Hataraku Maou-sama! - 10

"The Devil and the Hero Take a Break from the Daily Routine"

Can I just appreciate Emi’s color scheme? Reds, greens, and now that pretty blue color on her bikini? Now I think about it, the colors just might be what I like about her so much… Nah, it’s the faces. Definitely the faces.

Alright, so I don't know if I've made this impression or not, but I actually like fanservice. Now, I'm not an ardent lover of the technique and I tend to look down on it when used in certain ways (*cough*Gargantia*cough*), but I don't think fanservice itself as a concept is necessarily a bad thing; what I would like is equality in usage of the technique, in the messages it sends, and integrating it so it's not such an obvious pan for attention, but while some of that can occasionally lack, it's all fine as long as it's classy. And I'm talking about both male and female oriented fanservice, as well as that oriented toward the LGBQ spectrum; fanservice in general as it is. So what makes classy fanservice different from crass? Why am I not ranting against the depiction of women in Hataraku when I so clearly had an issue with the fanservice in Gargantia?

Let's face it, fanservice is fanservice, and no matter what, sexuality is the idea at its core. These girls are not prancing around in bikinis for the sake of any real plot and we all know it. But stop for a minute and think about the way Chi, Emi, and Suzuno are depicted. They're not shown as body parts so much as women with those body parts intact; the camera never stops to stare lecherously at a shaking ass or ignores the rest of their bodies for the sake of spending extra time turning the women into stand-ins for breasts and hips. The girls are appreciated as people here, as girls with different personalities and tastes, spending a day out together and being panned over as fanservice camera is bound to do here and there. There isn't anyone staring at them other than ourselves; the beach goers aren't salivating over them as if they were pieces of meat, nor are they wearing their clothes as a means to please anyone. Sadao, aware as he is about Chiho's feelings, tactfully respects them and says nothing about her looks so as not to give her any false hopes about their relationship; never does he lose his head and start ogling at Emi and the others. This is what's classy; Hataraku knows it's doling out a fanservice episode, and it's not going to pretend otherwise. And in acknowledging that this is indeed a fanservice episode, it does us all a favor and delivers it with style and without any real issues.

But somewhat, slightly, feminist rant aside, even a beach episode seems to be fair game for this series to show what it's made of. I'm not joking when I say that Emi's color palette is gorgeous, and hugely pleasing to the eye, and she's not the only one. Even I can appreciate pretty art decisions in terms of fanservice, and huge breasts aside (witty metaphors included), all three of the girls just look very nice. It's crisp art as always, and the "plot" of the episode is interesting too, wandering though it is. Suzuno's suspicions of Maou are hardly about to go away after what she's seen; unlike Emi, she's having a much harder time coming to terms with the fact that Sadao really is just a nice guy looking out for his future subjects, and even the appearance of James as an angel (he is an angel, I presume) probably has done little to allay her suspicions. I've no doubt she's behind making Ashiya as sick as he has been lately, but it's only a matter of time until she sees the truth. It might take quite a bit before that, especially as she seems to be losing trust in Emi now that she's noticed how much she backs him up.