Hello there my lovely readers!!!!! Are you freezing? Apparently everyone in the United States is. Now since I am in Florida I am probably less freezy than most but then again this is Florida so.....our tolerance for freezy is pretty low. Or at least mine is. Bundle up and stay under the covers.
Yeah it is frozen everywhere, no need to go look for a warm spot.
But I have been trying to get things done while it is hard to move my little frozen fingers. Got some animes watched and blogged so lets post them before I fall asleep under these blankets. Up first is Maoyuu Maou Yuusha episode 2. Spoilers for it being much better than episode 1!
Any 4 leaf clovers in that mix?
Episode Summary: Hero and Demon King teleport somewhere...but it is way too cold and snowing so they teleport out. They then end up in a sparse looking village. Hero is doubtful that this is the place they should start their experiments but Demon King thinks it is the best. The village is just starting out and the perfect place to teach people new things without bringing attention to their awesome selves. Enter Head Maid screaming DEMON KING DEMON KING all over the place. After calming her crazy self down Head Maid explains that she told the Elder of the village that Demon King was here from the church studying farming and what not. There is a house for everyone to stay in and things seem on the up and up. Demon King tries to explain to Hero how Head Maid comes from a family of head maids and it is a honor or something jazz. Head Maid tends to Demon King at night as she seems overwhelmed at the task at hand. She also explains that they will spread rumors that she and Hero were very injured in battle to cover up where they are...for now. She takes Hero at later that night and with her special lantern shows him what she wants to have done. While the villages are practicing crop rotation now they aren't using it to their full potential. Demon King knows of a way to grow crops all year long and make pigs nice and fat at the same time. Demon King and Hero go to the Elder to discuss the matter but apparently things do not go well. Demon King realizes that she needs to teach the people first before trying to make them understand her awesome ways. That night there is a bit of sitting by the fire and demon King trying to get Hero to snuggle with her. Despite how nervous Demon King is Hero is way okay with the snuggling. Just before the two kiss there is a noise heard in the barn.
How many slaves end up with way oh jaded one?
When Hero and Demon King go to investigate they find two kids huddled in the straw, kids that were seen running away at the beginning of the episode. Head Maid appears and calls them slaves, saying that some run away and she always sends them back. Demon King calls them serfs and explains the barely difference between the two. Head Maid is like lets send them back now so they don't blow our cover. Hero is upset but Demon King agrees to sending them back...after a night's sleep and better clothes. The two kids eat like they have never ate before while the adults watch. The kids beg them not to turn them in and Head Maid gets bad cop on everyone, pointing out that they have no path in life and by protecting the kids everyone would be put in danger. Instead of dreaming of the impossible think of what you can do. After hearing those words the older child asks for them to make them human. Head Maid then decides to train and take them in as new maids. Demon King is pleased as she knew this tough love was going to happen all along. The kids seem to adjust well and the younger one feeds Hero after his hunting mission. She talks about what Demon King has been teaching them and he starts to realize he doesn't add much to the group besides muscle. Demon King is hard at work teaching the kids and several adults in town about war and how the best way to go about battle is. Demon King becomes very frustrated when her ways are not understood. She threatens to turn all the humans into frogs but Hero encourages her and says he wants to go on the next teaching exercise. They do so on a raining day which means there is some snuggling time. After several teaching sessions with random people the Elder finally decides to list to Demon King's advice. Hero wonders how long it will take to see results and Demon King says oh about a year...because I have a secret weapon. She opens up a box and THE END!
Um I got this dude.
What was that? I mean....I don't even recognize this show. From episode 1 to episode 2 it was a completely different show. I AM CONFUSED!How can this be happening to me? Oh wait a show where no one has a name? Carry on.
I will draw your bath so everyone can be nakie...OH WAIT!
I guess the biggest difference about this show is the lack of fanservice. I don't think there could have been more fanservice in the last episode so may it ran dry and will be back full steam in episode 3. But for now...all we got was a little head in the lap and thigh talk, all of which is perfectly acceptable by Tenchi's standards.
They really jumped into saving the world, one field at a time.
Another difference between this episode and the last is that things actually happened. Things that weren't in the synopsizes that I read online. Like episode 1 was nearly identical from every piece of information I could find on the internet about this series. Like people just wrote the synopsis for the series about episode 1. One would not have watch episode one, just read the tiny paragraphs all over the web. But in this episode the characters looked like they had brains. Like okay lets lay the plot out first and move along from there.
Making marriage sound so romantic.
Of course there are some plot points that are a bit special. Like how no one has names. I kid I kid. Okay the part where Hero and Demon King are acting like a newly wed couple. Maybe that makes sense for Demon King as she was having pillow sex with his double and dreaming about him but Hero was a bit too quick to buy into this fairytale of insanity. Granted Demon King really did make some good points...I just wish that Hero would have been like okay but I am sleeping with one eye opened. Not both eyes closed on your lap. Being used isn't fun but being swept away by a pretty girl after years of thinking a different way is special.
They were surprised at the lack of fanservice too.
But this episode was really....well smart. Fanservice? What fanservice? It was like Demon King turned into a cute science girl from a horrible sci-fi. Only she knew what she was talking about. Like pick this village because it is out of the way and just starting off. Rotate the crops this way to maximize crop output AND plump up the farm animals. If you first can't convince the locals of your way well....teach them and make it seem like it was there idea. And the way she let Head Maid handle the kids....just very smart. Demon King is a well rounded woman. Hot, smart, and shy/sweet.
Names are so overrated obviously.
Head Maid...well I guess demons are more similar to humans than we thought. Demons in Japan are different than what I would picture them to be. No pointy teeth and beast like appearances here. Why they are running around and serving their King tea and cake. At least people seem happy with this arrangement.
It ain't all lollipops and unicorns people.
I wanted to hate Ms. Maid when she was treating those kids so harshly. But it is kinda hard to hate someone when they are right. I think I might come across this way and don't mean to. Sometimes it is way too much work to sugar coat things. Like um no this pretty much sucks and let me tell you why. It was more the situation that sucked more than what Ms. Maid was saying. She was just stating it in a text book way and Hero had a problem with that because....well the truth hurts sometimes.
A lot....A LOT of tough love.
And then it turns out that Ms. Maid was trying to help the kids out all along. Even if they are super young to be going it alone in this world sometimes life is not fair and you got to tough it out. She wanted the kids to want to live for themselves. Running away from the situation was not going to save them in the long run and not everyone out there was going to take them in like Demon King. So Ms. Maid went Biggest Loser on these kids and made them realize that while life is tough if you are willing to work hard....well things still will be unfair but at least you can live at our house?
I like how he realized this in a non-emo like manner.
I really like that Hero realized how much he had to learn from all of this. Not that it's his fault either. He was raised to use a sword and probably not much else. He was a big fish in a small pond of his own universe but now he can see how small his little fish self is. Maybe he can take baby steps to learn all Demon King knows but I like that he recognizes his faults and the positive attributes of others.
When I am starving that is when my best work gets done. Oh wait.
I am a bit surprised that the people Demon King was teaching didn't question her based on the fact that she was a woman. That seems like the logical way to go. Instead they went with the lalala I can't hear you I have been doing this all my life and I am right. Because war only needs people with swords rushing across a field. Everything else just magically appears. Maybe it would have been more realistic to have the people learning be overwhelmed by the sheer knowledge of Demon King.
Are you Mary Poppins? What is in your bag?
Even though Demon King had a bit of a set back she managed to convince everyone to follow through on her plan on crop rotation. I do hope that there is a magical plan in her bag though. Changing one village is a positive start but how can this stop a war? It would have to spread over time and be accepted by all and that is without all the in fighting and the demons acting as they are not in on this new way of life. Regardless improving the world one small corner at a time is a positive thing. Perhaps she is going to make this into their stronghold and go from there. Now....it looks like next episode not everyone is accepting the “injured in battle” lie. HMMM! Until next time!
3 comments:
I really like how Demon King is thinking this in a long-term way, like giving her and Hero time from the Demon world ---the excuse of how both her and the Hero are heavily damaged and need time to recover, so no one will bother her, I mean she is a King/Queen after all.
>Changing one village is a positive start but how can this stop a war?<
Well, if you look at ep1, then you realize the population need FOOD, and Demon King is thinking in a long-term method of producing well/nutrients foods. In order for the people to accept her ideas she starts her education. Tenchi, I am glad you bring up an idea that women can teach in that era. Judging by the looks of her student, who look like noble, I’d say somehow/someway she proved she was good enough to teach and that her ideas were worth listening to. It is like the proverb says, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach men to fish and you can feed him for a lifetime”. Except the people she taught had a block for brain, at least now.
That said, this is also the villagers livelihoods we’re talking about. People will often stick with a (perhaps unsatisfactory) status quo rather than changing it up, because that entails a potentially large risk that they might not be able to handle if things go sour. Better to stick with the crappy now than risk losing everything, right? Understandable, but not logic. Luckily, Maou knew the politics of the situation enough to prevail.
As for the maid, I LOVE Meido Chou (Head Maid)!!! While serfs are not technically bought and sold, the hallmark of a free human is CHOICE, and a serf cannot choose what to do with their life. I think I agree with Meido Chou here. True, they might be better than shackles-and-chains slaves…but only barely. Rather than allow Yuusha (Hero) to swoop in and save them, or expel them as she favored, Meido Chou gives them the CHOICE whether to remain on the ground to grove like an insect or act like a human. A human has pride, even when they have very little to take pride in. Bow, certainly – or curtsy, as is the custom in their day and age—but never grove. I am glad Meido Ane (Older Sister) saw this and made the choice in her life.
In other words, Meido Chou choose not reporting them to the authorities, and damn the potential consequences. However, she made sure they were worthy of the risk first. That moment when a homo sapiens stands up and becomes not a frightened beast, but a real person…well, perhaps I’m embellishing it a bit, but I found it quite the moving scene, once the realization kicked in.
My favor quote is:
It’s sad how much political power counts….
Once I began teaching a noble’s son,
I got enough PRESTIGE that farmers started listening to my ideas
---------Maou
Anonymous- I am glad Demon King is thinking in the long term too but some of the issues seem VERY long term. Like many, many years. But at least she thought of something to cover up their adventures for now.
I think it is very true, that Demon King both had to prove herself as a woman and get people to think outside the box when the box is all they knew. In a time where being in the box could still result in failure trying something new might really be horrible for most people.
I think most people will think Head Maid was harsh given she was saying such things to kids. But given the state the kids were in....harsh words should be the least of their problems. You an give the person the world but if they don't want it for themselves it won't mean anything.
Anonymous 2- It is sad how much that quote can still apply to even today. Le sigh. Chippin away takes a long time.
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