Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today it seems just about time to return to The Demon Girl Next Door, wherein Ogura most recently made a play to join the cast as their resident mad scientist, intent on divining the secrets of Shamiko’s magical energy. Considering it was her first appearance as more than a bit character, I’d say she did a marvelous job; it only took five minutes or so for her to make that awful water-strider Ancestor creature, and I still often find that thing haunting my nightmares. A great victory for the “what has science wrought” demographic.

Meanwhile, though Shamiko’s physical training isn’t reaping any clear dividends, it’s clear that Momo has things beyond training on her mind. Momo’s assessment of Shamiko has shifted from “you’re so pitiful I simply have to train you” to “you’re the one I trust to help me support this town” to “fine, I’ll be your subordinate as long as you keep feeding me.” Shamiko has essentially domesticated her by accident, and though Shamiko’s fragile self-worth keeps her from realizing how much Momo relies on her, it’s clear to anyone watching that Momo has Got It Bad.

As always, it’s the restrictive magical girl paradigm that is ultimately to blame for their unhappiness. As an avatar of justice, Momo is duty-sworn not to admit to her fragility; as a hated demon girl, Shamiko couldn’t possibly impose her feelings on her “societal betters.” Each of them are bound by conventions they don’t really believe in, forced to play roles they are fundamentally ill-suited to, destined for a battle that neither of them actually wants. It’s all a mixed-up, muddled-up, agonizing mess, but personally, I think that makes their efforts to break this cycle and truly connect all the more endearing. Let’s see what nonsense they get up to next!

Episode 11

Damn, we’re really getting into it this time! We open on Shamiko glumly staring out at the night sky while reflecting on all of the depressing details Momo has let slip about her abilities and personal life. Momo doesn’t believe in her own abilities, Momo is steadily wasting away as she keeps using her powers, Momo’s memories of her sister are so painful that she can barely stand being reminded of her – there’s clearly a lot of hurt and vulnerability that Momo has been keeping to herself

And all that makes sense. As a magical girl, Momo can’t just be strong and good, she must be performing strength and goodness at all times. She must be an icon of inspiration for all the common folk, which necessitates never revealing her sadness or weakness in public. Instead, she’s had to pack all that pain deep inside her, resulting in the dark emotional swamp Shamiko tidied all those episodes ago

That in turn points to the odd freedom of Shamiko’s position, in spite of all her misfortunes. Shamiko’s true and necessary declaration that “if you always live in fear of other people seeing your weaknesses, you’ll never make any progress in life” is a lesson learned from a life of always having your weaknesses on display, freely visible to anyone who chooses to notice them. For “villains” more generally, this concept of actually celebrating your “weaknesses” can be a liberating feeling – you don’t have to be ashamed of who you are and can revel in it freely (if only because no one expects anything else from you). This is the reason magical girl villains, sentai villains, or even characters like Team Rocket often feel so relatable and empowering; they’re revealing their “weakness” for all the world to see, and fuck you if you can’t accept them for who they are. That’s a much more universal sentiment than the forced goodness and austerity of the magical girl ethos; many of us aren’t able to shape up and resolve our negative emotions by the end of any given episode conflict, and the charismatic villains of fiction are here to prove we’re not alone in that

Being an extremely good girl, Shamiko resolves to get closer to Momo and win her emotional trust. She’s actually well aware that Momo has been hiding her pain. I like the specific phrasing she chooses – she speaks of “wanting to compete with Momo as an equal,” which could be interpreted either in terms of combat, or simply the healthy give-and-take in any relationship

Shamiko’s plan is to feed her delicious food every day. I’m sure Momo would agree that such an attack would easily overwhelm her defenses

“Breaking Into Dreams Once Again!! Break Through the Pink Defensive Line!” I wouldn’t generally suggest invading your crush’s dreams to literally do battle with their anxieties, but I suppose Shamiko’s doing her best to make lemonade out of succubus power lemons here

I love that Lilith states she “doesn’t have to use such roundabout methods” before suggesting she use magical powers to invade Momo’s dreams

Ancestor bullies Shamiko until she agrees to the scheme. You’re a bad influence, Ancestor!

Ancestor suggests Shamiko boost the connection by leaving lots of Momo pictures by her bed. Lilith’s gonna be so pissed when she just ends up playing matchmaker for these two

The outer regions of Momo’s subconscious are a bleak wasteland, a shell guarding her true feelings

Pretty sure Ancestor just offhandedly announced that Shamiko is indeed a succubus for the first time

Shamiko realizes she’s actually helped Momo gain physical and emotional strength since her last invasion, but is mostly just embarrassed about how this reflects poorly on her as a demon girl. I can understand how her general lack of confidence or self-worth leads her to cling to her identity as a demon girl, but she’ll have to abandon that pursuit eventually if she wants to truly stand evenly with Momo

She is confronted by a cat-headed guardian of Momo’s subconscious

The guardian states that he “senses a trace of my former master, Sakura Chiyoda” in Shamiko. Hmmm

“I’m Momo’s mortal enemy! I’m here to invade her heart and then go from there!” Oh Shamiko, perpetually too earnest to ever succeed as a villain

Just like last episode, the show makes an excellent joke of Shamiko’s transformation sequence, shifting from an extended and lushly animated transformation to a barely-animated Looney Tunes sequence of Shamiko avoiding being smacked by a wand. I appreciate this production’s mastery of jokes based in juxtapositions of animation style

Shamiko attempts to summon Gun, but realizes she doesn’t actually know what guns look like well enough to summon them

GODDAMNIT SHE SUMMONED A GIANT-SIZED VERSION OF THE SKITTERING ANCESTOR, I HATE IT

Shamiko’s plaintive little noises as she attempts to open this door are incredible. Fantastic work by her voice actress

Rather than forcing her way in, Shamiko eventually breaks through Momo’s barrier in the same way she has in the real world: by announcing herself as a friend (and also bringing more food)

Unfortunately for Shamiko’s plan, it appears this is actually Momo’s active consciousness. Love her idly stretching Shamiko’s tail as she waits for an explanation

Shamiko is forced to explain her power to Momo, who is impressed by both its strength and Shamiko’s utter failure to exploit it. “I can come up with 100 or 200 different ways to exploit that power for evil, easy!” Of course, one of the things Momo loves about Shamiko is that Shamiko simply cannot force herself to be underhanded

Aw, this is so good! We’re finally getting some honesty between them, as Shamiko reveals how sickly she used to be as a child, and then chides Momo for being equally dishonest about her own situation

“I just didn’t think that was worth mentioning.” It seems that Momo thinks so little of herself that she isn’t even bothered by the thought of using up her magic and disappearing. Of course, Shamiko interprets this as Momo not taking her seriously as an enemy. These two!

Even Shamiko’s father is apparently working to pay off her medical bills. No wonder she’s working so hard not to be a burden

“Being a magical girl works on a point-based system. The more demons we hunt, the greater return we get.” Trust this show to invent an even more mercenary, capitalism-derivative magical girl system than Madoka

Momo suspects Shamiko’s mother is hiding something, an obvious deduction that Shamiko nonetheless would never, ever, ever have suspected on her own

Before being shaken awake by Mikan, she announces she’ll interrogate Shamiko’s mom herself

Momo has reached the point of just chucking Lilith on instinct the moment she notices her. I feel you, Momo

They’re really hammering on this “definition of grilling” verbal misunderstanding. I pity the translators who must make sense of all these puns

It resolves well though, with Shamiko actually asserting herself in defense of the family she loves. Good to see her defending her feelings at last!

Shamiko’s mom reveals that the demons of this city were actually all being protected by its previous magical girl. “The magical girl known as Sakura Chiyoda was both my mentor and my sister-in-law. And she went missing ten years ago”

It was actually Momo’s sister that saved Shamiko, by rearranging the tenets of the family curse

Unfortunately, Shamiko’s father ended up getting sealed in a mikan box. Sure, fine

And Done

Jesus christ, so much backstory! I frankly didn’t feel like this story needed all this melodramatic lore, but I suppose we were destined to discover the history of this city at some point. Fortunately, this episode was still plenty stuffed with all of the engaging thematic and character business I’m interested in, with our second journey into Momo’s subconscious revealing just how far our main couple have come. The fact that they spent so much time bickering this episode is actually a credit to their closeness – rather than avoiding causing offense, they are now familiar enough to actually challenge each other on their usual behavior, all because they each want to see the other grow. You’re doing great, Shamiko. Keep fighting!

This article was made possible by reader support. Thank you all for all that you do.