Recap: Our intrepid party hits the beach for some much needed R&R and Mariandel becomes incredibly popular with the locals. While she soaks up the attention, Kon wonders why she chose the life she leads.

Jel’s Thoughts: Color me impressed with how Ixion handled this potential minefield of a topic, or the fact that they even stuck their toe into said minefield in the first place. Given the fantasy setting and the fact that this is a silly anime, I was very curious if they were going to depict Mariandel as an actual transgender person or if there was going to be some other cop out “safe” explanation for her character. I was guessing they would just skip the topic altogether and leave it to the audience’s discretion, but instead they found a hilarious way to show how absurd it was to ask in the first place.

To paraphrase the Beach Dude this episode, balls or no balls, what difference does it make? The important thing is Mariandel is a capable and dedicated member of the party, who cares what’s underneath her skirt? Consider this episode the reply to last week’s question about ED’s ability to be a good husband despite his injury… nah, who am I kidding, he’s got serious issues to deal with. Marian on the other hand seems perfectly comfortable with who she is, and so long as she’s cool with it then we are too.

I must give bonus points for this week’s episode’s title abbreviation. They have it as “BL” for “Beautiful Life”, but of course many otaku will see that and think “Boy’s Love”. Guess I should have seen that final scene coming then, huh? Also is it me, or is Jun Fukuyama’s female voice getting more convincing? Uh, maybe the less said about that the better.