#maeda

The beach portion of the episode was just fan service and comedy in one. Remember how we had reverse fan service in Episode 8 where the girls were peeping at the boys? Well, we finally get the usual anime fan service with the boys being the stars. They go to the beach to try and hit on girls using Sano as bait, but things go awry when Mame acts like a rabid Tanuki around some girls approaching him. Not only do the boys get fan service, but the girls of Class 2-3 also show up in cute swimsuits! I have to say, Renjou was serving cunt in that swimsuit and hat combination. The chapter that this half of the episode was based on is actually an earlier chapter that took place at the same time as Haruaki going to Rintaro’s family’s home.

The craziness of the beach portion comes in the form of two sea youkai trying to hit on some of the girls, so the boys step up to try and save them from the pests. Although Satelight’s art for this show isn’t the prettiest, I do admit that the watery effect for the two water youkais were really nice. The Funayurei is voiced by Jin Ogasawara who is a rookie. The Umibouzu is voiced by Fumiya Imai; if you’re familiar with Project Sekai and/or Given, he’s Akito Shinonome and Hiiragi from those respective media. Since Taito Ban voiced Shizusumi from Given, it’s basically Shizu throwing mud at Hiiragi in a way. Though, the Funayurei was quite a threat with his abilities. The Umibouzu didn’t show his ability as Fuji froze the water and getting him and some of the boys stuck. Unfortunately, the Funayurei messed with the wrong guy as destroying the sand tanuki that Sano and Mame were making caused the former to summon his lighting magic to electrocute everyone. Never bother Mame or Sano will throw hands.

I did like the transition from the beach segment to the homework segment. The second half takes place in the last day of summer vacation, August 31. Sano is struggling with his youkai studies homework as he needs to write a report about youkai birth. So, he and Haruaki decide to go to the homes of the Class 2-3 students to learn about how they are conceptualized. In Yanagida’s case, he’s born from spirit magic that his parents put in an object; the fact that all the Yanagida family are voiced by Tomokazu Sugita is hilarious. Animal youkai like Mame normally produce a lot of offsprings, so it’s normal for them to have a big family with many siblings. I think Odawara’s story of how he became the first chouchin-kouzou and how he creates them was so interesting; he basically asexually reproduce them! 

Starting with Odawara, the topic of how youkais came to be become a topic of interest as there are many theories. Odawara says that he was born from a soul of a sinner. Takahashi says that youkais are born from the souls of sinners. Yamazaki says that gods curse humans into youkai as punishment. This gets Sano down as it’s revealed that he’s not a youkai but a god. Despite the serious confession, Haruaki already knew since the beginning as there was a note in his roll call file; he never brought it up because he felt as if it was a sensitive topic for Sano. I do like that Haruaki is considerate of his feelings and never reveals people’s secrets. I think the whole lore of how youkais come to be is so interesting because as a viewer, you’ve adjusted to them for a while that how they come to be feels like a question in the back of your mind.

Though, there is a topic of interspecies relationships when Haruaki and Sano go to Hijita’s place. While Hijita’s sister did marry a human man, their future child would be half youkai. Interspecies couples like the Hatanakas could either have youkai genes from either parent, or they could be a new hybrid altogether. However, if a human and a youkai were to marry and conceive, it’s more straining for the mother if she’s human. Given how this topic cuts to Nyuudou when brought up, it’s foreshadowing something; I know what it is, but I’m not spoiling for anime-only people.

The ending was hilarious. First we had Yanagida finding the serious atmosphere awkward as he just learned about secrets he feels as if he shouldn’t hear them, so he grabs the fireworks and blows it up. Then, we have Hatanaka destroying Hijita because he didn’t do his homework. RIP, Hijita. You’ll be seen next episode.

Now that summer vacation has come to an end, there are seven episodes left. What will be shown for the last remaining episodes? If you’re a manga reader, do you have any predictions? Let me know your thoughts as well!