Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to be returning to The Demon Girl Next Door, following up on one of the series’ warmest and fuzziest entries so far. Though Momo and Shamiko’s zoo date ended up sabotaged by their so-called friends, the ensuing trip to Sakura’s shrine proved just the romantic excursion they were hoping for, with Momo embracing greater honesty in expressing her feelings and Shamiko embracing more horniness all around. Plus she won her first demonic battle! A tremendous victory for Shamiko.

On a metaphorical level, Momo’s issues purifying and regulating her magic serve as a fine echo of her personal difficulty in opening up to Shamiko, and figuring out how to orient and define herself as someone within Shamiko’s life. Momo’s life of isolation has taught her to be self-sufficient, and she was comfortable enough doting on Shamiko as a helpless project, but learning how to exist as equals, with all the emotional vulnerability that implies, has been a difficult process. “Who am I when I’m with you” can be a difficult question for young lovers to answer, and for Momo, that question is lent further urgency via the harsh consequences of melding magic. Let’s see how our young couple is faring!

Episode 10

We open on Shamiko making her classic “I’ve got this” smile and crossed arms, meaning she’s undoubtedly about to eat shit

“It’s now time to think up a secret move that’s perfect for a shadow mistress like me, so this is the third time I’m making this pose!” Even Shamiko is starting to realize how predictable she is. Though I suppose I can’t really blame her for preferring dates with Momo to magical training sessions

She consults with Anri, who only bullies her into buying four hundred grams of meat

And now onto Ogura. The show definitely feels a bit more freewheeling and skit-based now that we’ve resolved the question of finding Sakura Chiyoda. That’s a fine change of pace given the heavy narrative focus of the previous segment, but I do wonder what the long-term plan is for continuing the story’s drama, given we’ve largely resolved all of its initial conflicts. I can’t imagine we’ll be residing in skit-based slice of life mode forever

“Check out that summer sun, yo!” Ancestor is very proud of this production’s lens flare effects. Demon Girl has always been pretty self-aware, but it feels like the characters are gaining a clearer understanding of their fake universe all the time – they’ve been around for long enough now to note when something is unusually well-animated, or if they’re repeating a character beat

“The Ancestor’s Dojo!? Demonkind’s Ultimate Weapon!” We’ve gracefully segued from “I need to become a stronger demon to defeat Momo” to “I need to become a stronger demon to be worthy of standing beside her,” with Shamiko’s demonic nature standing in for any regimen of self-improvement you commit to in order to be your best possible self for the one you love

Mikan laments the mess of her room in a new summer outfit. I appreciate how all the characters in this show have fashion senses that reflect their personalities and self-images, not just default outfits. Fashion is an excellent tool for articulating character

Mikan is freaked out by a cockroach in her apartment, but Shamiko is of course used to such things. “Cockroaches don’t scare me since they have no attack power!”

Gentle soul that she is, Shamiko of course recommends picking up cockroaches and setting them free outside, all while praising them for being so much nicer than other bugs. Very appropriate that the demon girl would not be put off by appearances, and see the good even in creepy-looking things

“It did nothing wrong. All it did was exist and it got attacked. I feel awful, since it reminds me of demons…” Yep

Shamiko’s mastery of domestic life is basically a superpower relative to these helpless magical girls, who can’t cook and live surrounded by garbage. When you don’t live in society’s good graces, you have to learn how to actually get by

Shamiko and Mikan are now comfortable enough together that Mikan is happy to roast Shamiko about her feelings towards Momo. These are some thoroughly well-earned friendships

Shamiko instructs Mikan on how to turn old fliers into temporary garbage cans for cooking scraps. This show is steadily becoming Shamiko’s Thrifty Home and Garden Hour, and I’m all for it

After half an episode of striving, our heroes still cannot defeat a single cockroach

Having suffered the consequences of Mikan’s curse all morning, Momo at last stops by, and immediately lets slip that Shamiko apparently steams her morning rice. This is one of the most married couples I’ve seen in anime

Momo offers a simple, straightforward solution to their bug problems: draw on arcane forces to construct a magical bug-repelling barrier around their apartment. No wonder these magical girls don’t know how to cook or take out the garbage

Excellent tail gag of Shamiko’s “huh, me?” being accompanied by both her finger and tail pointing at her face

They at last find a useful magical training regimen for Shamiko, as she activates bug barrier after bug barrier to improve her magical stamina

“Yuko, dear! It’s time to use the power of the rod that your father bequeathed to you!” To make a laundry-drying pole, of course. I suppose Shamiko is just following in her family’s footsteps with regards to the proper usage and storage of magical objects, given the Daddy Box and whatnot

“Life has become truly wonderful now that we can hang all three of our futons out together.” My god this family. Well, that’s how it always goes – your perception of happiness or luxury are always contingent on the preexisting conditions of your life

Also more excellent, personality-evoking outfits for Momo and Shamiko on this new day. Momo is dressed in a slim black shirt with jeans, which falls in her general wheelhouse of preferring somewhat androgynous outfits (we’ve seen how nervous she gets in a dress) that work well for her tall frame, while the colors evoke her recent embracing of her darker side. As for Shamiko, she’s wearing a thick sweater over a skirt bottom, which evokes both her generally more conservative approach to showing her figure, as well as her preference for more stereotypically feminine ensembles. When careful attention is paid to costume design, you can learn a huge amount about a character by how they choose to present themselves

“You have a nice scent, Momo. It’s like I’m smelling peaches.” Shamiko really growing into the fullness of her horny gremlin powers

This show’s approach to sexuality is unsurprisingly more nuanced than you’d expect from anime. Shamiko is wildly attracted to Momo, but that doesn’t mean she’s defined by that attraction, and she’s actually fairly reserved in her own preferred style of dress. Anime would like you to think “horny” is a personality all by itself, but it’s really not, and all of us have different methods and comfort zones for expressing such feelings

Shamiko and Momo are very cute while bickering over what constitutes a “stick-like thing”

Momo contends that Shamiko’s Watchamacallit Rod can clearly transform into things other than sticks

Shamiko’s sister is eager for her to summon Gungnir. Wrong franchise, Ryo

Momo first asks her to make a thirty kilometer long pole, then to make a pair of chopsticks from pure gold. I recognize her behavior instantly – she’s found an exploitable power within this magic system, and is immediately attempting to stress test it in order to min-max the usefulness of the Watchamacallit. Momo has the heart of a gamer

Lillith claims she should first master transformations in the dreamscape, and then carry that training over to real life. I like how magical competency is framed as directly connected to confidence – when Shamiko believed she could make non-rod-shaped things, she actually could

“It’s time to train my imagination in the dreamscape!” Alright, I’m calling it that instead of oversleeping from now on

Shamiko’s “battle cries” are so good – so earnest yet entirely unthreatening

“I graciously added a counter of how many you’ve defeated at the bottom right.” “What, ‘bottom right?’” We’re sailing off past the meta horizon

As usual, Ryo’s the one who immediately thinks about maximizing Shamiko’s devilish power, while Shamiko’s so innocent that she can only apologize for not envisioning what a continent-destroying sword might look like

And Done

After a season and a half of irreverent shenanigans and romantic escapades, this episode provided something I never expected to see: Shamiko genuinely practicing and improving her magical powers. Having abandoned lofty, likely unrealistic goals like beating Momo outright, Shamiko is now being guided by her mentors through the actual process of self-improvement, one diligent step at a time. In an episode that was otherwise fairly scattershot in its priorities, it was lovely to see both Momo and Shamiko still committed to improving for each other, and still finding new ways to express their mutual affection. Our power couple’s strength grows!

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