Stuck it out for as long as I could, but I finally found a summer show I don’t have the stomach to continue. I’m also moderately surprised it’s not Chainsmoker Cat.
Though I Am an Inept Villainess Ep. 6
Before the matter with Lady Seika can be settled, Tousetsu storms in with bad news: Keigetsu (in Reirin’s body) has fallen unconscious, and she’s suffering quite badly. Reirin (in Keigetsu’s body) knows her own body better than anyone, so she begs the empress to give her a chance to heal Keigetsu. Naturally, no one here trusts her. The girl who tried to kill Reirin suddenly wants to help her?! But y’see, Reirin danced real, real good, so she deserves a chance to prove herself! The empress thus gives Reirin a challenge: pick up a water-blessed bow and keep firing it until the girl hits her target. Apparently, the bow “senses maladies through string vibration,” so if Reirin can pull this off, she can help save Keigetsu. At the very least, Keigetsu will regain consciousness, which then allows her to take her much-needed medicine. Two things. First, if this bow is truly important to saving the poor girl, then why would you risk giving this task to Reirin? “Durr, it’s to test her!” Or we could just save Keigetsu now by having someone else do it? Am I missing something or does this seem incredibly stupid? In fact, no one thinks Reirin can pull it off. They expect her to give up and fail, especially because she is fire-blessed. Everyone knows fire is weak to water! So then… do they want to save Keigetsu or not? Sorry, but I’m confused as all hell. Second, you can give people medicine even if they’re unconscious. C’mon now.
Anyway, the episode plays out exactly as you would expect it to. Reirin keeps firing that bow for hours and hours. She doesn’t even stop to rest or eat. Her dominant hand even start bleeding from drawing the bowstring. Naturally, everyone is very impressed. Meanwhile, Keigetsu isn’t just unconscious. She’s having nightmares. She’s reliving both her painful past and her trauma. Not only that, something haunts her dreams — something with tons of eyes. Only when Reirin hits her target in the real world does the monstrous presence go away. The bow really is magic. Still, either Keigetsu herself is cursed, or Reirin’s body is cursed. I’m leaning towards the former, because Reirin never suffered this badly in her own body. Not only is Keigetsu not used to Reirin’s weak constitution, I think she might have brought something horrible along with her when their souls swapped places. Still, she sees Reirin reach out to her in her dreams — she sees Reirin as her savior. If Keigetsu goes back to being a hater when she wakes up, I’m going to be sorely disappointed in the writing.
Anyway, the crown prince is legitimately in love with Reirin, so we see him curse his own uselessness. The empress pretty much has him confined to his room. I’m not rooting for him, though. The whole trial by lion thing in the first episode poisoned me against him for good. Meanwhile, Tousetsu goes to see Reirin at the end of the episode. She probably means to thank Reirin for saving her maiden. But all of a sudden, she realizes that the woman in front of her is not actually Keigetsu. Okay… but what clued her in? And why didn’t she notice this the last time they spoke? They’ve had no exchanges since then.
A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even Ep. 7
Oh, well that settles it: Elizabeth is straight-up just a supervillain. Robert, Friede’s right-hand man, decides to surrender. His conscience won’t allow him to continue the futile war effort, so he raises the white flag. When he sees Elizabeth, he even apologizes to her. Well, she doesn’t forgive him. Even worse, she lures Robert and his men out into the mountains where she cruelly murders all of them — all of them except Robert, of course. It looks like she’s going to use him as a puppet to help exact her revenge.
Yeah, I’m not into this. I don’t wanna watch evil people win in life. Yes, I realize this series of posts is called “Villainess Villainy,” but contrary to what one might expect, especially if they have no knowledge of anime whatsoever, the villainesses we talk about aren’t supposed to actually be evil. They’re just non-standard heroines — women who buck societal norms and expectations. It’s supposed to be ironic. These women — well, most of them — simply want freedom, and they’re branded a villainess for it.
On the other hand, someone who murders soldiers who have already surrendered is too far gone for me. Yes, they followed orders and attacked villages, which likely included murders and rapes. Still, extrajudicial execution is too much for me. For now, Elizabeth is just murdering soldiers. What is she going to do once she gets the chance to enact her revenge on Haldoria’s people? How much worse is this going to get? Are we going to keep escalating the violence just because it’s only episode seven? Well, I’m not gonna stick around to find out. Like I’ve often said elsewhere on this blog, our reality sucks enough as it is. We see bad people get away with the most heinous shit possible all the time. I don’t need to have fictional villains celebrated as well.
The Forsaken Saintess and Her Foodie Roadtrip in Another World Ep. 7
Now here’s a woman you can praise! Well, “can” being the operative word. Point is, you won’t be seeing Rin and her party committing war crimes. Nosirree bob, in this show, we only murder the local fauna (just pretend they didn’t eat orc ribs in last week’s episode)!
So what are we eating this week? Rin actually doesn’t do much cooking this time around. Upon trying Lente’s semi-flavorless dango, she tweaks the recipe to make faux pao de queijo, a.k.a. Brazilian cheesy bread. Rin’s version simply has a mochi-like chewiness to it. As you might expect, it’s a hit with the orphans as well as her party’s childish palates.
Afterwards, the gang just goes out and eats, but that’s fine too. After all, this is a foodie roadtrip, so Rin doesn’t have to make everything. The only problem is that the animation quality is shoddy. You might not be able to taste or smell anime food, but it should at least be a visual feast. Studio Ghibli definitely spoiled us on that front, but there are plenty of shows that still deliver on tasty-looking food. Not here, though. Everything’s just kind of undetailed and uninspired. But hey, eating out means they get to eat lots of veggies for once. Also, doner kebabs are apparently a thing in a fantasy isekai setting.
If you’re curious about the plot, uh… there was another monster attack. The party needs to gather info in the capital, but Vil is strangely reluctant to go there.
The Oblivious Saint Can’t Contain Her Power Ep. 8
Owen and Marisa each go to their respective noble families to secure support for a faith council that the empire wants to establish. It turns out Owen’s half-brother feels guilty about Owen’s mistreatment. Well, isn’t that nice? They were kids back then, right? So honestly, I doubt there was much Owen’s half-brother could’ve done. But at least they’ve made up.
Unfortunately, the situation is not quite as wholesome for Marisa. Marielle has already been shipped off to a convent, but she apparently wasn’t the only bully in Marisa’s life. This week, we meet Maria. She seems contrite, but Marisa wants to lock in Maria’s husband’s support. As a result, Marisa threatens to reveal all of Maria’s wrongdoings. Damn, blackmailing your own sister? And doing so in order to help Carolina, who is supposed to be a saint? That’s messed up. Plus, why are things so nasty with the girls yet so amiable with the guys? Hmm.
Well, the faith council thing gets approved, which unsurprisingly angers the archbishop. As a result, he’s going to play dirty. He goes to Monica, whom I can’t recall ever seeing whatsoever. It turns out we met her once, and she’s one of Gilbert’s rude supporters. So what does the archbishop want with Monica? Well, there’s going to be a selection exam, so the archbishop wants Monica to take a drug that doubles her mana. This will allow her to beat Carolina in the exam and thus become the empire’s saint. But wait, doesn’t the archbishop want to claim that Carolina is the saint, so he has an excuse to drag her back to Celestia? Okay, you make Monica the saint. And then what? Carolina is still Edward’s wife. Like what are we doing here?
Also, the archbishop has an even more potent drug, which he intends to give to someone else. It’s gonna be Flora, isn’t it? Not only that, the drug’s side effect will probably turn Flora into a monster or whatever. Hmmm, if this show isn’t mean-spirited, I expect Carolina to use her saintly powers to purify Flora, thereby mending the bridges between them. But if the show is mean-spirited, then I suppose this would be a good excuse to get rid of Flora once and for all.
All Works Maid Ep. 9
This episode features a mishmash of events that I struggle to care about:
- Luciana was supposed to be the villain, but she’s now the stand-in heroine. Anne-Marie thus wonders if Olivia will now be the stand-in villain. It’s unclear to me if people have free will or not in this universe. If she’s getting jealous out of her own free will, then she obviously sucks. But if the setting is forcing her to fill a gap, then we should feel sorry for her.
- There isn’t as much to do in the dorms, so Melody is bored. One of the other maids suggests taking up a part-time job, so Melody ends up working for Lect, who is serving as a stand-in instructor. Well, what’s the problem? They’re on friendly terms, right? Well, Luciana is a little suspicious of the knight. She doesn’t want him to steal Melody away from her. Eh, Melody strikes me as a completely asexual character. Still, someone like Luciana probably expects Melody to serve her for life.
- Lect somehow gives Melody an existential crisis by being surprised that she could be bored with maid work. This causes Melody to semi-spiral until she gets a pep talk from the sentient doll that has been fashioned to look like her dead mother. Also, they refer to each other as sisters. This almost feels unhealthy. The light-hearted of the scene hides just how bizarre this whole setup is.
- That orphan girl we keep seeing? She has been taken on as a maid-in-training for Luciana’s parents. No further developments other than that.
- Bjork is still out there? He also still wants revenge? Weird how the dark spirit inhabiting him has long been tamed — in fact, it’s just a household pet for the Rudlebergs — but I guess the good guys will still need to contend with Bjork again.
So as you can see, this episode had no real focus. I struggled to get through the episode, then I struggled to write it up. Even now, I look over these bullet points and think to myself, Man this is fucking boring. But I dunno how to improve it.