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「追撃の…魔王魔法少女」 (Tsuigeki no… Maou Mahou Shoujo)
“Magical Devil Girl… In Pursuit”
I don’t even know where to start after watching this amazing episode. You want some ecchi? Here’s some ecchi. You want some heart-melting, hnnnng inducing moments? You got it. You want a new character who pushes our favorite couple forward instead of backwards? HERE YOU GO.
Yuuta is a growing boy! A growing and loving boy.
With the way this episode started off, I think it’s become 100 percent clear that Yuuta clearly knows what he wants. Even if he needs to sugarcoat the idea of a passionate relationship behind a “contract”, there’s no denying that he isn’t some delusional guy. But if you take a second to add in this week’s opening minute to last week’s heartfelt actions, there’s no other way but to see Yuuta as one of the most sincere and passionate guys ever. Sure he may get roped into awkward situations because of his indecisiveness (Mahou Shoujo Yuuta anyone?), but what more could you ask for from a boyfriend who understands how to handle your weaknesses while still helping you move toward a more positive future?
Shichimiya Satone, more commonly known as “Sophia Ring SP Saturn VII”
After her sudden introduction right at the end of last week’s episode, I recall not being too happy about her appearance. Remember, Yuuta and Rikka had basically just reconfirmed their feelings for one another after a slightly awkward date. And after an physically and emotionally exhausting day, it shouldn’t be too hard to see how the appearance of a “new girl” could just become another obstacle for the two to overcome. Add in how Satone randomly challenged Rikka to a battle and Yuuta personally escorting her home and how can you not see the tens of thousands of bad things that could happen.
However, what I failed to take into account was just how mature Satone is. While her chuunibyou levels may exceed even Dekomori’s and her view on reality may be a bit warped, there’s no denying that she’s incredibly good at reading the mood and understands how to control her emotions. Sure she may have taken things a bit far when she penguin-kissed Yuuta, but I don’t judge her for it. If anything, it was an awfully cute way for her to close out the unrequited feelings Yuuta left her with when he suddenly disappeared out of her life.
All that said, it seems she did the complete opposite of what I expected and actually became one of the strongest driving forces behind my favorite couple. Somehow tackling a handful of difficult topics like jealously and lust in a single episode, without her appearance I doubt we’d have ever gotten a scene like this. Thank you Satone-chan<3
KyoAni’s Budget, Side Characters, and the Future
With its never ending budget and talented animators, it’s easy to say that the quality of the show hasn’t slipped at all since its second season debut. From the background characters to the creative chunibyou scenes, it’s nice to see KyoAni in top form.
For the side characters, it’s a little depressing to see Isshiki still getting the short end of the stick. Either getting kicked in the face or tackled straight into a wall, it seems like he won’t be getting more than a few lines anytime soon. Luckily though it seems that Kumin-senpai has been relieved of her duty as bad-joke teller — something which couldn’t have come sooner. Both Dekomori and Nibutani are still getting tons of screen time, so not much of a change there. If anything though, it seems like Nibutani’s loosening up a bit and letting her creative side slip out — something I also approve of!
So after three episodes, is Chu2Koi Ren something you should be/continue watching? OF COURSE. With its romantically focused story combined with that KyoAni magic that makes thing just “work”, I can’t imagine this show getting derailed. So if you aren’t watching, you should really go start.
Random Thoughts
- Maou Yuuta? HAHAHA. Imagine if Yuuta started talking about economics or the most effective farming strategies. Or potatoes.
- Jealous Rikka is soooo cute. CHOU KAWAII.
Of course it had to be the childhood friend, no we cannot ever try and come up with something else to introduce new potential romantic interests. Now with that out of the way this wasn’t a bad episode. Best part hands down was magical girl Yuuta getting into the act of playing kawaii desu fairy. Even better was the roundhouse kick Morisummer delivered to our Saiyan hero of the series.
Not sure where they plan on taking this since the ending all but confirmed the Yuuta-Rikka pairing (for all you avid shippers). Satone does have feelings for Yuuta, that much is pretty clear, but not where it goes now. Personally I’m guessing Rikka will be the source of tension here with her jealousy eventually causing a distancing from Yuuta that only self reflection and a serious look at her chuunibyou will be able to fix. Satone is simply the catalyst to get her to “grow up” per say. Cue the cute make up scene and the final kiss that will have the crowd roar with approval. Have to have that much after the shock which KyoAni caused with that Eskimo kissing 😛
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who thinks this. WHY DO they always use the childhood friend in any kind of romantic comedy, or just a romance in anime?? Do you know how incredibly rare it is for you to bump into your childhood friend 5 years or so later and reform a relationship?? Man, Japanese companies are nearly as creatively corrupt as Hollywood.
This is an adaptation, so I would blame it on the author.
Rare? I’d say it’s pretty common thing.
In most cases, there are two ways for a new potential love interest to be introduced:
1) The new love interest is someone the MC has never met before, and they build a relationship from scratch.
2) The new love interest is someone the MC has met from before, and they have a history (although not necessarily romantic).
Both are pretty damn common. However “childhood friends”, when implemented as characters properly, have the advantage of being able to set up a strong relation with the MC without the author having to show all of the shit that built up that relationship. Particularly in this situation, since Yuuta and Rikka are already going out. If a new girl that Yuuta had never met came along, it would be impossible to effectively implement her as a new love interest without pulling a ton of weird shit.
Also, just a little peeve I want to point out, but it should have been 3 years since they last met. Assuming that Yuuta was with Satone for only one year during the beginning of middle school, then the time he wasn’t in contact with her would be 2nd-year middle school (1 year), 3rd-year middle school (2 years), 1st-year high school (3 years), and now they have reunited at the beginning of the 2nd-year of high school.
She’s not really a childhood friend. A childhood friend is someone who you have known most of your life and grown up with. He knew her in middle school and was probably his first crush, NOT his childhood friend
Chuuni means 8th grader in Japan and if that’s the case, they were like 14 years old then. Yeah, not exactly childhood friends. She is more like “your first crush suddenly coming back to you” pattern.
True, she’s not in the sense of “known since being toddlers”, but still is a past friend who now suddenly makes a reappearance (and like childhood friends likely has some form of previous infatuation involved).
It’s a common trope which I find is starting to get annoying as nearly every romcom has a variation of this archetype now.
Someone who you knew a couple of years ago and someone you grew up with are two very different things. The reason why a lot of childhood friends end up stuck in the ‘friendzone’ is the familiarity issue, somewhat like with siblings, which tends to preclude romantic attachments.
As to the trope of a re-appearing friend, well a new character who did not know either has no chance at all getting close to either of them. There needs to be some previous connection. I suspect she’s the girl he sent his weird txt confession that was mentioned in season 1.
The fact that they decided to have the childhood friend (If this new character should in fact be characterized as such) push the main couple’s relationship forward instead of coming between them alone must be applauded. Sure, the whole childhood friend thing is a cliche and so is the whole romantic rival thing. Cliches exist for a reason: because they work. And the risk-averse corporate bigwigs who run the anime industry being more concerned with the bottom line than any notions of originality or innovation are more often than not loathe to detract at all from tried and true formulae that are proven to (More often than not) guarantee some kind of minimally adequate viewership resonance which translates into minimally acceptable sales. Therefore any movement at all away from the traditional, cliched tropes of a certain anime genre (The genre in this case being Romantic Comedy) must be celebrated- for such occurrences are quite uncommon. This is especially true by the way of KyoAni which has in recent years become rather entrenched in its own success, constantly producing cookie-cutter shows which capitalize on the winning formulae of its older series- as Enzo put it on the podcast once KyoAni has a nasty habit of “Phoning it in” because they know that these tried and true formulae are more or less guaranteed to turn a significant profit…
You are right for sure. I try to get the notion of cliché is not bad, rather it is simply over used and have become stale, but it is overused because it is so good and successful on a lot of other sites and forum with no success, but I’m glad to see someone else with the same view point on clichés as me. It all depends on how you use clichés, do you use a cliché with a new original twist, then you have done a successful job by not making the cliché stale, and even if people pick out the cliché, they can’t argue that it wasn’t good. :3
Which brings me over to Chunibyou, you have to give credits to Chuunibyou for originality for actually throwing in someone who has feelings for Yuta but not making it a harem instead introducing her rather to speed up and secure the relationship between Yuta and Rikka. Looking forward to how this is going to turn out now! :3 Second series from KyoAni where they show the couple after the confession 🙂
Anyone else wants to see the full chunibyou battle between Satone and Nibutani?
DREAM OR NO DREAM YUUTA! YOU MUST FULFILL THAT CONTRACT!!
This episode has so much win this week XD
Mahou Shoujo Yuuta!
For now….. I’d still like me some Kumin puns.
Now we need a crossover series with Kore wa Zombie Desu ka and Masou Shoujo Ayumu.
AWW, nose to nose is so cute.
Yuta is best husbando ever.
Too Close!
pinky kiss —> nose kiss —>> —– KISS!
pinky kiss —> nose kiss —>> —– KISS >>> kiss down there
I never read the light novel, but I predict that Satone will steal Yuta’s actual kiss, and then problems will arise, characters will get angry or mopey and all that. Still, this episode was just as adorable as the last, and I WISH we can see this healthy young love that is actually WORKING for once in a story more often!!
I really hope Isshiki gets more screen time in future episodes.
Isshiki’s still the resident butt monkey, but at least he’s growing his hair back…
Man i RLY RLY like the childhood friend, makes it hard for me to like Rikka
https://randomc.net/image/Chuunibyou%20Demo%20Koi%20ga%20Shitai/Chuunibyou%20Demo%20Koi%20ga%20Shitai%20Ren%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2021.jpg
and you know she had something to say or was lying about how she felt when she was her tightening her fist at this scene, made it rly sad 🙁 stupid yutta
https://randomc.net/image/Chuunibyou%20Demo%20Koi%20ga%20Shitai/Chuunibyou%20Demo%20Koi%20ga%20Shitai%20Ren%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2037.jpg
also why does Yutta look so good as a magical girl??? LAST BOSS!?!?!?!
https://24.media.tumblr.com/d33c88581e3664fb68b1fca3ecc220fe/tumblr_mztqefokUu1sj30eno1_500.gif
1st. I agree.
2nd. Indeed
3rd. There comes a time in every man’s life where he has to wear a magical girl costume and look hot in it
Is it just Fukuyama Jun’s cross dressing that’s so good? I’m reminded of Souta’s transformation to Kotori in Working!…
That was the most brilliant wake up kick out of bed I’ve seen. And everything else in the episode was just as good, this episode was too much — literacy failure, HNNNNG!
It has been said before now, and by those more articulate than I, and I thus paraphrase it as follows. “Oh boy the Missus and the ex-, welcome to everyman’s worst nightmare!” Pretty much summed this episode for me.
The uniform she’s wearing totally looks like the school uniform from Haruhi. 😛
Haruhi S3 confirmed??!?!?!? o.O
I’m 100% sure that Satone is actually going to the same school as them all. In the first episode during assembly I’m sure it’s her standing behind Nibutani. Also during this episode she is wearing the same skirt as the school uniform when Rikka spots her climbing down the rope. I guess the teacher didn’t realize because she was wearing a different outfit than the school uniform.
“too close”
yeh , jealous Rikka is cute!
also i get the feeling that the connection between Yuuta and Satone is deeper than what was explained? i get this feeling from the scene in the stairs: Yuuta apologizing and Satone griping her hands when she said it was ok… makes me wonder why he felt he had to apologize at all…and why she had to calm his fears that way (ofcourse it may be that she really didnt need a goodbye … but her body language seemed to indicate it was something different). NOT implying they HAVE to be romantic feeling.. but mebe first friends? only friends? atleast on Satone’s part (and Yuuta knew)… then again they dont have HAVE to be that way.. it doesnt meant it COULDNT be that way 😛
PS:
I can see it going two ways from here … comedy or triangle .. dunno which! im soo curious!
if they play it for comedic effect then .. lol gonna be fun! (since Satone could put some fire under the main couple)
if they play it as triangle.. then poor Satone.. but Rikka and Yuuta’s relationship will get stronger.
mmm i love comedy.. i love romances… in any way I win! (and the most likely scenario is that they mix both! double win!)
Check out the comment about a few. There is a mistake in the subs. Satomi transferred away without saying goodbye not Yuuta, so she was apologising to him not the other way around. That also makes sense as Yuuta did not change middle school and never transfered. He only went to a high school that was further away than most of his schoolmates.
This episode was pure unalderated chu2byou madness!
Yuuta and his dream. I was actualy relieved his body is acting the way it should be. His steadfast resolution to keep things pure on the other hand gives credit to his morals.
The Dark Flame Dragon (TM Rikka) T-shirt (I want one!) was already hilarious, but the mahou shoujo outfit, the sad fate of the Shinka’s phone, Kumin in another mahou shoujo uniform was a three-round rapid of knock-out humor.
The allusion to Angel Beats was just a beginning of the entrance of Sophia Ring SP Saturn VII aka Magical Devil Girl Sophia (aka Shichimiya Satone). Complete with magical wand! What followed was probably the most delusional fight so far with both chu2byou opponents going full magical with what I call High Energy Thaumaturgy.
As it happens, Shichimiya was once a friend to Yuuta, and the one to infect him with chu2byou.
And we all have a deja vu when Yuuta tries in vain to disassociate himself from the past.
Rikka teaching Kumin the rpes of magical girl’s business was golden skit in itself, too. But Shinka interjecting with tirade about the Spirits of the Good just made it better. And assorted chu2byous getting to take memos of that were just cherry on top.
And Yuuta getting to karate chop both Rikka and Satone in order to manage chaos creeping into his kitchen was just perfect. That and Kuzuha casually relaying the true nature of the “contract” (aka going out) to Satone, only for her to misunderstand completely. Rikka getting all blushing and envious… And then Satone declaring her support for Rikka. Shipper on deck, anyone? Not so fast, she then comes for the nose-nose “kiss” and blows up Rikka’s mind.
And leads eventually to Yuuta getting one with Rikka too.
@Takaii I think you need to know that someone has been pointing out certain mistake made by subber of conversation between Yuuta and Satone near the end.
http://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1vv579/spoilers_chuunibyou_demo_koi_ga_shitai_ren/cewbhij
you mean she left? …oh….oh..that makes the final scene in the stairs more significant.. since it is Yuuta who is asking why she left w/o saying goodbye … then again is likely that chuunibyou Yuuta felt that she was the only understanding him .. hence the asking..also would explain why she was unconfortable (griping her hands) when giving her explanation… also gives more sense to the explanation itself (since she said she rather not say “goobbye”)
on im leaning to the triangle scenario now.. since it seems that she leaving hurt Yuuta in the past.. wonder why were her reasons.. or her reactions to that.
I’ll go re-watch that scene when I get home. Thanks for the heads up.
But that would make the situation a bit different haha.
Supposedly one of the staff members of this season of chu2koi said that there wont be any love triangle shenanigans which leads me to wonder how they are going to use Satone’s presence to influence Rikka and Yuuta’s relationship. i could see one way they could do it, and i might be giving the staff on this series way too much credit but if they go this route, i will throw my hat off to the people working on this season.
Essentially, what if, by Yuuta reconnecting with Satone un-romantically, Rikka notices their budding friendship and starts to realize herself that her relationship with Yuuta is too much like that of a relationship with a platonic friend, in other words, like Yuuta and satone’s. By seeing how similar her relationship with Yuuta is to Satone’s, Rikka will endeavor to push the boundaries of their relationship and take it one step further.
I think an important aspect of being in love with your romantic partner is to acknowledge that your partner is also your best friend; I cant stress how important that is. But the best romantic partners walk that fine line between friends and lovers and right now Yuuta and Rikka arent quite there; they’re more like friends. The more Rikka starts to realize that Yuuta and her act too much like friends in the same way he does with Satone, the more likely she’ll start to fear being just his friend and as she cares for him too much to just want to be his friend, she’s going to end up becoming a more fitting romantic partner so as to not resign herself to that fate.
I think that would be a much more interesting, different, and compelling way to approach the romantic aspect of this series rather than resulting to love-triangle shenanigans (there are some times where its necessary from a story-telling standpoint but i dont think it would work well in this case). If the chu2koi staff actually takes this approach i mentioned i will legitimately be surprised and impressed by this season.
yeah and the anime staffs always tell the true about possible development of their production! they always do! they cant possible misguide the audience!
Imho it could be a triangle from Satone’s point of view (meaning is not “necessary” that “other people” learns about it). And more than 100% sure it wouldill be played for laugths at some point or other (actually it kind of already started”: the “too close” the “penguin kiss” and the “drooped chopsticks” come to mind)
“Imho it could be a triangle from Satone’s point of view (meaning is not “necessary” that “other people” learns about it).”
I agree with that as that might end up being the case, but i think idea of there being “no love triangle” implies that it wont become a plot mechanism that drives the characters to do “love-triangle things”. Satone having an internal love triangle that no one knows about wouldnt necessarily count as an actual love triangle. But yea you make a good point; for all we know the production staff could be trying to misguide the viewers. I wouldnt put it past them but id like to believe otherwise for now.
I sense a disturbance in the Force….
Clouded the future may have become….
NTR route they might go….
Additionally….
Has been born another trap is……
Approve of this, c2710 does
NTR? lol really? not a chance. this is a love comedy!
Rikka doesn “swing” that way ..and Yuuta is too dere for Rikka!
No one noticed the Rewrite Visual Novel reference is the same as Shizuru:(.
I’m probably just reading too much into that scene, but either it could be a sign that KyoAni is willing to collaborate again with Key Visual Arts on the next visual novel anime adaptation (which is awesome news if true)…
Or…KyoAni could just be trolling the fans who wanted said studio to animate Little Busters instead of J.C. Staff (in which case, I’ll be laughing my ass off)…
Or it’s just a simple, straightforward shout-out. Nothing more, nothing less.
Side note, what’s with all the Highschool DxD references? KyoAni productions tend to lean towards the family friendly side of things and it’s quite surprising that they’d choose to make so many references to something so…risque…
Are you sure you’re not mixing up general occult references with DxD?
Dragon living inside him being the source of his power? That’s not occult…
She wants the D, literally 🙂
It’s also not uncommon. High School DxD was hardly the first to use that concept. Dungeons and Dragons (the game) had the concept ages ago, and I strongly doubt it was the first either. It is very likely to have been a theme in several Asian myths, and possibly myths from other parts of the world as well.
In short, any perception of a connection to High School DxD is solely in your imagination, not the author’s, or the studio’s.
Dragon living inside you is the most basic of chuunibyou fantasies in Japan.
Hopefully Satone will continue being a support of sorts instead of a typical love-triangle third wheel, because I’d be interested to see where they’d be going with that. After all, the series has gone against expectations before – the first season never succumbed to harem antics despite having the protagonist surrounded by girls, and his relationship with the main girl was solidified before the show even ended. It wouldn’t surprise me if Satone was a character that defied cliché’s as well – the signs are good, anyway.
Gotta love Shinka too. The combination of her cynical side and being a total shipper at the same time is always amusing to watch, not to mention her slip-ups back into Chuunibyou mode (getting all serious over her own interpretations of magic from back in the day). Even Dekomori was taking notes, despite her insistence she’s fake Mori Summer. Which leads me to feel that Deko knows all too well Shinka is the real thing, and one of the main reasons she’s messing with her is to draw out that side of her.
And Yuuta really is a cool guy. Not only is he sporting that magical girl outfit like a boss, but I like how his more human sides shine through as well. He’s not just some generic protagonist guy with a few character quirks – instead, he clearly has a past, present and ideas for his future, he undergoes clear development throughout the show and he doesn’t always need to spell out how he feels about certain things as they become clear by his actions alone. Because that first minute certainly showed he wishes for a fully intimate relationship, but he’s understanding enough not to push it. Given anime’s bad track record with male protagonists, he really does kind of stands out because he feels so human.
If the rest of the show can keep this level, we’re probably looking at one of the best shows of the season, in my opinion.
If Satone is going to be a support, she’s going to show it in her like a hardcore chuunibyou. I’m intrigued to see how she’s going to pull it off.
Oh come on, they should have KISSED at the end, not another nose-kiss.
Don’t be a Nibutani, as attractive as that may be.
Jealous Rikka is the best Rikka >:3
Oh KyoAni, why are you so good at delivering? I mean adding a new character is awesome but you make them look like they were there since the beginning of the series! Keep it coming guys haha
Finally got to watch – a strong 11/10!
OK, we had pinky promise, and we’ve moved to touching noses. I have every reason to think that the first kiss between Yuuta and Rikka will start with touching noses, then ONE of them will hesitate, then go in for a quick kiss. The question is: Who will do it, and why??? Frankly, I think it will be Rikka because she’s willing to take that step in the relationship. It won’t come in desperation, but maybe after some other heartwarming incident. Well??? . . . .
Boy, that have to hurt a lot. I would not be surprised to see an actual evil aura on someone IRL after something like that.
Satone and Yuuta went to the same middle school as Yui and Ui from K-On!.
Look at that uniform in that minor flashback scene.
Satone’s reaction to finding out Yuuta and Rikka were dating was a pleasant surprise.