Episode 79: Maou Once More
If you need to watch the episode, check out this post (community locked) for information!
Screencaps from here.
Opening song starts and we see all our beloved characters plus some shiny new ones!
Dawn breaks on a bucolic scene. Two unicorns peacefully munch on grass when all of a sudden Voldemort comes out from nowhere, kills them and drinks their blood.
There's a touching scene with Wesley saying goodbye to Buttercup.
And Captain Jack Sparrow getting his crew together at the docks.
All is well in Shin Makoku; Yuuri's baseball field still stands and so does Blood Pledge Castle.
But what is this? There is a meeting of fancy suits in the castle.
It's like one of my work conferences except with prettier people and prettier clothes. We are quickly introduced to the attendees in a quick subtitle roll call. Oh, it's the Ten Nobles and they just decided to make Wolfram the 28th Maou!
Wait, what?!
No time for that now, we have to show the Title Card -- Maou, Once More.
Ah, here's the 27th Maou now, I'm sure he'll explain everything.
Yuuri is on his bike and stops by the baseball field. He's on his way home from school and a la Spiderman starts narrating. He summarizes season 1 and 2 in a handful of sentences leaving out all the fanservice. We see some pretty Japanese scenery including the fountain where Conrad and Shouri got married and the bathroom where Yuuri first got sucked (*pause* seems to me a lot of yaoi stories start with someone getting su- nevermind *endpause*) into the toilet.
Yuuri stops his bike and you should be getting a strong sense of deja vu. Why yes, this opening mirrors the opening of the first episode. In fact, any second now... there's Murata being harrassed. But no worries, they only wanted him to play soccer -- or futbol.
Yuuri comes home and Jennifer cheerfully greets him.
He reacts warily at her exuberance. Shouri runs down the steps and greets Murata ♥♥♥. Murata returns the greeting with a smirk and shining glasses. The UST between this couple is just so...intense.
Unfortunately, we have no time to flirt. They're going to Shin Makoku and Mama-san wants to come and she's bringing PRESENTS! Gwendal is getting pickles. That sourpuss!
But Yuu-chan cannot possibly leave without his most precious oniichan, could he? Hey, look Shouri, is that an ero-ero game--- whoosh and Yuuri and Murata are out of there.
Shouri was too slow but Mama-san was able to toss Wolfram's present all the way to the next dimension.
Conrad and Ulrike welcomes them home. Murata asks how long it had been and Conrad answers twelve days. Yuuri says it's hard to aim for the right day. Murata assures him it will get easier.
Conrad makes a good towel boy.
Yuuri notices that his harem is short one thousand beautiful bishonens. It's only Conrad today *sadface*. (Not that Conrad isn't enough, but Yuuri without a harem feels like a one-legged horse.) Wolfram has business in Bielefeld probably trying to figure out what that scene before the opening title was all about. Gunter is busy with THAT.
That? You mean the hot man-on-man action...
No?
Oh.
That is Yuuri's birthday celebration and Gunter is ultra-excited (seen in flashback).
Murata points out that to Gunter, it's like having his grandchild's coming out. Which reminds us that the youngest member of Yuuri's harem is an octogenarian. I wonder what it does for his libido when he stops to think about it.
Yuuri notices that the repairs are almost done at the temple and Murata gets one of his looks. You know, the ones that indicate that he knows something you don't know.
KOHIS! How I have missed you.
The party rides into Blood Pledge Castle where the Sergeant is in full bootcamp mode.
She's got the squadron running around in full armor. Dakaskos notices the party coming in through the gates. And so does Gisela. (Aw, she's got such a cute happy face there.)
Everyone welcomes home the king.
Dakaskos mumbles under his breath and Gisela swiftly puts an end to his shenanigans.
Yuuri remarks that the soldiers are really into it and asks if anything has happened. For a second Gisela looks like she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. But she plays it off and says it's just usual training. But wait a minute, are those Murata's eyeglasses doing that shiny thing again. I think we know by now what that means. Right? Especially when Conrad gives him that look. No, not the come hither look.
Greta comes out of the castle and we have a cute father/daughter reunion. You know I just eat this up.
The Pheromone Queen and the Poison Lady also come out.
Yuuri remarks that it feels like he had come home.
Meanwhile, Gwendal is frowning.
Yozak interrupts him to get some labu-labu time.
But what are they talking about? Yozak is wondering if they should let 'him' know 'about it'. Gwendal says no because he'll do something unnecessary. He is probably Yuuri. So they're keeping something from Yuuri.
Gwendal frowns some more. Twitch. Twitch. You're going to break your forehead with all that frowning Gwen.
Yozak is giving us more clues...If Yuuri knew, he might think that he's unnecessary--Gwen stops him before gives us anymore clues. Drat! I guess we'll just have to watch the rest of the season.
And where in the world is Carmen San Diego Wolfram?
Here he is, with the rest of his jpop band. Wolfram's got his serious face on.
The posse of prettiness is stopped by a regiment in blue. I knew it, Wolfram says, these fans just won't let us go unless we sign over 9000 autographs.
Don't worry, Your Excellency, we will sacrifice our own bishiness for your sake.
Wolfram does a quick transformation by changing into his personal guard's uniform. Animation fail is painful to look at.
After yelling that there is only one true king in Shin Makoku, Wolfram attacks.
Meanwhile, back at the castle, Yuuri and friends are having tea. And we are introduced for the first time to the evil Effe (shhh... the OVAs didn't happen, now quit arguing and pay attention). Gasp, Greta has already fallen under her spell. Who will be next?
The maids leave and Doria, Sangria and Lasagna introduce Effe to the joys of fangirling. Crisis is averted as Effe abandons her evil plans and joins the rest of the fangirls in betting who Yuuri will end up with.
Celi makes the first move, Yuuri is blushing from here to kingdom come.
Cockblocked by Conrad! Murata piles it on even more by pointing out Yuuri never even had a girlfriend.
Greta wants to grow up and become a Poison Lady like Anissina. Yuuri starts babbling about Greta growing up and how she's going to get a boyfriend and leave him to get married.
Thankfully, Gunter stops the madness. And introduces a completely new one.
Clash! Clash!
Back to Wolfram.
They are still fighting the mean bad guy who says, "Come with us pretty boys, we've got candy."
No bishies, don't listen to him, he'll touch you in your no-no place. And only the Maou can do that.
Wolfram is done playing now.
He creates a hot, burning tunnel of love and escapes.
In Blood Pledge, soldiers continue with their exercises.
Yuuri and friends meet Gwendal in the corridor. Yuuri is happy to see him, "my collection is almost complete, gotta catch 'em all!"
Gwendal is not in the mood, Yuuri pulls his cute face with no success. Gwendal points out there's a pile of work to be done and gives Yuuri a scolding. Oh Gwen, you sadist, you know you turn me on whenever you say paperwork.
Greta says Gwendal is scary, Yuuri wonders if he's mad about something. Conrad says no, it's not true. And someone permanently painted Murata's eyeglasses white.
Here's Yozak admiring Gwendal from a distunce. Unf unf.
And here's Anissina being scientific. By the moonlight.
She has received a message from her brother that he had no objections. Conrad says von Wincott is also on their side. Celi says her brother said a lot of things but no one paid attention. Raven, however, is gorgeous and will do something about this something that we're talking about but will purposely not give any hint to the audience. Gwendal says they are awaiting answers from Rochefort, the Aristocat's mousy friend, and Jack Gyllenhaal.
Yuuri and Greta are asleep when Yuuri wakes at the sound of...
...the cameraman's footsteps running towards the front door.
Conrad slams the door open and is SHOCKED! The posse of prettiness are down on their hands and knees and Wolfram is falling of his horse.
Conrad catches him. Aaawww... such incestuously brotherly love.
Wolfram: Conrart, quick, tell Gwendal that Soylent Green is people.
Yuuri sees Wolfram and rushes, "Wolfram!"
But he is snubbed. Big time. By both brothers.
Even you Conrad. Whimper whimper.
Conrad: I'm sorry Yuuri, but Wolfram and I... I know it is forbidden, but the heart knows no reason.
Yuuri: Threesome then?
In the conference room, Gisela had treated Wolfram but he is still knocking himself off for being so weak. Celi fusses over him. Gwendal apologizes to him for taking such a tough role. He tells Wolfram to relax and they'll take care of of the rest.
In the temple, Murata asks Shinou if he is involved with the trouble going on.
Shinou flashes him.
Yuuri sits on his bed having deep thoughts.
The next day, flags are flying on the ramparts. Sangria is breaking more dishes. Seriously, who keeps making the schedule, why do they keep assigning her the dishes? Snap, it must be that Effe.
Yuuri is getting ready for the big ceremony and patting the big, ginormous jewel on his shoulder which he totally stole from Lina Inverse (someone needs to write Yuuri meets Lina Inverse fic like nao -- the Maou's Justice against the Giga Slave.)
Yuuri wonders about the stuff that's going on. Murata tells him he's got a choice of believing in his harem retainers or not. Yuuri chooses to believe in them.
The ceremony begins and Gunter is reading some lengthy speech in his 'dependable' voice. The audience is suspiciously symmetrical.
Everyone goes to the courtyard where...
Color-coded for your convenience.
Sandbear!!! Hoho, look at the drooly maw.
And end with the new ending of Kohis dancing. BTW, if you haven't seen it, check out Yuuri's seiyuu doing this dance.
My thoughts:
This episode has two main purpose: to reestablish the setting, e.g. reintroduction of familiar faces, reacclimating the audience to the series, and to introduce some new elements, e.g. The Ten Nobles, 'trouble brewing'.
I loved the three brothers interactions in this episode. They are really acting like a unit, supporting each other (well the big brothers supporting the little brother).
What I didn't like is the crappy animation (but I'll overlook it because it's KKM).
One last thing, the Ten Nobles decided to have Wolfram be the 28th Maou meaning they don't think of him as just a jealous brat extraordinaire. Just wanted to point that out.
Next episode hosted by... if no one grabs it by Saturday afternoon, I'll see if I can do it.
Screencaps from here.
Opening song starts and we see all our beloved characters plus some shiny new ones!
Dawn breaks on a bucolic scene. Two unicorns peacefully munch on grass when all of a sudden Voldemort comes out from nowhere, kills them and drinks their blood.
There's a touching scene with Wesley saying goodbye to Buttercup.
And Captain Jack Sparrow getting his crew together at the docks.
All is well in Shin Makoku; Yuuri's baseball field still stands and so does Blood Pledge Castle.
But what is this? There is a meeting of fancy suits in the castle.
It's like one of my work conferences except with prettier people and prettier clothes. We are quickly introduced to the attendees in a quick subtitle roll call. Oh, it's the Ten Nobles and they just decided to make Wolfram the 28th Maou!
Wait, what?!
No time for that now, we have to show the Title Card -- Maou, Once More.
Ah, here's the 27th Maou now, I'm sure he'll explain everything.
Yuuri is on his bike and stops by the baseball field. He's on his way home from school and a la Spiderman starts narrating. He summarizes season 1 and 2 in a handful of sentences leaving out all the fanservice. We see some pretty Japanese scenery including the fountain where Conrad and Shouri got married and the bathroom where Yuuri first got sucked (*pause* seems to me a lot of yaoi stories start with someone getting su- nevermind *endpause*) into the toilet.
Yuuri stops his bike and you should be getting a strong sense of deja vu. Why yes, this opening mirrors the opening of the first episode. In fact, any second now... there's Murata being harrassed. But no worries, they only wanted him to play soccer -- or futbol.
Yuuri comes home and Jennifer cheerfully greets him.
He reacts warily at her exuberance. Shouri runs down the steps and greets Murata ♥♥♥. Murata returns the greeting with a smirk and shining glasses. The UST between this couple is just so...intense.
Unfortunately, we have no time to flirt. They're going to Shin Makoku and Mama-san wants to come and she's bringing PRESENTS! Gwendal is getting pickles. That sourpuss!
But Yuu-chan cannot possibly leave without his most precious oniichan, could he? Hey, look Shouri, is that an ero-ero game--- whoosh and Yuuri and Murata are out of there.
Shouri was too slow but Mama-san was able to toss Wolfram's present all the way to the next dimension.
Conrad and Ulrike welcomes them home. Murata asks how long it had been and Conrad answers twelve days. Yuuri says it's hard to aim for the right day. Murata assures him it will get easier.
Conrad makes a good towel boy.
Yuuri notices that his harem is short one thousand beautiful bishonens. It's only Conrad today *sadface*. (Not that Conrad isn't enough, but Yuuri without a harem feels like a one-legged horse.) Wolfram has business in Bielefeld probably trying to figure out what that scene before the opening title was all about. Gunter is busy with THAT.
That? You mean the hot man-on-man action...
No?
Oh.
That is Yuuri's birthday celebration and Gunter is ultra-excited (seen in flashback).
Murata points out that to Gunter, it's like having his grandchild's coming out. Which reminds us that the youngest member of Yuuri's harem is an octogenarian. I wonder what it does for his libido when he stops to think about it.
Yuuri notices that the repairs are almost done at the temple and Murata gets one of his looks. You know, the ones that indicate that he knows something you don't know.
KOHIS! How I have missed you.
The party rides into Blood Pledge Castle where the Sergeant is in full bootcamp mode.
She's got the squadron running around in full armor. Dakaskos notices the party coming in through the gates. And so does Gisela. (Aw, she's got such a cute happy face there.)
Everyone welcomes home the king.
Dakaskos mumbles under his breath and Gisela swiftly puts an end to his shenanigans.
Yuuri remarks that the soldiers are really into it and asks if anything has happened. For a second Gisela looks like she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. But she plays it off and says it's just usual training. But wait a minute, are those Murata's eyeglasses doing that shiny thing again. I think we know by now what that means. Right? Especially when Conrad gives him that look. No, not the come hither look.
Greta comes out of the castle and we have a cute father/daughter reunion. You know I just eat this up.
The Pheromone Queen and the Poison Lady also come out.
Yuuri remarks that it feels like he had come home.
Meanwhile, Gwendal is frowning.
Yozak interrupts him to get some labu-labu time.
But what are they talking about? Yozak is wondering if they should let 'him' know 'about it'. Gwendal says no because he'll do something unnecessary. He is probably Yuuri. So they're keeping something from Yuuri.
Gwendal frowns some more. Twitch. Twitch. You're going to break your forehead with all that frowning Gwen.
Yozak is giving us more clues...If Yuuri knew, he might think that he's unnecessary--Gwen stops him before gives us anymore clues. Drat! I guess we'll just have to watch the rest of the season.
And where in the world is Carmen San Diego Wolfram?
Here he is, with the rest of his jpop band. Wolfram's got his serious face on.
The posse of prettiness is stopped by a regiment in blue. I knew it, Wolfram says, these fans just won't let us go unless we sign over 9000 autographs.
Don't worry, Your Excellency, we will sacrifice our own bishiness for your sake.
Wolfram does a quick transformation by changing into his personal guard's uniform. Animation fail is painful to look at.
After yelling that there is only one true king in Shin Makoku, Wolfram attacks.
Meanwhile, back at the castle, Yuuri and friends are having tea. And we are introduced for the first time to the evil Effe (shhh... the OVAs didn't happen, now quit arguing and pay attention). Gasp, Greta has already fallen under her spell. Who will be next?
The maids leave and Doria, Sangria and Lasagna introduce Effe to the joys of fangirling. Crisis is averted as Effe abandons her evil plans and joins the rest of the fangirls in betting who Yuuri will end up with.
Celi makes the first move, Yuuri is blushing from here to kingdom come.
Cockblocked by Conrad! Murata piles it on even more by pointing out Yuuri never even had a girlfriend.
Greta wants to grow up and become a Poison Lady like Anissina. Yuuri starts babbling about Greta growing up and how she's going to get a boyfriend and leave him to get married.
Thankfully, Gunter stops the madness. And introduces a completely new one.
Clash! Clash!
Back to Wolfram.
They are still fighting the mean bad guy who says, "Come with us pretty boys, we've got candy."
No bishies, don't listen to him, he'll touch you in your no-no place. And only the Maou can do that.
Wolfram is done playing now.
He creates a hot, burning tunnel of love and escapes.
In Blood Pledge, soldiers continue with their exercises.
Yuuri and friends meet Gwendal in the corridor. Yuuri is happy to see him, "my collection is almost complete, gotta catch 'em all!"
Gwendal is not in the mood, Yuuri pulls his cute face with no success. Gwendal points out there's a pile of work to be done and gives Yuuri a scolding. Oh Gwen, you sadist, you know you turn me on whenever you say paperwork.
Greta says Gwendal is scary, Yuuri wonders if he's mad about something. Conrad says no, it's not true. And someone permanently painted Murata's eyeglasses white.
Here's Yozak admiring Gwendal from a distunce. Unf unf.
And here's Anissina being scientific. By the moonlight.
She has received a message from her brother that he had no objections. Conrad says von Wincott is also on their side. Celi says her brother said a lot of things but no one paid attention. Raven, however, is gorgeous and will do something about this something that we're talking about but will purposely not give any hint to the audience. Gwendal says they are awaiting answers from Rochefort, the Aristocat's mousy friend, and Jack Gyllenhaal.
Yuuri and Greta are asleep when Yuuri wakes at the sound of...
...the cameraman's footsteps running towards the front door.
Conrad slams the door open and is SHOCKED! The posse of prettiness are down on their hands and knees and Wolfram is falling of his horse.
Conrad catches him. Aaawww... such incestuously brotherly love.
Wolfram: Conrart, quick, tell Gwendal that Soylent Green is people.
Yuuri sees Wolfram and rushes, "Wolfram!"
But he is snubbed. Big time. By both brothers.
Even you Conrad. Whimper whimper.
Conrad: I'm sorry Yuuri, but Wolfram and I... I know it is forbidden, but the heart knows no reason.
Yuuri: Threesome then?
In the conference room, Gisela had treated Wolfram but he is still knocking himself off for being so weak. Celi fusses over him. Gwendal apologizes to him for taking such a tough role. He tells Wolfram to relax and they'll take care of of the rest.
In the temple, Murata asks Shinou if he is involved with the trouble going on.
Shinou flashes him.
Yuuri sits on his bed having deep thoughts.
The next day, flags are flying on the ramparts. Sangria is breaking more dishes. Seriously, who keeps making the schedule, why do they keep assigning her the dishes? Snap, it must be that Effe.
Yuuri is getting ready for the big ceremony and patting the big, ginormous jewel on his shoulder which he totally stole from Lina Inverse (someone needs to write Yuuri meets Lina Inverse fic like nao -- the Maou's Justice against the Giga Slave.)
Yuuri wonders about the stuff that's going on. Murata tells him he's got a choice of believing in his harem retainers or not. Yuuri chooses to believe in them.
The ceremony begins and Gunter is reading some lengthy speech in his 'dependable' voice. The audience is suspiciously symmetrical.
Everyone goes to the courtyard where...
Color-coded for your convenience.
Sandbear!!! Hoho, look at the drooly maw.
And end with the new ending of Kohis dancing. BTW, if you haven't seen it, check out Yuuri's seiyuu doing this dance.
My thoughts:
This episode has two main purpose: to reestablish the setting, e.g. reintroduction of familiar faces, reacclimating the audience to the series, and to introduce some new elements, e.g. The Ten Nobles, 'trouble brewing'.
I loved the three brothers interactions in this episode. They are really acting like a unit, supporting each other (well the big brothers supporting the little brother).
What I didn't like is the crappy animation (but I'll overlook it because it's KKM).
One last thing, the Ten Nobles decided to have Wolfram be the 28th Maou meaning they don't think of him as just a jealous brat extraordinaire. Just wanted to point that out.
Next episode hosted by... if no one grabs it by Saturday afternoon, I'll see if I can do it.