Maoyū Maō Yūsha - 9

"Because I Am Human"

From heretic to saint; well that escalated quickly.

I know that I'm about to invoke a mob, but... there were a lot of things wrong with this episode.

Before I get to that, and so that I can fend off the spears for a second, I'll assert that Maid Ane's speech was not the issue; in fact, that was one of the best moments of the series, and Tomatsu Haruka delivered a wonderful performance doing it. My problem with this episode as a whole is something that has plagued Maoyuu for a long time but that I've been more or less overlooking because I enjoy the series regardless. The issue here was execution and the circumstances surrounding Ane's speech. I'll explain what I mean momentarily, but to be fully honest, this is not even the first time I've been bothered by the way this series goes about doing things. This is, however, the first time I was so distracted by it that it actually impacted a great moment quite negatively for me as a viewer.

Here's the problem: why in Hylia's name would the Messenger even allow the Crimson Scholar to address the crowd in the first place? Obviously this is a woman of great learning and intelligence, as well as someone who is respected by the spectators to the point where they question the Church's decision openly. If they're going to go so far as to shackle and whip her publicly (and to note the anger and indignant nature of the crowd as it occurs), what point is there in just letting her stand there, mostly unencumbered, and make a speech as grand as the one she did? If she's a heretic like the Messenger claims, why not discredit her words before she even begins speaking and cart her off before she does damage to the Church's reputation? In other words, I don't approve of the use of stupidity (and by this, I mean the sort that the Messenger embodies, though I have issues with other kinds too) to progress plot forward, and here's my reason why.

Imagine Ane's speech if, in fact, there had been a scuffle during which she attempted to address the crowd. How much more powerful a scene would this have been if she were shouting out while the Church attempted to cart her away and the King and Kishi (never mind Yuusha, he's useless) fought to let her be heard? How much more realistic and full of impact would that have been? It just seems ridiculous that when the Crimson Scholar stands up to speak, everyone, including her oppressors (who continuously whip and beat her without actually taking her away) would stop dead to listen. The speech itself was great, and made the Scholar into a martyr and a woman of the people, but really, I can't help but be a bit sad that such a good opportunity was thrown away for what's probably animation costs (it doesn't take much money to draw someone talking, whereas someone struggling...) and other production issues. Still, it's not as if this is the first time this problem surfaces in this series, so I can't complain too much, I suppose. Hopefully it won't happen as often as we enter into the final three episodes and see just what it is that's happening to Maou in the Demon World.

N.B.: A huge thanks to Ivan, who not only capped this episode, but also tabled the images in order to help me out! Thank you so much!