it’s still a little bit surprising to see just how serious everything this here. There’s still some comic relief, but that’s all it is at this point: comic relief in an otherwise serious story, rather than just being a comedy with some pinches of plot to keep itself together. As the series has shown over the past few episodes, it’s very good at pulling off both sides of this dynamic, but when we’re forced to take it all this seriously, it does mean we have to look at some of the sillier ideas we’ve been laughing at until now in a more rational light and see if it holds up.
Obviously the big joke of the series is that the most horrible demons from the fantasy world are totally likeable and largely pathetic everymen once they get to modern Japan. This works very well when they’re comically struggling to adjust to a foreign society and working crappy jobs to get by, but when the series shows us flashbacks of Emilia’s past and reminds us that these men are in fact terrible mass murderers who are to blame for all the tragedies of their world and its inhabitants, the series really has to offer some kind of answer to bridge the gap between these two very different personalities. Fortunately, Emi does pose this question to Maou not long after it becomes a real issue in judging him as a character in a serious light, and although he can’t really come up with an answer when put on the spot like that, and it’s a little angering to hear him brush it off so casually, the running theme of humanity sinking into the nonhuman characters is clearly at work here. An earlier scene in this episode showing Emi acknowledging this phenomenon sets this up nicely, and ultimately Emi’s questioning of Maou is interrupted before she can get (justifiably) aggressive toward him, bringing an even clearer introduction of the main plot and antagonist than ever before, something that will clearly allow for this self-questioning to develop more naturally than it could from a simple sit-down chat.
The previous episode also brought Chiho into the more fantastical side of the story, and I was a little surprised to see how they connected that into the story in way that actually made quite a bit of sense. The cop that Maou used magic on was Chiho’s father, and because of that, the voice was able to reach her. It does sound a bit contrived in writing, but seeing it come together in the episode, as well as Maou’s realization of how it worked, felt slightly smarter than I expected. Along with revealing exactly who the primary antagonist is, this episode also shows that pretty much everyone with a name has some connection to the fantasy world, as even the landlady knows everything that’s going on. It all works pretty well for now, but the series is leaving itself with a lot to sort out in the future.
In Summary:
Things get far more serious in this episode than ever before, but it’s still handled pretty well. Some real moral questions have to be posed now, and it stays pretty on top of that, transitioning from the silly to the emotional without losing too much momentum. We also learn exactly what we’re dealing with, and it should serve well to bring out more of this internal conflict.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Toshiba Satellite L655-S5191 PSK2CU-1C301U Notebook PC.