Kamigami no Asobi – 08
Balder clearly isn’t impressed with the animation quality KamiAso has been having lately.
 |
It’s terribly ironic that it was episode 6 where I said that I was getting comfortable with how things were going and then the plot turned to… this. Though somewhere in here, I think I surpassed being annoyed at how the episode was going and that somehow changed everything into being kind of funny. I was more amused (…though probably not in a good way) more than I sound in this post. |
So let’s talk about everything other than the plot first. It’s nice to see the other gods getting some screen time, and they’ve somehow managed to turn Thoth’s attitude problem into a running joke. Having him corner Yui every episode is one thing, but seeing him do it to the faceless student was pretty funny. Sure, Thoth is still unreasonable, but if they can continue this until maybe the end, his character won’t be so bad. …Who even knows what’s happening with Zeus these days (other than appearing on currency). I don’t think he’s had screentime since Yui yelled at him, but at least he’s not being an asshat anymore. The Japanese gods didn’t really do much, but Apollon’s… project was also pretty funny. Hades is just too moe for words.
As expected, Balder’s attraction to Yui is in the fact that she’s not instantly attracted to him. Sure she might like him as a person well enough now, but what Balder said about her scolding him if she thinks he’s doing the wrong thing makes a lot of sense. So maybe he does like Yui because of who she is, aside from the fact that his magnetism doesn’t work on her. Were she any less proactive of a heroine, she would probably be like everyone else in Balder’s eyes. …Or were this like most otoge anime (and also given how the plot decided to magically solve problem later), his claims about Yui’s personality would have made a lot less sense.
Thor, the designated third wheel
I talk about the… abruptness of some events later in the post, so for now I’m going to focus on things other than Loki’s sudden attitude change and trusting Yui with his and Balder’s backstory. He probably just figured that it would be easier to finally inform her than to keep pushing her away. Instead, let’s talk about the backstory itself. It was pretty much the same thing we heard about Balder’s story, though obviously in Loki’s point of view. For the most part, was nothing really new here, since the plot already talked about Loki being rejected by everyone, and Balder being his friend. What was new was attempt to kill Loki, and that event probably helps explain his attachment a bit better.
…Who even knows what caused Balder’s yandere anger to magically right itself at the end of the episode, but the last scene with the lanterns seemed to have a “and then everything worked out, the end” type of feeling. Er, minus that end with Loki saying that he’ll kill Balder (I actually have an idea what that’s about, but it seems that they’re going to go into that later). In terms of Yui’s involvement in the drama though, things seem to have somehow worked out. I guess Balder just needed to throw a temper tantrum and he’s fine now. Or maybe it was PMS at work, which makes him easier to sympathize with and would also explain the mood swings. Also, this seems to have somehow endeared Yui to Loki as well. I guess her last minute sympathizing helped? I’m not saying that this couldn’t have been a build up from everything else she’s done in the past, but it seems that every other character (minus Balder) seemed to have some a more steady and reasonable development to them liking Yui as a person.
Suddenly, threesome…?
Once again, Yui didn’t seem to do much this episode other than walk around to see what the other characters were doing and then get dragged back into the Balder + Loki drama going on. It’s unfortunate that she didn’t seem to have much involvement with fixing the situation. Maybe if she had done more other than just watching things happen and then listening to a character development story, Balder’s attitude change would have made more sense. Things just seemed to work a lot better in the episodes when Yui was doing more. Though since she did nothing here and things still seem kind of off in regards to Loki and Balder, she’ll play more of a role in whatever else is going to happen with those characters. …If they bother to go back to that.
Though maybe they didn’t involve Yui too much, since it would take away from the reverse harem aspect. It was pretty obvious that Yui didn’t feel the same way that Balder did, but she put that into words, it’s clearly rejecting his character out of any romantic development. Unfortunately, that may be why she was never given the opportunity to say that there was nothing between her and Loki either (because then that would be denying Loki fans out of any hopes of romantic development). So if that’s the mindset behind the show, there’s nothing Yui could have done. …Er, nothing other than try to talk things out, but maybe there’s some profound reason for that as well that wasn’t just because they wanted to cater to the bromance shippers while pushing Yui out of the picture. …And if they pull an Apollon end after all of this, then I have no idea what they were doing here.
I’m not saying that this episode was terrible all around, but it felt a lot like the other recent otoge anime, as opposed to what KamiAso has been doing thus far. Yui could have been any other heroine for all that she did to help and there wasn’t really an explanation as to why things worked out. Or at least, not any explanation on par with what KamiAso has done in the past. From the fireworks up until this point, there has always been a pretty good reason as to why the conflict of the episode has been resolved. Hell, while Loki may have learned (somehow) that trusting others is okay, I’m not sure that Balder learned anything from this. …Then again, if they’re going to continue this story from here, maybe they can pull this altogether to make sense. A lot of my complaints here are based off of the assumption that they’re just going to end this part of the story here, since the problems seems to have been resolved. I’m just hoping that the rest of the show isn’t like this. I realize more than ever now that 90% of what was going right in the first half was the fact that Yui was doing so much instead of just being a 3rd party observer to whatever was going on. OTL
…I don’t have any more to add. Have a screencap of bromance and Yui not really doing anything. Lol otoge anime.
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I was glad Loki got over his supreme jealousy of Yui. I think that she had a lot to do with that, in her earnestness to be his friend, even misunderstanding his bad meanings.
I’m thinking that the ‘kill Balder’ thing has to do with the pre-epilogue we saw at the beginning of the series with that big battle. And there are still 4 episodes left, so that’s plenty of time to develop an Apollon end that fits, since all the other characters are out of the way now.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Apollon’s… project was also pretty funny.
The perfect Christmas
punishmentgift to turn all those naughty children nice!!(^_-) Much more effective than a coal lump.Hope you’ve been a good girl this year, Kara, hohohoho—Things still seem kind of off in regards to Loki and Balder.
A blog commenter says this is probably meant to match actual Viking myth, where Loki did kill Balder with a mistletoe spear(mistletoe was the only living thing that never took the oath not to harm Balder, due to an oversight by Balder’s mother Frigg).
The idea is that next time, if Balder permanently goes too far to the point Loki can’t snap him out of it, then Loki will personally take responsibility and kill Balder to save him and the world.
PS. At least Thoth probably oppresses the entire student body on a daily basis. Should take some heat off Yui for a while.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Also, interesting is that Balder’s death is what ends up causing a chain reaction that will result in Ragnarok. Could that be the event happening in the prologue. I had thought that strange rift of light looked like it was shaped like a tree. Could it be Yggdrasil?
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I really liked this episode though I thought Balder having a split personality was a bit of a cop-out. Yui did a little more here, but it was really Loki and Balder that really shined. Balder looks so awesome when he begins to power up, and I think his bad side is a little more exciting than his clumsy good side.
I liked how they talked about Loki’s jötunn background and you get to see him a little better as he opens up and trusts Yui more. However, the end stinger of him and Thor apparently, planning to kill Balder was a little surprising after that whole reconciliation bit, so I’m wondering why. I know Loki kills Balder in myth and his death starts the process towards Ragnarok, but is that really what they’re building up to?
Well, we’ll have to see next week. Thoth and Loki were hilarious this episode with Thoth badgering students into buying his plushies, and then buying the Japanese booth’s entire supply of red bean soup. Who knew the Egyptian god liked soup so much? 😛
Loki’s constant denial of what Yui said that he said was also hilarious.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Yui taking Loki’s words at face value was great, both at the time, and bringing it up again this week. Completely ignoring any threatening subtext, although I don’t know if it was her just being ditzy or doing it on purpose to disarm him (which would be even better).
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
Srsly, what was Balder’s deal? o-o I agree with you, it’s totally understandable why would he have some special feelings for her, but going (practically) full on yandere was pushing a bit too far.
And honestly, Yui’s “b.but…” is kinda driving me crazy. Balder was dragging her around and she didn’t say a word to make him stop. -_-
But the last part actually intrigued me. Why would Loki want to kill his best friend? o-o