There are many things for Oga to fear and he can now add demon doctors to his list.
What They Say:
With a single blow from Tojo, Oga learns the difference in their strength and dejectedly returns home. Waiting for him there are a former court physician and his assistant from the Demon World. Oga is thrown into his own mysterious mental subconscious in order to grow as the parent of a Demon Lord.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After having a bit of freedom from Beel while Beel was sick and not feeling well, which allowed Oga to get out and about without being shocked, things took a strange turn when Tojo ended up acquiring Beel over his shoulder and proceeded to take down Oga with a single, powerful blow. It’s a difficult moment for Oga since losses aren’t exactly in his nature and having it combined with the loss of Beel, who does look very out of sorts and not exactly bonded to Tojo at this point, only made things much worse. What adds insult to injury though is that when he returns home, Hilda lays into him about abandoning Beel and then introduces him to a Demon World doctor named Lamia who is an assistant to the Court Doctor, a little blob of a character. Lamia, however, is a pint-sized pink haired outgoing young woman who grates on Oga from the start.
Some dialogue does occur about why Beel is going through what he is and how it’s related to some past things as well with him, and it lets Hilda get all superior again with Oga about it all since he’s just not being a good parent to Beel. But even with the illness explained, it doesn’t explain why Beel has latched onto Tojo as much as he has instead of just going for Oga. That explanation does come though and it makes sense in a weird sort of way, which is par for the course with this show, as we learn that through his fever induced haze, when Beel sees Tojo he only really sees Oga. He’s just that out of it in general that it lets such a thing occur. It’s not that Tojo is stronger, but Oga believes that to a large degree because he’s seen Beel attached to him.
Where the show spends a good bit of its time though is with Oga directly as Lamia injects him with a special drug that’s designed to help him re-establish his link with Beel that has been broken because of the illness. Unfortunately for Oga, who isn’t exactly ready to get the link back, it sends him into his own mind with a lot of messing around going on as he has to go on a journey in order to reconnect. But as the doctor informs them, he may not survive said journey as he could get lost along the way and there are various dangers to face. It’s amusing in its own right because it’s kind of a mixture of Candyland and Alice in Wonderland with the style of it all and seeing Oga’s personality going through such an adventure is a good spot of fun.
In Summary:
Beelzebub is about getting things in place here with explanations and information with what’s happened and why everything is in the spot it’s in now when it comes to Beel, Oga and Tojo. Tojo comes across well here overall and has the potential to be an interesting character that’s added to the cast. Most of the focus is one Oga though and that’s important since they’re trying to link him back to Beel. But I really didn’t care for the introduction of Lamia since these kinds of characters really get to me at times depending on the show, and she fits that role here. Still, this episode has its good moments and it’s good that they didn’t wait awhile to really explain what’s going on with Beel. It’s all a bit drawn out in the end though and little truly happens. It’s an important bridging episode for events but it may not excite like most other episodes do.
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.
