Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today it seemed like the right time to check back in on The Demon Girl Next Door, and see how our luckless shadow mistress is faring. Last episode offered an unexpected deluge of backstory revelations, raining bombshell after bombshell on Shamiko’s tiny, horn-laden head. As it turns out, it was actually Momo’s sister who helped save Shamiko from the family curse, during the course of her attempts to protect all of this city’s luckless demons. Unfortunately, whatever threats she faced ultimately ended up sealing away Shamiko’s father, reducing him to an orange box the family uses as a makeshift table.

That’s a lot to take in at once! Frankly, it’s also a lot for us in the audience to take in at once, more than doubling our data points regarding this larger magical/demon girl paradigm. It seems that Momo is far from the first magical girl to doubt her mission; in fact, we appear to be living in an overall era of lost faith, with demon-slaying magical girls now more the exception than the rule. Instead, magical girls seem to have collectively acknowledged the inherent injustice of this whole Calvinist paradigm, and more recently have been working to offer the equivalent of social services and reparations to their arbitrarily condemned counterpoints.

All that serves as a humorous continuation of this show’s general themes, as well as an expression of its overall optimism regarding human nature. Rather than letting themselves be controlled by a process that seeks to dehumanize them, the magical girls of this world essentially unionized and rebelled, realizing they had far more in common with their alleged enemies than their overseers. A solution like this is what I’d expect this show to imagine as its potential endgame, so I’m quite interested to see how the drama develops now that we know a post-demon hunting paradigm has already been established. Let’s get to it!

Episode 12

As we open, the eternally self-scouring Momo is of course taking all these revelations as a personal failure. Both her status as a magical girl and her rejection of that status have only left one presiding instinct in her mind: that she is not worthy of consideration or love. Though it’s not exactly logical, it’s very human to be able to carry two contradictory burdens like that, where you shame yourself both for the evil job you’ve been assigned and for your failure to succeed in that job

Shamiko’s mother reveals that she didn’t say any of this because she was afraid of further burdening Shamiko. Of course, that ultimately led to Shamiko attempting to protect her due to a misunderstanding, exemplifying how Shamiko has grown beyond her mother’s expectations

Translating the “Outo-san Box” as the “Daddy Box” is very good

We at last see a picture of Shamiko’s dad as a young man. It seems she inherited her chipper attitude from him

“Now that I know I’m in good health because of so many people, I think I’ve finally figured out a reason to fight.” Shamiko is perfectly positioned to be a champion of the unfortunate inhabitants of this world. Rather than extending a hand from above like the magical girls, she is an avatar of the underclass, her survival embodying the care she wishes to extend to others

“Momo has been my arch enemy ever since I met her. I’ll chase her to the ends of the earth until I can finally claim victory over her!” An oddly framed love declaration, but it works

“Feelings to Convey! A New Leap Forward For Demonkind!” I was mostly kidding, but hey, let’s go for it

Interestingly, Ancestor doesn’t actually know anything about Shamiko’s father. I wonder how he received his own demonic instruction, then

“Right now, what I need to focus on is cornering Momo.” I like how the climax to this season is conceptually framed as Shamiko doing exactly what she was first assigned to do: hunt down and defeat the local magical girl

“I think that if I just left her alone, Momo would disappear and I’d never see her again.” And here, Shamiko is adopting the role of diligent protector, while Momo plays the role of unwanted outsider. Never has it been more clear how unsuited they are for the roles society assigned them, or how completely those roles obscure what they are truly good at

“It’s simple… all you need to do is seduce Momo Chiyoda!” Damn, Ancestor

Apparently Mikan can just summon citrus fruits at will. I guess that scans

Every transformation sequence in this show ends up being a joke about the pointless extravagance of transformation sequences. Here, Shamiko’s elaborate transformation into Crisis Management Form ends with Mikan’s emotional downpour dropping seaweed on her head

Huh, so the “solution” that Sakura Chiyoda arrived at was a barrier that made it impossible for demons and magical girls to cross paths. That’s actually a pretty tragic choice – rather than breaking down the barriers between these two sides and letting them coexist like Momo and Shamiko, Sakura decided that only an impassable barrier between them would keep demons safe. That also leaves far more room for our own leads to work towards a better future, where all magically infused beings learn to embrace their commonalities and coexist in mutual cooperation

Mikan further implies that some third party might have engineered the first meeting of Momo and Shamiko

The layout as we finally reach Momo is extremely purposeful. Momo is framed centrally, but is very small in the frame, looking out over a city that she currently feels too insubstantial to protect. Beside her stands a vast yet barren tree, echoing her self-image as someone whose strength has all but withered away

Shamiko asks Momo to consider quitting being a magical girl, and becoming Shamiko’s vassal instead. Considering we just saw Shamiko’s mom describe her relationship with his dad as being his “vassal,” there really aren’t too many ways to interpret this!

And indeed, Momo reacts to it as a confession

Even aside from that element, Shamiko’s words represent something Momo would never consider for herself: abandoning this duty because it’s not right for her. Momo’s response to her own suffering is always to think she’s not working hard enough, or doing something wrong – it’s Shamiko who possesses both the humility and the sense of self-worth necessary to abandon such a duty

“To be honest, I think your personality is more suited to being a demon than a magical girl.” Shamiko saying what everyone already knows

“You’re even dragging complaints about my battle form into this!?” Momo’s deadpan anger is so good. I feel like a lot of anime characters miss the distinction between subdued and emotionless, while Momo demonstrates a rich variety of emotions in spite of a limited expressive pallet

Another charged composition using that leafless tree for contrast, as we pan left from behind the tree, resulting in an effect where Shamiko’s form visually pushes Momo further and further from that barren self-image

“No matter what I do, I can’t return those ten years to your family.” Momo turns to her old habits for defense, presenting herself as an irredeemable monster for the things she cannot change

But Shamiko is not having it. Just because you can’t fix everything doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying to make things better!

“I refuse to give up on anything: my father, undoing the seal, or being with you.” Shamiko is so good! She was always an intensely charming character, but her can-do attitude has evolved into a powerful conviction of spirit over the course of this season

“I’m going to become a true demon, and live greedily.” Shamiko wisely defining the fundamental nature of demonhood in this system as the ability to honestly reach towards what you want

Momo is actually all for this contract when she learns it was purely Shamiko’s idea, until she realizes that means she’d lose access to her magical girl power reserves

“If you want to make me your vassal, then you’re going to have to beat me first.” Oh my god, Momo’s nervous expression when she says this. These two have some unique courtship rituals

“I won’t run from you anymore, Shamiko. I’m getting hungry, so let’s go back together.” Momo immediately embracing the perks of being domesticated

And at last, Momo purchases the double popsicle from the opening!

Momo’s condescending expression as Shamiko attempts to break this popsicle is fantastic. She loves her puny idiot girlfriend

Ryo is pleased to learn her father isn’t in prison, as she suspected

“Today will be the day I defeat you and make you mine.” And now Shamiko has begun writing romantic letters of challenge to Momo on a regular basis. What a delightfully weird couple

Momo of course interprets the ultimate letter as an invitation to a date, because the ultimate letter could not possibly be interpreted in any other way

And she gets so nicely dressed up for the actual outing! I feel like this show’s second season is going to involve a lot of Shamiko not realizing they’re already dating

And Done

What a delightful friggin’ show! And so, so much more insightful regarding its premise than you’d expect from a fluffy comedy. Through its contrast of magical and demon girls, this story made all manner of points regarding the systems of cultural conformity facing young women, with Momo and Shamiko each representing how such paradigms flatten the humanity and limit the opportunities of those who inhabit them. In spite of that, our leads always felt like distinct individuals rather than thematic symbols, their increasing bond always reflecting the specificity of their relationship, and illustrating how much each gained from their partnership with the other. That the show managed all this while staying so consistently light and funny is a marvel, and testament to how well this team adapted the manga’s humor. The Demon Girl Next Door proved to be a total delight, and an unexpectedly essential commentary on the thematic assumptions of magical girl dramas. Bring on the sequel!

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