A date between Erica and Godou can only lead to fun. And action. No, not that kind!
What They Say:
A maiden has come willingly to join Godou’s ranks, but his currents Knights have other plans.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With all that’s happened as of late, getting some downtime from events isn’t a bad thing overall. Godou has gotten into a bit of a routine after everything that has happened and is dealing with the girls and their quirks. Thankfully, they’re not really all that bad and there doesn’t even seem like a whole lot or really any kind of bad blood between any of them. There’s this sense of acceptance of things and not rushing any situation, which makes things amusing when Seishuun arrives and pledges herself to him and the three women he’s already tied to. She’s perfectly fine with the polygamy aspect of it all (though polyamory is a better approach), but Godou isn’t exactly thinking along those lines and just considers them all friends, even after all that has happened.
The episode spends a lot of time with the girls just being girls, though there’s some layer of tension to things because of Yuri. While Erica hasn’t seem particularly interested in Godou in a romantic way, Liliana is definitely feeling the burn from it all and has some unpleasant looks in general about the way the situation is going on. The tension between her and Yuri is pretty strong since Seishuun made things more difficult but it’s fun to see that it’s Erica that’s the one that goes and monkey’s with the situation, trying to get everyone on the same page and figure out what’s what. Her solution of course is to go on a date with Godou and let the others know about it.
The date the two go on is pretty fun overall, once you get past some of her strong arm tactics at the first. They go through some of the expected stuff in a nice montage, but there’s also a bit of clarity to things such as going back to where they first met at sunset, which provides for some good atmospheric stuff that helps to solidify their relationship in a way that makes sense. Erica’s personality is one that I like as it allows for feelings to be dealt with in a rather mature way while still ensuring there’s fun to be had with awkward situations. While this does dominate the episode, we do get some action towards the end as Seishuun goes after them and fights them both, which provides for a minor reveal about her power that’s not bad and opens up a few more possibilities.
In Summary:
With Erica having been a bit player for most of the recent arc of the series, a fact that I actually liked a lot even as I find her to be a strong character that I like, it’s good to see her commanding more of the stage here this time around. Having her and Godou go on a date as she attempts to figure out what the problem is within the group socially after the arrival of Seishuun and the way Liliana’s feelings have changed is definitely worthwhile and adds a fun element to it overall. Giving over a good part of the episode to the date and just letting them have fun is a big plus, even if you knew it was going to end with some action between Erica and Seishuun. I’m curious to see where it wants to go next and rather liked this episode as it builds up a few areas and works the cast nicely.
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.
