Oku-sama wa Mahou Shoujo – 08

Short Summary:
A sick Ureshiko has a dream about some magical girls, including Sayaka, summoning a bright light upon the city. She wakes up to find Tatsumi applying a cold towel to her forehead. He stays at her bedside until morning, holding her hand. Elsewhere, in front of a council, Sayaka is being scolded for failing thus far. Returning to town, she wanders around bored until she finds Valentine in her office. The two have a lengthy discussion about why Valentine stays in this world since Sayaka seems to be looking for a purpose to what she’s doing. Valentine mentions that she found love once, then agrees to help Sayaka. Meanwhile, Tatsumi visits Tomatsu but finds the editor from Tokyo there. She takes him outside and tries to seduce him, but he runs away. At a night festival, Valentine prays for the spirit of her dead lover. She then transforms into her magical girl form, surprising Sayaka. Sayaka realizes that to still have her powers, Valentine also hasn’t kissed before. Valentine herself remembers her loved one, and how he died in an accident on the same day she got accepted into school. Ureshiko arrives to find a saddened Valentine who challenges her for the ring for Sayaka’s sake. Valentine manages to knock Ureshiko off her broom then tries to take the ring off her finger. Ureshiko figures out that the ring is all that Valentine has to aim for, now that her loved one is dead; Valentine wants to destroy the town and recreate it. Ureshiko makes Valentine realize that she doesn’t understand her own feelings and that she the memories of her loved one aren’t artificial. Meanwhile, Tatsumi is punched to the ground by Tamotsu because the editor from Tokyo accuses him of assaulting her. Ureshiko arrives just in time to see the scene.

Seems that being a magical girl is a hard life, even harder if you find love. There are so many lost loves, lost chances, and forbidden kisses that it really makes you wonder if it’s worth being a magical girl. I’m beginning to feel like Ureshiko is the only one who has a pure heart, in the sense of wanted to protect the world.
The angle that’s thrown in this episode is the purpose of the magical girl: to recreate the world. I guess that’s what Ureshiko’s nightmare in the beginning of the episode is about. My prediction is that Ureshiko will eventually lose to Sayaka, but maybe Sayaka will choose to keep the world as it is. Though it’s still too early for that as right now she doesn’t really have anything in Wonderland that she would want to protect/keep as is. Maybe if her relationship with Tatsumi develops some more, that’ll be enough.
I hate to keep doing this, but I’m going to complain about the animation again. Most of the screens you see above are decent shots, but there were many questionable ones: completely out of proportion, very amateurish looking art. For instance, refer to the scene when Ureshiko is making sandwiches and Tatsumi eats one. I just cringed looking at that. However, it gets significantly better towards the end of the episode. The next episode preview looks pretty good art-wise (and story-wise), though I can’t tell who Ureshiko is hugging (Tamotsu or Tatsumi).