This episode was solely meant to prepare for the unfortunate event at the end. Poor Misao. Because she’s grown up without any friends, she’s become so easy to manipulate. Especially now that her powers are actually needed, the witches decided to abuse this fact, and now she’s taken away to the magical world. If I’m not mistaken, it’ll be there where she’ll get her haircut.
The major part of the episode is spent on cooking. Misao for Monta and Sasami for Amitabu, who seems to be paying a visit later on. We also receive some nice background info about him. My lack of Japanese prevented me from fully understanding it, but it seems that the witches failed to seal off the evil in the past. For that, Amitabu had to be used in a rather violent way in order to help seal this evil. This explains why he was trapped in such thorns, but what about the second Amitabu?
If I had to make a prediction, then I think that there are two major arcs left. The current one, in which the main focus will be retrieving Misao from the magical world, and more importantly, make her see that the witches are actually trying to use her. The second arc will then focus on Sasami and Amitabu, and this evil which has been sealed.
It’s a pity so little people know of this series. It’s brilliant. Most people probably seem to think that it’s a show for kids, meaning that it’s not worth it to check it out. Well, guess what? The fact that it looks like it’s meant for children has nothing to do with whether it’s good or not. Muahaha.