Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai: Megami-hen - 4

"Doll Roll Hall"

I’d be pissed too if I knew my boyfriend was sweet-talking the cute library girl and the famous idol!

Perhaps it’s just me, but I keep having the off-feeling that the pacing in Megami-hen is a tad erratic. There are some episodes, like the last two, which have felt reasonably well paced in terms of the situation and how much Keima’s been running around doing, and there are others, like this one, that feel fairly rushed in comparison. I understand that things would happen quickly considering how much there is to cover in this arc, but I can’t help but wish there were more consistency in this case. It’s a tad off-putting, not to a terrible degree, but enough to leave a bit of a sense of dissatisfaction with the way certain portions of the narrative are handled.

Nevertheless, it can’t be said that this isn’t Keima up to his usual game, if only a bit overwhelmed with his ambitious plans. The horror of having the girls find out about one another is fulfilled when Tsukiyo and her confirmed goddess, Vulcan, catch Keima while he’s working on capturing Shiori. Vulcan is righteously angry about Tsukiyo’s treatment at Keima’s hands, and unlike Kanon, who didn’t quite believe Apollo’s stories, Tsukiyo seems to be working in tandem with her goddess. It’s kind of amusing to me that the girl and her guardian don’t exactly want Keima to give an explanation for his actions, though Tsukiyo does ask why he’s bothered re-entering her life. I also like that Keima doesn’t even bother to explain away his encounters with the other girls, other than a failed attempt to feign ignorance. It’s not necessarily the most admirable of actions, but it’s rather necessary to get Tsukiyo back on his side, so it’s definitely understandable. I also found it pretty amusing that Keima gets a tad desperate and loses his head a bit when asking for a kiss, as it’s more in line with his true personality than his various dashing masks. It’s a fun, if somewhat quick capture, though my favorite parts of the episode actually have to do with the aftermath.

With Kanon’s dire situation eased somewhat and Nora now temporarily helping out, Diana starts expressing jealousy over Vulcan’s extremely possessive attitude over Keima (princess-carries and wings, eh?), though in truth it can’t be helped. After all, Diana is the only goddess who’s aware of what Keima is doing and how he’s planning to accomplish it, and thus she’s also the most insecure. What’s interesting about all this is that it’s not Tenri complaining or otherwise upset, but Diana herself, which is both really cute and also kind of sad; after all, she’s not really Tenri, and developing feelings for Keima seems like a bad idea in the long run. Still, at least Kanon is out of immediate danger, and it looks like Yui is the next target on the list in the search for Mercurius, the only goddess who can help Apollo out of her self-induced situation.

On a hugely related note, Yui’s second arc also means we get to see crossdressing Keima. Why the heck isn’t it Monday yet?