What They Say:
Keima, a high school student, is an avid player of romantic simulation games. He is known on the Internet as the “Divine Capturer” for his legendary skills to “capture” any 2D girl in games. In his real school life, Keima is considered nothing but a gloomy geek with thick glasses.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
One of my favorite characters from the previous seasons gets to get her time in the sun here a bit in the Goddesses arc as Shiori is coping with the idea of something disturbing being within her. Being aware of what’s going on is certainly allowing her mind to run wild with what could possibly be happening, which really does make a lot of sense for a character that has been so completely immersed in novels and literature that you can see her mind working in this direction. Of course, she also has the added curves thrown at her because she’s seen what Keima has been up to as of late with his little crossdressing adventure and it’s just plain, silly fun to see how she thinks and reacts to that while still having under the surface feelings for him based on their original encounter.
Bringing the two of them together for awhile, with Keima still in his dress and eventually back in his wig as they go out for a bit to eat, Shiori finds herself really struggling with being with him for a few different reasons that go back to the core of her. But she also sees something strong growing in her as she builds up the courage to ask him if she can use him as the protagonist in a story that she wants to write. This is a big positive since Keima can use the maxed out emotions that comes from her finishing a story to deal with the “ending story” involving her goddess that’s buried inside. Of course, as much as Shiori wants to write, she can’t even get as far as we saw before and she’s filling up lots of blank pages at this point, which just drives Keima bonkers in a hilarious way.
The time spent between the two as Keima urges her on to write in different ways is really fun to watch, especially as we see a lot of things from Shiori’s point of view as she imagines a version of her protagonist that’s comically animated. Keima’s so earnest in parts of this and really drives through to her in a way that unlocks her heart and opens her up to the goddess inside bit by bit, which is really adorable to watch with the mood and atmosphere set here. Bringing all of it to the story itself works nicely as Keima gets to find a new aspect of her and even though it’s animated in an artsy kind of way, it’s completely appropriate for the story and the characters involved here. All in all, it works beautifully to reinforce the character that is Shiori and to allow her to be expanded upon well here.
In Summary:
Unlike some of the other girls and their goddesses, the one inside of Shiori is just out of reach and kept to a smaller part of the story itself here. The focus is far more on the relationship between Keima and Shiori and it’s just great to watch it unfold since she plays up her archetype well and manages to give it some good depth and exploration throughout. The way her mind works is like many people I know in how they visualize things and seeing how Keima urges the words out of her is just plain fun to watch, but also with some great moments that involve his endgame kissing and reveal of the goddess herself, which helps to nudge the larger storyline along nicely. It’s a fun episode through and through and left me smiling completely.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
