Friday 26 April 2013

Hataraku Maou-sama! - Episode 4

In the wake of the previous episode's not-so natural disaster, a now safe Emi finds herself thinking back upon her past - in other words, it's time for us to be regaled of her back-story; of how Emilia became a hero and the true depths of her hatred towards Maou.

Along these lines, much of the first half of this episode is filled with thoughts on how people can be faced with a choice between doing good and evil, and how their circumstances at that exact moment can influence their decision to take a path of light or dark.  In spite of this, Emi still can't really wrap her head around Maou's change in attitude since arriving in the human world, and ultimately she breaks down and demands to know from him why he's suddenly running around helping people and being diligent as opposed to his previously nefarious behaviour.


Unfortunately for all concerned, that question is never fully answered thanks to the appearance of Chiho, who immediately mistakes Maou and Emi's discussion in the former's apartment for a sign of their relationship before running off crying.  This in turn leaves her vulnerable to the same forces which caused the subway collapse previously - a danger which Maou's landlady seems to know far, far too much about...

Although it's actually managed to pull it all off in a reasonably satisfactory manner, I have to admit that I much prefer this series when it's playing its premise for laughs rather than dealing with the serious business of what makes a person good or evil or instigated supernatural rebellions against the main cast - maybe I'll warm to this aspect of the series as it goes on and becomes more overt, but I worry that it runs the risk of becoming too predictable and self-serious, which could well drain a lot of the entertainment from the show.  Hopefully it'll at least be able to balance this against its light-hearted fare, as if nothing else this episode has made me realise that I'm already actually rather attached to the main cast of characters, so I'd really rather like to spend more time watching them goof around over the coming weeks.

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