If anybody is wondering why we here at the GLORIO blog sound cynical sometimes, this is why. I expected this series to be a raunchy comedy about a dude who secretly wants to bone his mom, full of pantyshots, boob grabs, and maybe some magical light rays of censorship if it’s particularly spicy. I was pleasantly surprised when that was not what we got in episode 1. It is definitely what we got in episode 2.

As I hinted in my first look post, I would not necessarily be opposed to some hot mom fan service. I’ll even ignore the pantyshots with the new girl (more on her later). It’s the big battle scene in the second half where they dive into the fetish pool in the most gross, predictable way possible. They basically setup ridiculous circumstances to create the visual of Ma-kun sexually assaulting his mother. Technically he’s not of course, the entire thing is an accident and he’s clearly not enjoying it. But it’s obvious the creators want the audience to see it that way.

It makes me particularly angry that none of this was hinted at in the first episode. The closest thing was a brief shot of Mom storing the game manual in her cleavage. I suppose I can’t blame anyone but myself for thinking things would be different this time, but if this truly is the kind of show they want to make I would think they’d want it to be obvious from the beginning.

Now, let’s talk about the new girls. They feel like a missed opportunity. This show is supposed to be a self aware parody or satire of other fantasy-MMO-style series, and in most regards I still think it is. So why did they play these characters straight? There was even a perfect opportunity to flip the script when Ma-Kun was reading Wise’s application. It would have been so much funnier if he read her description, thought he had her figured out, and was totally wrong. Instead we’re left with a shy and subservient little girl and a hot-headed tsundere who likes to step on you. The same characters we’ve seen in a million other anime.

I can’t say I’m surprised at all this, just disappointed. The first episode showed a lot of promise, and even in episode 2 I still enjoyed the mom jokes and MMO-related humor. I don’t even mind the boobs and panties, all I ask is to leave out the incest and assault. Is that so hard? Is it too much to ask? Are there any anime writers out there that have the courage to do something that doesn’t fit an overused formula? I wish these weren’t rhetorical questions.