The truth about Asuha comes out and Naoya has quite a lot to say to the Queen about it.
What They Say:
Mercelída sneaks into the manor to try to at least take a peak at Lotte sleeping, but she runs into Naoya. Naoya finds out something amazing–that Mercelída is actually someone extremely interconnected to Asuha and himself. Naoya states there something he must tell Mercelída and decides to take Asuha to go see her, but it’s not a simple matter to sneak into the castle to see her, so seeking advice from Judit, he somehow ends up in possession of a maid uniform and…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the revelation of what Asuha’s parenthood is, Astarotte’s Toy unfortunately enters that very creepy zone where we have to grapple with the fact that Astarotte’s mother is also Asuha’s mother, through Naoya’s interaction with her. That in itself isn’t a bad thing, but when you consider how young Naoya must have been when she came to the Realm of Man in order to use him for her pleasure, it’s… well, it’s every boys dream and every adults nightmare to see happen. It’s one of those situations where the older the viewer is, the more likely it’s going to make them somewhat uncomfortable for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately for the people involved, Asuha’s mother feels offended by how Naoya accuses her of what she’s done in a way and that has put a wedge in the middle of everything, especially when she was simply happy to see him and her daughter.
Because of how things are left, Naoya is “forced” into a situation by Judit in order to see Mercelida by sneaking into her residence. That’s not a bad idea overall, though conceivably it’d be worth seeing if they could just go and see her straight out, but doing it this way has Naoya and Asuha dressing up as maids in order to hide who they are. And if there’s one thing a show loves to do, it’s to cosplay and cross dress. Thankfully, with the way Astarotte’s Toy has worked so far, it doesn’t take it too far by making it a wacky adventure, though Naoya does get felt up by one of the staff there since she knows that Naoya’s a guy right from the start but has a bit of fun in finding out. Even better is that Naoya and Merce actually do have quite a good conversation about events from the past as Naoya has figured out why Asuha was brought back to him to be cared for as he’s gotten a good idea how the royals are played against each other here.
The series does take some time to bring some resolution to the events that played out in the previous episode as well with the parental visits, which was the source of much angst for Lotte. With a number of parents having missed out on the party because of things that adults have to do sometimes, including the Queen, having her show up and make it an extended visitation day for the day at school earns her some good recognition from the students, but it also helps to reinforce the relationship with Lotte. The two haven’t had it easy for obvious reasons over the years, but sometimes even the small things can make a huge difference for both parent and child when it comes to connecting. And Merce really comes across well here as she avoids a lot of the stereotypes. In fact, that’s what’s continuing to help this series be so charming when it should be one of the creepiest shows of the season.
In Summary:
Astarotte’s Toy continues to charm me even though it’s the kind of show that should make you cringe a lot. Much of what we have in this show is slow moving and charming as it lets events unfold at a relaxed rate, which is a big plus since often this kind of material is given to over exaggerated effects and character types. It also stands against the sea of familiar shows by having the characters not only make revelations early on, but actually talks about them and has conversations that are real, within the confines of a 24 minute show of course. You come away liking everyone and it manages to overpower the cringe inducing moments by having the characters deal with them like adults. Naoya’s past is a hard piece to work with, even more so since he looks so young even in his twenties here, but there’s a calm maturity about him as well that helps to smooth that out. This episode offers up a lot of good stuff all around, from serious to silly, and it made me smile and grin throughout most of it.
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.
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