Jahy-sama wa Kujikenai! – 14

「魔法少女は戦わない！」 (Mahou Shoujo wa Tatakawanai)
“The Magical Girl Will Not Fight!”

Jahy-sama wa Kujikenai!’s 14th episode ends the feud between Jahy and Kyouko on a satisfying note as their impressive fight concludes with the two of them as newfound friends. But in a surprising twist, the Dark Lord’s emergence puts their friendship to the test as they come to learn that the unscrupulous Demon Lord would rather stay with the magical girl who destroyed her home.

LET BYGONES BE BYGONES

While it was neat that they managed to have both Jahy and Kyouko be excellent at fighting, it was the first main instance we’ve had where Jahy openly admits to her reliance on close friends since she’s gotten here. As she talks down to Kyouko for wallowing in the loneliness and martyrdom she chose to take on, Jahy tries to relate her personal experience on earth to tell her that she shouldn’t have to shut herself off from others; not when making valuable friends has allowed her to subsist and persist long enough to gather enough mana crystals for her to face Kyouko, head-on.

Her bid to have Kyouko rely on others for a change instead of suffering alone ends up biting her on the butt, however, when she invites her into her life as a friend in exchange for her supply of mana crystals. While Kyouko’s nobility and selflessness gave her full access to magical girl powers, her devotion to the higher being that demanded her to continue being selfless is quickly chucked away in favor of an opportunity at having an actual friend.

It’s pretty cute to see how bubbly Kyouko is from making a friend, but at the same time, it is bittersweet. Once Kyouko accepts that it doesn’t make sense for her to suffer if it causes Jahy to suffer too, she ends up quickly devoted to Jahy and throws away every aspect of her life that doesn’t revolve around her new friend and their goal of revitalizing the Dark Realm.

It also means that Jahy will continue seeing Kyouko as a cumbersome nuisance as she dances around appeasing her new friend so that she doesn’t feel slighted or lied to about having a single friend. At the same time, even the most minuscule positive gesture is seen by Kyouko as yet another piece of evidence that her friend relies on her and loves the work she does for her.

GOOD LORD!

Unfortunately for Jahy, she is also trapped in a cycle of servitude where she looks up to the newly resurfaced Dark Lord, who has spent her time on earth hiding in Kyouko’s crystal stockpile and stealing her food. Jahy is so used to just accepting that people blindly praise her and can only shrug off the cringier parts of their worship. But the same can’t be said for Jahy herself as she is unable to see how she ends up looking foolish by doing the same thing for the ravenous, slovenly, and barely considerate Dark Lord.

It’s hilarious to see how the shoe is on the other foot where Kyouko gets offended that Jahy can just happily treat a small piece of octopus from the Dark Lord as a generous display from an infallible person. The story of Jahy-sama has built such as strong emphasis on how everyone obsessively looks up to a mentor figure who they don’t realize is flawed, so seeing Jahy fall into this same trap with the Dark Lord serves to show how hard it is to break out from that kind of mindset.

It might feel silly to see Druj idolize Jahy or for Saurva to overestimate Jahy’s power, but when these characters are so used to seeing each other in such an intimidating light, it can be hard to see anything else even when the person you’re overestimating is far less impressive in different circumstances.

This comes in full circle when Jahy still operates off the idea that the Dark Lord would be ecstatic about her presence. She lives vicariously through her experience as the Dark Lord’s closest aide, but when she’s in Kyouko’s run-down mansion, all she can do is keep putting words in the Dark Lord’s mouth.

As it turns out, the Dark Lord is dismayed by Jahy’s assumptions and would rather live with the magical girl because she has access to more food than she does. It’s hilarious to see how much Jahy’s illusion of the Dark Lord shatters with the scene where she rudely eats all their party food and grimaces at Jahy wanting to bring her home. But it’s also a little sad because of how much it shatters Jahy’s lofty expectations of the Dark Lord the moment she holds onto Kyouko’s skirt to let Jahy know that food was more important to her than restoring her kingdom.