Just a short note… Maybe I should move to Twitter for when I don’t have a full article, just an observation. Oh well, mass spoilers below the fold.
Odd speculative point of the week: was the putridly poisonous purple goo (practicing my alliteration but I ran out of p’s) really just a cooking joke, Mihara being mean to Ayumu, or something else entirely? Like a magical elixir. She was really insistent that he drink it. Meanwhile, the Anti-harem is slowly becoming a real harem, and no, the cute girl in the hospital with the crush on Our Hero, is not going to be part of it.
We get some clues to Eu’s world. (Yuko Minaguchi is the fantasy voice this week). First, a semi-friendly megalo shows up, this one based on a doberman. He’s very respectful of Yuu, even to the point of addressing her as “Yuu-dono.” It seems he’s also on the trail of the serial killer, who is not only killing people, but sacrificing their souls for great power. The hunt doesn’t go well (understatement), and Ayumu comes back in a mood for some answers.
He doesn’t get Yuu’s backstory, but he does get some of her background. It’s not that she’s mute, it’s that she dares not talk, laugh, or make any sound, nor show strong emotions. Anything she says or does carries tremendous magical power, and she can’t control how it will express itself. Her power is apparently external to herself somehow, like a curse, as she explains it will continue even after she’s dead. The armor she wears is to dampen and limit her powers. And she hates herself for it, and fears that others will hate her… and likely they have, based on her reactions. Despite her own prohibition, she becomes extremely distraught, believing that Ayumu will now hate her and want her to leave. In a rather eloquent moment, he grabs her notepad, and writes out his feelings. He asks her to never go, and always stay by her side, which moves her to tears.
The next day, the price of her showing emotions is paid; a huge megalo shows up; an outsized whale, swimming through the sky. There’s a battle, but as they’re getting set, Mihara forgets to be crudely insulting to Ayumu for a moment, and actually treats him as a battle comrade. Realizing her mistake, she comes back with a quick insult. And Haruna is actively cheering for him as she exhibits that she still has some magical powers to help. One new power exhibited by Ayumu: as he powers up to kill the whale, his costume becomes even cuter, being festooned with roses. They defeat the megalo, and Yuu almost smiles. The show ends on this happy note… except
Um. Nope, not going to be part of harem…
This show is extremely schizoid, going from cute to bone-chilling horror with no warning whatsoever. That definitely harshes my mellow, man. I think I’d wish it would be one or the other; the whipsawing, especially this week, is difficult to handle; the last scene really bothers me, even more than when Hiragi died in the first episode of Shana.
Oh, great. Looks like this is one I should follow by reading what Aroduc posts, and wait until it’s all over before deciding whether to watch the rest of it myself.