Hataraku Maou-sama! – Episode 10

I really liked last episode. I like this show a whole lot in general. Just, you know, throwing that out there.

But…

Well…

Ugh, fuck it. Cue the beach episode.

Episode 10

3:23 – Alright, outsider knowledge or no, this has every hallmark of another one-off adventure. This show has obviously settled in to being fairly episodic with interspersed small arcs, so I’m guessing we’re currently in the low ebb between last episode’s arc conclusion and the final one. For the moment, the show seems to have forgotten about Emi’s run-in with a magical assassin entirely

5:20 – I like how the camera angles for these two phone calls are actually indicative of the specific genre of show each one is representing – the transition from Chiho’s close-ups in her brightly lit room to the shadowed, looming shots used for Suzuno is a joke in itself. The tonal disconnect between the romcom and fantasy drama is played for laughs in plenty of obvious ways, but there are lots of nice little subtle ones too

6:48 – Well, here we go

7:22 – Okay, that Emi face is actually pretty great

9:04 – This actually isn’t so bad, since Maou gives so few shits, and the camera’s not being a creepy asshole. We might yet survive this day

9:33 – Do they keep poisoning Alsiel just to make him even more moe?

9:44 – Lucifer has very good taste 

10:28 – So I guess we’re getting a second haunted house episode? Damnit, Maou!

14:49 – Apparently they wanted to make an episode where the girls looked at lizards, and goddamnit if they were gonna let anyone stop them

17:42 – Holy shit, it looks like something might actually happen!

20:31 – And there it is. Confirmation that Sentucky is our shadowy assassin (and also a some-part-angel), setting up the last act to follow this episode’s breather

And Done

Eh. While that episode wasn’t as bad as I feared it might be fanservice-wise, it was just… well, kinda boring. Virtually nothing of importance happened, the entire male cast was pretty much out of commission for its running time, and there weren’t too many standout jokes, either. Last episode had an actual underlying conflict, progressed the overarching plot/character relationships more, and was more consistently funny – this one definitely fell back into that 6-7 territory of post-arc doldrums. Fortunately, the last moments promise actual momentum in the near future, and this show is always much stronger when it’s building towards something. This was pretty bleh, but it was an unsurprising kind of bleh, and I’m still excited for whatever the last act holds.