Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to – 09

「ファ美肉おじさんと美少女」 (Fabiniku Ojisan to Bishoujo)
“A Guy Who Reincarnated as a Fantasy Knockout and a Beautiful Girl”

Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to’s ninth episode is one of its funniest as Tachibana and Jinguji’s dealings with the kingdom go up in smoke with one mishap after another plaguing their visit. But as the two start to reflect on why they feel the way they do about each other, they will have to figure out what they want from each other before a rebellion causes the nation to collapse.

THE BALLAD OF THE GYARU

This had to be one of the funnier episodes with all of the gags that came from the kingdom’s devotion to the Goddess of Beauty. I was cracking up when the half-naked King adapted the Goddess’ prophecy into a lyre ballad, causing the poor guy to sing the Goddess’ gyaru slang in a dignified, passionate tone. I also couldn’t help but sympathize with Mouria, the princess’ plucky yet put-upon assistant looking for her big break within the kingdom.

In fact, many of this episode’s jokes also come from how absurd the kingdom is with its traditions being tied towards the Goddess’ influence. The continent they live on just so happens to be shaped like a giant woman and even the nobles are as stripped down as the devout worshippers, making the whole introductory scene a hilarious observation on how far-reaching the Goddess’ teachings are when merging church and state means being nearly nude and placing high value in her influence.

MY YGRAINE

But the main star of this episode is Ygraine, the first princess of the kingdom who happens to be nearly identical to Tachibana’s dream woman. Tachibana was already bound to cling to her with both his outgoing personality and his empathy for the struggling youth, but when Ygraine leans into her nicer side, she automatically understands what Tachibana was trying to get out of Jinguji.

The comical twist of fate, however, winds up being that Ygraine isn’t as sweet as she presents herself to Tachibana. Her mean streak is quite funny as she’s one of the few people out there who could go toe-to-toe against Jinguji’s ire with her cutting wit. She even digs at him hard enough to have him start getting competitive with her.

On the flip side, it also sparks a rivalry that will turn out to be the catalyst behind Ygraine’s rebellion. With both Jinguji and her father being quick to treat Ygraine like a child, she resorts to venting her anger by whipping out a Happiness Bunny and giving it a walloping.

Her angry sadistic side makes it easy to manipulate Tachibana into joining her with how hard he’s been simping for her, but it also explains why she was at her boiling point when the King forbids her to travel with the heroes on the grounds of her being too immature and unable to handle herself. On top of this, losing her mother at such a young age gave her nothing but resentment boiling over that Tachibana empathizes with too much to level with her and tells her to confront her dad in a healthier way than outright rebellion.

I JUST WANT TO BE YOUR FAVORITE

At the end of the day, this episode’s primary focus is how each of the main characters of this arc is chasing validation from otherwise self-centered people. Even though Tachibana talks and thinks of Ygraine as if he’s still in his guy body, Ygraine is able to immediately understand why Tachibana is frustrated with Jinguji. Tachibana really honed in on Ygraine being the first person he’s talked to in this fantasy world that gives him the same kind of feeling he’d get from a date back at home and doesn’t like the attention he gets from other guys.

At the same time, he is also immature and desperate to make Jinguji fold since he hasn’t praised him at all since they started, thus manifesting a complex around the fact that Jinguji has yet to notice or praise him for anything since they got there. With Tachibana’s mind already made up about how Jinguji revels in sabotaging those who stand against him, Tachibana had already considered him to regrettably be a lost cause for anyone to look up to for any kind of sympathy. At this point, Tachibana can only silently yearn to be acknowledged as Jinguji’s equal while he constantly pushes Tachibana away.

What stings Jinguji, however, is that there is truth to a lot of Tachibana’s anger. Tachibana might not empathize with Jinguji’s plight of being quickly turned on by his best friend, but he regularly fails to communicate any kind of agreement between the two beyond Jinguji being mad at Tachibana for turning him on.

This comes out in full force when Jinguji becomes so lovestruck with Tachibana that he fantasizes about sharing an entire life together while Tachibana is stuck in his girl body. He freaks out so much that he withdraws for the entire episode and barely acknowledges Tachibana until he gets roped into Ygraine’s rebellion. In fact, he likely took as much delight in tearing into Ygraine as he did when he ruined Tachibana’s dating chances in the real world. He’s so obsessed with taking a dig at Ygraine that he doesn’t realize what Tachibana and Ygraine are going through until it’s too late.

While Jinguji’s fears of Tachibana drunkenly waltzing into danger like last time seem understandable, he drives a deep enough wedge between them with his bitter approach towards Tachibana that his fear of being in love with his best friend causes him to lash out more often. Even Shen wants the two to make up in spite of his own romantic interest in Jinguji, but whether Jinguji is able to figure out that Tachibana just wants praise or if he’ll slip will hopefully be answered next time around.