Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to – 08

「ファ美肉おじさんと選択」 (Fabiniku Ojisan to Sentaku)
“A Guy Who Reincarnated as a Fantasy Knockout and a Choice”

Episode 08 of Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to follows up Tilolilo’s ascension to godhood with our main duo making their way to the Goddess of Love’s temple. However, they keep on making the same mistake of not realizing they are in quite a loopy world where any situation can go south at the drop of a hat.

THE EASY WAY OR THE HARD WAY

I was conflicted with the first part of the episode because it’s hard to tell whether Shen is fun or insulting to have around. He tends to align with the same stereotypes that are thrown at disrespectful depictions of gay-leaning side characters such as being predatorial towards Jinguji and misogynistic towards Tachibana. It’s not out of place for a lot of comedy anime to throw in gay characters created for the express purpose of weirding out the protagonists.

At the same time, he’s also a cleverly made character in his own rite. He doesn’t look offensively unappealing, he shows us that Tachibana’s charm isn’t foolproof towards men that prefer men, and many of the episode’s funniest moments are from both his interest in Jinguji and his competitive streak with Tachibana.

On top of this, he bears more significance in the story by actually helping Jinguji and Tachibana relieve their maladies while possibly being roped into having to collect a bounty on the two people he had just gotten cozy with. Shen comes off as more nuanced than the jokes centered around him suggest, and it follows the trend the show has with characters like Tilolilo and Schwartz where they get dog-piled on, but they’re still designed to have far more to their characters than just the gags.

It’s similar to the sentiment I had towards Yumeshima from Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate. That character was entirely disrespectful, but he was also very adorable and Ogata Megumi’s performance really resonated with me during a time when I was exploring my orientation more. Apologies to the KoiChoco fanbase and people who just woke up from the year 2012, but Yumeshima was better than all them girls.

HOLY SCHNIKES

Thankfully, there’s something for everyone in this episode with the Sister’s appearance in this episode. How does this show not expect me to wolf whistle and transform into a primitive dog when you introduce a voluptuous okaa-san type who wears a skimpy bathing suit? Minamoto no Raikou is my main Fate waifu, so the scene where she introduces them to the Goddess’ Pool Party Temple was very important for me this time around.

There were also some funny gags with the Temple considering that Jinguji’s convictions about the Goddess of Love’s tacky taste ended up being correct. Seeing their ideas of visiting a dignified religious institution crumble with every reveal was hilarious as the two are horrified that their religious garb winds up being skimpy swimsuits. I’m curious what role the Princess will have in the next episode, but this episode was a nice preamble towards finding out what kind of expectations will be placed on Jinguji and Tachibana.