Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am eager to dive back into The Demon Girl Next Door, and at last enjoy the spoils of our hard-fought sense of genuine normalcy. After a first half-season that saw Shamiko and the gang racing through the entirety of their established conflicts, ending in both the discovery of Sakura Chiyoda and a dramatic declaration of love from Momo, it seems like things are finally calming down around Banda Terrace. Shamiko is learning to assert herself, Momo is learning to embrace vulnerability, and both of them are looking forward to a significantly less stressful fall semester.
I imagine some new conflicts will emerge to muck up all this peace and quiet, but I’d frankly also be happy to just marinate in the peace for a moment. Shamiko and Momo have been so busy accomplishing things that they haven’t really had much chance to put their new declarations into practice, and figure out how their relationship works now that they’re being so much more honest with each other. I tend to find the day-to-day practice of a relationship more interesting than the theatrics of courtship, and this production has always been uniquely perceptive when it comes to small changes in character dynamics, so I’m eager to check in on our awkward couple. Let’s return to The Demon Girl Next Door!
Episode 8
We open back at school on a line that seems like a statement of intent, as Shamiko declares “I wanna invent a good special attack that’s perfect for a Shadow Mistress like me!” About as firm a declaration of “things are back to normal” as Shamiko saying that outright
“I’ve been getting chased around a lot lately.” Oh Shamiko. I suppose alongside all her emotional takeaways, this first half-season has also taught her that she seems to be imperiled more or less continuously
“The only thing I can attack with reliably are tears.” In spite of its generally light tone, Demon Girl’s sharp humor and frank personal drama keep it from ever feeling saccharine. I tend to have a hard time connecting with shows that are all good vibes all the time, as that just feels too inauthentic to even be comforting
Momo demonstrates some martial arts techniques, then admits they’re useless because Shamiko’s enemies won’t use martial arts. I think she mostly just wanted to grab hold of Shamiko, to be honest
“Light and Dark Go On a Joint Excursion.” Hell yeah, zoo trip time
Shamiko sets to work crafting that perfect lunch that Momo wanted. I appreciate her increasing confidence using her tail for stuff like pointing at this defeated-looking bento
She imagines a fantasy of Momo rejecting her entirely because of her drab lunch. Shamiko has the opposite problem of Momo – while Momo has significant trouble admitting to her weaknesses, Shamiko cannot recognize any of her own strengths, and thus feels unworthy of supporting Momo. This mismatch results in all sorts of misunderstandings and moments of talking past each other, but also reflects how each of them are perfectly suited to help the other
And so she heads down to the café, where Lico demonstrates her wide array of magical additives
I appreciate that both Shamiko’s family and Lico first state that Shamiko’s concerns about food color are misguided, for all the good it does
That said, she also offers plenty of genuinely useful advice regarding making a bento that’s pleasing both visually and flavorfully
Lico reflects on how doing what she loved naturally created friction between her and the human world. Things are hard enough for Momo and Shamiko, but at least the world expects them to express their abilities – for Lico, her fundamental nature is intolerable to the human world, and so she must hide within this sanctuary for the fantastical
Lico’s worries prompt Shamiko to rightfully question why magical girls even exist, if they’re just here to bully everyone
Manager states that magical girls are those who’ve made a contract with a familiar from the Light Clan. We’re getting into some tricky territory here, as the more magical girls and the Light Clan are defined as a specific organization with specific members and customs, the less well they work as a general metaphor for how girls are treated within society. If you’re building a story around a grand metaphor like that, heavy worldbuilding can undercut the universality of what you’re attempting to convey, grounding a story in too many fantastical specifics to reflect a general human experience
This is part of why I generally dislike worldbuilding-focused narratives – worldbuilding that exists apart from narrative or theme will often detract from the impact of both. Stories are generally better the more you strip away what is unnecessary to focus on what is essential, and “let’s dive into histories and systems that will only tangentially relate to our story” is as unnecessary as it gets
Granted, there do seem to be a lot of people these days who prefer systems to stories. But if you’d be happier reading a game’s instruction manual than investing in a narrative, that choice is always available!
Hah, even Demon Girl admits how gamified this system sounds, presenting Momo’s quest as a Super Mario level
Just like Madoka Magica, Demon Girl’s magical girls work in service of a wish (though they have to earn that wish through their work)
Shamiko’s anxieties are purposefully undercut by a jump to Momo fretting over what to wear, emphasizing how misguided Shamiko’s despair truly is
A scene that’s immediately followed by Manager and Lico marveling at Shamiko’s terrifying magical powers. You’re actually very strong, Shamiko!
And then Momo’s out looking for an entirely new outfit. They’re working so hard to impress each other
“The Park Where You Can Find Lots Of Cats.” Do these truly exist in Japan? It does seem like you find healthy street cats all over the place, presumably in part because of the extremely walkable neighborhoods. Sounds like heaven
“There was a shirt that seemed perfect for me, but they didn’t have it in my size.” I appreciate Demon Girl’s light but persistent acknowledgment of Momo’s insecurity regarding her height. They never make a joke of it, it’s just one of those idle things that worries her
Oh my god, Momo just lights up when Shamiko arrives. Another one of those rare full smiles from her
Unsurprisingly, Lico ends up inviting herself to the zoo trip
Momo’s clearly nervous about wearing a sundress, and thus switches to a more androgynous jacket and shorts. Another quiet, convincing nod to her insecurities about her appearance. This is the subtle stuff I was hoping for from our return to dramatic neutral!
Mikan asks Momo if she’d rather be here alone with Shamiko, and Momo’s hair goes full Ghibli Mode in response
But soon enough, all three of our supplementary players get the hint, and swiftly excuse themselves. I love the awkward quasi-realism of this picture of manager roaring in pain; tapirs indeed look very weird when they open their mouths
But this Shamiko is actually Lico playing a transformation trick! Goddamnit, Lico
Apparently Lico was trying to trick Momo into eating medicine, in order to address the instability of her magic powers. Rescuing Shamiko from that nightmare apparently incurred some magical consequences
And we conclude on an ominous Ogura stinger!
And Done
Ah, delightful. This was precisely the sort of return to normalcy I was hoping for, with the relative lack of dramatic urgency allowing for an extended exploration of how this season’s events have changed both Momo and Shamiko individually, as well as their behavior towards each other. Each of them are now pushing against their insecurities for the sake of the other, their newfound intimacy expressed both through their redoubled conviction and the charming awkwardness of their actual time together. The daily practice of self-improvement is a long and steady grind, but this episode demonstrated how even that quiet path is adorned with countless tiny hurdles and victories along the way. Day by day, Shamiko and Momo are gaining confidence and strength, both for each other and for themselves.
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I don’t share your concerns about the Light Clan world-building. Shows can operate off of multiple metaphors at once! It may not be as much of a “unnamed social systems girls are wrestled into”, but “institutions forcing people into a with-us-or-against-us mindset” is just as apt an avenue of social commentary. Why not question the hero-villain binary by comparing their organization to a military?
In addition, metaphor can only take you so far. There comes a point at which these characters are actually living in a “real” world, and especially in longform storytelling, a story can easily fail if the metaphor simply doesn’t apply to their world the characters are actually living in. Now, one can quibble over the utility of talking about that world-building within the story, but the writer should at least have an answer in their mind! Human behavior doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and neither is it driven by metaphor, it is indelibly shaped by the incentives of the world around them. Character behavior totally unmoored from non-metaphor incentive quickly ceases to be meaningful.
I agree, and was just about the basically say the same thing. In fact, this bit we learn about the Light Clan is kind of where I think DGNG becomes more interesting than its Madoka Inspirations.
So in Madoka, the Magical Girls are manipulated for an abstract reason, staving off the heat death of the universe. The series is interested in morality, hope, and despair. Its arguing for goodness in the face of absolute hopelessness. However, its not a very tangible kind of evil.
Where the Light Clan’s methods, as you say, creates an in group and out group, and incentives its members to hunt demons. Given the fact that we have not been given a single instance of a demon actually being evil in this show, that comes with implications.
Unlike the heat death of the universe an incentive structure is something that can be changed or challenged. It has the potential to feel impossible to do so, as its built into the structure of our society. In this case, this is a system that has gone on since ancient Mesopotamia, so basically all of human history.