「Doll Roll Hall」

I’d be pissed too if I knew my boyfriend was sweet-talking the cute library girl and the famous idol!

Perhaps it’s just me, but I keep having the off-feeling that the pacing in Megami-hen is a tad erratic. There are some episodes, like the last two, which have felt reasonably well paced in terms of the situation and how much Keima’s been running around doing, and there are others, like this one, that feel fairly rushed in comparison. I understand that things would happen quickly considering how much there is to cover in this arc, but I can’t help but wish there were more consistency in this case. It’s a tad off-putting, not to a terrible degree, but enough to leave a bit of a sense of dissatisfaction with the way certain portions of the narrative are handled.

Nevertheless, it can’t be said that this isn’t Keima up to his usual game, if only a bit overwhelmed with his ambitious plans. The horror of having the girls find out about one another is fulfilled when Tsukiyo and her confirmed goddess, Vulcan, catch Keima while he’s working on capturing Shiori. Vulcan is righteously angry about Tsukiyo’s treatment at Keima’s hands, and unlike Kanon, who didn’t quite believe Apollo’s stories, Tsukiyo seems to be working in tandem with her goddess. It’s kind of amusing to me that the girl and her guardian don’t exactly want Keima to give an explanation for his actions, though Tsukiyo does ask why he’s bothered re-entering her life. I also like that Keima doesn’t even bother to explain away his encounters with the other girls, other than a failed attempt to feign ignorance. It’s not necessarily the most admirable of actions, but it’s rather necessary to get Tsukiyo back on his side, so it’s definitely understandable. I also found it pretty amusing that Keima gets a tad desperate and loses his head a bit when asking for a kiss, as it’s more in line with his true personality than his various dashing masks. It’s a fun, if somewhat quick capture, though my favorite parts of the episode actually have to do with the aftermath.

With Kanon’s dire situation eased somewhat and Nora now temporarily helping out, Diana starts expressing jealousy over Vulcan’s extremely possessive attitude over Keima (princess-carries and wings, eh?), though in truth it can’t be helped. After all, Diana is the only goddess who’s aware of what Keima is doing and how he’s planning to accomplish it, and thus she’s also the most insecure. What’s interesting about all this is that it’s not Tenri complaining or otherwise upset, but Diana herself, which is both really cute and also kind of sad; after all, she’s not really Tenri, and developing feelings for Keima seems like a bad idea in the long run. Still, at least Kanon is out of immediate danger, and it looks like Yui is the next target on the list in the search for Mercurius, the only goddess who can help Apollo out of her self-induced situation.

On a hugely related note, Yui’s second arc also means we get to see crossdressing Keima. Why the heck isn’t it Monday yet?

 

Preview

30 Comments

  1. Eh Nora was my least favorite character in the series so far…the way she acted in the OVA makes me think she’d actually be the type to join Vintage. By the way I think we can expect quite a few things change since they’ve already swapped some actions by certain characters and given them to other characters.

    Next episode: I wonder if that’s a girl Keima or Keima in the dress Yui gave him…looks like he finally gave up and decided to play the girl in this conquest.

    I’ve been wondering; while I get that he needs to increase the love and hence the power of the goddesses when Keima was being attacked by Vulcan alone in the doll why didn’t he just say: “APOLLO IS DYING WOMAN AND I NEED YOUR POWER TO SAVE HER!” Instead he took a royal beating in the form of piles of books and bookshelves.

    gawrshness
    1. Remember: all the goddesses are on high alert after Apollo sent her message. As far as the goddesses are aware of, Keima is just that guy that seduced their host and then promptly discarded them after stealing a kiss.

      Frankly, the manga did a much better portrayal of Vulcan’s conversion to believing in Keima. The anime deleted a relatively important character.

      Anyway, despite the rushed pacing, I’m still excited for Yui’s arc and the climax. I just hope the director knows what he’s doing because, personally, it was the climax that hammered in the full weight of this arc’s conclusion. This arc is probably one of my favorite manga/anime stories because of how it develops its characters– Keima included.

      Beedle
  2. It hurts me seeing Keima sweet talk Shiori and then get away and sweet talk other girls. I mean she is making Shiori look like a fool for believing in him. I mean seriously what did she see in that man. But I know I have to understand that Keima is not doing this (five timing girls) because he likes it, but because its necessary for the sake of Kanon and the world. But still…

    Anyway Keima is still very awesome for all the tricks he has in his sleeves, and I admit he is very intelligent but still..

    pahlavi
  3. Shiori was adorable~ But I muz say that Diana/Tenri wins in this episode! It was funny yet so sweet watching her acting all jealous :D. And it conflicts her even more since she is the youngest, so she respects her elder sisters. But she can’t exactly stand the idea that her sister had the edge over her with regards to Keima XD

    Also, any scene with my fav girl, Haqua, is just plain win!

    Euzio
  4. ok… this escalated fast – I can’t imagine how it will look when all the goddesses will be “awakened” and jealous of each other… Haqua is throwing her own share of jelly into what looks like will devolve into jelly battle royale!
    I wonder how Keima will handle this since he in the heart is a good boy who is not happy about all that multiple-timing.

    ewok40k
  5. I’ve finally caught with this week’s episode in the Manga…
    Heck, I’ve already surpassed it, hopefuly I’ll finish reading the arc by today.

    To me, except for the left-out arcs and the relatively important character (which may make Vintage’s actions become more shadowed in the anime due to the Goddesses Hunt), it seems the Anime is adapting fairly well the Manga, hopefuly they’ll finish adapting this part of the story.
    Too bad the next arc doesn’t seem to be on the list, it seems to be as important as this one…

    XRick
  6. This episode really suffered from not only the rushed pacing but also skipping over Tsukiyo’s capture. The library scene lost most of its impact because Keima had to summarize her arc while running from Vulcanus. Took away from being able to focus on what was actually happening between Keima and Vulcanus. Classic example of why good storytelling is based on “show don’t tell.”

    The rushed feeling I felt was at its worst with the comedy. So many of the jokes just needed an extra beat to breathe and the punchlines would have been more effective. That’s the part that really makes me sad about this adaptation. I loved how the manga still maintained some great comedy alongside all the ramped up drama and action. Just unfortunate that the pacing isn’t allowing this arc to be shown in its full potential.

    spike
  7. Tsukiyo’s miniarc is fated to be the arc which is suffering the most on this Goddess arc, due to :

    1. The Tsukiyo Arc itself is not shown at all before. Just a recap didn’t really do her arc the justice (albeit it’s understandable and can’t be helped).
    2. A relatively important character which supposed to contribute to this Tsukiyo miniarc had been cut. Another disadvantage is that we can’t see one of the most brilliant counter plan of Keima in this Goddess arc.

    However, this is a very good decision if we take a look at it in a wider scope. With 13 episodes, decision must be made. Cutting a semi important character (which won’t be important in the future anyway) is much better than cutting the real meat in this goddess arc.

    Given that they probably will need around 4 more episodes to animate further two heroine miniarc conquests, most likely they will have 5 episodes to animate the School Festival miniarc and the rest of the conflicts against vintage. That probably will be (barely) enough for some of the best moments in the entire TWGOK story! Can’t wait to see the adaptation and the following fans reaction (plus the inevitable shipping wars)!

    zeroyuki92
  8. Haqua needn’t to apologize that much since she hasn’t commited any ‘graveous mistakes’ and it seemed unnecessary.. Unlike in the manga where Show Spoiler ▼

    ….

    Red HeartGold
  9. “On a hugely related note, Yui’s second arc also means we get to see crossdressing Keima. Why the heck isn’t it Monday yet?”

    Took the words out of my mouth Kairi.MOAR YUI!MOAAAAAR I SAY!

    Exia

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