The first dud, and not the last.
While some of you may bemoan the lack of service in this episode, it will be a good test for all you watchers: if you do not like what happened in this episode and how the series is proceeding so far, this series might not be for you. I’ll explain in further detail below, but for now, let’s take a look at the OP. I wanted to wait for next episode, as I predict there will be little to no service as well, but my hand is forced here considering what they did at the beginning of the episode.
I somehow missed this when I watched the first episode. I only thought to reduce the highlights for these caps when I saw the lines around Roxanne’s crotch. This led to a nice surprise after some brief editing. Only Roxanne seems to have been given a panning shot, leading to the above stitch.
I suspect the line art here was done by the manga artist, Hyouju Issei, but I could be wrong. There are a number of similarities: the skin folds, the ones found where the breasts and underarms meet, particularly in perspective shots/poses where they’d be mushed together, bear a strong resemblance to the ones found in the manga, the sharp chins with a slight curve to the side the face is rotated towards look similar as well, as do the gaps in the outlines of the breasts (mostly with Roxanne).
I was very surprised when I saw the OP included the entirety of his harem. 3 of these characters have not even been seen yet in the manga. I had initially suspected this was done for two reasons, one to address the question on viewer’s minds: where exactly is this harem? If all of the first season is just Roxanne, and two to attract watchers into buying the additional material, namely the LN and manga. Something like “here’s all the girls you’re missing out on!”
Here are their names, though the cat’s out of the bag given that they’ve all been revealed on the main site.
Vesta
Miria, who is next to be purchased in the manga
Sherry
Rutina
And obviously you’ve all seen Roxanne at this point
The OP had some nice shots of Roxanne’s butt as well, and some action sequences.
I know I said I wouldn’t reference the other adaptations in this review series, but this scene is not present in the manga. It’s a what-if scenario out of the Light Novel, in which Michio has sex (and a son) with a widow, who lost her husband in the battle in the previous episode. I suspect they included this so they could show off the rest of the harem members, as nearly all of episode 01 was directly manga based. Given what some of the VA’s and the official twitter account have said, there could be more of these scenes down the line.
Also, something I find very amusing in this scene is the amount of time that Vesta’s face is cropped out of frame. Her absolutely massive mammaries are appreciated by Michio, and while she is quite tall, it seems the studio could hardly be bothered with including all of her in the shot and instead reduced her to the most easily observable quality.
Michio thinks back to his conversation with Alan about the labyrinth, and earning money in general. This is the conversation that was missing from episode 01, just before the end of the episode.
Seeking bounties on criminals carries significant risk, so Michio decides to explore the labyrinth for now.
Michio follows the lead of some other adventurers and enters the labyrinth- barring the OP, this is the first look we get of it ourselves. There won’t be much text when I describe these battles, as the visuals mostly speak for themselves.
Slaying this monster earns Michio a drop. This is one way, and Michio’s only way at the moment, that money is earned from the labyrinth.
The amount of money earned in Michio’s labyrinth trip is a pittance, and nowhere near enough to buy Roxanne in time. Michio decides he’ll spend more time in the labyrinth tomorrow.
The realization begins to sink in that unless he changes his strategy, he will not earn enough money in time for Roxanne. Just as he considers advancing to the next level of the labyrinth, he comes upon a secret room that turns out to contain a large number of monsters.
Michio survives the battle using the incredible powers of his sword. This blade will continue to serve him well.
This is the second panning shot of a white fade-in and fade-out of Roxanne. This makes stitch-making a bit annoying, as I cannot include the entirety of Roxanne here without the entire stitch being overexposed to hell.
Michio exits the labyrinth and comes across a crowd surrounding a bandit’s corpse. Having just risked his life in the labyrinth for an amount of money that isn’t anywhere close to what he needs, Michio walks away, deciding that his new strategy is to go bandit hunting.
This is the end of Chapter 6. I had suspected that they may have cut this episode short, given that the pace of 4 chapters per episode is unsustainable if they are to leave Sherry as a teaser for season 2. I assume next episode will end at Chapter 8. That would mean that unfortunately, there will be little to no service in the next episode as well. There will be a brief moment where we see the aftermath of some bandits that had recently had sex, as well as a nude female bandit. This may be more attractive to guro fans however, as she is quickly butchered rather brutally by Michio. I suspect the first sex scene will be pushed back to episode 6 at this pace, but I also suspect that same scene and others like it will be BD exclusives. We could very well get some fade to black action in the coming weeks.
This story cycle will remain in this series for quite some time, even throughout a season 2 (if there is one). That is: a trip to the labyrinth, and some scenes at home with Roxanne, occasionally sprinkled throughout are trips to stores where we get some interesting bits about the world, or whatever the characters are discussing at the time. Again, if this sounds boring to you, then this series probably is not for you. Eventually, the Light Novel and Web Novel both greatly expand on the worldbuilding, and we see more characters beyond Michio and his harem, but given the current pace of the manga, it is far from this point. Seek the LN and WN out if you wish, but do remember that if you’re here for the ero, it is exclusive (at least for now) to the manga. Whether you’re here next week or not, I will be, and every week beyond- until next time.
