Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to return to The Demon Girl Next Door, where Shamiko most recently staged a daring counterattack against her magical girl nemesis. Seeing her opponent in a moment of weakness, Shamiko first pillaged her blood to feed her ancestors, before commencing an outright invasion of Momo’s secret base. For once, victory was claimed by the forces of evil, and it was Momo who was left to mutter a defeated “I’ll get you next time.”

At least, that’s what I assume Shamiko’s ancestor will write for her status report. In truth, although Momo did indeed show some weakness last episode, Shamiko responded to it with all the kindness we’ve come to expect from our demon girl. After frequently coming across as impossibly perfect throughout the first several episodes, the struts propping up Momo’s poise came tumbling down, revealing the mess of a person behind them. Through the exploration of Momo’s dreamspace, we learned she is haunted by nightmares of her past life, and convinced of her own unsuitability as a magical girl. Through the visit to her house, we further learned she lives a life of isolation, and struggles with even the basic demands of independent life. And through her simultaneously tragic and hilarious familiar, we learned she sees herself as over the hill, a relic who’s already lost her magic spark.

That’s a lot of stress for such a young person! Given the lofty expectations placed upon her, it’s no wonder that Momo has retreated into this distant, seemingly “perfect” affectation, and also no surprise that her image is starting to crack. Just as the world expected Shamiko to fail due to her status as a “fallen girl,” so has it expected Momo to shine unerringly, embodying an ideal of femininity that no human being could hope to match.

Through the reveal of Momo’s circumstances, last episode demonstrated how this Madonna/whore binary punishes even those it’s ostensibly celebrating, forcing them to deny their preferences or imperfections in order to please society’s arbitrary strictures. And through that revelation, it became clearer than ever that Shamiko is precisely the person Momo needs: someone who accepts her failings, and who understands that “if you always live in fear of other people seeing your weaknesses, you’ll never make any progress in life.” As a person composed almost entirely of weaknesses, Shamiko has had to embrace that philosophy from the start; if she can get her friend to share it, they might just escape from this prison of society altogether. But I’ve rambled for more than long enough, so let’s dive back into The Demon Girl Next Door!

Episode 7

We open with a brief recap of Shamiko’s story. I love that even her default pose is Shamiko In Distress, looking like she wants to know why you just bonked her on the head

I’d actually forgotten how we arrived at “Shamiko,” and learning it’s an adorable shortening of “Shadow Mistress Yuko” somehow makes it seem even more demeaning

Also a great incidental joke in how most of these recaps scenes are moments that never happened, but the “high-octane action scene” is just Momo grabbing those wieners again, because fuck if they’re animating a new action scene just for this gag

“If a mushroom like this grew in the center of the city, it’d be a huge problem!” Shamiko can’t help but evoke her fundamental good Samaritan-ness at basically all times. Though she’s framed as the one who’s the “enemy of human society,” productively contributing to society comes naturally to her, while Momo is always awkwardly hanging at the fringes of public life

In spite of still being under the weather, Momo went out for groceries. Once again, Shamiko demonstrates her greater competency with the mundane challenges of life by pointing out that Momo didn’t buy any vegetables

Apparently, draining Momo’s magic also lifted Shamiko’s financial curse

“If we give in to our urges now, we’ll only be sad when fate adjusts to make us pay for it all later.” Shamiko’s family has been too beaten down by perpetual misfortune to splurge with their new riches, and instead her mom just buys even more essentials to help them through the lean times. This is sort of a joke, but the easier joke would be for them to overbuy and then immediately get punished for it. Instead, this take on the material emphasizes the genuine hardship of Shamiko’s life, highlighting how those who live in poverty can’t help but stretch each cent as far as it will go. I appreciate that this show is willing to prioritize its sharp points over its comedy at times

Also nice to see the show just quietly celebrating all the work Shamiko’s mom does, through demonstrating the consideration she takes for her family’s meals. Her pragmatic, dignified steering of their home life serves as a sharp contrast to the mess that is Momo’s situation

“From now on, I think I can overcome any mountains that come in my way just by remembering this okonomiyaki!” With this extended and fairly grounded look into her home life, we can better understand how Shamiko came to be how she is. It was her mother that taught her to appreciate the small victories in life, to embrace new challenges without fear of failure, and to be kind without hope of recompense

We can also see why her sister Ryo is so determined to support her. Shamiko’s mom did a wonderful job raising these two

And of course, fate is indeed already making them pay, as it seems their refrigerator has broken down. When one mechanical failure or medical emergency can ruin you, you quickly learn not to splurge on unnecessary things

Unable to store all the food their mom bought, Shamiko takes a bunch of it over to Momo’s place

Their “don’t think this means you’ve won” exchanges are getting more flirty by the episode. To be fair, this is far from the first show to seize on the fact that a hero’s closest bond is frequently with their nemesis

Momo returns to school at last, and has a massive tire set up for Shamiko to drag around. Her deadpan certainty of this training regimen’s efficacy is fantastic – I get the impression she treated the Rocky films as documentaries, carefully taking notes on how to become the champ

Yeah, Momo being a big weightlifting bro is excellent content. I can see why this sort of activity would appeal to her, too – there’s no ambiguity in exercising, just consistent effort that builds up consistent results. Momo is at her best with a clear task in front of her, when all that the world asks of her is some direct physical effort. It’s all the other stuff, that “embodying the spirit of a magical girl” stuff, that perplexes her

Momo reveals she’s no longer strong enough to use her high-level techniques, prompting Shamiko to demand a rundown of her cool powers

Shamiko’s ancestor has now been bestowed the nickname “Shamicen.” The moment she became an actual character in the outer world, she began suffering all the same indignities as her hapless descendent

“As a rule of thumb, humans don’t pull tires that were designed for mining vehicles”

With both Momo and Shamiko’s perception of reality impossibly skewed by their various peculiarities, it falls to Anri to design a survivable exercise regime

Of course, she’s Anri, so her own suggestions are just as chaotic

Oh my god Momo. Can’t believe you’d do Shamiko like this, using her passion for training to just fetch you some mochi balls

Apparently these mochi balls remind Momo of her sister, drawing some painful memories to the surface

It seems that in the wake of whatever trauma she received as a magical girl, Momo decided to retreat from the world altogether. But seeing Shamiko struggle through in spite of her weaknesses is inspiring her, and giving her the courage to embrace the pain of her history

“I don’t know if I’m really cut out to handle a role as important as the person inside the mascot.” Shamiko please, allow yourself just the tiniest smidgen of confidence

And at last, a second magical girl finally arrives

And Done

Dear lord Shamiko, is there no end to your hardships and misery. Just when it seemed like she was getting a handle on dealing with one magical girl, a second arrived, with presumably far fewer reservations about obliterating some demon girl. But in spite of that ominous conclusion, this was actually quite a charming episode on the whole, as Momo’s austere living situation from last episode was counterbalanced by the warmth of Shamiko’s home life. At this point, it’s looking like Momo has a great deal more to learn from Shamiko than vice versa. Having spent her life so far chasing an unreachable ideal, it’s up to Shamiko to teach her that happiness is what you make of it, and that living in a fallen world isn’t so terrible after all.

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