Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to dive back into The Demon Girl Next Door, which most recently surprised me with what felt very much like a mid-season season finale. Pretty much all of our immediate narrative concerns were addressed and to some extent resolved by our last episode, whether we’re speaking in terms of the characters’ overt task or their emotional trajectory.

As far as the “save Sakura” quest goes, Sakura Chiyoda has been discovered nestled safely in Shamiko’s heart, serving as her magical protector until Shamiko is strong enough to stand on her own. And Shamiko’s private vow to make Momo smile has reaped stunning rewards as well: not only has Momo earned that treasured genuine smile, but it was even in the context of Momo pledging that “make Shamiko happy” is her new goal to strive for, just hours after Momo embraced the darkness to save Shamiko from bad dreams.

Such definitive conclusions would generally mark the end of a series, which makes me all the more intrigued about what comes next. How will Momo act now that she’s free from the stress of saving Sakura, and will all these relational milestones crossed help Shamiko realize that she and Momo are already dating? Let’s find out!

Episode 7

We open on an alleged “recap” of clearly new material, as Shamiko awakes in an abandoned hospital

She runs into zombified Anri and Ogura, who helpfully introduce themselves with a clarifying “we zombie now.” This is essentially the opening to 28 Days Later

Oh my god, what the hell is Lilith’s action hero ensemble. I like that she’s immediately punished for smashing through this window in a skimpy outfit by getting glass stuck in her shoulder, and further appreciate that the glass sticks around as we transition to the next cut

“Totally worth it for my window-smashing entrance!” Well, at least she’s got her priorities straight

“So it turns out you got hit by that dump truck back in episode one of season one, and you’ve been in some kind of cold sleep ever since.” Ancestor lays out the most contrived possible backstory for this situation, somehow managing to combine “you got hit by a truck and shifted into another world” with “it was all a dream, and all of the drama so far has been fake”

“In the meantime, this M-virus got free, so now Tama City is kinda like one of the post-apocalyptic hellscapes!” It is an extremely Demon Girl Next Door move to embrace this moment of clear narrative change and make an extended meta gag about shifting genres entirely. This story delights in jokes that draw attention to genre and medium conventions, so why not also make a gag of narrative structure?

Momo is of course the leader of the surviving humans. She refuses to allow Shamiko into their sanctuary, as she correctly assesses that Shamiko is too weak and useless to pull her weight

But then, Shamiko reveals one of her tragically well-honed skills: knowing how to maximize limited food to prevent food waste. Oh Shamiko

We then speedrun the rest of this familiar narrative, touching on classic beats like “the humans argue amongst themselves while ignoring the zombies” and “a kind-hearted survivor foolishly opens the gate to save a dog”

Love the payoff of Mikan doing a “my bad” head-knock as zombified Lilith wanders around

Shamiko at last has to call off this whole recap procedure, which predictably reveals this was all a Lilith production

“Any episode where the master dies and the student surpasses them is guaranteed to be a masterpiece. I hope we can do that around season 4 episode 9 or so!” The moment I draw attention to this season’s surprising narrative structure, the show itself begins making continuous gags about how you effectively plot out a season of drama. Demon Girl Next Door, you are incorrigible

“A Short Break!! The Demonic Summer Festival!” 

After Shamiko’s aborted attempt to rap her way through a recap, we at last get a genuinely effective recap through her illustrated summer vacation diary. Quite impressed by Shamiko’s color blending and shading for her dramatic Momo illustration

Anri rightfully points out that Shamiko’s “spectacular” summer vacation was mostly just a series of escalating disasters

Poor Shamiko. She’s so accustomed to working that she doesn’t even know how to spend time off

She stops by Cafe Asura. Lico’s got an interesting way of stretching out the last syllables of her sentences, which I assume is how they’re articulating her accent?

Putting on a summer yukata makes Shamiko feel “as rich as one of those oil barons.” I feel like watching Shamiko attempt to have fun is even more depressing than watching her working

“I’ve equipped myself with all the summer party goods I can think of, but I still feel empty somehow. Why is that?” Shamiko, you and I both know there’s only one thing that can get your tail perked up, and that thing is probably out dragging heavy machine tires somewhere

“The vibe is all wrong when I’m alone. I never used to feel this way before.” Shamiko must be the most thickheaded creature in the known universe. I’m glad she’s finally processing these thoughts, but oh my god girl, get a clue

Ahaha, Momo and Mikan call her over the PA like a lost child. Embarrassing, yes, but Shamiko’s tail immediately gets some energy upon hearing this announcement

Mikan explains that she and Momo quite reasonably assumed Shamiko had passed out from heatstroke somewhere

“Oh god… I paraded myself through that whole festival while wearing nothing but a leaf.” Shamiko’s misadventures with magical clothing show no signs of abating

And at last, Manager and Lico have earned the honor of joining the eyecatches!

“I didn’t take you for the type of demon to actually get your homework done. I haven’t touched my homework at all.” Yet another indication of Shamiko and Momo’s clear natural suitability for each other’s roles. Even our current, relatively happy Momo still expresses herself mostly through ominous deadpan declarations, while Shamiko cannot help but embody that Do Your Best spirit in everything she does

Momo is already exploiting her walk on the dark side to justify not doing homework. She really has just been waiting for the right demon lord to pledge herself to

Their relative philosophies on homework clearly echo larger aspects of their personalities. Momo has always been naturally gifted, but possesses little ambition, and sees summer homework as just arbitrary labor (much like she presumably sees many of the expectations placed on magical girls). In contrast, Shamiko lacks natural abilities but is always working hard to improve herself, and takes the school’s expectations as the proper route to self-improvement without argument. Once again, their personalities make it clear each of them were far more suited for the opposing magical role

Shamiko’s determination to push Momo into completing her homework also plays into her vow to support Momo more generally, getting her out of her somewhat fatalistic mindset and thinking positively about the future

Momo reveals that she was actually an orphan before she was taken in by Sakura Chiyoda, and that it was Sakura who accidentally taught her to slack off on her schoolwork

Momo’s progression of grumpy faces throughout this whole process has been fantastic. She’s definitely getting more comfortable expressing herself, if still within a fairly specific range of expressions

“I could write an essay if the subject was about how cute cats are.” I feel you Momo

Momo admits she has no long-term goals, but states that her current goal is to share a picnic meal with Shamiko. It’s a poignant confession, reflecting both how she had basically given up on her future prior to this series, and how Shamiko is now the reason she looks forward to each new day

As friends assured me before starting the series, it takes a little time to realize Momo’s actually the disaster of this pair, while Shamiko has her act together to a surprising extent

And Done

And thus, the grand design of Demon Girl’s next phase is revealed: we chill out with Momo and Shamiko as they enjoy their domestic life, and each slowly mends the broken struts in the other’s psychology. After all those grand declarations of the previous episode, it was delightful to see both our leads putting their vows into practice. Shamiko proved her determination by pushing Momo to embrace the future in the form of her summer homework, while Momo again demonstrated her new willingness to show her scars, revealing for the first time her orphan origins. I always appreciate a show that goes beyond confession and into the messy give-and-take of actually building a relationship, and it seems Demon Girl is dedicated to truly doing the work. Now I just hope we get to tag along for their zoo trip!

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