You know, I just finished watching Mars Red where the overall plan seems to be kind of falling apart and then I jump into How Not To Summon a Demon Lord where the high priest’s plan consists of walking up to the people who tried to kill her and all of their followers and to accuse them of their crimes before asking them nicely to leave. What kind of a plan is that? And Diablo just kind of indulgently says, sure.
Okay, that’s more or less jumping to the end of this mess of an episode that seemed to exist just to have each girl go through their own innuendo filled scenario before we get to that insanity but hey Irina, how are you this week?
I sprained my ankle yesterday but I think it’s actually not that bad. The pain is already getting better and I’m sort of happy for the excuse to not run around for a few days.
Ouch. Hope it gets better quickly.
So let’s look at the episode somewhat logically. They get to the capital after Rem’s ridiculous demonstration of motion sickness and are almost immediately threatened and attacked. But then crazy end the mortal races girl shows up and the soldiers all just stand down. Then they get a nice hotel room, over-eat, Shera get’s her moment of ‘kill me now’ before crazy girl more or less throws herself at Diablo and we also get a robot recharging sequence. None of which does anything for the plot and isn’t particularly amusing. It just kind of happens. I’m wondering if it even qualifies as good fan-service but given I’m not the audience for it I’m not really in the place to judge.
I thought it was ok fanservice but since it was so divorced from anything else it was the type of scene that made me wonder if this is the type of show made for prudes. OK, hear me out. I understand why echhi exists and I think that incorporating erotic elements can sometimes elevate a story and give a better experience to the viewer. Moreover, keeping it at “everything but” is a way to avoid some harsher regulations.
However, when the erotic elements seem to be the only or at least the most important element that the production wants to bring across, then doing these sort of silly exercises to avoid specifically stating what’s happening, I think limits severely what the production can do. And I’ve almost never seen it elevate the material.
So my head canon is that it’s made for horny people who think actualy sex is gross! Yuck! They must exist.
That is a very distinct viewing category you’ve just created.
Honestly, this episode didn’t do much for me. I mean it does transition us nicely to a point where Diablo could now dismantle the church but I somehow think that head-priest girl isn’t going to let him. Compared to summoning a demon-lord through Rem and the amazing finale that lead to, season two really doesn’t have anything. Even if we do get a fight with the church, I’m kind of indifferent to the outcome at this point. And throwing in a lame twist of the priests actually being ruled by another demon-lord would more or less fall flat at this point because it just seems way too trite. What do you think, Irina? Is there any saving this season at this point?
I actually sort of forgot why they were doing any of it. Not a great sign. Like I understood what was happening moment for moment but if someone asked me the greater rational of it all, I would be at a loss. It’s sort of very meandering and superficial. It kind of reminds me of my issues with Grancrest actually. Maybe they need to have a recap episode next week?
No! Not the recap episode.
But hey, at least we get to listen to the cool opening each week.
Images from: How Not To Summon a Demon Lord Season 2. Dir. S. Kuwahara. Tezuka Productions and Okuruto Noboru. 2021.
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Irina and Karandi
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I gotta admit, this sounds pretty awful. The premise was interesting so I tentatively had it on my list of shows to check out once it’s over but it sounds like it would be better to check something else out. Hopefully it at least ends on a high note
Season 1 is entertaining and quite fun. Not sure what happened to this season.
My problem with this – and a lot of ecchi – is that I find it neither funny nor sexually interesting. It just means the characters are stupid in a not-cute way.
But then, I have had issues with the fan service on this show since the beginning. There’s the guild-master who looks like a loli, there’s the actual loli who just happens to be a demon lord in a prepubescent body, the prepubescent loli who was pretending to be a boy until Diablo had a chance to get her clothes off, there’s the 14 & 15 year old slave girls who are drawn to look like mature women. And a sexual assault scene where its really ok because Diablo was asleep and didn’t mean it.
Huh? Just whose fantasies are they targeting here?
I’ve gotten to where I fast forward thru the fan service. The show only lasts a few minutes and is much more fun.
Not sure who they are targeting, or even what the goal is this season. This show just feels lost.