Score: A-

This was another episode with some excellent characterization. We are still at the early point with this series. It’s about establishing who Toto is, who the girls are, and what really drives all of them as individuals. There are assassination attempts mixed into that for sure. But the big thing is just getting to understand them more and what they’ve been through. And there’s still plenty of that still to go. We’ve only gotten a taste of what drives each of the girls through these first few episodes. And Toto continues to reveal new elements about himself all the time. I can’t wait to look back on the show as a whole and just see what I think about these characters now that I know them better.

Goa’s got her past…

Goa’s part was interesting. Her abilities really don’t have too much impact on Toto. Her just being a really attractive girl does all the damage needed! But it really did start to hit her pretty hard in realizing how resilient her opponent was here. Not because of any personal grudge against Toto, but Goa has some real personal traumas of her own. A brief flashback told us plenty. Clearly this girl had a brutal time as a kid and is effectively starved for love. She wants/needs it so badly that she’ll do anything to get it. Whether it’s drugs or her unique skill. She’ll use any method to get what she thinks of as love and feel momentarily satisfied.

But for that reason Toto is a valuable existence. She can’t simply get what she wants and yet he very much gets across that it’s not a bad thing. Someone being resistant to her skills doesn’t mean she isn’t cared for. They may have only just met, but for Toto all these girls are important. They are the people that actually reached out to him when he didn’t have the confidence to do so. He just can’t fall in the same way others have fallen before Goa since he couldn’t fulfill his goals in that case. Absolutely excellent showing by Toto even biting his hand just so he didn’t pass out before he said everything he needed to. His efforts in this episode to get his feelings across were great to see.

A few holes in that plan!

Anemone’s turn was a good one. She certainly is as determined to kill Toto as anyone. I approve of her going into this one with a rock solid plan. Heck, she actually tried to take advantage of the passing out thing. Her only issue was absolutely not thinking her plan through. She knew that Toto was absurdly powerful, but didn’t think the explosive would get nearly as big as it did. Though if she had planned it out enough then things might’ve gotten too disastrous. That bomb wasn’t stopping! It might have gotten large enough to evaporate that whole region. Anemone could try going with that again and simply running at top speed after activating it. But…probably not worth gambling her life like that.

It is funny that she had to wake him up and then get shielded from the explosion. Toto always gets his chances to show off! It’s all the more fun when he’s saving these girls from their own assassination attempts! Even Anemone couldn’t help but show off an earnest smile after taking that whole situation in. Less upset that her attempt failed than just being relieved that she’d gotten out of that situation safely. I don’t blame her of course for getting a bit rattled. She’d never seen that bomb clear 30cm. The size that bomb reached was pretty terrifying.

Quite the day for them

It isn’t just about Toto and the girls though. Sometimes it’s nice to see the girls interacting among themselves. Goa and Ciel going out on a little trip was cute. It was cute…with the reality of Ciel needing to protect herself against drugging via magic. Goa may like Ciel and Anemone, but she will absolutely try to poison them. Toto is the main goal, but her overall drive is to break the people around her so that they’ll be her pets. Now she’s only kind of serious about it when it comes to the other girls. That’s reflected in her not yet trying to take control using her skill. I suppose from her perspective if their guards are so low that they let themselves get drugged again then that’s their fault.

Every now and then it’s good to be reminded how stupidly capable these girls are. If they weren’t trying to kill Toto they’d succeed at most things they set out to do! That poor former B-rank just didn’t stand a chance against Ciel. She wasn’t serious enough to even bust out any summons. She just dominated with purely her magic and there was simply nothing he could do. Goa slyly taking out his minions at the same time and that whole situation resolving itself nicely. All while the girls simply wanted to enjoy their treats!

Toto is getting his moments

This was a really solid episode. The characters continue to develop nicely and Toto is becoming a far more likeable lead. It was interesting to get a better idea about his past and that scar of his. That monster took his home, family, and his confidence. I’m curious if that monster was a world ending terror and Toto only survived because he’s absurdly powerful. But maybe Toto was just a normal guy in the past and this encounter sent him on his training run that unlocked his powers. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the future on that front. But either way, I’m still having a great time just taking in this show and where the story is going.