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「壊したり殺したりするばっかりで、何にも作ってないから」 (Kowashi Tari Koroshi Tari Suru Bakkari de, Nani ni mo Tsukutte Tenaikara)
“I Just Destroy and Kill, Without Creating Anything”
What a busy, fascinating mess. They tried to strong-arm so much in that I got whiplash and was frequently bewildered, but still interested enough to keep going. Some parts were good, some not so much. Let’s go over each.
Seinen Shounin’s Peace
By and far the best part of the episode (to me) was Seinen Shounin and Karyuu Koujo’s negotiations with Shounin Shitei. First of all, two things. Number one: Seinen Shounin x Karyuu Koujo SQUEEE!! Sorry, I just love my B-couples. Secondly, Shounin Shitei sure has moved up in the world. Financial minister? Nice! That was a smart move on Toujaku Ou’s part…I was barely able to keep up with their negotiations, but Shounin Shitei managed it while being in the hot seat. Maou’s students are quite impressive.
Now, I could go into my normal economic treatises, but I’m not feeling it today so I’m going to skip that. That wasn’t the part of these scenes I most enjoyed anyway, though it was necessary to get us there. No, the part I most liked, and the one that gave us the one genuinely stirring moment of the episode, was Seinen Shounin’s answer to Yuusha’s challenge. To quote the master merchant himself:
“Everyone has an opinion as to what’s right or wrong. We will never see eye-to-eye on that, but everyone wants to be a little happier than they currently are.”
Bingo, my greedy friend! Seinen Shounin found his answer – while some may want to go to war, what everyone really wants is to be a little better off than they were the day before. Make trade, not war! This goes back to the old Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention: No two countries that are both part of a major global supply chain, like Dell’s, will ever fight a war against each other as long as they are both part of the same global supply chain.
This is why I laugh when American politicians talk about the threat of China, or Chinese ones talk about taking back Taiwan – yeah, and lose all that money everyone makes from trade? Unlikely! That’s Seinen Shounin’s plan – once everyone is busy making money off one another, the chances of a war will greatly decrease. That’s his path to peace, that only a merchant could find. When he revealed his plan, and Karyuu Koujo revealed her horns to show how serious they were about this…yeah, got a few chills there. Nicely done.
Delaying the Central Nations
As soon as I heard about all the wine going into the camp, I knew what was going on. Mind you, the commanders are stupid to have fallen for it, but that’s what you get when you have a bunch of nobles running your army instead of, I don’t know, professional soldiers! First they started a war right before winter, and now this…they’re falling for all the oldest tricks in the book. Though I guess in their world these tricks are probably new, so there’s that. You can’t be blamed for repeating history when there hasn’t been any history for you to repeat yet.
They’re still damn stupid, though. Also: poor horses. Beats the alternative, though.
Routing the White Night
Speaking of, fuck you White Night Country! Okay, so it sucks that all those soldiers had to die for their king’s (and their crazy commander’s) petty idiocy, but I can’t help but cheer for the smaller force outsmarting the invaders and sending them packing! Well, I say sending them packing, but by the end of it Gunjin Shitei had his people patching up the enemy soldiers as well. He’s another example of how impressive Maou’s students are. From him taking charge during the fight to his little battlefield promotion to Shogun (though that may have just been a nickname, I’m not sure), he was impressive indeed. Just goes to show you what a great teacher can do.
Onna Mahoutsukai
Wow, Onna Mahoutsukai is finally relevant! I’m still pretty unclear on a lot of stuff though, like…almost everything about her, to be honest. If this series has done one thing, it’s made me intent on reading the manga as soon as the anime ends, because I’m feeling the absence of the these little details I know are out there. Why are there multiple Onna Mahoutsukais (sorta)? Why did she get so angry? Why does she know all that stuff she told Yuusha? Okay, that last one was probably from her conversation with Maou, but still – I’m feeling the lack. I did enjoy her mass teleportation spell though, even if my mind immediately turned to just how lethal that could be. Hey, a lot of the world is water, open air, or the inside of rocks, ya know? So that was good times.
P.S. you don’t have to answer all those Onna Mahoutsukai questions in the comments. I’m going to read the manga soon anyone, so don’t want to be spoiled. Much obliged.
Destroying the Demon Gate
I’ll admit, I was raging when Yuusha nuked the Gate into oblivion. After everything Seinen Shounin did, he just cut off the only way they could trade with the Demon World! Mind you, I wouldn’t be surprised if that gets rebuilt, but that raises the question – why bother blowing it apart in the first place? (From a storytelling perspective.) Especially when Yuusha didn’t appear to know that he could still reach Maou once it was destroyed. In case you haven’t realized, we’re well into the not so great parts of the episode now. Which leads me to…
Evil Maou
Well that’s not the Maou I’m used to! First of all, there was power in the scene where Maou emerged and Meido Chou confronted her, mostly due to Saito Chiwa selling her performance hard. Her pain was clear, and I appreciated the further glimpse into her and Maou’s pasts. I also have to salute her for her little martial arts move that locked Maou back into the room for a while. Power does nothing for you if you can’t bring it to bear, or if your enemy can turn it aside. Nice!
That was the good. The less good past was the fact that Maou went full evil at all. I have to ask – is this anime original? Because to be blunt, I’m not really digging this final confrontation. I get how it could be considered poignant that it’s coming down to Maou vs Yuusha after all, only now they love each other and Yuusha doesn’t want to kill her, but Maou being taken over is such a lazy way to set that up. Partially this is my own prejudice – I’ve always hated mind control plots because it’s a cheap way to amp up the drama, and it’s not that great drama at that. Where is the true conflict without choice? They might as well have had some super powerful demon come out of nowhere and hold Maou hostage, because that’s basically what this was.
On the plus side, I enjoyed how Yuusha entered the palace by smashing through the wall, then the floor, and then the giant door. Doors? Screw em, who needs em! (Also, trope!)
Looking Ahead
As I’m fond of noting, we all know that the good guys win most of the time, so there’s something like a 95% chance that Yuusha is going to save Maou. Did they have to give it away in the preview? Gah! Ah well. Now all that’s left is to see exactly how Yuusha does it, and the effects all these events have on the world at large.
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Seinen Shounin’s peace, a war on three sides, & Evil Maou. What a fascinating mess this is #Maoyuu
Random thoughts:
- Look, it’s vividblack! So fluffy~
- Seriously, fuck this guy. I can’t wait until he gets killed.
Full-length images: 12, 32, 40.
Preview
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I can fap to this…
Good Lord! Man! Just make sure you are far enough away from the display. It’ll be hard to clean your 20in if you don’t. ( I am referring to your display LOL)
My monitor is full of cum.
4/5
Indeed. Evil Maou was arousing.
Thought you would have addressed that the demon “world” seems to share the same ground as the human “world”.
Just guess work here mostly.
Destroying the gate would at least make it inconvenient to transport large forces and now that Maou is evil(?), I think that is a good countermeasure. It is like throwing your whole army into a game of Portal, fun but not convenient.
Yeah, it’s some kind of mirror world or something. Interesting, but…well, not really that interesting, lol. It’d be more interesting if I thought the revelation was goin to amount to anything.
Not a “mirror,” because that still implies an alternate dimension or universe.
There was an original Star Trek episode whose title seems appropriate here… Show Spoiler ▼
I shouldn’t need to spoiler it, but it sounds like the episode completely cut Female Mage’s detailed explanation that was in the manga. Stupid if you ask me. How are people supposed to make sense of this stuff like this?
I wasn’t suggesting to go in depth of it. It isn’t a really interesting topic but you did mention why he destroyed the gate which was because he was told to do it. Thought you would have made a brief mention to the “mirror plane” but oh well. Besides, I’m sure some of us saw that one coming anyway.
I completely “WOWed” at Hero’s Indignation. I mean, I thought Female Knight was over-exaggerating when she said he could take on a whole army himself, but seeing his destructive power here, I can see why D0=.
It’s close but “Nan ni mo Tsukutte Naikara” is better.
Clearly the central premise of the show from the very start. Glad to see they finally explicitly talked a out the theory behind it before the end, for the benefit of the layman viewer who isn’t well-versed in such things…:)
B-couples are great. Especially when they serve as a foil to the main one, e.g. mature collected B-couple vs the baka main one or vice versa. Not really sure if we have too much of that going on here, but I still like it!
Lol, only 95? More like 99.9999999…..as close to 100% as mathematically possible. We don’t have a reputably sadistic director for this one unlike another show this season…XP
Regarding the Evil Maou, This is not anime original material,
Show Spoiler ▼
P.S. you all do realize that there is a Light Novel of this story aswell?
Yeah, I know the light novels are the originals, but I don’t think they’ve been translated into English, and I don’t know Japanese well enough to want to read an entire damn book in it.
I believe that there is one of the mangas for this series that is at the same spot as the anime currently is that has been translated.
Not quite the same spot, the manga spoils the next episode.
Their will be a causality!
Show Spoiler ▼
Was also directly foreshadowed last episode in the flashback when Head Maid talked about the former spirits taking over as part of becoming Maou. But just like this episode the pacing was so awful it was easy to miss that nugget. This story seems to be simply too complex for a one cour series. I wish this had been given a longer run to see if the anime producers could have really made a successful adaptation. At this point it seems at least part of the problem with this adaptation is the massive scope of the story in such a limited amount of time.
Definitely agree that this show makes you want to go read the manga or light novel to see what the full story is like. So in that sense I think this show did a good job of serving as promotion for the manga and light novel.
Oh, I know it was foreshadowed. It’s still just a relatively crappy little plot point. It’s so obvious it was stuck in there just to generate half-assed drama…though as I say that, I have no problem when that is done in Sakurasou, so I think that’s just my prejudice against mind control plots showing.
It worked much better when Maou’s been gone for ten chapters rather than three episodes. Aside from flashbacks and a few shots of her floating among the spirits of the demon lords, struggling to keep control of herself, we hadn’t seen her in the manga for ages, and when we had last seen her in the crypt it had seemed like she had the key to keeping them out of her. So when the door opened and she stepped out with her face hidden, it really was uncertain.
In short, and to repeat something you’ve heard a bunch of times by now, “the manga handled this much better.”
The foreshadowing comment was more about pointing out that Apsody243 wasn’t actually spoiling anything in case people were curious but afraid to check the spoiler tag.
As for the actual plot device, I agree it’s pretty ineffective here. Really, the haphazard pacing has made the last couple episodes seem more like a cliff note’s version plot summary rather than a real story. But like I said I’m hoping there is more depth and context to it in the other formats that simply couldn’t fit in the time constraints.
The evil maoh thing should be explained the next episode.
Show Spoiler ▼
Reminds of Avatar the Last Airbender (The first cartoon series, not the currently running one) and how Aang is guided by the spirits of all his previous incarnations- except in ths they’re all evil…
Maou: The Last…Maou. The Maou State.
…doesn’t have the same ring to it…
try the last demon lord, the demon lord state?
Well, you can see this as a Metaphor too
Old Ghosts from the Past can Posses your Pure Heart. The Dark Side is Strong, Luke! Uhm 🙂
Hate, Anger, Destroying. They are all a Strong Emotion. But Light drove into a Corner, can out light the Darkest Corner. Both can be Extreme (Did i mention Witch hunt or Inquisition or Holy War?)
Hope somehow they can boot out the Evil Spirits
Anime evil Maou was kind of weak sauce.
Show Spoiler ▼
the manga only showed the action frame, not the actual dismemberment, so we’ll never know (if you’re referring to the same manga that I’m reading…)
Well she didn’t even have a sword in the manga I read.
No Surprise, just Watch the OP carefully.. What we dont know, what Time it was.. Now we have it
I was wondering when Female Mage would make her grand appearance.
Fukuen Misato’s versatile voice range is criminally underused, at least she gets to shine in Haganai.
A shame it’s an episode before the end. Usually characters featured in the opening get more than one episode’s worth of appearances.
Also, was there any point to those blue people and that etherial being?
If you thought this was a mess, imagine how it feels for people who have read this part of the manga, it’s a complete Cluster****. I’ll try to avoid spoilers as best I can with my little exposition.
This occurs around chapter 20 of the manga, and I’ll get the first thing out of the way. Evil Maou
It’s not really a spoiler at this point so I can say, yes she does get turned evil in the Manga but it’s done much better. She’s been in there for about 2 months IIRC, and as previously explained her very soul has been corrupted. I do feel a bit robbed though as she didn’t really appear nearly as awesome as she did in the manga. That really dampned the effect and the whole scene lack much of the luster it did in the manga.
The whole scene with Shounin Shitei lacked exposition, it would have been acceptable if more time was spent on the other happenings taking place, but there was just too much being jumbled into one episode, nothing was given the time it deserved; again I can’t go into more detail without spoilers.
The battle scene was a bit different than the others as far as what was wrong with it. The pacing and length it was given was a bit too quick and short but not catastrophically so, but becuase the visual detail in these scenes was so poor we weren’t able to fully comprehend the situation as well. They showed a vast open area of rough ground as the battlefield, a good place to comfront calvalry for sure, but cavalry wouldn’t be going full tilt in such rough land, there would be too much risk of the horse injuring itself, but again it’s hard to tell becuase of the lack of detail.
There’s supposed to be a forest on the flanks of the trench but this was shown hardly at all, even in some of the distance shots trees were shown only in patches rather than an actuall forest, again this fails to set the scene properly which is I think the biggest failing of this scene, the lack of set up.
Moving on to Onna Mahoutsukai, I don’t know much about her, there being three of her-each represented by a different hairstyle and voice-is news to me. She does call Yuusha a virgin sh**, but as far as I know it’s in her “one” voice. More avid reader of the source material will need to explore this further but I’m moving on.
Onna Mahoutsukai was definately the highlight of the episode for me as her scene with Yusha was probably the best handled out of the episode (which by now isn’t saying much) but beyond that it was just enjoyable to watch. The WTF moment with her “multiple personalities”(for me anyway becuae I am unaware if she has any) was hilarious and the anime original dialogue(unless they’re using a different source then what I’m going by) that went along with it was awesome.
As much as a mess as this episode was and how much I know the next one will be I’m still looking forward tot he end of the show.
Maou looks more awesome all the time in the manga though as they picked an original look for her in it, rather then following the novels one. But I find that the novels blander look is growing on me and it works better in the anime as it leaves more room for her to develop.
some notes while I was watching this episode:
-the crusade leader’s the more aggressive one (rather than the winter night king)
-what kind of hat is the dragon princess wearing??? it’s making her stand out more!
-young merchant is more outspoken now, calling out the “master merchant”
-instead of ninja maid, we get maid knight…gg
-the “half-assed nightmare” (old man archer’s words , not mine) ‘s personalities are showing
-anyone want to reference “300”? I’m not…
-Female knight has a nice butt…(and one devilish strategy)
-OP Hero… and his Bare-Handed Blade Block(trope!)
ps. the anime caught up to current scanlated chapter next week, if the preview title is not a troll
300? Nah. The Rain of Arrows was a common tactic in both europe and asia. The english bowmen were famous for winning hard (112 to 6,000 casualties) against a horde of french knights during the hundred year war. Especially if you’re outnumbered and in defense it makes sense to shoot as many arrows as you can to weaken the enemys as much as possible.
Sorry, I was going for the fast referencing and 300 came to mind first, don’t mind me there…
that Hat? Well to protect the “expensive” Hair style at that time. They even sleep with their Upper body uptight in Medieval because of the Hair Style
You know the army is bound to fail when you have a commander in a ridiculous headdress that is too small for his head.
Well, they used the Terrain against them. No space to spread out. And no real Armor to defend against Arrows. So, their did their own Grave. Or they was just thinking that will be a easy ride
for all the gripes there are, I still enjoy this show
NUKE!!! It reminded me of that spell at the last episode of Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsuu and dang head maid lost her arm.
Yuusha: What do you mean becoming the king of evil?
Onna Mahoutsukai: Just get going you damn virgin!!!
There. Onna Mahoutsukai stole the show. XD
The only [real] surprise this season was the crow “eating” Rei.<sic>
INHO, this “conflict” was predicted when she first entered the chamber and told her maid
to kill her if she emerged possessed, which pretty much guarantees that’s how it’ll turn out.
It’s kinda hard to believe that 1 more episode, but it seems like it’s just getting started…
No, I don’t think that was much of a surprise. Probably because it stood there for so long and when an animal eyes its prey for a long time, you know what will happen next… CHOMP!!
Maybe that creator goddess at the end of one of the episodes is going to help out? Whatever she’s going to do, maybe she’ll succeed this time after so having many heroes fail
Did there are not 2 Beings? I think she said that in the Flashback Episode.. So there must be someone else on the World, with Hero’s powers
so um merchant & dragon lady plan to expand biz trade to both human & demons while winter land area plan in stop one-eyed crazy person army.
& yet bigger prob cause red queen has been taken over by evil spirits which from chopping removal of head maid’s arm & now blue hero arrive to face evil red queen?!
Ingenious tactics by the trading alliance. Essentially, the Central economy is getting screwed over by the Alliance, and the in spite of (re)introducing new currency (which only serves to pretty much guarantee more inflation, yay), they’re going to find themselves trapped. While the Alliance hits it big extending trade with the demons, the Southern Nations and their newly developed economy will follow suit and open trade with the demons as well, and will also flourish. The Central in a sense is being delivered and ultimatum by the Alliance- Adapt or be destroyed.
“After everything Seinen Shounin did, he just cut off the only way they could trade with the Demon World!”
The “gate” isn’t technically destroyed though.
Pretty sure they tried to explain that the human and demon worlds exist in the same world but on different sides of the ground.
All the gate allowed for was moving between one side and the other with nothing in between, now thanks to Yuusha’s nuke there should be a big smoldering hole connecting the two sides.
It doesn’t close the path between the two worlds but for a while it will make travel between the two a bit less convenient than walking up to the gate, especially for transporting something as large as an army.
Yes, the Gate was more a “Time saver”. Now they need to Climb Down to reach the other side. March of Days?
More like mountain climb of days.
Time is money. If you’re trying to trade with the demons, and instead of rolling up to a gate you have to climb down into a gaping hole in the ground, then that’s going to be prohibitive for trade. Not only will it take more time, but carts don’t go down mountains all that well. Not if you want their contents safe when they get to the bottom, at least.
As long the Gravity goes in one direction. You can use crane for Trading. But lets see
Now, I KNEW about Mao turning evil after the chamber. (And maid losing her arm) BUT, I don’t know if Yuusha fights Mao in the Light Novel afterwards. So I’m wondering if this if an anime original end, or does this happen in the light novel as well.
One more thing…. Padme Amidala?
https://randomc.net/image/Maoyuu%20Maou%20Yuusha/Maoyuu%20Maou%20Yuusha%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
Whats the bet that the hero is going to kiss the demon king and she’ll turn back to normal? xD
I’ll be all my wheat futures that you ‘got it in one’! With his skills, he can get in close. They’ll probably have a face to face argument, and out of the blue, he’ll smile, and before she can react, he’ll kiss her.
EPIC CONFESSION coming up next episode!
Didnt know that Makai is La Gias
I do detect some Dune like Bene Gesherit – Reverend Mother thing here. Maybe Maou needs to be brought back to the forefront from all the other conflicting personalities she has absorbed.
Great review as always Stilts. I am going to nitpick though: You’re using the phrase ” begs the question” incorrectly. Normally, I wouldn’t care or bother writing anything, but you seem like the type that do mind about these sort of thing. The phrase you’re looking for is of course, “raises the question”.
Keep up the good shit.
Oh, you’re right. Thank you kindly for pointing that out. Fixed it, and I’ll have to make sure to use that correctly in the future : )
Enjoyable mess is enjoyable. Tons of stuff going on. I wonder if it’ll wrap up nicely?
This part and, possibly, the next are as far as the manga(s) have covered. You will probably be surprised at how they handled the mind control thingie.
No one wondered about the Mage? 3 Personality in one Body…
You’ll also notice that her hair and clothes changed in addition to her voice; however I think the physical changes only occur when the “others” come out strongly, the most notable being the angry one who had a change of hair, and attire.
But not one of the most famous classic blunders, the most famous being: never get involved in a land war in Asia.
Dear Stilts, first thanks for coverage, secondly, some comments on your main points.
1.Peace thru trade is definitely not bad idea, though hardly decisive when real hotheads get to run the country. In 1939 biggest trade partners for Germany was France and for Japan USA…
Still, perfect way to do some good and get rich in the process 🙂
Seinen Shounin really gets a magnificent bastard trope on though for getting “very friendly” with Karyuu Koujo! (I’m boarding this ship too!)
2.Delaying action at its finest, though I’d be more for maneuver warfare, leading enemy to chase me across the land. Lack of professional command on other side helps much, thogh!
3.White night just has run into well-led semi-professional army (rounded up with conscripts but they were used accordingly to their capability), a result similar in outcome to Creecy and Agincourt.
4.Onna Mahotsukai evidently spent all this time off-screen researching mass teleportation spell of epic proportion in preparation for just such contingency. Having been abandoned by Hero going forward in the 1st ep has made her into working hard to be useful, and she did just that. Plus she pointed him towards Maou now!
5.Gate to Demon world was destroyed to keep Blue Demons from returning too easy, but either it can be rebuilt, or the resultant crater is good enough to go to the Demon Realm itself.
I would not be too worried about it.
6.Well, this is what you get for visiting tombs of ancient
Sith LordsDemon Kings. I cringed when Maou simply cut off hand of Meido Chou… Will the power of love (T) save Maou now? Hero, best time to be heroic!edit, only “Sith lords” were intended to be “strike”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but France declared war on Germany in response to the latter’s invasion of Poland. Japan desperately declared war on the U.S. in order to secure resources that they were sorely lacking as a result of the continuing war in China (the second largest theatre in the war IIRC)
Sun Tzu said that the best battle is one you don’t have to fight; however Show Spoiler ▼
No arguements from me, and thanks for making me aware of the battle of Cressy.
Luckily they’ve made a spinoff manga showing Onna Mahotsukai’s time chasing after Hero in the demon world.
I’ve been wondering about that actually. The problem isn’t getting through the whole to the other side, the problem is: at what point does the gravity from the “human world” and the repulsive force of the green sun meet? Is it in the hole?, if so where? at the halfway point? I think I might have a solution to the trade problem posed by this new geographical feature: Elevators
Seriously, if you used very long cables and mounted the cars on rails mounted to the walls of the hole, you could in theory move it. The cars would have to be fully contained and loading the cars would have to be done very carefully but it would be possible. Rather than use a source of power to move the cars they could just use gravity/repulsion. You would still need some kind of braking system in order to hold the car in place before it starts going back down, You could then attatch tow lines and pull it up the rest of the way, but then of course you would have to find a way to get down that far to the car to attatch the tow line. Once that was done you could use a crane or a team of beasts with a pully system to haul it up the rest of the way.
Besides all the problems I’ve already mentioned we don’t know the depth of the hole is, I’m assuming it’s at least five kilometers since there’s ocean on either side of the planet. Such a long cable would be doable now, but with mideval “technology”, I’m skeptical, but Maou knew how to make a printing press and black powder so who knows.
ad 1 – as you see, US can become involved in war with China over, say Taiwan, or Japan defending its outlying small islands…
ad 5 – we’re into total fantasy land now, with “flat earth on 2 sides of a single pancake”, I’d not be speculating on technicalities of transport, plus there is the existence of magic…
@Stilts:
This is kinda late to ask this, but I’ve been wondering about that for a few days.
Since when was the Dragon Princess and Merchant a “B couple”? I must’ve missed something, I don’t remember them forming a contract like Hero and Demon King, when did that happen?
All i need to say is….
Salt
I feel that they’re rushing too much in this episode to make a slower final episode. I can’t say I like this decision, especially with how much they cut out of Gunjin Shitei’s tactics and DEFINITELY the Head Maid/Demon Queen interaction. The scene in the manga is simply way better paced and much more heart-breaking. Past-past Demon Queen and Head Maid look good though.
Episode 12 is out, and sadly is is the “Fin” Episode. But i smell arrangements for a S2