Recap: With Chihiro’s confession, Keima is convinced she is the most likely candidate for the final goddess. With the culture fest imminent, he plans to find that out for sure. Meanwhile, Haqua gets herself in trouble.

Episode 8

Looking back at Haqua’s scenes I’d really forgotten that they skipped that whole plot line in the capture of Vintage member Fiore. This is probably one of the best decisions they could have made, honestly. I guess it really shows how little I enjoyed that part of the story that I only remember it by refreshing myself on where the manga was at this point. I feel it works more to Haqua’s naivete that she’d address this in an open meeting and not just to Chief Dokuro alone. Get ready for the most disturbing fanservice by the next time we see her, at least if they decide to go that far. Considering the fanservice we’ve already seen, I’m not gettin’ my hopes up on a change in direction there.

Keima is usually pretty good at seeing the signs, so I was always surprised that he let something as obvious as “I want my friends to be happy” slip by him as Ayumi starts to try and push him towards Chihiro. I guess with the time limit Mercury put on him, he’s just in a hurry to get this over with. I’ll have to admit, Keima and Chihiro do make a cute couple. This entire part would have me just d’awwing like a dope if I didn’t know what was going to happen next. Foresight is a bitch.

Episode 9

Keima really is the worst, but now I feel like I understand this part of the manga better. When I originally read it, I obviously didn’t know what the author intended as far as the tone of his voice when rejecting Chihiro. It just felt so vicious for him to do to Chihiro, and the way I read it just made it seem like he said it without any feeling. For that reason, I have to give props to Hiro Shimono. He has always nailed it as the voice of Keima, but the way you can tell in his voice that he doesn’t mean the harsh words he gives to Chihiro was just fantastic acting. Still, I’ll never get why Keima thought this was the best way to go about things, especially in light of the fact that Chihiro and Ayumi are friends. Even if she wasn’t there, what would have stopped Chihiro from running straight to her bestie to tell her how much of an asshole Keima is? Hell, wouldn’t that have been even worse than her being there to hear his indecision?

Oh well, since the Chihiro rejection is such a short scene, we get this awkward second act where Diana pops in to remind everyone that, yes, Tenri does still exist. I still don’t get how the idea that just because these girls talk to Keima so long they all just fall in love with the blunt awkward nerd. It’s like love in this world boils down to a mild case of Stockholm Syndrome. At least in the conquests, we see Keima working the girls to break through their insecurities in order to get them to fall for him. Here, we just have Diana going OH I LOVE YOU BECAUSE REASONS! I know Keima makes a retort about that, but it doesn’t make it any better. Remember when this show used to be a smart satire on romantic comedies? Me too!

The trip to the secret island also reminded me just how far we’ve really come from those times. Sure, Elsie’s back in more of a proactive roll now that Haqua’s locked up, but we still don’t get the volume of comedy we used to. Even her scenes have a fair share of drama now that she has to cart Keima around as he pieces together Vintage’s plan. Now that everything has come together, Keima only has the long uphill battle to conquer Ayumi before he can finally put all this behind him.