Maoyū Maō Yūsha - 7

"'I'll Be Back Soon.' 'We'll See Each Other Soon.'"

Not one of Maoyuu's better episodes, but still slightly interesting beneath all the fanservice.

Recently I've been seeing a trend in anime where the rivals in romcoms are being given chances to integrate themselves into the main relationships. The problem with this approach is that these are romance series, not harems; we all know which girl or boy is going to win out in the end, but when the already annoying convention of the rival suddenly becomes a contender, it can grate on the nerves. I have nothing against Onna Kishi, (in fact, I rather quite like her) but the best part of Maoyuu was always the relationship between Maou and Yuusha. Now that Onna Kishi has wedged herself in between them, the focus is on the rivalry instead, and that's just not as interesting to watch. I've never been too fond of Yuusha compared to the women in this series (they may be pulled for fanservice often, but they're quite intelligent and capable otherwise), and now that he has multiple girls vying for his affections openly (including the Dragon's daughter, who for whatever bizarre reason thinks they're married), I can't help but be reminded of another fantasy genre series last season which also featured a somewhat bland protagonist who was overpowered and couldn't keep the girls off of him...

I suppose it's possible to classify this episode as "the calm before the storm." Maou's household is fairly relaxed and peaceful, and the Winter Kingdom is flourishing under the rule of the new King and the continued contributions from the Crimson Scholar. Even Gate City is doing well in the attempt to bring humans and demons together, with Yuusha acting as a mediator of sorts as Maou's Black Knight. Home after the victory on Bright Light Island, Onna Kishi is vying for Yuusha's attentions, and while I'm not fond of overdoing fanservice in any series, I do have to admit I was pretty impressed with Kishi's carefree attitude about nakedness in front of men. She seriously doesn't care to be seen naked; where any other girl would be embarrassed or at least attempting to make an advance on the guy, she's just more or less minding her own business. Y'know, without a shirt on. And why not? Guys get to go around shirtless all the time! Breasts are seriously not that big of a deal. If Yuusha hadn't made a commotion out of it, it would have been a pretty interesting scene.

Maou too is trying to get closer to her Hero, though she soon finds that Kishi is stubbornly getting in the way. As Kishi herself says, the three of them need to sit down and clarify "who's the wife and who's the mistress," or they'll find they'll never get out of the love triangle they've made around Yuusha. I too hope they'll figure it out soon; I'm not a fan of dragging this out longer than it absolutely has to.

Despite the relatively relaxed atmosphere at home, things aren't well abroad. The general who fled Gate City after Yuusha terrorized the occupying soldiers has been condemned to execution. Though he is rescued by the foolish White Night King (whose country is falling apart), his pride is crushed and his bitterness prompts him to join forces with the King in seeking revenge against the Winter Kingdom. This is likely to be the greatest obstacle to Yuusha and Maou's plan for the second half of the series, though there is also a problem in the demon world. Apparently, Maou's extended absence from her throne has literally started shaking things up, and she must return for a while to set things right. While this means that Kishi probably will get Yuusha to herself for a while, it also offers the Older Sister Maid an opportunity to step up and take charge of Maou's affairs. She has always been an intelligent girl interested in learning as much as possible and Maou has more or less handpicked her as an apprentice to her work, so it should be entertaining to watch her run things for a while.

Speaking of Maou's work, where does she get all her ideas from? She makes it sound as though this is all knowledge she's merely disseminating from other sources, but then why hasn't anyone else heard of such things? It's almost preposterous that she's so knowledgeable about everything from economics to agriculture to technology, but perhaps it has to do with her political position. The rich and powerful have always had greater access to education, and perhaps all the things she knows have come from accumulated sources in the Demon King's possession. She's absolutely correct that one must be educated to even know they need to be educated, and in a sense this is what her mission is: spread as much knowledge as possible so that people will naturally seek to educate themselves. It sounds weird to hear about a printing press in a medieval setting, but in reality movable type has been around since the late 15th century; Maou knows what she's doing (though perhaps a little ridiculously).

Hopefully things will start stepping up from the next episode on and the love triangle (square?) will be resolved soon. Find a new love, Onna Kishi; Yuusha's more or less married off.

N.B.: Thanks to Ivan for the great screencaps!