Management: Same disclaimer – I still haven’t formalized my style here. Hopefully getting less ranty though, and also totally falling in love with this show.

Episode 5

It’s always the little things that make this show for me. This time, Hero’s quiet frustration at how he can deal with the issues of the occupied cities, ending with “What would Demon King say… follow the money” just felt like such a great moment to me. I thought he was too undeveloped at first, but now I see they’re playing the long game with his characterization and growth, and it’s paying off in scattered treasures like that one.

Another nice moment – the two younger maids surprising Demon King and Head Maid with presents for a festival the audience was never informed of. It works well to further the contrast of the dedicated, goal-oriented lives our main characters are living against the ephemeral celebrations that make up a normal character (or person)’s life.

And finally the entire last third was fantastic once again. From Demon King’s monologue on the bed onward, the writing was perfect and the VAs once again proved their ridiculous chemistry and talent. In a show that has a romantic subplot but isn’t really about romance, it’s even more important to make the most of each romance-focused scene, so they don’t drag the show down or feel out of place. This one raised the bar.

Episode 6

A solid episode.

There were a couple nice touches in the depiction of the battle: throughout, it was depicted as a messy and stilted affair, with numbers and positioning being the most relevant factors. Very nice, and one of the thousand ways this show takes an ax to the unrealistic and frankly tedious conventions of fantasy stories. Then at the end, I loved the moment when a few soldiers uncertainly shout “we won?” before it devolves into cheering – this very nicely sums up the delirious and scattershot nature of what I assume larger medieval battles must be like.

I loved the song used during the Knight’s battle. I enjoyed the battle itself as well, but the song lent it more of a feeling of a dance than a duel, which nicely contrasted against the brutish, mechanical nature of war as waged by the non-OP characters.

Still loving the backgrounds all around.

Demon King’s boobs are still ridiculous. Yes, they’re referenced as big in the source material too, but come on. It’s frustrating having to look past something like that design in a show that does so many other things so well.

So their plan was really to scare the crusaders into falling back into a flanking position? That seems kind of sketchy to me. It also seemed like they set up the two forces for maximum casualties on both sides (by forcing the demons to retreat through an exhausted army). While this may well help defuse the war effort, it seems pretty out of character for at least Hero, if not Demon King as well. Am I misinterpreting something here?

Overall I very much enjoyed it though, as my complaints were minor elements and most of the episode was strong stuff. I’m surprised by how much I’m enjoying the technical elements of this show; I figured it would be one I enjoyed in spite of the direction/animation just based on the themes and story, but the music, direction, and background art are all stellar, and really help to sell the world of the show. I’ll miss this one when it’s over.