Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu – 08

「こっちも遊びじゃねえんだよ」 (Kotchi mo Asobi ja neen da yo)
“This Isn’t a Game”

I know I’ve been singing the praises of Mobseka for a while now, but I swear every week simply reinforces my love of this show. It’s undeniably dumb, it’s as junk food as you can get in anime, but damn does it know how to make the most of its material and keep the hits coming. Particularly when said hits involve the main man himself.

While Mobseka is ostensibly a comedy at heart, it has certainly proven willing to give some measure of consequence to various Leon-led shenanigans, and this week is case in point. Much as brought up before both here and in-show Leon really is a person unto himself: he has a goal in mind for himself related to his position and role, believes that nothing will affect it in any meaningful way, and in effect doubles down when the signs suggest otherwise. Olivia obviously is case in point, where her own fears and imposter syndrome cause her to doubt her presence when obviously Leon and Angelica do not believe anything of the sort. It’s a very nice touch to see Luxion so prescient of this, knowing that Leon is in fact hurting both himself and Olivia, but fine (whether from loyalty or in the vein of a parent teaching a child) letting Leon learn the consequences of doing it all himself – i.e. still being the mob when no one sees him as the mob anymore. Leon will eventually learn just how important he’s become to those he calls his friends (and potentially girlfriend(s)), but getting to that point will first entail some noticeable heart to heart.

Speaking of heart to heart, goddamn do I like the small touches being given to Mobseka’s antagonists and competition. The prince’s party for example are quietly becoming some interesting characters, as face value comedic relief gives way to some very forthright developments in terms of personal struggles and realizations of their own limitations. Make no mistake, the bishounen crew remain forever humorous and far too stupid for life, but I love how Greg acknowledges his lack of experience (begrudgingly admitting to Leon’s in the process) and how Brad is open about the challenges of being the rich & pretty boy; now that is balance! Couple it with the tribulations Angelica and Olivia are going through and what would otherwise be a bit of simplistic entertainment acquires a nice chunk of depth for added longevity.

All we have to see now is how the issue of Stephanie is dealt with by Leon, because one way or another some major introspection is coming, and you can bet the outcome won’t be anything Leon ever expected to happen.