「下着は防具. 守備面積は大きめに. さもなくば息子が死ぬぞ!」 (Shitagi wa Bougu. Shubi Menseki wa Ookime ni. Samonakuba Musuko ga Shinuzo!)
“Underwear is Armor. Make Sure It`s High in Defense. Otherwise, My Son Might Die!”

After our recent episode, the series takes us into uncharted territory as our main party heads off to Maman Village, where a village has been accosted by a fearsome dominatrix witch. But when said witch turns out to be Wise’s mom, our protagonists have to confront an otherwise tumultuous relationship between two estranged family members as Wise has to summon up the willingness to undertake the difficult task of confronting her mom without resentment in her heart.

While the show is relatively light-hearted, Wise and her relationship with her mother bring in some of the anime’s more serious themes they play around with. Mamako and Masato may have their differences, but at the end of the day, they are able to find some way to make amends. In this episode particularly, Masato notices that he keeps going through the pattern of snapping at his mother when he finds himself embarrassed by her or catches her lying to him, causing him to feel immensely guilty and responsible for any sadness his mother feels. Mamako might follow the same trend of being overly affectionate with her son, but similarly, she is quick to forgive Masato when he apologizes because she senses that there is part of him that appreciates the affection she gives him.

This could definitely not be said about Wise and her mother as she was raised knowing that her mother had been terrible to her. Having her real name taken from a host, Wise had already known that her mother had been obsessed with clubbing and often neglected her. She happily lived with her father up until recently where she used this anime’s mom-themed videogame to force Wise into taking part in a gamer rigged to force her to patch things up with her mom. Unfortunately, her mother doesn’t seem interested at all in the original purpose of the game and is currently using the game as a means of living out her wish-fulfillment fantasy of having a harem of pretty men at her beck and call. To her mother, Wise isn’t worth her time as she’s already carved out her niche breaking the game by using her OP abilities to negate Shirase’s administrator powers and building her harem up.

There were some very humorous scenes in this episode too such as the moment where Mamako tries to find new armor, calling attention to the fetishy battle armor that female warriors are forced to wear in RPGs, and the part when Masato bids farewell to his party as they say their final words before Wise dishes out painful and deadly retribution for catching Wise’s towel drop. But what ultimately takes the cake for being the most valuable scenes in the episode are ones that revolve around Wise trying to cope with having to seek out a new mom in protest against her biological mother. Although Mamako tries to offer the idea of Wise still wanting the side of her mother that might have some warmth to her, what Wise is ultimately searching for with the comfort she feels from Mamako is having that same level of security and warmth from her own mother. It might seem like smothering to Masato, but for Wise, it’s far from the cold lack of concern her mother shows for her life until it benefits her to come back into her life. It’ll be neat to see how they tackle this development given how it helps to add some earnestness and gravity to an otherwise cheerful anime about an alluring mother’s contact with another world. Where rather than worrying about concepts like dying for real or world domination, the true enemy is being able to forgive a parent for being cruel and neglectful.

18 Comments

  1. There are two different mothers. Mothers that cannot accept responsibility in raising a child while the other is willing to put aside their fun years for the love of their child.

    Koi
  2. https://randomc.net/image/Tsuujou%20Kougeki%20ga%20Zentai%20Kougeki%20de%20Nikai%20Kougeki%20no%20Okaasan%20wa%20Suki%20Desuka/Tsuujou%20Kougeki%20ga%20Zentai%20Kougeki%20de%20Nikai%20Kougeki%20no%20Okaasan%20wa%20Suki%20Desuka%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2007.jpg
    Ah jeez, that reminded me of Elizabeth Bathory’s “Brave” outfit in Fate/Grand Order… Or that one costume Kobato Hasegawa was forced to wear in Haganai NEXT

    https://randomc.net/image/Tsuujou%20Kougeki%20ga%20Zentai%20Kougeki%20de%20Nikai%20Kougeki%20no%20Okaasan%20wa%20Suki%20Desuka/Tsuujou%20Kougeki%20ga%20Zentai%20Kougeki%20de%20Nikai%20Kougeki%20no%20Okaasan%20wa%20Suki%20Desuka%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2008.jpg
    Mamako: “Mamako Oosuki, age 15!”
    Me: “You’re not Kikuko Inoue, but…” (*sighs*) “Oi, oi…”

    I know I’ve been waiting to see Wise’s backstory revealed, but I never thought it’d be this quick!

    Also loved how they subvert the “Pervert Revenge Mode” trope. But that “Not What It Looks Like” moment, though… XD (I sense the Rule 34 artists scrambling to make an H-doujin out of that… Bonus points if Mamako sees the whole “birds and the bees” scene and asks Masato and Wise to give her grandchildren, hehe.) Man, if not for Mamako, Wise would definitely be the best girl of the show. (Though I’d love to be proven wrong by Medhi once she appears.)

    And one last thing I want to confirm: Is Wise’s mom voiced by Shizuka Ishigami? (a.k.a.: Food Wars‘ Ikumi Mito, Shimoneta‘s Ayame Kajo, and Nande Koko ni Sensei ga!?‘s Hikari Hazakura, to name a few.)

    P.S.: Sounds like Wise’s mom is dangerously close to Precia Testarossa (Lyrical Nanoha) levels of parental abuse.

    Incognito
    1. From what’s in the credits, she is not the seiyuu.

      From the credits, it looks like the seiyuu for the Empress (夜の女帝) is Yuzuki Ryouka (柚木涼香). Some of her roles include Oriana Thompson from Index, Kiryuuin Satsuki from Kill la Kill, Stella from Haganai, and Katsuragi’s mom in Kami nomi.

      Mockman
      1. Thanks!

        Ryouka Yuzuki, eh? She’s definitely good at voicing sultry older women… Which will be ironic once the big secret about Wise’s mom is revealed.

        I sense Mamako will act as a (reluctant) warrior therapist for the other moms that have issues with their children.

        Incognito
      2. My pleasure. Yeah, and she brings a certain playfulness to many of her roles as well. And despite anime having many at least occasionally awful mothers, e.g. Tokoyogi Aya from Strike the Blood, the act of naming her daughter after a male host’s stage name may have taken the cake.

        Mamako might just end up doing that, but she obviously needs intervention herself (else why join the game?) Will she have to struggle to find what she’s missing on her own? I hope the show finds a way to handle this well.

        Mockman
  3. yeah personally i’m not so caught by the feeling of “they stay your parents”

    still the part of Wise was really well done and will try the next episode to see how they handle it 😛

    Teutates
  4. Chris hall
  5. HalfDemonInuyasha
  6. https://randomc.net/image/Tsuujou%20Kougeki%20ga%20Zentai%20Kougeki%20de%20Nikai%20Kougeki%20no%20Okaasan%20wa%20Suki%20Desuka/Tsuujou%20Kougeki%20ga%20Zentai%20Kougeki%20de%20Nikai%20Kougeki%20no%20Okaasan%20wa%20Suki%20Desuka%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2015.jpg
    I hope this anime gets into Isekai Quadret. Kazuma would complain in how lucky Masato is compared to how Kazuma is stuck with a “useless” goddess. I doubt Masato wants to switch places.
    https://randomc.net/image/Tsuujou%20Kougeki%20ga%20Zentai%20Kougeki%20de%20Nikai%20Kougeki%20no%20Okaasan%20wa%20Suki%20Desuka/Tsuujou%20Kougeki%20ga%20Zentai%20Kougeki%20de%20Nikai%20Kougeki%20no%20Okaasan%20wa%20Suki%20Desuka%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2035.jpg
    Yeah, I understand why our sage wanted to switch mothers. IF anything, I can understand her desire to forever trap her own mother, in the game world, while she returns to the real world.

    Greed
  7. Easier to watch than the last one, where it looks
    like they were trying too hard with the ecchi.

    Given the state of Wise’s mom, I’m curious to see
    how this is going to get resolved… Still a fun,
    if not mildly predictable Isekai…

    mac65
  8. theirs
  9. suddenly serious…
    come on between fanservice and jokes I was all set up for easygoing cmedy and now we have true demon of a mother as enemy?
    Shirase dying in every episode (and getting revived by Masato’s party) might become another running gag…
    Bonus waifu points for Wise when she averts the “accidental pervert being blasted to kingdom come” trope… Even Shirase was expecting that and Wise acts surprisingly in another way

    ewok40k

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