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And here comes the Himari episode that I was waiting for!
Her family sucks so much that it kind of justifies her arseholery, it’s a way to survive. Seeing “her” (actually Yuuki) punching Yachiho right off the bat was cathartic.
That was a great fight opener. Really looking forward to the older sister being humbled in the next episode (hopefully).
Nothing like an existential external threat to kick up some infighting! But, this has allowed us to learn more about Himari’s true ability. I was as surprised as Yuuki when she said her real ability was to copy others’. I wonder what makes some abilities compatible vs. others that aren’t. Also, I wonder whose ability it is to create all those weapons that she typically uses. I bet it must be a whole ordeal if she were to break her phone, can you just swap out sim cards to a new phone and use that?
In any case, Yachiho is a very easily hated character, so, if that is what the author was going for, then great job. I was trying to think of some way in which you could frame the way she treats Himari to be well intentioned, but I am struggling. So, until proven otherwise, I am going to view her as essentially a heel meant to help Himari grow and mature at the moment.
I loved how the Anti-Demon Force otaku that creates the force field was gushing over the magical girls around her…wait…wrong show. Her ability seems mighty convenient for these types of events. I am guessing she might not be an important recurring character, but instead a bit of a walking plot device to enable this tournament(?) to happen.
Slave borrowing stuff
I forgot she was the first to borrow Yuuki due to her ability. Later on they realize Kyouka can turn him into the slave form, then just hand the chain to someone else. Pretty simple in hindsight…
Also Himari’s entire family is just the worst. They’ve basically decided she’s useless and take endless pleasure in making it known how little they think of her. Literally irredeemable. Even if she was useless, that’d be no way to treat anyone, let alone family.
I feel like the animation is better again. Yuukis Himari-form looks good and we got to see several impactful hits during the training montage. But the fanservice took a dive… The lines on the girls don’t even look half as good as in the manga.
But ah… That hit on Yachiho was delicious. If they are putting the budget into the fights instead of the tits… I’m on board.
I do miss how squishy Himaris face is in the manga. Really not a fan of how rigid the artsyle is in this adaptation. Compare it to dungeon meshi which lets loose with cute as hell “low quality” background versions of characters near every frame.
Also this panel actually had almost the same impact when adapted, here it is for ya’ll to appreciate:
Yuukis Himari-form looks good
To be honest, I thought Greninja had shown up when he transformed in that scene, or like a shuuki version of Speed-o’-Sound Sonic. I agree that the visuals for the fights were better in this episode, but it was definitely at the cost of the “plot” scenes which seemed very restrained by comparison.
Overall, I am getting into the plot so far and now that I know it is alright to just unequivocally despise Himari’s sister, this fight should be a lot of fun next episode. This show so far has definitely been plot over “plot” for me as you can really tell that the artwork has not been up to snuff compared to the panels I have seen from the manga.
That being said, the artwork hasn’t been distractingly bad for me, so I haven’t minded too much. Even the “plot” scenes usually have some kind of conversation going on that also serves to aid the plot. That stands in contrast to the two episodes I watched of Gushing Over Magical Girls where shots would just linger and linger, but no dialog or anything would be happening. It just got in the way.
The lineart and animation is really turning out to be my only problem. As well as the rigid artstyle.
The manga really endears itself with how it draws the characters at low detail levels, it shouldn’t really have cost anything to let that through in the adaptation.
But with the clearly limited resources, I approve of how it’s been allocated, though it could have been a little more front loaded to the first episode. So many pivotal opening moments turned out quite “meh”.
I’m also excited for what’s next. This is where the action gets going and it never really stops once it does.
TFW when you realize what Kyouka meant by “physically demanding” and by extension what she’s been doing with her “slave”.
