Kyou Kara Maoh 27-35

[snarp]

(Originally published at SarahPin.com. You can comment here or there.)

More non-live-liveblogging. Spoiler-cut:

27

You know, Murata’s around every time Yuuri gets pulled in. He’s clearly doing it on purpose so he gets to rescue Yuuri.

28

Anissina has put Gunter’s brain inside a female marionette that can fly, grow its hair, and shoot death rays from its eyes. This is surely the culmination of all her years of work. It must be a little sad for her. What’s she going to do now, embroider?

Oh, we have doujinka boys, too! Equality! Except no one’s slashing Anissina and Cheri, which is obviously absolutely vital.

“It wouldn’t be weird if Gunter shed his skin!” That’s… an interesting choice of insult, Wolfram. I guess you’re calling him a snake? (This is probably a perfectly common Japanese phrase that I just don’t know.)

So Cheri glows really bright? Does that mean she still has her Maoh powers? She needs to pwn some dudes.

Yuuri, are you absolutely sure you want to be on this chick’s side? She sold people evil poison.

Okay, Okiku Gunter is officially the best thing ever.

29

I love Anissina so much.

Wolfram naturally feels he cannot angst properly out-of-uniform.

Anissina is dressed as Chun-Li. I present this without comment.

Why did she dress Snow Gunter in a form-fitting blue bodysuit? Or is he naked, and that’s just how a Gunter happens to look when brainwashed/in suspended animation? (And I can’t figure out what Rinji is supposed to be based on. Is he a Zatch Bell reference?)

OH YES I WILL GET MY WISH, KONRAD IS TOTALLY BRAINWASHED WITH THIS WINCOTT POISON THING ISN’T HE

30

Yozak, man, don’t give away your identity like that. You’re a secret agent, remember?

Are we supposed to be reading something into how both The Evil Box and The Box With Konrad’s Arm both have red cloth?

I have felt from the beginning that what this anime needed most was opinions about nuclear disarmament.

We get that you’re going to turn coat at the last second, Adelbert. You can stop doing your foreshadowing thing, there.

TOTALLY INCONSPICUOUS ESCAPED PRISONERS + SHEEP

Adelbert has some good ideas, here. From all accounts, the Original King does appear to have everyone pretty whipped.

31

Also, I can buy Adelbert and Julia much more easily than I can Konrad and Julia. What are she and Konrad going to do together, stand around and smile saccharinely into the sunset?

Yuuri has brainwashed Wolfram with Lamaze.

I think Yuuri’s collar has switched sides at some point this episode.

Why are we suddenly in Desolace. Wasn’t this all taking place at a nice seashore at one point?

Did all those guys Yuuri had put in bubbles just fall?

32

I still think it would be great if Murata had his sparkly flashback here and said, “In my previous life, I was known as… Christine.” This Great Sage stuff is no fun. (Unless he’s going to be The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, in which case I am all for it.)

I like how no one even bothers to comment on Yozak’s Florence Nightingale cosplay. Also, how his messenger pigeons have the “post office” symbol on them.

Gwendal, telling Yuuri “don’t get emotional” is like… like telling somebody an ineffective thing.

33

Yuuri, you know this is just going to end with you fighting Konrad.

“Konrad and I have been inseparable since then.” Except for when you were being a cross-dressing spy in foreign lands, Yozak, yeah.

Pop Culture Reference The Subs Didn’t Explain: The thing where the sheep is scared of manju is from the rakugo story “Scared of Manju” by Shijaku Katsura. Here’s an English synopsis.

Also, Yozak imitates train and subway announcements when he says the boat’s arriving.

34

Cheri! Hitting people! With a whip! In a red leather dominatrix outfit! I am so happy! No, I really admire this show’s utter shamelessness.

35

Cheri is too lazy to write her own fanfiction.

There’s a guy named “van Buren” in this show, you guys. I wonder if he is our nation’s eighth president.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I am sincerely convinced that this Anissina and Cheri are the best things about this show. Actually, this is a rough approximation of how I ended up watching the first season:

("Friend" is more "Friends")

Me: *reads random manga*
Friend: *blah blah* comedy...magical girl parody... *blah blah*
Me: *watches random drama*
Friend *blah blah* flushed down a toilet...shounen-ai parody *blah blah*
Me: *ears vaguely wiggle as she reads more manga*
Friend: The grumpy loner badass is the responsible one and deals with stress by knitting.
Me: *glances away from comics*
Friend: And his childhood friend is an insane inventor woman.
Me: *pauses drama*
Friend: And she tests her inventions on him and he can never escape.
Me: I WANT TO HAVE ITS BABIES AND WILL GO WATCH THE FIRST SEASON NOW!

[snarp]

What I particularly love is how every other woman in the series fangirls Anissina and adopts her ideas with enthusiasm. And Greta wants to grow up to be just like her. It's a perfectly natural reaction!

I also like how there are women in positions of power in all sorts of different roles, and how characters like Nicola, Izura, and Cheri get to be somewhat less than chaste without being punished for it. I mean, I wish the women beat stuff up more often, but it's really nice that the anime's aware that there are roles outside of Love Interest, Mother, and Wicked Jezebel for female characters.

(And the show doesn't really go in for the idea that motherhood is the highest possible goal for a woman. Jennifer's attempts to be a proper "Mama" are supposed to be funny, and Cheri and Izura are shown as admirable despite being pretty bad mothers in the usual sense. Yuuri is probably the closest thing in the series to a traditional mother-figure.)