Dokyuu Hentai HxEros – 02

「結成, エグゼロス」 (Kessei, HxEros)
“HxEros Forms”

This week’s episode of Dokyuu Hentai HxEros helps to center the focus of the series around the character’s motivations for hunting down the libido-sapping kiseichuu. As Retto tries to get Hoshino on-board with joining the HxEros team though, she is tasked to sort through her own feelings, find the parts of her that would be motivated to protect those around her, and figure out whether she can let the past go to fight kiseichuu.

Rather than trying to look for a deeper meaning in the narrative’s themes, this episode does a better job of examining Hoshino herself. While she does have a softer side that wants to help those around her, the walls she put around herself end up being strong enough to go on the offensive when she notices something that defies her expectations.

Her reputation as “the Iron Maiden” hadn’t bothered her beforehand until this episode gave her conscience some serious questions to consider. She thought nothing of striking down a boy hard when she confessed to him, but her actions ended up giving her instant regret when he would later cry to a kiseichuu about how deeply hurt he was at how cruel she was to him.

It’s surprising to say but I applaud the show for trying to give Hoshino enough depth to be self-reflective. It might be to give her the incentive to join the group aside from sharing Retto’s wish to prevent other relationships from being destroyed. But at the same time, it is nice to see that the show has enough respect for her as a character to give her moments where she calls into question how she acts around others and what she can do to show others that she’s willing to help out or make amends for her rough demeanor.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to cover Episode 02, but one of the main motivating factors was how funny the show’s sense of humor turned out to be. Because the kiseichuu are absurd sentai antagonists, their screen time creates a campy atmosphere for the show. While the last episode had the idol concert that was quickly derailed by brainwashing, Episode 02 had a funnier scenario where a kiseichuu showed up solely to ruin a girl’s day by making her skirt longer when she finds them far too stuffy to be comfortable in. The episode ends on a hilarious note too when Hoshino accidentally kills a massive kiseichuu roaming around the city when she punches a beam into the sky to vent about disliking her new living quarters at the HxEros dorm.

What’s nice about Dokyuu Hentai HxEros is how it’s an easy show to write about with how surprising that an ecchi show can balance being eccentric and having hints of a message beyond fanservice. It’s a show where you can totally tune out and that’s just fine, but also gives you enough kernels of meaning to take much more from it than just being mindless entertainment. Not sure if I’ll keep up with it weekly or just give this a final retrospective later on, but it should be a fun show to follow at the very least.