Maoyū Maō Yūsha - 2

"Please Make Us Human"

"No one in this world dislikes maids," huh.

This is probably where Yuusha won me over a bit more. I still think he's a bit pompous and overly self-justified, and that he accepted Maou's offer too easily, but I kind of like that simplicity about him. It was refreshing to see him accept Maou's lap pillow offer without getting too worked up about it, for example, and they make a pretty adorable pair, though even he realizes that she's the brains of the operation and that he's the brawn (though he finds himself more or less unemployed; who needs soldiers when there's no fighting?). His sense of justice actually came in useful here, though it was Head Maid who really did the work.

Before I get into the agriculture, politics, and economics of this episode, I just want to reiterate that this anime is gorgeous. Those backgrounds never fail to captivate me and I genuinely get an RPG feeling off each episode. It feels magical despite the practicality of what Maou and Yuusha are trying to do, and the visuals offset the generic character designs. Between the art and Maou, I think I've found myself a keeper for the season.

We pick up this episode more or less where we left off last time; Yuusha and Maou have gone off together in an attempt to conduct what's essentially an economics experiment. They've taken residence in a newly developed village, where they want to teach the inhabitants better agricultural methods in order to remove famine from the countryside. Maou introduces the four crop system of farming to replace the less efficient three crop system, but the village elder is stubborn and Maou realizes that something even more important is missing: education.

As Maou takes the post of teacher for a few of the villagers, including a noble's son, two serfs hide away in the stables, and Yuusha is furious when Head Maid wants to send them back to work rather than help them escape. However, Maou stops him from intervening and Head Maid makes her point clear. Two beggar girls are of no use to anyone, not even themselves. If those serfs escape, they will be unemployed and forced to live in poverty on the streets, little better off than before. It's the old saying about teaching a man to fish; if the serfs are allowed to run away, they may be free from serfdom but slaves to poverty, whereas training them to become maids helps them as well as the nobles that they serve. Her methods may be harsh, but Head Maid essentially gave the two girls a future rather than let them become beggars.

Even better, Maou sees the girls as fit to educate and has them join her lessons. Knowledge is power after all, and the Little Sister Maid exclaims happily that with what they're being taught, they can someday be rich. Meanwhile, Older Sister Maid is attending a general lesson, and I think a hugely important and contemporary point was made in this discussion. The nobles at Maou's lessons think that starvation is an excuse made by the poor, and the Older Sister Maid quietly asks, "you've never been starving before, have you?" I cannot count the times I've seen this happen when high and low income people get together to discuss politics, with all sorts of topics. It's wrong to think that people with different lifestyles would have similar experiences, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the various issues between the rich and poor.

In any case, Maou and Yuusha end the episode on a cliffhanger as they head off to try and convince the Elder once again, this time utilizing Maou's yet unrevealed "secret weapon". One of the things I like the most about Maoyuu is the relationship between these two, and even the manner in which they walk together is sweet without being too forced. Hopefully their relationship and plans progress further next week, though we'll probably be seeing this village for a long time, as Maou and Yuusha are planning a four year experiment.