Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist - 04

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We finally stray away from shonen-ai for a bit in the latest episode of Makai Ouji to focus on a romantic relationship between a demon and a young woman. It's nice to finally see a female character in this anime.

The underclassmen at this school pull some pretty cruel pranks.  Most of them are harmless, of course: braiding Sytry’s hair, for example.  But breaking into the dorm mother’s room to “get dirt on her” is pretty cruel, in my opinion.  Crazy underclassmen.

To backtrack a bit, I’d like to discuss the exchange between Kevin and William after mass.  I believe that Kevin is trying to protect William by telling him not to discuss “personal matters” with him.  It definitely makes sense to infer that Kevin might be working directly with the council or whatever Pastor Crosby met with at the end of the previous episode; how else could he (or his mother, for that matter) have known so quickly that Stradford was looking for a new campus pastor?

I’m glad we actually get to see the boating race, since it’s been mentioned in virtually every episode so far.  Sure, it was obvious that William wasn’t going to be able to do much, since he skips boating practice every day, but it was simply nice to see the event that’s been mentioned so often.  It also helps to cement the setting of the anime; when one thinks of such boating races, one generally thinks of England or some other Western European country.

This episode is actually a really great love story, as the title “An Old Love Story” suggests.  Maria and Camio have a beautiful relationship in which each one of them is willing to go pretty far to protect or be with the other.  It’s also nice to see how a human other than William and Isaac reacts to the presence of a demon; it’s especially nice to see how a woman in particular reacts to it.

I didn’t mention in my previous post that it was pretty obvious the Head Boy, Nathan Caxton, was another demon because it was just that obvious.  But I suppose it’s worth mentioning now, since that fact has actually been revealed now.  As Sytry points out, Camio doesn’t seem super focused on being elected as the interim ruler of Hell.  He’ll make a good addition to William’s little entourage of demons, especially since he won’t constantly be demanding to be elected in exchange for his help (like Sytry and sometimes Dantalion do).

Definitely looking forward to meeting Dantalion’s supporter for interim ruler of Hell in the next episode!

(P.S. I apologize for some of the screencaps having subtitles on them; I’m on vacation and don’t have access to the best internet connection, so searching for a raw stream has been difficult.  Please bear with me!  Normal screencaps should be back next week.)

Makai Ouji Episode 5 Preview

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