At one point in the episode, Nanami shows off her breasts for a whopping 1,000 yen. I had to sit there and listen as the guy compliments the witch on her beautiful gradation. Gradation of what, you ask? Oh, I’m sure you can use your imagination. Afterwards, she shows off her armpits for another 1,000 yen. The witch is certainly living the high life. Well, someone has to. I sure as hell am not. For an episode with this much exhibition — Ryota even walks in on his harem of witches bathing each other in the hot springs — it is also incredibly boring. It’s the same old story with every witch. Nanami has spent most of her life in captivity, so she is curious about the outside world. When she finally gets a taste of cheesecake — yes, cheesecake is the magical key — she no longer wants to return to the lab. Ryota and company thus try to recruit Nanami to their side, but the girl is distrustful. After all, she’s never had friends! Until, of course, she takes a glimpse into Ryota’s memories and realizes that Ryota’s harem totally wants to be befriend her. Wow, tomodachis? For me? Aw, you shouldn’t have! But yeah, it’s a pretty goddamn mundane story made even worse by the fact that we’ve seen this plot before in this very same anime.
Oh, I guess I forgot to mention the memory-manipulating powers. Yeah, Nanami can scan a person’s memories, which, as I’ve mentioned already, she uses on Ryota to determine whether or not the guy is sincere. Not only that, she can implant false memories. Nanami uses this a few times throughout the episode to her advantage. Hell, she even uses it on Kuroha to get the girl to turn on her friends. Finally, Nanami can also erases parts of people’s memories. As implausible as this might sound, she can apparently make anyone think that they’re a child again. But hey, this is a stupid show about teleporting witches, so anything goes. Ah, but y’see, Ryota has photographic memories. Uh-huh, you didn’t forget about that, did you? Therefore, he’s impervious to her feminine wiles magic. Not only that, he’s totally smart, guys. With his awesome perceptive powers, Ryota manages to impress even Nanami. As a result, I’m sure she’s just longing to be a part of his harem. After all, she keeps whining about how that one guy from the lab can so easily forget everything about her. Well, if all you want is a guy to remember you, then let me show you this bland harem lead! Look at him! Look at his awesome powers of recall! Does it not make your thighs quiver?!
If the show’s serious, then it makes for a really lame drama. Between the power of friendships and the girls striving to experience a shining school life, there’s nothing remotely compelling here. On the other hand, if Brynhildr in the Darkness‘ entire point is that similar-minded anime are stupid, and therefore, these girls are stupid, then that’s even worse. Why? Well, there’s just something very sad and misanthropic in its “Oh, look how dumb these girls are!” angle. After all, haven’t you noticed that the girls are the only ones who are stupid? Haven’t you noticed that most of the time, we’re only laughing at the girls? Throughout the past nine episodes, Ryota has remain relatively unscathed. He’ll say something odd once in a while, but nothing on the same level as any of the witches. Hell, he practically has to keep the witches from accidentally killing themselves. So anyway, if this show is meant to be a parody, it has a peculiar refusal to mock the bland harem lead. The implications here are apparent enough that I’ll let you guys come to your own conclusions.
The rest of the episode is pretty damn uninteresting, so I’ll just quickly jump to the next section of the post, which would be the…
Stray observations:
– I don’t know what to call the guy who accompanies Nanami in this week’s episode. I just know he’s one of the bad guys. Has the anime ever given us his name? Anyway, he sure does screw up a lot for an underling. I get the feeling he’s going to die at some point because of it. Just how many times can the evil laboratory send out witches with increasing rank only for them to fail?
– Did this scene really make any of you guys laugh? It was just kind of cringeworthy.
– If she can erase everyone’s memories, what’s the big deal if Nanami keeps raising her skirt in public? If they call the police, just erase their memories as well.
– Ryota pretending to cry like a baby is definitely not something I ever want to hear again.
– When Nanami reads Ryota’s memories, she immediately says out loud that she’s found the witches. Who is she even talking to? It doesn’t seem as though she’s alerted the bad guys. Or does the girl just like to talk to herself? If that’s the case, boy, that sure is convenient. Oh look, Ryota overheard the girl and now he knows his harem is in deep trouble.
– Is Ryota really that perceptive? Or did he just draw some pretty obvious connections? He’s not too smart this week, however, as he willingly allows Nanami to gaze into his eyes. Why would you trust someone you’ve only met? To top it all off, Kuroha does the same shit later, which nearly gets her friends killed. Bravo, guys, bravo.
– Immediately after a “tense” scene between Ryota and Nanami, the anime cuts to Kazumi rubbing Kotori’s chest. Parody or not, the girls are the butt of the jokes either way.
– You could say the bad guys are stupid too since they can’t seem to locate Ryota and his harem, but it doesn’t seem like they have any sense of urgency.
– I’m sure I could dig up more observations, but I feel like I’ve written enough about this episode already.
Filed under: Anime, Brynhildr in the Darkness, Series Tagged: Anime, Brynhildr in the Darkness
