Holy shit, ring the alarms, evacuate the facilities, we’re in full crisis mode. Sakura Chiyoda has appeared on the scene, confounding all my pacing and structural expectations for this season, and rocketing us to within striking distance of actually learning about Shamiko’s father. I was fairly confident we’d be spending most of this season chasing Sakura’s footprints, but now that she’s here in the flesh (or at least whatever equivalent of flesh applies to a mental projection within Shamiko’s memories), it seems like we might be moving right onto the secondary task of dismantling her barrier, and establishing true freedom of interaction between demons and magical girls.

Granted, that initial plan was hatched before Shirasawa revealed that this town is literally the world’s only demon sanctuary, raising some question as to whether undoing Sakura’s work is the wisest choice. But regardless, I’m eager to hear from this story’s most hyped-up heroine. Let’s get to it!

Episode 6

Sakura refers to herself as “the cherry tree who took a leaf of absence.” Her outfit largely supports the cherry tree framing of her name and catchphrases, as her dress is composed of various pink hues that echo the colors of cherry blossoms. On the other hand, there’s also that red-and-white string appearing on both her sash and in her hair – my first assumption there is that it’s intentionally echoing the colors of a shrine maiden’s outfit to echo her identity as a sort of priestess, but there may also be some connection between strings like this and cherry trees that I’m unaware of

“Vow Under The Setting Sun! The Path Forward For Demonkind.” Heck yeah. So presumably she’s going to tell us the story of the agreement which resulted in this current demon sanctuary

Shamiko is just as surprised and excited as I am to see this story jumping so far ahead, and immediately begins rambling about how delighted Momo will be. Some nice smears here for her manic shaking of Sakura’s hand

“Not the horn handles!” Within one episode, Shamiko has tragically negotiated herself down from “my horns aren’t handles” to indeed accepting that they are horn handles

“I’d be too ashamed to look Shamiko in the face if we didn’t save her. And… I’d hate that.” Momo is getting more aggressive about expressing her feelings all the time, and doubly so when Shamiko isn’t right there to needle her about them

Sakura tells Shamiko that her current form can’t really transfer into reality, which I was already sort of expecting. Actually saving Sakura right now would certainly be surprising, but it wouldn’t feel earned or cathartic; instead, this Sakura is more like a messenger, giving the party the next set of needed clues

And the first of those clues is that Sakura’s core is actually inside Shamiko

So presumably Sakura used her own core to restore Shamiko’s health, meaning that separating the two of them could pose some serious problems

“I’m borrowing your brain to talk to you right now, so I can’t really explain it in detail.” Jeez, shots at Shamiko’s mental capacity. Fortunately, Shamiko is too dumb to realize how she’s being insulted here

“Our wavelengths were remarkably in tune when you were at the factory site, so that’s how I was able to lead you to the rod.” And of course, that was the moment when Shamiko was considering how badly she wanted to be helpful to Momo. Sakura and Shamiko are most closely aligned by their mutual concern for Momo

“When you feel a WHAM, follow it up with a BAM, and then SHAZAM! You’re done!” Sakura is swiftly establishing the general range of her personality: she’s helpful and exuberant, but also distractible, and with a tendency to charge ahead at her own pace regardless of those around her. It’s not hard to imagine how she disappeared for ten years on a whim without telling anyone what she was doing

Sakura reveals that Shamiko was actually in far worse shape than her mother thought, and that her own treatment was more quality of life-related than something that might actually save her. Interestingly, she further reveals that she herself was losing her magical power before meeting and merging with Shamiko. So I wonder what was causing that?

“Yuko. The kind girl who took on my younger sister’s share of the curse.” Ah, this covers a lot. So Shamiko, being Shamiko, was suffering for the kindness of taking on Momo’s burden, while Sakura was presumably wasting away due to her own share of the curse. Alright, that moves our questions one step back in the line: what’s the deal with the curse?

Apparently Sakura’s been siphoning off some of Shamiko’s magic to maintain this projection, which may explain a few things

“I have to bring you back to Momo! Because she’ll never smile if I don’t!” A charming parallel of Momo’s own pledge

Seeing the state of Shamiko, Sakura assesses the full situation between them in a moment, and promises Shamiko that Momo will be smiling soon enough

Sakura neatly realigns our narrative back towards that initial goal of Shamiko growing to become a powerful demon, by framing it in terms of her becoming strong enough that Sakura will no longer need to support her

Aw shit, luxurious new transformation sequence for Momo! And it’s actually her transforming into Shamiko’s demonic henchman mode! And it’s not even compressed into microseconds, so Shamiko also gets to appreciate it!

“I came over to the dark side.” This wouldn’t sound so romantic if you weren’t also blushing like that while saying it, Momo

So she actually accepted becoming a vassal in order to save Shamiko! More excellent embarrassment from Momo as Shamiko predictably raves over this new look

Shamiko briefly frets over a set of scars on Momo’s side, though Momo assures her they are old wounds. A literal, visual realization of Momo revealing her weakness, as Shamiko has always urged her to do. Both Momo’s past failures and future desires are realized through this transformation, as she demonstrates full, honest vulnerability in order to save Shamiko

Mikan amplifies Momo’s embarrassment with the reveal of “Darkness Peach” as her new nickname. This show spends a lot of time bullying Shamiko, but bullying Momo can actually be even funnier

Staticky compositional filters relay memories from Momo’s perspective, detailing the process of her mission to save Shamiko. Crucially, she says that while her initial objectives are still important to her, “there’s something that’s even more precious to me right now.” THESE. TWO.

Shamiko is greeted as she wakes by Ogura in full plague doctor regalia

“Momo hasn’t fully descended to the darkness yet. Although her spiritual class is currently darkness, her physical class is still light.” Goddamn multiclassers

“As it turns out, Momo was mentally prepared to come to the dark side a long time ago.” Yeah, I think we’d all figured that out

Ancestor is tragically prevented from explaining precisely what this means by a tactical judo chop from Momo

Mikan transforms as well to change Momo back to normal. It took a little while, but this production is slowly building up the library of high-quality bank footage you’d expect from any self-respecting magical girl show

Their plan involves Mikan firing a point blank arrow into Momo’s face. Shamiko has concerns

“You Demonic Defrauder! Fresh Peach Hammerhead Shark!” Shamiko’s mind is a strange and wondrous place, as clearly demonstrated by her fantasies of Momo punishing her for the Sakura situation

These establishing shots of the realistically drawn Tokyo scenery help immediately ground the tone following that gag, asserting a sense of normalcy and intimacy to lend weight to Shamiko’s words as she reveals what Sakura told her

“But don’t you think that becoming that strong is impossible for me?” Shamiko can’t recognize her own strength, and Momo refuses to recognize her own weakness, and that’s why they need each other

“From now on, maybe it’s best that I focus on keeping you happy, by using all my power to protect this really tiny corner of town.” Goddamn Momo. Why bother stopping Lilith from spilling the beans if you’re just gonna go on making all these romantic proclamations yourself?

And she follows that up with a genuine warm smile, bringing Shamiko to tears. My god they are good for each other

Then, with the original OP on just to hammer it in, they actually share that popsicle, complete with what’s essentially a marriage vow from Momo. She just cannot be stopped

And Done

Oh my god, what a preposterously generous episode! Not only did we meet Sakura Chiyoda and essentially complete this whole investigation arc, we also received about as direct a confession from Momo as we could hope for, leading into a conclusion that could easily have served as a season finale. Frankly, I was sort of guessing this episode’s payoff would be this season’s finale, but I certainly can’t complain about barreling onward to the next step in Momo and Shamiko’s relationship. With the weight of saving Sakura at last removed from her shoulders, Momo was finally able to take a moment to consider her own desires, and in the process gave Shamiko that warm smile that she had been seeking in turn. A triumph of an episode for our fledgling heroes, and for the forces of darkness at large!

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