Hataraku Maou-sama! – 10
Yay, a pool episode!
I had a much longer post written, but that was lost because my laptop decided to die on me while I was taking screenshots. The post was supposed to be autosaved, so I wasn’t too worried about it. Evidently I thought wrong. So instead of trying to rewrite a 1k+ word post, I’ll just briefly list some of the more important points.
Suzuno’s Development
I like Suzuno’s character, but I’m not very impressed with the direction in which the show is taking her. Seeing her try to reconcile Maou’s newfound good nature with her preconception of him feels a bit too much like a rehashing of what Yusa had to go through not too long ago. And no doubt, Suzuno will eventually come to see Maou in a better light just as the hero did. Personally, I would have liked to see her stick with the mission and try to take out Maou without dabbling in these matters and having a change of heart. Or perhaps even a little physical confrontation with Yusa would be intereresting to see. The relationship between these two agents of the Church seems to be particularly strained as of late, compared to Suzuno’s initial respect for the hero. But alas, it looks like we’ll be having the same old same old instead.
Mysterious Assailant Again
It looks like the mysterious assailant really is Mitsuki. What’s more, we see that he is in fact an angel, something which I speculated upon previously. I’m not sure what his motives are or how he ended up on Earth, but I can make a few good guesses. The Church probably sent him after Suzuno to make sure she did her job properly, but most likely he’s using this as an excuse to pay Earth a visit. I’m thinking he isn’t too interested in the Church’s order to eliminate Maou, and has his own agenda instead. It’s notable that he attacked Yusa but hasn’t raised a hand against Maou, so it’s possible he has a thing against Yusa being half angel. Maybe the angels aren’t too happy with such an existence, or perhaps Mitsuki is just acting alone. His hiding of his eyes and his unsavory behavior certainly doesn’t make me want to trust him, angel status notwithstanding.
Swimsuits
To make up for a lack of written content, here you go.
I had some witty parting comment about Chi-chan’s two special one-pounders, but I don’t remember what exactly it was. Something to do with how they looked in her swimsuit. Oh well. I think I also made another witty comment about the usage of budget to animate in great detail Chi-chan’s two special one-pounders. But now the delivery of that punch line is ruined because I haven’t got the time to properly rewrite this post. I’ll just leave off on a somewhat positive note by mentioning that Maou really is making good on his word to move up in the world. He just has a very long way to go before he’s in any position to rule Earth.
About Sumairii
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I can understand how that feels. Not too long ago, I had to a presentation as it was necessary for my school exams and just when it got to the most important part concerning my laptop and at the worst possible time, it died on me. Luckily for me, I had a flash drive with all my work along with me and the teachers overseeing my exam were nice enough to let me use one of their computers.
The breast to burger comparison. Ooh, that had to hurt Emi’s self esteem. The despair on her face while looking at her own bust. The first time I saw that I asked myself “What are those?” then realized it was Chiho. Whatever her parents have been feeding this girl; it’s doing a frighteningly good job.
True that Suzuno is going in the same path Emi did concerning Maou but she’s more rigid in her judgments given that she’s more involved in the church and probably has a death grip on her views of what should and should not be and for her, a demon defending humans is something that should be impossible to believe. I doubt she’d want to hear that being in Japan has changed his nature. Sometimes I wonder if Maou is even interested in conquering anything anymore.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
I get the feeling Maou isn’t too keen on “conquering” anything in the same sense of what he did in Ente Isla. However, I think he is still interested in rising up and becoming a successful and influential person. But that’s something rather normal that most of us would aspire for anyway.
And yeah, I was also surprised at Chi-chan’s size. I knew she was big, but I didn’t think she was this big. Those one-pounders are just ridonkulous!
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
I think I finally stopped shipping Maou and Chi-chan at this point (I kind of had give up on it earlier, but there was still a bit of holding out).
He’s aware of her feelings, and he’s pretty much deliberately making sure she doesn’t get her hopes up. And she’s pretty much getting the message loud and clear. No chance honey.
When she asked him shyly… “so… how is it?” obviously referring to her swimsuit, I think he knew exactly what she was fishing for, and deliberately started talking about how his work conditions were. I think she gets it.
I’m just glad Maou isn’t pulling the typical shounen obliviousness schtick. I got tired of that years ago.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
I don’t know if he’s purposefully ignoring her advances. Maou just seems like a genuinely dense idiot. I would certainly prefer if he really wasn’t that way, because I’m also tired of the typical obliviousness. But everyone around him thinks he’s just being dense, so until we get any solid indication that he is otherwise, that’s what I’m going with.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
No, no, no. Maou is only running on moderate obliviousness. He knows Chiho’s in love with him but he’s focused on work. If you want the real deal on a dense protagonist, check out Infinite Stratos’s Ichika.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
Ah, I guess I give him less credit than he deserves then. It’s just I’ve never really seen any indication of him recognizing Chi-chan’s feelings, even after she confessed directly last time.
And yes, Ichika really is an idiot among idiots. =P
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
He’d better know, she outright confessed to him! I think it’s more than he’s just focused on work, tho. I think he’s actively avoiding any entanglements like that.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
Or he’s just genuinely not-interested. So why put in any effort to acting affected by her advances?
And, I’ll never forgive Ichika for not recognizing how much more awesome “Charles” was than the other girls.
Bah… she’s too good for Ichika anyway, says I.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I say both Houki and Charlotte are too good for Ichika.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Everyone’s too good for Ichika. What a dope. If I had to pick someone for him to end up with from that series, I’d pick Cecilia, because everyone else deserves someone better more.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
You know how awesome it would be if they did a harem show where most of the quality girls – including the girl the show is obviously billing as the “grand prize” – all dumped the hero and he ended up with one of the “quirky” girls who was obviously being billed as a troublesome side-character?
Still waiting for a self-aware “counter-shounen” harem show to arrive….
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Then unfortunately for you, you’re going to see more of him because the second season of Infinite Stratos is slated for Fall 2013.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I’ve actually read ahead in the Light Novels for IS. And I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by saying Ichika never gets better.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
No, you can view it as having done us all a service.
About the only positive thing I can say about Ichika at this point is that… well…. he’s not as bad as Natsuru in Kampfer.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I dunno, I think Ichika wins far and away, even over Natsuru (and oh my, was that show a train wreck. It started out so promising and then just…”whuuuuuu?”)
At least Natsuru was interested in a girl, and realized that girls were interested in him. Never mind that the girl he was interested in was interested in him when he was a girl.
Ichika’s just too dense to even notice that much.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Who watch harem for the male lead anyways. So I’m turning a blind eye on Ichika and focus on the girls 😛
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Well, the male lead is supposed to be the driving force behind the harem, the reason the girls surround him so he’s definitely entitled to some form of attention. Ichika does it so poorly that if not for the girls and the story, there wouldn’t be any reason to watch.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
The reason so many harem male leads are “potato-kuns” is because the lead is supposed to be bland and without any outstanding personality traits.
This makes it easier for the teenage male viewer to erase the guy out of the picture and imagine himself in the shoes of the protagonist surrounded by beautiful girls.
The more bland the lead’s character, the easier the fantasy.
It’s the same concept behind those old roleplaying heroes who never spoke, but were surrounded by characters who did (like Crono in Crono Trigger). The idea was his lack of lines allowed you to imagine YOURSELF as the hero.
Same concept. Thus, the blander the harem lead, the easier the fantasy. Theoretically anyway.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
The problem with that theory is that if the harem lead is so stupid that he never does anything you’d do, that viewer replacement goes out the window. Then it just turns into a horror movie where you’re yelling at the screen “DON’T GO IN THE SHED!” and the dumb coed goes in anywhere and gets killed by the axe murderer.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 323 comments
zzz that is one dumb satan …
bikini + shitt jokes combine at the same time ,never seen these type before..
i kinda like the way the reference between 2 special one-pounders and 2 Mgronald .
im still figuring it out who was the seiyuu on that ghost house ..the little girl ..i think i heard the voice before
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
The one-pounder reference was the best. As if Emi wasn’t depressed enough about being flat chested.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
Personally, I kind of wonder how much real Japanese women are hung up on chest size and how much of the obsession is simply the fact the audience is teenage and college age Japanese boys.
Kind of like the “loud girlfriend who randomly grabs female characters boobs” trope that wore out its welcome… oh… ten years ago.
Seriously, does any female in Japan actually go around grabbing other girls’ boobs?
They sure as hell didn’t when I lived there for 2 years in the 90s.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Women the world over are hung up on breast size. There’s a reason breast augmentation is the second most popular plastic surgery throughout the world, and Japan is a top 6 nation for plastic surgery (as should be expected from a top 5 GDP country). It’s not that everyone does it, but I think there’s more anxiety about it among women than they let on.
And let’s face it, guys would be MUCH worse if ours were visible and comparable.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
I always figured the plastic surgery numbers were largely due to getting rid of the heavy eyelids. That’s a really popular one over there.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
No, I think the most popular plastic surgeries out there are either facial reconstruction or breast implants. It’s all about appearance rather than substancce.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
Wouldn’t eyelid reconstruction (the one to artificially create wider eyes) count as “facial reconstruction”?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Most popular worldwide is liposuction, followed by breast augmentation, and Japan follows the same order. Japan does fall out of the worldwide top 5 for breast augmentation, but it’s still the second most done procedure in the country. Blepharoplasty (eyelids) is 4th. Rhinoplasty is 3rd.
Source: http://www.isaps.org/files/html-contents/Downloads/ISAPS%20Results%20-%20Procedures%20in%202011.pdf
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Hmmm… In a way it would but I always considered the eyes to be but a small part. What I think of facial reconstruction is everything from the top of the head down to the chin, even manipulating where the bones in the face are. Some people look completely different after having the surgery.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
When someone rescues my comment, you can see the order for Japan.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
Yeah, I forgot – the country has been getting much, MUCH fatter since I was there in the 90s.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Well, remember that ‘overweight’ is actually indicative of longer life (current risk of death goes down for the ‘overweight’ category even compared to ‘normal weight’). For most of human history, people have been undernourished. Compare how big my generation is (generally much larger than our parents) and then the people in you guys’ generation (even bigger). I attribute this to really cleaning up food supplies even in industrialized countries in the last 50 years (for an illustration of this, compare North Koreans to South Koreans, who are now about 3 inches taller).
Mainly I’m trying to say that ‘fatter’ is better, to a pretty large extent. Just because a population has been undernourished for centuries doesn’t mean that normal is desirable. 🙂
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
Nah, life expectancy rates in the 90s were better in Japan than they were here. This was a full-blown 1st world country in the 80s and 90s that was in many ways outstripping the USA in quality of life.
It’s just because they’ve introduced more beef and milk into the national diet – Americanized. Diabetes is becoming a national health concern for the first time ever.
It isn’t even remotely a health indicator in my book.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
So in the end, it all comes down to being self conscious and insecure and Japan portrays a bit too well with the breast sizes. Just look at those from Kore wa Zombie’s Seraphim or the girls from Kyoukaisenjou no Horizon. They’re insanely huge and any flat chested girl would feel discouraged.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
If they’re highly perverted, then maybe, especially if you consider how “close” teenage girls are becoming with each other. There’s so much that’s going on in this world that we shouldn’t be surprised about anything anymore yet we still managed to get caught off guard when we see something out of the ordinary.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
When’s the last time you saw a random public boob-grab in a shoujo manga or josei manga?
I’m not buying it.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Well… There was a lot of boob grabbing in Senran Kagura but that’s not falling in the genres you mentioned.