Episodes 8 and 9: yes! I really liked those. The interplay between the characters was at its best, especially in episode eight when Emi and Suzuno got together. That was what I had been hoping for: clever comedy that spans multiple episodes in its build-up. Even the rivalry with the Kentucky Fried Chicken was quite enjoyable.
Episode 10 though… holy crap what was that? A pool episode? Really? And I know, cliches on their own aren’t instantly bad and all, but that’s the thing: the episode was just completely pointless fanservice. It just had two points: showing to Suzuno that Maou likes to save humans, and deliver some kind of random box from Amazon.com (screw those trademarks, we all know what they’re talking about). I mean heck, even for a pool episode this was bad. All of the build-up for a haunted house was completely ignored when they actually got there (and really: why were the girls still wearing swimsuits there?). Also, the big threat was a bunch of crocodiles escaping. Seriously? Really, there is comedy, and just plain laziness.
What’s most important right now, is the big picture, or more specifically how this show is going to wrap itself up. After this the climax for this series should start. My guess will be that this series will have 13 episodes (not confirmed yet, though) and so in four episodes, this series needs to wrap itself up, while not forgetting that it’s supposed to be a comedy series. That blue haired kid who just screams “villain” still needs to prove himself, but by far the biggest danger is for the romance to take over the ending.
My guess though will be that the central theme will be Maou willing to help the humans of the world he ended up in. Now, how do you make a good ending based on that?
Rating: 4/8 (Enjoyable)
That fake backstory joke was pretty good that they pulled recently in this show, it looks like the plot might be back in gear with the end of the most recent episode. However I feel for the past few episodes the comedy has lagged for the most part, I agree most of episode 10 was a mess its the biggest black mark on an otherwise typically hilarious show.
I thought the pool episode was supposed to be a parody. I thought it was pretty funny
Agreed. Also it wasn’t really that fanservicey either. Definitely one of the better beach/pool type of episodes I’ve seen regardless.
This series will have 13 episodes according to MAL, and so will Suesei no Gargantia (also according to MAL)
Yeah. I’m going to disagree with you again. First off, the comparing breasts to burgers should have been a dead give away that this was a self-aware parody. And second of all, you admit that there was procession of plot and what pool episode even does that at all.
I’m also kind of uncertain how all the buildup to the haunted house was completely ignored. Not disagreeing here, just uncertain.
A parody that isn’t funny is just as bad as playing the thing straight to me. I mean, it’s easy to just pick a genre or trope and be a bit tongue in cheek about it; anyone can do that. Being actually funny and clever with it is a whole different matter.
Also, as for the two hints: they are tiny details that popped up near the end of the episode that could have easily been done in a different, better way. Enough pool episodes have done that before.
I’m also kind of uncertain how all the buildup to the haunted house was completely ignored. Not disagreeing here, just uncertain.
I agree. Maybe if the crocs getting loose was the SFC guys doing I’d see this episode as NOT totally pointless.
I have to ask though. Better than Gargantia’s fan service episodes?
I definitely agree.
1.) It wasn’t crass or exploitive
2.) It didn’t feature rude stereotypes of transvestites
3.) It didn’t have young girls belly dancing to a bunch of men.
4.) It used Maou-sama’s wit in the formula (Comparing Chiho and Emi’s breasts to hamburgers… Genius!)
5.) It was funny (Comedy being subjective of course).
So really, its no contest. Quite frankly, I don’t see how this was bad for a fanservice episode. (FWI. That doesn’t mean I said it was the greatest of course).
Oh!
And 6.) It isn’t two episodes.
This series has virtually no plot and is just a series of very relaxed jokes.
It all depends on the quality of the various jokes. Sometimes they make me laugh, sometimes I feel I am wasting my time.
Also, if I am not mistaken that is two haunted house jokes now and two “staying in toilet” jokes. A bit much for one season.
I like the end song though.
Psgels you are full of doubt, trust in the Dark Lord.
So far this show has redeemed itself and the pool episode wasn’t even that bad as far as fanservice goes. I nearly threw up after watching the last 3 episodes of that Neko crap.
Anyways as for the ending… it doesn’t really feel like the show is like… how much of the light novels does this cover?
As far as I recall white fox are attempting to be as faithful as they can and covering everything in each novel they’ll be able to adapt up to, so depending on how many LNs there are this might only cover a few. I could be misremembering though.
I see.
also have to disagree here. like most people said, for a pool episode it was much better than others (as Maou has proven, it does cliches well). also, I find it strange that you enjoy the subtle humor and “clever” things Maou does, but then ultimately ignore them in this episode in favor for relatively small issues.
Heh.. I can’t remember the last time you liked a pool episodes psgels. Or wait, wasn’t it the one in Bento? Yeah, I guess that set the bar pretty damn high. But I didn’t find this one too bad. I guess maybe this series just isn’t aiming high enough for your tastes?
Hogart: yeah, that’s pretty much it. When I watch a comedy, I really want to laugh a lot and not get bored. Hataraku Maou has episodes that just get on my nerves too much, or just fail to be funny. And for me it loses points for that. And yeah, I do consider Ben-To to be better than Hataraku Maou-sama at this point.
omg cool
im evil
The pool episode was more like bland rather than bad. I don’t really remember much of what happened because pretty much nothing did. It had elements of a parody without really playing anything for good laughs. To be honest, some of the better scenes we got recently were Suzuno culture shock (though a lot of that didn’t much work either); I was wondering if the show would run out of steam after the first episodes where our demon protagonists get accustomed to the human world. I guess the solution was to drag out another hapless soul from Ente Isla.
Oh well.
As for the Lucifer’s shipment, I’m not so sure it has plot relevance, as it was already a joke… but it could. Check out the box art and especially the font, which is parodying an actual game. In parentheses are the actual product names. It’s a game for his PASTA (PS Vita): Devil’s Souls (Demon’s Souls), which was popular enough to get a PASTA the Best (Playstation the Best) reprint, published by MORY ComputerEnterPlus (Sony Computer Entertainment) in Japan. The real game is on PS3 though, not the Vita, as far as I know.