Evil Eye could’ve hurt Momo really badly in this week’s episode, so Manjiro’s right: adults are usually more pragmatic. They should be more pragmatic. If they didn’t constantly rain on everyone’s parade, kids would accidentally (and sometimes not so accidentally) kill themselves left and right with their antics. But Seiko has too much heart (as does everyone else in this show), so she doesn’t want to give up on Jiji even though her own granddaughter is in danger. Like shit, if I were in her shoes, I don’t think I’d vouch this hard for some random kid over my own (grand)child. And it’s not like it’s even Jiji who’s in danger; it’s just his feelings. We’re talking about Evil Eye. If Evil Eye gets send to a better place, Jiji will be sad but I think he’d ultimately get over it. Also, remember when the gang thought they had taken Turbo Granny down for good? Seiko talked about how the evil spirit must have been consoling the souls of murdered young girls, but they still had to exorcise Turbo Granny because we can’t let the yokai run wild and harm the living. But now she likes Jiji’s spirit enough to risk everyone’s lives? Does granny like Jiji that much?
Obviously, Evil Eye will stick around, because all of the kids need power-ups. It wouldn’t do to have Momo, Okarun, and Aira flashing special abilities while Jiji sits on the sideline. Nevertheless, I can’t help but wonder why Seiko doesn’t lean more on Okarun and Aira. Sure, Jiji’s a genius, and he’s actually possessed by the thing that’s making their lives hell. So yes, it’s primarily his responsibility to keep Evil Eye under control. But surely the Ayases haven’t invited Okarun and Aira to sleep over just to splash hot water (which they’re doing a poor job of). Aira is pretty much left to her own devices, and she looks bored out of her mind. Meanwhile, Okarun has to drum up his own motivation and plans to get stronger. Kind of expecting a lot from an alien otaku. Where would he be if he didn’t have the typical grindset befitting of a shounen protagonist? Or the typical infinite capacity of the shounen protagonist to empathize with others and be selfless? Luckily, Turbo Granny is willing to lend a hand. The kid obviously hasn’t come close to using her powers to their full potential; bro can’t even throw a punch. But I doubt Aira is using her yokai’s powers to their fullest either. Look, my point is that, sure, it makes sense to focus on Jiji’s training, but Seiko could’ve multi-tasked a tiny bit more and assigned some “homework” to the others as well. Again, maybe she just favors Jiji. He’s not the only misfit that she’s taken under her (ruined) roof, but he sure seems like the golden one.
(Speaking of gold, I wonder when we’ll return to the subplot regarding Okarun’s still missing testicle. What a sentence to type in 2025, huh?)
The maid moments at the start of the episode are equal parts adorable and amusing (can’t say “cute and funny” anymore without raising people’s suspicions). Again, I’m glad romance isn’t an afterthought for once in a shounen. It started with love, and it sure as hell better end with it. But if I had to nitpick, I think Science Saru could’ve lingered on the walk home a tiny bit. If I had to guess, I bet the studio is being faithful to the source material, but it feels weird to do all that build-up — even though Momo told him to go home, she was definitely looking for him after her shift was over — just for the uncensored hand-holding to last a mere fat second followed by a comedic reaction from Okarun. Seeing them actually walking home together with the city lights serving as shoujo sparkles wouldn’t have hurt. Hell, they lingered more on Momo’s seeming disappointment over not seeing Okarun than the actual hand-holding. This is where adaptations can have some creative liberty, and I’m sure the fanbase wouldn’t mind. I swear, I think some Dandadan fans would literally kill themselves if those two kids don’t end up an official couple.
(Also, if it’s not safe for Momo to walk home alone one night, surely it would be unsafe for her to walk home alone every night. So it would make sense to see them together again. Maybe not this episode, but maybe in a future one.)
Clevatess Ep. 7
I gotta be real with you: I watched this while eating lunch, and I don’t think I retained much at all. Uh, the girls escaped from the horde of bugs, but only for now. It seems like the villagers are now after them too. Meanwhile, Clevatess seemingly gets trapped by one of Dorel’s spells. He’s obviously fine though, because he’s the protagonist. Here’s the thing: if you want to put the main character in peril, you need some other character nearby who doesn’t have the luxury of the audience’s meta-knowledge. For example, I doubt a single viewer on this planet honestly thought Okarun was dead in the aftermath of the Evil Eye fight at the end of Dandadan’s fourth episode. But Momo didn’t know that, and in turn her emotions — potentially self-destructive desperation slowly giving way to utter relief — became our emotions. Meanwhile, Clevatess is alone. On the surface, he gets owned but we know he’s fine. No one in the general vicinity cares, so we don’t care either. I certainly don’t. One guy is surprised that the demon lord lost, but that’s about it.
Anyway, I think that’s all I’ve got. I still tune in every week, because it’s dubbed. It’s just too convenient.
New Saga Ep. 7
Every time Kyle goes to a new area, he meets yet another hot babe from his past (future?). I don’t suppose Miranda has an actual history with our protagonist in the previous timeline, but this is anime so you can never be too sure.
Anyway, Theron got five minutes in the spotlight in a previous episode, but now he’s back to being the butt-monkey of the cast. Haha, he mistook a young boy for a cute girl. So funny. Hilarious. I’m dead inside now.
Speaking of Theron, however, what I’m missing from this story is a little more involvement from the rest of the hero’s party. So far, everything has been left to the whims of our protagonist. Everyone else is more or less following his every step with nary a remark much less a complaint. At some point, however, he has to let them in on his true objectives, right? Or are they really gonna question nothing from now until the finale airs?
At the moment, New Saga is too imbalanced; it’s basically all about Kyle and the rest of his party barely even matters. It was nice to see Theron do something episodes ago, but again, that was one moment. I can’t remember the last time Lise truly contributed to the story. Our childhood friend has more or less lost any real significance to the plot. We’re trying to keep her alive this time around, right? So could we get another scene or two between Kyle and Lise just to remind us of the stakes? Just to remind us how much she means to him? I mean, why did you cast even Fairouz Ai for this role if you’re not gonna have the character say or do anything meaningful?
Urza is in the same boat. All we get from her this week is that relations between elves and dwarves are less than ideal. Basically, another lazy fantasy trope. Yes, Tolkien established it, but you don’t need to copy it wholesale.
Anyway, the real kicker is that when something does happen at the end of this mostly low-key episode — our hero discovers that the empire’s ambassador has been murdered by a demon — his friends aren’t even there with him! They don’t like formal meals! How convenient!
