Stella no Mahou – 08

「デバッグなめたらダメだよ？」 (Debaggu Nametara Damedayo?)
“Dont Underestimate Debuggers?”

I’m not sure if this was the best way to describe this week’s episode, but to me it felt really meme-y.

Tropes, Memes, and Progress

Boy, seeing Minaha (the new red head) in action this week felt like watching a hurricane blow through a tiny city. Moving at breakneck speed and paying almost no attention to anything around her, I left this week’s episode feeling a little relieved that she didn’t join the SNS-bu. However, even if she didn’t leave a great impression on me overall, some of the criticism she gave Tama and a few of her comments about the SNS-bu as a whole totally hit the mark. With the latter focusing on how the club handles its outward impression and the former giving Tama a new outlook on just what she can do with her art, it felt good knowing that the SNS-bu wasn’t staying stagnant and instead was turning its efforts to improving themselves.

Now, was it just me or was this week’s episode really heavy with references to the real world? Seeing how Minaha is the perfection definition of a tsundere with a slight hint of moe hiding in there, I couldn’t believe how much her existence changed the feel of the show. Sure, it might have been in part due to her constantly harassing Tama, but something about how she embodied a more traditional character type just stuck out like a sore thumb. And as if that wasn’t enough, can you believe the show made a reference to click bait? Of all things it could have picked from the web, I couldn’t believe it really chose click bait to build a joke off of — and an awkward one at that!

Looking Ahead

Overall, not much really happened in this week’s episode. Which I suppose makes sense since it looks like this episode was serving mostly as buildup for a big payoff next week. Judging from the preview and the copious amount of blood that’s being thrown up, it looks like there’s going to be some big revelations being thrown down. In any case, I’ll catch you guys next week and (for those of you celebrating) I hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving. Take care and stay safe out there!

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