…yeah, don’t ask to explain the screenshot.
Though I Am an Inept Villainess Ep. 2
Leelee, a personal court lady, is here to guide Reirin back home to the Shu Clan. Unfortunately, there’s bad blood between the two of them. To be accurate, there’s bad blood between Leelee and Keigetsu, because nobody knows that the two girls have swapped bodies. But even though Leelee despises Reirin at the moment — even accepting an offer from a mysterious woman working under the Kin Clan to torture the maiden Reirin — you already know that they’ll end up being best buds. Reirin will eventually win her over, and Leelee will become undyingly loyal. When the outcome feels this assured, it becomes a chore to watch the story go through the motions.
The same can be said about the Eagle Eye Captain who comes to check up on Reirin. I’m tellin’ ya, the prince can have Keigetsu. Every villainess needs a somewhat “offbeat” love interest, and it’s gonna be this guy. “But he’s not a prince! The villainess still needs to fall in love with a prince!” As far as we know, he’s not a prince. Who can say what utterly predictable plot twists will be revealed in the near or distant future?
Anyway, the two bodyswapped girls are starting to realize what the other has been going through. When Reirin returns to the Shu Palace, she finds herself openly mocked by the other women there. Of course, this doesn’t wipe away Keigetsu’s guilt. Regardless of how she was treated, she had a choice not to be evil, but she took it anyway. Nevertheless, it’s equally important that Reirin understands the privilege she had at the Kou Palace.
At the same time, Keigetsu is slowly learning that the grass is not always greener. She might actually die young if she stays in Reirin’s body. Reirin didn’t exactly sit around, waiting to be coddled and spoiled. The sicker she was, the more she pushed her body to its limits. Reirin never wasted a chance to live her life to the fullest. So it’s not just about your physical constitution, but also your mental constitution. Keigetsu is now being fawned upon by the prince and everyone else — it’s everything she’s always wanted — but her will might break before she can reap the rewards. Still, she has a small avenue towards redemption if she ever sympathizes with Reirin. Time will tell. I hope she does. I always hate it when the rival character struggles to the bitter end when we could have mutual cooperation.
I don’t like how Reirin is instantly good at everything she does. Fine, she has an unending supply of optimism. She’s been exiled to a rundown pantry on the edge of the Shu Clan’s territory, but the girl manages to find a silver lining in everything. Y’see, the shabby building is located near the borders of the Ran Clan. Those guys are blessed by the woods. As a result, there must be spillover effects, which explains why Reirin has no problems growing and harvesting bountiful crops! Not only that, the Kou maiden has always desired independence, and now she has the healthy body to roll around in the dirt and get her hands dirty.
Be that as it may, I find it silly that our inept villainess practically turns her new home into a small farm as if she’s been doing it her whole life. Yes, they tell us — or rather, they tell Keigetsu — that Reirin has been training and building up her stamina her whole life, but doing something in theory is drastically different from actually doing it in practice. Reirin then cooks up a homely but nevertheless delicious meal out of potatoes and other similarly humble vegetables. Has she ever cooked before in her life? Y’know, back when Reirin was in her own body? So yes, I love the fact that Reirin is always upbeat and positive. At the same time, however, there’s no need to take the struggle away from the audience. Let us watch her learn and stumble. Let her be inept for a few episodes before she turns things around!
There’s also the psychological factor. Reirin may have lacked independence in her old life, but she also had friends and confidantes. Well, she has suddenly been cut off from all of them, and yet she seems to suffer no ill effects from this. Even the steeliest, most stoic among us would struggle to lose such an extensive support network. To be fair, Reirin might still be in her “honeymoon phase.” Once her new daily life becomes routine, she might come to miss her old friends like Tousetsu. But I’m not confident that this story will deliver on this front.
And yes, I know the word “inept” in the title refers to Keigetsu, but even then, the girl knew forbidden magic.
A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even Ep. 3
The guy who proposed stealing the fancy soap formula? Elizabeth actually had Mireille reach out to him. She was aiming to bring down his boss from the start. Still, the fact that there was a turncoat just waiting in the wings strains my credulity — a turncoat who also happens to have an injured daughter in need of Elizabeth’s healing magic.
Anyway, we immediately get a time skip. Elizabeth now has control of the market, so she pays Lucas back his initial investment and more. In return, he allows her to travel to the capital whenever she desires. Great, time for a road trip.
Lunoa, the formerly injured daughter, is now in Elizabeth’s employ. Nothing quite like child labor! Her parents are apparently fine with her tagging along with Elizabeth to the capital. On their way, they encounter bandits, and Elizabeth kills them without any hesitation. One of them even tries to beg for his life. Fine, she’s supposed to be ruthless, right? But in the very next scene, she educates Lunoa on how foolish, incompetent lords (unlike Lucas) can create a vicious cycle. You see, not maintaining the roads leads to less trade and overall unsafe conditions for travel. This then creates inflation! Inflation means local farmers can’t make ends meet, so they turn to banditry. The surge in banditry only serves to exacerbate the already dire situation. In other words, it’s a negative feedback loop. Basically, a lot of people only turn to crime due to their circumstances. So Elizabeth understands this, but she also brutally murders those same former farmers-slash-peasants. Right. Look, be evil all you want, but don’t turn around and preach about socioeconomic righteousness. You gotta pick a lane. Either she’s a ruthless “girlboss” villainess who takes no prisoner, or she’s a compassionate, socially conscious visionary. She can’t be both.
Elizabeth, Mireille, and Lunoa soon encounter Tida, a ditzy nun, begging for a ride. After they pick her up, they once again bump into trouble on the road. This time, it’s Tida’s turn to brutally and gleefully murder the bandits. Isn’t her god all about forgiveness and mercy? Sure, but like Elizabth, Tida doesn’t consider bandits to be human. To top everything off, the nun extracts the dead bandit’s gold tooth in order to make a quick buck. It’s the same thing with Elizabeth. These people preach one thing out of the corner of their mouth while doing another. But we’re supposed to “d’awww” at this, because Elizabeth has found a new friend. Well, they’re certainly two sociopathic peas in a pod.
The Forsaken Saintess and Her Foodie Roadtrip in Another World Ep. 3
What’s the chow for this week’s episode? A buncha orphans get cookies from Rin. I’m sure they could use more substantial foodstuffs, but a treat every now and then isn’t a terrible idea. Afterwards, Rin has to sneak vegetables into the party’s lunch, because they’re somehow even more immature than the orphans. C’mon, the veggies are covered in cheese. Quit whinin’ and just eat it. Rin even reveals that she added copious amounts of butter.
What about the story? I mean, what story? All we do in this episode is save a beached killer whale — a strangely perverted killer whale. Said orca screwed itself, in fact. It tried to prank nearby adventurers and ended up stuck like this. But we can’t ignore anyone in need, so Rin and her party do everything they can to get the orca back into the ocean. At some point, a giant octopus (not a squid) attacks, which just means more food for dinner. So once the rescue mission was all said and done, Rin whips up a seafood BBQ. Kinda ho-hum. I wish I got to see more of the cooking, and less nonsense with the whale. Also, the elf in the party drinks red wine with seafood. What a culinary swine.
Before the credits roll, the show leaves us with a stinger of a beast awakening in a cave. I bet it’s gonna be a cute, cat-like mascot for the party, though.
By the way, did you know that killer whales are not actually whales? They’re actually a variant of dolphins. No wonder they’re such jerks. Totally explains why this one tried to prank adventurers.
The Oblivious Saint Can’t Contain Her Power Ep. 4
First, Carolina and Edward officially get married. I don’t really care about this, but fine, get it out of the way so we move on with the rest of the plot. Next, the couple has to go on their honeymoon. Uggggggghhhhh… you can tell I’m not super excited about this episode. What really gets me, however, is how we barely even see Carolina and Edward spend any time together. I mean, this is supposed to be their honeymoon, right? Also, Carolina goes from the Emerald Palace to some noble’s estate. This seems like a downgrade. Shouldn’t you guys head for the beach or whatever? Alas, this episode isn’t really about the honeymoon. Rather, it’s about Carolina’s maid Marisa.
Like Carolina, Marisa has always had a fraught relationship with her elder sisters, especially Marielle. It was then made worse due to Teodore being a cold, heartless jackass. Look, Marielle’s no peach; in fact, she’s downright horrible. But Teodore switched fiancees like they were pairs of shoes. Basically, he was originally engaged to Marielle, but it wasn’t out of love. He wanted her family’s resources, ’cause he’s all about the Pyreborn. Marielle proved to be incredibly annoying, so he dumped her and immediately got engaged to Marisa instead. For a guy who claims to be smart, he sure was a dumbass about this. You have to be an idiot to think this would go over well. Again, Marielle sucks, but fuck this guy. Yes, I know marriages were often arranged for the sake of convenience or political ties, but I don’t really care. Treating people like objects is horrible no matter what time period or setting it is.
Anyway, Carolina empathizes with her maid, so she stands up for her against Marielle, blah blah blah, character development. As a result of all this drama, Marielle’s father ships her off to a convent — an all-too-common trope in villainess anime. Well, she threatened a princess, so the only other option was… what? Death? Still, losing your freedom for the rest of your life sounds horribly cruel no matter how mean she was to her sister. Ah well.
Right before the credits roll, Carolina is about to have her magical aptitude reassessed. They’ll probably confirm once and for all that she’s a saintess. Meanwhile, Flora’s two brain cells have been running in overdrive. As a result, she’s close to realizing that she needs her former punching bag around or else she’ll be exposed as a fraud. Well, Carolina stood up for her maid, right? Let’s see if she can actually stand up for herself.
All Works Maid Ep. 5
When we last left off, Bjork — no, not the Icelandic singer — attacked Luciana because he was mind-controlled by “The Dark One.” But Melody would never leave her master unprotected, so Luciana is actually shielded by her maid’s latent mana. Basically, Melody is so powerful that she doesn’t even have to be present. I guess that’s the joke. Are you laughing? Am I laughing? Ehhhhh.
The rest of the episode is just everyone standing around, being flummoxed by the situation. For instance, Luciana was supposed to become an antagonist according to the original game… but she’s not! The saintess was supposed to reveal herself at the party… but she didn’t! The saintess should’ve defeated The Dark One… but now it’s possessing a dog and will probably become a recurring mascot character! My point is, it’s just the same gag over and over, and I guess the writer thought that this sort of irony would be entertaining. I’m pretty bored, though.
This show doesn’t have a plot that leaves you speculating. It’s a comedy and not a character-driven show, so I can’t expect Melody or anyone else to have real depth. The thing is, the foundation is there. For Melody to pass up connecting with her own father over a career, that’s worth examining in some detail. But… we don’t. We don’t even try. And again, the humor is just “Oh ho, you thought this, but we got this!” I’m having a hard time coming up with anything to say. When I do these blog posts, I really do try to have some sort of substantive commentary to offer. But when it comes to this anime, especially this episode, I’m simply drawing a blank.