First Impressions / Hataraku Maou-sama!

「勇者、己の信念を貫く」 (Yūsha, Onore no Shinnen wo Tsuranuku)
“The Hero Keeps Her Faith”

Is no one going to talk about how Maou sets off to save the day with only Dullahan and a broom?

I think this is probably Hataraku’s most serious episode to date, though even that won’t stop it from being witty and fun whenever it sees fit. Though we have quite a bit of grim reflection on the part of Suzuno, there are still plenty of comedic moments to puncture the dour mood she’s brought with her. Normally these kinds of seemingly random interjections of comedy would take away from the seriousness of an episode like this, but as usual this series is damn near flawless in execution. We know stuff is going down, and we know it’s business time, but the silly faces and occasional moans of agony (as contributed by Ashiya, especially when contemplating the cost of an ambulance) never make us stop taking all of that seriously. What it does do is add relief from all that tension; things never feel forced or otherwise overdramatic without the express intent of the show to do so.

Still, to say that this is the funniest episode in the series would be rather off-base as well. As we approach the finale (only two episodes left already?! Please, sweet Goddess, let those Blu-Rays sell and bless us with a second cour!) it’s clear that the cards are lining up for another epic battle between our protagonists and the ever-sinister Church. Suzuno spends a great deal in the spotlight, coming to terms with her position as an Inquisitor (which is more or less Ente Isla codename for assassin) unsatisfied with the rampant corruption and ideals of the Church. Though she wants to do good, she notes that it was Emilia who really ended up helping people, not grunts like her who carried out orders for the sake of a greedy regime. Even so, she can’t simply abandon her job because for her it’s a betrayal to humanity. Though Emi and Chi are willing to vouch for Sadao’s newfound heart, Suzuno wants to charge Maou with the crimes of his past. Her thinking is not so different from Emi’s before she came to understand the human, part-timer Maou, but she’s more conflicted about it because of the blood already on her hands. Whereas Emilia has only ever fought demons, Suzuno has killed in the shadows, and only on the orders of her superiors.

It’s no wonder then that she’s loathe to give up her job even though she has become conflicted thanks to Chiho and Emilia, and when James (I will never call him by any other name) shows up and reveals himself to be an angel at last, she seems to take his side on the matter. Emi seemingly defeated, it looks like it will be up to Maou to stop him and Orba, who’s finally awoken in the hospital at last.

 

Preview

91 Comments

  4. Kinda like how Chiho said that Suzuno did not know about Maou when he was the Dark Lord. Given the way the Church and the Knight’s Alliance have acted, I won’t be surprised if Maou was actually in a way, forced to become who he became in Ente Isla. It would be a rather interesting twist.

    Euzio
    Reply

    1. I agree it’s almost as if the show was trying to tell us that there was something more profound to Maou’s reign of terror in Ente Isla beyond world conquest.

      sonicsenryaku
      Reply

      1. I bet the church and Knight tried to conquer Central continent and kill Maou’s parent and he is so pissed and lunched world domination.
        The central continent always end up in trouble anyway

        pokpok
        Reply

    2. It was probably just the usual deal of humans find other type of life form and proceed to attack said life form(s) simply because they’re different and deemed a threat. This leads to the other side defending themselves even though they weren’t looking to pick a fight and henceforth become the enemy of mankind.

      Shame on us all for being such savages. 😛

      Kuntzy
      Reply

    1. No, I still remember the time at his “best” moment James thought he was born as a “Moltres” and had the most “amazing” costume ever.

      On the sad note is that this anime is likely to end next week. I loved this anime and I can’t beleive it was going to end. Interestingly, Maou is going to rescue the hero.This is the most epic moment where the Hero, in her most dire need, ends up being saved by the demon lord himself. That plot truly deserves praise.

      As for Chiho-chan, I am wondering if she will remember Maou, since her memories are likely gone? I don’t know if that may be a good thing, since Maou and Emi could date without guilt.

      And the Landlady, will she come to the rescue as well? I will be amused if the “James” gets attacked by another Japanese part time worker, other than Maou, again.

      L002
      Reply

  7. While it looks like we might be having a Maou vs Suzuno moment soon,
    does anyone get the feeling that there could be a
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Techim
    Reply

      1. Nice of you to post the HIMYM spoiler which I could recognise on first glance,
        but unlike most people, I actually don’t mind spoilers.
        Nah, I think the umbrella scene you meant, that’s related to Hataraku would be this one.
        Show Spoiler ▼

        Its a scene at the end of LN Vol.1, which should have been directly after the events of Ep. 5, but some people have been saying it would still be a good appearance if it appeared as the last scene for Ep.13.

        Techim
        Reply

      2. I’m really hoping that scene could happen, though. If it didn’t happen, it will only cement my suspicion that the anime staff’s just pushing the Maou/Chiho pairing a little too hard at the expense of the source material.

        lalunafelis
        Reply

  9. satan & company got hawaii box gift to handle to festival works while suzuno giving having wonder since her past doing church’s dirty work from poison drink making to giving the big hammer attack.

    then after satan, emi, chiho, satan’s sidekick, suzuno, & neet fix boxes, foods, etc give satan go work til suzuno going like reason why kill satan give chiho going all defense on satan even emi agree with chiho.

    yet emi & chiho got jumped with emi got attack by sfc guy who really an angel with emi mention fallen on him with wanting emi sword & suzuno being conflict with her probs knockout chiho.

    & neet called satan telling that sfc guy name is not exist & tracker put on emi moving too fast indeed something wrong with bald guy is awake.

    b.i.t.w.
    Reply

    1. b.i.t.w., most people who choose to read an episode review, would most likely have already seen the related episode.
      Sure, an episode summary may be useful for some, but not if its full of bad grammar.
      And that seems quite consistent across all your summaries that I have seen on several episode reviews.

      Techim
      Reply

      1. I’ve been in Ashiya’s shoes before. I totally would have reacted in the same way. Thanks to literally 10 mins of seeing a doctor and being told there was nothing he could do about my kidney stones, I’m now in debt and my credit is ruined. What a beautiful start to my young adult life 🙂

        Chimp
        Reply

      2. I had a motorcycle crash before with a riding buddy literally 15 minutes away from home. I called the ambulance for him (since he needed it), and cleaned up the streets of the bike pieces from both mine and his.

        Ambulance came, and recommended I come with them. I was pretty fine, and my motorcycle could do the ride back home no problems. But since I was 19 at the time, and didn’t know better, I caved to their pressure when they got in my face and pulled the “Sir, are you refusing medical attention??!” line on me. Figured they’d know better since they were professionals after all. Woops.

        Had a 5 minute ambulance ride, Spent 10 minutes on a bed, got a regular run of the mill bandage, and was shipped out after.
        They charged 24,000$ to my insurance. If I didn’t have health care, I’d be SoL at 19 years old. Oh, and I had to pay for towing too.

        Moral of the story – never ever go to a hospital unless you’re at death’s door. >_>

        Geoff
        Reply

  14. I don’t want to wait another week, I want the action and I want it now! This episode was done beautifully in a way that couldn’t tell you what was going to really happen in the end, Emilia defeated? Chiho lost her memory? (probably), Orba is in the hospital with Alsiel, and Maou rushing with a broom to save the day? There’s too much left for me as a viewer that are making me so anxious!

    Though, the big question remains, who is the villian? The Church or Satan? We can’t overrule that Satan did actually have many people killed, humans, destroyed lands, etc, but now we know the Church was actually scheming. Why did James want the Better Half? (the name of her sword), why did he want to take it back, and why did he cringe when he couldn’t. Chi-chan said “he must have had some hugely important reason for doing so”, did Satan know what the Church was scheming and attempted to stop it? That would hard to believe, this is just food for thought.

    Thanks for your review.

    Cheers, M.

    Mi-Chan
    Reply

      1. I don’t think so. I think we will be getting a bit of charachter redemption (is that how you say it?) on his side.
        After being continiously flagged as a good for nothing hikikomori, I would like for him to become a more interesting charachter.

        Shugima
        Reply

      2. While it could be a scene of Lucifer rejoining Orba, why not a different perspective?
        Maybe it would be a flashback to how they eventually ended up working together at the same time.
        I’m guessing this kind of scenario, since I’m kind of interested to what the Church members said to Suzuno to get her on their side (aka why did she become an assassin), & next episode kind of hints at it. In a way.

        Techim
        Reply

    2. I think we should look at Maou as a king of a race, or a country not the “dark lord” that we see in old RPG games, and so far the I haven’t seen the author defined ‘black’ or ‘white’ side he only show us gray world,
      various kingdom of humans and various factions of church will have their reason and stand,
      the angels will too have their reason and belief, so is emi and so is maou and demons, heck even all demons are not in the same side.
      And It should be obvious Maou is still trying to finish what he started, but this time without bloodshed, which is probably his reason for staying on earth and studying humans.

      Reader
      Reply

    3. It’s good to know that most people that post here like you, know that while he still has to own up to his sins in the past, have enough perspective to not talk about Maou like they’re the jury from the effing Nurenberg Trials and he is the WW2 criminal that they’re so eager to put to the noose.

      lalunafelis
      Reply

  15. Though I have a feeling that Maou won’t pick any of the girls by the end of this series, we aren’t seeing any development from Emilia regarding her feelings towards Maou. Will she simply be his friend in the end or are we going to have rivals for Maou’s heart? This series doesn’t let up, and there is never a dull moment. The pacing this show has is truly magnificent! This is definitely one of my favorite shows of the season. This might not happen by I secretly boarding the Maou x Suzuno train. I’m not usually the loli guy, but Suzuno is super darn cute.

    dytianquin
    Reply

  16. Suzuno atoning for her first kill by killing more and more people judged as guilty, which can only be justified by killing more people who are deemed to be evil.

    I came into this show expecting comedy, not a grim throwback to Kiritsugu in F/Z.
    I’m still enjoying it though, but as with Valvrave and Gargantia, this week has really taken a dark turn.

    Giorno Giovanna
    Reply

    2. Except that Suzuno isn’t like Kiritsugu. She’s simply indoctrinated in the Church’s teachings. One fight with Maou Sadao is all she needs to understand that what she’s currently doing is stupid. HELL YEAH FOR THE DEMON LORD!!

      Londo
      Reply

  17. Nope, Maou won’t pick any of them just yet. They still have several books in the LN to go. Show Spoiler ▼

    Much as most people only see the comedy, I am actually amazed at how well this show portrays the concept of moral ambiguity, and how it plays up the audience’s sense of perspective(or lack of it). I see Suzuno ragged on for her murderous zealotry and seeing things in black-and-white, nevermind if like Emi, she was raised her entire life in doing whatever was told of her and have no sense of purpose beyond that. There are those who still rag on Maou’s “lax/casual” attitude towards his misdeeds (in his confrontation with Emi in episode 4), never mind that he’s a demon that only recently gained a human heart and is new to the concept of “guilt from human conscience” that he felt then, so naturally he doesn’t know how to go about it and says the(admittedly) wrong things. Chiho, moe poster girl she may be, actually brought home an important point: does anybody actually know what really happened in the human vs demon conflict beyond what was told to them by their superiors? Or was Maou himself really as evil as he was made them out to be? I’ll say this again: if you want to test someone’s sense of perspective, have them watch this show.

    lalunafelis
    Reply

    1. And I forgot to add: This moral ambiguity is far more effective than any heavy-handed, angst ridden anime. Simply because I’m not being beaten over the head with it and the “this is a crappy world and humans are evil” crap that usually comes along with it like*coughanythingwrittenbytheUrobutchercough*

      lalunafelis
      Reply

      2. If they did a season 2, it would be a miracle if it covered 3-5. Volume 3 explains an epic ton of crap & it could easily take a half cour with no fillers. But 3-5 is mostly one whole arc so it would be seriously awkward for it to end at 4.

        Megas
        Reply

      4. 25 episodes is still nowhere near enough if they keep this pacing, completely the opposite from another nameless “maou” show floating out there. This is one of the most complete adaptations I’ve seen in a long time. 18-20 episodes for 3-5 would work. I’ll think about 6-8 later. . .

        Megas
        Reply

  20. In the manga series Magico the protagonist Shion only needed his broom to save the day so give Maou some credit! For all we know that broom could be the ultimate triumph card!.

    haseo0408
    Reply

  21. I’m wondering if mao was ever the “evil” one.

    even though we only saw a small part of his life and way of thinking.

    the church and the angels and everyone around them are far worst then he ever did.

    Teutates
    Reply

    1. Give how evil and corrupt the human institutions are (Church, Knights, and Angels), I’m beginning to think that they started the fight with the demons and maybe even attempted to exterminate them without cause. Maou possibly looked on the humans in the same way that Emelia looked on the demons.

      Bear
      Reply

  22. This week is so exciting! I love it.

    I can’t help but think that Suzuno is a little envious of Yusa/Emelia. Suzuno is an assassin whose deeds only glorifies the church and all the corrupt men within it, while the Hero fights for herself and is able to retain all the glory. Since they have essentially fought for the same side, Suzuno must think Emelia’s extended policy as dumping her duties onto her. She’s unable to accept that there can be a solution where everyone is happy in the end, especially since she’s been told to send numerous “heretics” to their deaths. She doesn’t have the same luxury as Emelia when it comes to extending Maou’s life and deciding whether or not he deserves to live or die, she’s a puppet of the church and I think she’s frustrated with this fact. I don’t think Suzuno is going to drop her convictions so easily, because doing so would mean that everyone in the past that she’s murdered also had a chance to redeem themselves, a chance that she would have to admit she’s robbed if she were to not do anything about Maou.

    I wonder how she is going to accept the evil and malignant dictator’s change of heart, or if there is some sort of explanation (that seems to be gearing towards Maou-sama not being an evil dictator by choice) that will be revealed in the next episode. Orba’s revival will certainly be a nice curve ball, but I don’t think Lucifer will defect as he should be aware of how easily he was beaten by Maou-sama. Can’t wait for the other blog posts as well as the episodes for next week!

    bolton
    Reply

  23. Noticed that the refrigerator changed from a green three door to a five door brown (expensive looking) one. This happens about 7 minutes – just when Urushihara goes to pick up the Suzuno’s clogs at the door. It was unchanged after the arrival of Miki-T’s items prior to the opening sequence.

    Pedant
    Reply

  24. Poor Urushihara always getting the short end of the stick by the girls. How low has this fallen angel fallen indeed ever since beginning his NEET life.

    He’s definitely one of Shimono Hiro’s best tsukkomi roles so far, gotta love the part when he just went batshit crazy after being told to drink water from his leftover takeaway rice bowls as they’ve ran out of cups. LMAO

    Animation became a bit jarring mid-way, especially during Suzuno and Chiho’s argument. Not bad for a new studio like White Fox to actually last this far in animation quality (not to mention they were late with the OP and ED animation), other new studios would see their quality drop after 2-3 episodes.

    Anonymous
    Reply

  25. Thats right, drama. What is right? what is wrong? Are the Light the true Darkness? Is the Darkness the true Light?

    So, until now the Dark Lord was painted to much Angel like. He is Dark Lord. Perhaps his Experience in a Human Body changed him, to understand the Humans or understand right and wrong?

    But the easy “dark” are the Pure storyline, was not real. This is more what it should be.

    Germanguy
    Reply

  26. In Ente Isla, names like Better Half, Sacred Air, Evil Eye of the Fallen may all sound like badass names, but bring that to Japan with their grandiose costumes (or in “James’s” case, a ridiculously scanty costume) to boot, they’ll all get treated as cosplaying chuunibyous.

    Anonymous
    Reply

  29. I have a feeling Suzuno will hold Chiho hostage against Mao next episode. He will offer his life in trade, which will work to convince Suzuno that he is sincere without an ulterior master plan for his seemingly good intentions.

    Monks
    Reply

  33. Suzono’s back story was really well done and made her motivations for killing Maou-sama very believable. If she were not to carry out her mission of killing him, then what would the point of all those deaths by her hands have been for? I can see that she really may not want to kill the demon lord, and was enjoying her time on Earth, but it seems as if its too late for her. Also, kudos to Chi-chan for bringing up a very valid point. No one knew what Maou-sama was like as a demon lord on Ente Isle; neither the characters in the series, nor us as viewers. We’ve been hearing of his nefarious deeds from the point of views of the human characters of Ente Isle, but never from his cohorts. For some reason I have a feeling that the demons are going to be a lot like those in Maou Mayou Yuusha (or however the hell its spelled) where the they are not necessarily evil.

    Smiledie
    Reply

  34. I’m so hoping Maou will really go baddass wicked in his true akuma form. Like, severely pissed off for the hurt and damage done to Chiho and Emi. It was massively epic when the background music rose and he whipped oba and lucifer’s sorry forms, and i’m really wishing it’ll happen on a bigger scale, with full magic to Maou this time – except that he’s helping the girls, and Suzuno becomes yet another Maou-convert. Yes, Maou gets a little back story this time – we get ideas that maybe he wasn’t so bad after all, and lo and behold, the season is ending. Hnnngh (in a different way).

    Teabie
    Reply

  35. It’s been alluded to before this, but we’re seeing Maou strictly through the eyes of the ‘victors’, and how many old WWII posters (and even much more recently, actually) and political cartoons that are out there literally ‘demonizing’ their enemy (both sides) with pictures illustrating just how awful the that enemy is and how valiant the ‘good guys’ are. I’m inclined to feel that this is the type of propaganda used here as a literal interpretation of that idea. Most of the population gets no other view of the conflicts and has little else to believe. No doubt there was conflict, no doubt there was death and destruction, but I’m really beginning to wonder about the actual truth of the conflict. Refusal of the demons to be ‘saved’ as an excuse for war? The ‘invasion’ of human territory could well have been true, or only true in that the demon population was spread throughout the human population, and if the demons rejected the Church’s demand to convert, they were driven out like the Church’s attack on the Cathars in 13th-14th century Europe. In fact, the Wikipedia article states: “The Cathars were a direct challenge to the Catholic Church, renouncing Catholic practices…” This lead to a Crusade to destroy the Cathars as heretics and enemies of the Church. The depiction of the Church and the role of Suzono in dealing with unbelievers is making this whole setup seriously suspect (as I’m sure it is supposed to). I believe it will be a convenient tool (but a stretch) for the writers to have James as the person who offed Emi’s dad, and that would seal the deal for her conversion to Maou’s side. Anyway, just sayin’…

    SmithCB
    Reply

    1. Good analogy with the medieval history, although we mustn’t forget that Maou himself still has a lot to answer for. Sure he’s trying to make himself a better person in this world, and we don’t know who started the war(not telling exactly who since that will be another spoiler) but he did order the invasion of the human realm and caused untold carnage and suffering, as shown in the first sequence. We can’t sugarcoat that fact that he’s basically a fugitive war criminal just because the other side turns out to be no different as well. I do agree with this assertion, although some of those who hold this assertion also forget or outright throw out of the window(to my frustration) the fact that he WAS a demon that just recently turned human, so he knows no different and only realized the “right” things from “wrong” only now. But like them, I also want to see Maou at least acknowledge the wrongs that he did on Ente Isla, although I won’t be RAEGing like them if he didn’t. Character development doesn’t happen overnight or in 13 episodes of a 9-volume LN.

      lalunafelis
      Reply

  37. Why would Suzono take Chiho with her to lure the Devil King? She is no better than them if she did that. I was never a big fan of Chiho. I dont know why she was created in the first place, its not like she is competition for romance and i dont get excited when i see her.

    yahiko03
    Reply

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