The World God Only Knows: Goddesses Arc – 08
The episode in which the childhood friend initiates the surprise 5-way at Keima’s house.
 So Keima makes contact with Apollo/Kanon who lets him know his new time limit to capture either Ayumi or Chihiro before she turns into water. Fortunately for him, he’s pretty sure it’s Chihiro, and Ayumi is committed to backing off. Meanwhile, Haqua finds herself arrested in hell and charged with treason, likely by an undercover Vintage agent. The story is moving at a pleasantly fast pace, but come on, does the boring girl really have to win?
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Poor LC never gets appreciation from Keima. He might still be bitter about the whole tricked-into-servitude-under-penalty-of-beheading thing.
It was nice to have a break from all the conquests to address the main problem at hand. It’s important to remember that Keima’s goal here is to save Kanon’s life and to save the world, not to manipulate girls into falling for him. The parts with Haqua in hell were nice; it’s been a while since I last saw hell. Though looking at all the loose soul capture folks in that room, I have to wonder again why all 6 goddesses happened to gather around our hero.
Is this demon also a Vintage member? I don’t think the show is smart enough to throw us any red herrings, so I’m guessing yes.
I doubt we’ll see the political intrigue aspect develop into much, but there’s usually something enticing about such stories of traitors and spies and secret societies. Darn Haqua, making the rookie mistake of showing all her cards to everyone. Didn’t she grow up in hell? Hasn’t she learned not to trust people? Right now, my bet is on Nora having been a Vintage member the entire time and also being responsible for Haqua’s arrest and treason charge. Though considering the charge, I imagine she’s also right that Vintage also has infiltrated a much higher position. I just don’t think it’s the section chief.
How is Haqua going to come out of this one alive? Actually, can demons like her die, and if not, what is the punishment for treason? And does hell have a well formed justice system where the accused is granted presumption of innocence and a chance to challenge her accuser and the evidence against her? Not to mention standards for conviction, which should rely on hard, objective evidence rather than opinions and hearsay. On the one hand, I’d expect a place of eternal punishment to take justice and discipline seriously. On the other hand, hell doesn’t seem like the most tightly run ship in this universe. In any case, I hope Haqua steps up and breaks out of there, perhaps accompanied by a costume change to what we see her wearing in the opening sequence?
I don’t remember from previous seasons; is this her official uniform? Will we get to see her in it in the show proper?
Ah, the painful joys of being a harem lead.
The Keima parts in the episode were good too, if rather standard. Well, he hasn’t had the privilege of getting fought over like most harem protagonists at this point, so that was new. These sisters seem to be more competitive than collaborative when it comes to that. Diana breaking things up only to claim Keima for Tenri was a great exclamation point to end that gag. I wonder where her wings are; didn’t we see them begin to sprout at the end of the last episode in which she appeared?
I was happy that we got to check up on Apollo. The way Keima slipped into the dream sequence was beautifully done. I liked the touch of Elsie not acknowledging that Keima fell over – did he fall into the dream while still appearing awake and standing to everyone else? His landing, not so beautifully done. Okay, since it was a dream, laws of physics need not apply, but the way he landed on that dome made no sense. He should have skidded off to his death. I’m not sure what’s going on with Apollo praying for Maijima from within the dream, and why she has no interest in meeting up with her sisters, but at least we got an update on the time limit. Also, isn’t Apollo a goddess, not a mere shrine maiden?
Gotta love that Apollo’s first reaction to Keima was like all the other goddesses: he’s my host’s lover!
The continuation of the conquest certainly isn’t going the way I would have liked. I’m a bit confused at why Keima was troubled by Ayumi’s reactions even after he had concluded that Chihiro must be harboring the goddess. Sure, an unpredictable wild card can be troubling, but shouldn’t he treat Ayumi backing off as a gift? If she hadn’t, then raising either girl’s affection level high enough within the time frame would have been ten times harder.
Being left hanging out to dry like that? Ayumi deserves better.
I did find the whole festival eve scene rather off-putting for a couple of reasons. First of all, what the hell was Chihiro doing going to the campfire with Keima when Ayumi was on stage? The poor girl was practically coerced to competing, and she was clearly nervous as all heck; as her best friend, you aren’t going to stay there and support her? You’re going to go off to make out with the asshole gamer loser? What kind of friend are you? Secondly, I know that Keima was under a lot of time pressure, but he has got to learn the meaning of “no.” Being aggressive is one thing, but literally pulling the girl by force in order to get to a secluded area is another. Even if Chihiro relented in the end, it was clear she was basically giving up by that point.
It’s hard to root for a couple when both of them are being huge jerks. Also when that means abandoning who is clearly the best girl. I hope to see Keima dumbfounded when they kiss next episode and no goddess comes out. Oops, now to win over the girl who gave up on me, right after I kissed her best friend. Now that’s a challenge worthy of the god of conquest!
Preview:
Looks like some stuff happen involving Chihiro’s route, but who cares? It’s LC faux-smoking a tiny broom while wearing sun glasses!
About lvlln
A math/science geek and a self-dubbed cynical optimist. I don't care if it's deep, if it can make me feel something or laugh, it's fine in my book. @lvlln
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 109 comments
oh no it happens next week this is bad news i will cry
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
My non-manga-informed self thinks that Keima is worried about Ayumi because he *thinks* Chihiro is the goddess, but he’s not 100% sure. It could still be Ayumi, and the Goddess just doesn’t have enough pull to make her jealous of her good friend Chihiro. So he doesn’t want to burn that bridge if he doesn’t have to.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
You’re right on. It may seem that Keima has gone all in with Chihiro, but he still hasn’t discounted the possibility of the Goddess being in Ayumi. He’s just chosen to move ahead with the stronger candidate because it would be quicker.
POWUH: iLurker with 12 comments
“Is this demon also a Vintage member? I don’t think the show is smart enough to throw us any red herrings, so I’m guessing yes.” She was already shown as being a vintage member in episode 2.
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
Oh, good catch. Was she the one who stabbed Kanon? It’s been so long that I’ve completely forgotten.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Yeah, she was the one who tried to kill Kanon. She called herself Lune.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Now this is more like it. Things are finally getting lively. I was getting bored with the whole Goddess search only part taking over the series without some real pressure being added into the story in the meantime, like seeing what the villains were up to.
I understand what Haqua did was to get information about the rumors but blurting it out in public was way too reckless. She might have had a chance if she adressed the problem in secret. That way, if there was an agent, she would have at least gotten off with a warning to stay out of their business and she could have used the time outside to think of a counter measure.
It wasn’t surprising to think that Vintage had an agent in power. The first thing you should think of if there’s a possible coup d’état is that there’s already a mole inside waiting for orders while rising up in the ranks. Never think they’d be working from just the outside.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
Yes, Haqua was being very reckless there. But I think you have to understand that no one could have imagined that Vintage would be rooted so deeply in the government. They were initially presented as a small radical group, but clearly one of those descriptors isn’t right. Also Haqua is very naive.
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
Keima is human…who knew, he’s going right ahead with chihiro, but, if he makes a mistake things are going to get complicatedShow ▼
, anyway, finally my favorite goddess is here *0*
Apollo makes a real appearance yay!
and
Bad move Haqua, bad move!Now the enemy knows you…and is probably going to search around you for your allies…definitely a bad move
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 109 comments
prepare yourself episode 9 will be a tearjerker it will be very sad
POWUH: iLurker with 6 comments
About the Ayumi on stage part, I didn’t think about it like that, I mean, I didn’t think of Chihiro as a bad friend because of that. Certainly Chihiro has a story of not being exactly empathic so I understand your point of view, or maybe this is a show of your strong support for Ayumi?
Keima has always been kind of a jerk and pushy in his conquests. He has done some other disturbing things in the past like stalking, this comes to show just how far can he go to see the ending.
I’m surprised you mentioned this and didn’t say a thing about how he, Diana and Elsie conspired to kidnap 3 sleeping girls from their respective homes.
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
My affinity for Ayumi is probably showing here, but at the same time, I consider it a matter of common courtesy to cheer for and support your friends when they’re doing something on stage. This isn’t like Kanon, who is on stage all the time; Ayumi isn’t going to be in the spotlight as often (except in track meets) and she was also clearly scared. That’s exactly when she most needs support from her friends. Abandoning her for Keima is kinda of shitty.
Kidnapping all those girls, well, they were asleep the entire time, and the goddesses in control of them were complicit, so I didn’t have much of a problem with it. Of course, one could raise the objection that the goddesses forcefully took control of these poor girls’ bodies, but I think part of accepting the premise of the arc is that these bodies now belong to both the girls and the goddesses inhabiting them.