One thing that I really like about this anime, is they manage to have a pretty good balance between plot development and comedy while sprinkling in a little bit of drama. By no means am I saying it’s the best of its kind, but it’s still really nice to experience every once in a while. I love the twists it throws in, but at the same I really appreciate the straight forward nature of most of the characters. I love that characters can make mean comments to each other, have the other one react to it, and then have it all be good and done within the span of a few seconds to a minute.
Namely, I really enjoy the relationship that Shamiko has with Lilith and Momo (and quite frankly all the characters) and how they can make truthful jabs. One of my favorite moments from this episode was when Lilith complimented Shamiko and her new-found ability to think things through. Shamiko is able to show us her determination to both befriend and defeat Momo, but also how simplistic her idea when she continues to so that she will make a delicious meal everyday to get all of Momo’s weaknesses. Now, I don’t know about you, but if you were to make and bring me food everyday, I will 100% give you all of my weaknesses. So, even though she was made fun of for not thinking it through, I think Shamiko is actually a really cunning mastermind. I love that her simplicity has been a running gag, but also a really big part of her character. Sure, she’s teased about it, but it’s definitely what makes her an endearing protagonist.
For instance! When she goes into the dream world to attempt control Momo and she meets the gate-keeper and rather than pulling the “I am a friend of Momo here to help her” she just goes straight for “I’m Momo’s mortal enemy! Here to destroy her!”. It’s great! It’s wonderful! I just love seeing how much of a one track mind she is and just how much it back fires – or surprisingly work. Like when she’s running away from the guard and she has to come up with a weapon and aside from a gun and a daikon radish she comes summons Lilith’s new form. And not the cute form from the last episode (which is a bummer because I will always be down for that version to make a return), but the horrendous bug-like version. And I laughed out loud once the guard reverted to a cat and started chasing it around! I’m glad that they were able to portray his cat-ness in this manner. (But that might be because I just really like cats).
But from there, there wasn’t much more that stuck out to me in this episode mostly because they took a more serious turn. After a major miscommunication about grilling and chucking Lilith (straight up yeeting, if you would), the episode takes a much more serious tone. And while it takes a more serious turn, it does it such a vague manner that I felt like I really didn’t learn a whole lot about the characters from the exposition. They introduce Shamiko’s father (which came as a total surprise to me) and Momo’s sister-in-law, but we haven’t had a chance to even get to know these characters that I honestly just feel like shrugging my shoulders and saying “ok”. Though, what I am most interested is 1) why her sealed father is so heat-resistant and 2) how all of this exposition will come together in the final episode. I can’t believe we’re reaching the finale and we still know very little about Momo Chiyoda.
