Beyond the Boundary - Episode 5

The Hollow Shadow (or whatever it was that attacked the town) might have been defeated, but there's now a new danger for Mirai to face - joining the literature club and its pair of male members who waste no time in proving that they have mastered the art of sexual harassment.

Still, this isn't the only thing of note going on in the lives of the main cast in the wake of the previous episode, as Mirai finds her license as a Spirit World Warrior rescinded for a month due to her foolish actions, and Akihito also gets a telling off which, when coupled with an uncomfortable meeting with a certain someone, only seems to deepen his depression originated from his turning into a youmu at the end of the previous episode.

With her ability to earn money from capturing youmu curtailed by her suspension, Mirai has to go looking elsewhere for work, which ultimately comes courtesy of Mitsuki who allows her to join in and help with her part-time job, although it seems that Mirai is willing to go a little further in her efforts and take on a slightly more salacious role within her workplace.  With a festival impending and Mitsuki fretting about her sense of loneliness on account of her position and heritage, it's surprisingly Mirai that pulls her out of her shell by insisting that she attend said festival with her friends despite Mitsuki's determination not to go.

After the action and drama of the previous episode, this week's Beyond the Boundary was inevitably going to be a quieter, more introspective affair, and so it proved as it made at least some effort to look at the effect of those events and the wider goings-on in the world upon the main cast of characters.  The trouble is, a lot of this effort was overshadowed by the incessant sense of the episode pandering towards its audience.  "Ooh, look at Mirai in glasses being all clumsy and cute! Look at her in a maid outfit!  I bet you'd like to see her naked - maybe you should make a doujinshi about it?"  All of this felt surprisingly overt from a studio that normally at least tries to pretend that it's refraining from such baiting of its audience, and it detracts from a show that doesn't have a strong enough story to overpower such elements in the first place.