Anyone who loves gag manga can’t be bad.
What They Say:
“Demi-chans Want to Learn”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The midterm results are out! This isn’t something that has been talked about or that we should especially care about, but the reason for its inclusion is the revelation that, in addition to the expected realities of Hikari being a terrible student and her little sister being one of the best and brightest, Machi is not far behind Himari, and it turns out she’s a being as rare as a dullahan: a student who likes studying! After a bit of fooling around, Hikari eventually knocks a book out of Yuki’s bag in a scene that suggests more significant things to come. Perhaps the book is important in some way, perhaps Yuki won’t find it for some time, perhaps someone else will find it and that person viewing its contents will cause some problems for Yuki, or some combination.
As it turns out, nothing of the sort happens. Yuki immediately realizes that it’s gone, Sakie immediately finds it, and Yuki immediately finds Sakie and gets her book back. There’s nothing special about it; it’s just a volume of a manga, which leads to a simple discussion between the two about silly gag manga and the like. The point of this conversation is to reveal Yuki’s love for such comedy and other passions that she tries to keep secret, as we’ve already gotten some idea of from time spent with her thus far. They’re all traits that make her a lot more likable and easy to connect with, which is a good addition to her character as most of her role had served as being sympathetic, and her happier outlook on life since her focus episode has caused that to fade almost entirely. She interestingly seems to like steamy adult romance as much as humor, but the latter is definitely the most prominent, as even the slightest pun has her struggling to hold back her laughs. It’s a scene that is generally fun to watch, hits its comedic peak, and then unfortunately keeps going to the point of dragging a bit too much, but it doesn’t go so far as to be truly annoying. In addition to learning about Yuki, we also get a look at Sakie’s younger years, which must’ve inevitably been very difficult times for a succubus surrounded by horny creeps, but the resolution to her flashback is a spectacular display of her strength even from a young age.
In between some studying sessions, Hikari has a talk with Takahashi that leads into a ranking of whose arms she’d most like to bite into. It’s a weird thing, but occasionally we have to be reminded that our main monster girl is in fact a monster girl and not just a typical hyperactive teenager. She gives grades to a few and tries comparing as many as possible to normal human foods, but the main point is just to give Takahashi a failing grade as her form of revenge. It’s not the most interesting scene, but it’s good to have Hikari in this position, as several others might’ve been drooling over Takahashi’s bear-like arms enough to induce some thorough eye-rolling. Sakie is the only main character not included for some reason (she may not have been comfortable with showing enough skin with Takahashi around for Hikari to properly judge), but Takahashi does ask where she would rank, leading to his own train of thoughts eventually culminating in the one line he says out loud that makes him sound like someone cut from the same cloth as the guy from Sakie’s flashback. She would’ve loved to hear him say it, though.
In Summary:
At this point, episodes can sometimes pass without anything really happening, but this has always been a very passive show that lives and dies on its characters’ personalities without much drama necessary. Hikari’s segment wasn’t the best, but Yuki and Sakie both had good moments.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Roku 3, Sceptre X425BV-FHD 42″ Class LCD HDTV.
