Maoyū Maō Yūsha - 6

"'Welcome back, Yuusha!' 'Yeah, Old Man, I'm back!'"

She may look pretty in that dress, but you really don't want to mess with the Princess General, otherwise known as Onna Kishi.

We're now halfway through Maoyuu and I have to say I'm a little sad about that. This isn't a perfect series by any means, or even a great one, but for me, this is one of those series that I just like, end of story. Sometimes looking too hard for something to critique ruins the experience, and in this case I think the atmosphere and general feeling of fun wins out over content. Fridays are actually the day I look forward to the most in terms of anime, and while Chihayafuru and Shinsekai are a big factor in that, Maoyuu is still a series I love watching at the end of the busy week.

In any case, we finally got some action this week as Onna Kishi goes off to lay siege to Bright Light Island on behalf of the new Winter King. Maou isn't far behind under the guise of the Crimson Scholar and she and Kishi really take the reins of the operation in their respective ways. Kishi proves she has the mettle and strategy to back up her brawn, and Maou continues to be the strategic mind she always is beneath her fanservicy exterior. However, the plan this time around is rather convenient, to be honest; it involves Yuusha terrorizing the heck out of the occupying human army at Gate City and somehow convincing them to head for battle at Bright Light Island instead. How he and Maou would be sure that the army would leave on time (or at all, for that matter) I have no clue, but it worked so I guess that from an enjoyment standpoint it doesn't matter. It'd be nice to get a bit more insight, though.

In any case, the majority of the episode chronicles the retaking of Bright Light Island by the Winter Army, and Maou has more than one idea up her sleeve. She gets the army across the channel, not by boat, but by ice and the brilliant use of salt. Salt lowers the temperature of water, which means that by spreading it over the ice, the army is able to create a stable bridge made of nothing more than floating hunks of artificially frozen water. Once the troops cross, however, it's up to Onna Kishi to coordinate the effort, and she does a great job rallying the men together and doing her own part as a soldier. Her battle with the adorable Ice General wasn't spectacularly animated, but it was still fun to watch and sad to see the walrus General meet his end at her capable hands.

I think the whole battle had sad undertones, however. The humans counted their own losses as negligible, and thus a great victory, but on the other side hundreds, if not thousands, of demons lost their lives. For the humans, this isn't important in the least; the enemy is slain and that's all that matters to them. For Maou and Yuusha, on the other hand, this is a terribly cruel loss, though unavoidable for their plan. Even should Maou and the Winter King declare the war over, that wouldn't fix the financial and social problems present in both territories. Like Maou tells the Older Sister Maid, war is what happens when two children realize how different they are, and it takes a lot more than just telling them not to fight to settle their differences and get them to accept one another. Now that the occupying army is out of Gate City, the people are ready to try to fix those differences and live together, and I'm sure Maou and Yuusha will be at the forefront of that experiment as well.

The other interesting character in the episode is Rou Yumihei, the Old Man. He's a bit of a trope in and of himself, the perverted old teacher who is the shadows for everything, but he also seems to have a genuine interest in Yuusha's well being, and not only his physical health. Being a hero isn't easy, and being as ridiculously overpowered as Yuusha is doesn't exactly make it easy for him to create close relationships with normal humans, who view him as superhuman, or with demons, who view him as an enemy. That's why Rou is glad to see that Yuusha is doing well now, and he expresses a desire to see Yuusha finally be at ease. Whatever the Old Man's motives, Yuusha really is at his best when he's at Maou's side (even if she's wearing that ridiculously Dutch-Renaissance styled dress again), and even though they can be a little infuriating as a couple, they still have good chemistry and understanding between them, and that's what counts, right?

N.B.: All screencaps courtesy of my good friend Ivan. Thanks, and yes, I really did use all 39 of them!