The promised day is almost here.
What you’re probably waiting for is next week’s episode, but first we must review the context in which Roxanne is acquired, which happens to be the plot of this episode.
Michio ponders the danger of his plan- he will not have the benefit of a group of allies to help distract his enemies. Michio shuffles his classes and decides on his best setup before sleeping for the night.
Michio scouts out the slums for any bandits. Even with his identify skill he cannot find them, and speculates that they are being cautious and don’t emerge during the day. The stench is overpowering and Michio decides he will return at night.
At a second glance, the redhead in the middle looks a bit like an aged up Asuka with bigger tits.
The ladies of the night in this red light district do their best to attract customers. But just as the villager that escorted Michio said in episode 01, he should avoid these girls, probably because they are infested with disease. One of the major benefits Alan mentions about Roxanne is that she’s a virgin, so there’s no chance of contracting a sexually transmitted disease. Michio demonstrates an almost exclusive preference for virgins as the series progresses regardless.
With his identify skill, Michio spots a bandit hanging around the Red Light district and begins to tail him. What ensues is an almost Scooby Doo tier stalking sequence. I understand that every viewer must sacrifice some degree of reasoning, but this does look a bit silly.
Michio follows the bandit and eventually spots a number of lookouts guarding a house. Michio reasons that this must be their hideout. He also overhears and interesting conversation that leads him to believe that the bandits here could be affiliated with the bandits that attacked the village in episode 01. He decides to back down for today and investigate this lead further.
Michio acquires this information from the innkeeper, who also gives him some free food. This man will help Michio in a very significant way in the next episode.
I wanted to make a stitch of Roxanne stretched out on the bed, but she shifts her body too much during the panning. This imagination scene of Michio with Roxanne is expanded on significantly in this episode. I don’t expect to be blown away with minutes of extra content when the sex scenes begin, but the way the panels progress in the manga (at least for the first sex scene) leaves out quite a bit of “in between” that is improved in later chapters, especially one of the most recent chapters with Sherry. Maybe the anime will expand upon this pivotal scene in the next episode.
Michio approaches the bandit lookout and offers an exchange: his thief bandana for some information. The bandit mistakenly assumes that Michio is unarmed and accepts, thinking that it would be easy to rob and kill him.
Michio suspects the bandit’s motives after he glances at Michio’s waist. After a failed charge from the bandit, Michio kills him quickly.
Michio spots some sleeping bandits in the next room over. He will soon make short work of them all.
This female bandit is definitely much more slim in the manga. For some reason, they decided to make her quite muscular in the anime. Perhaps they wanted to show the viewers that she is clearly a bandit, that this big and muscular frame is needed to be able to rob and kill grown men.
I normally try to keep the image sequencing for my posts as linear and sensible as possible. These last few may confuse you with how jumbled they are, and that’s because I cut out a number of shots featuring the fat, ugly bastard tier bandit above. If you really want to see his ass and dickless crotch that badly, go watch he episode. But for the purpose of understanding, the ruckus of Michio’s fighting wakes this bandit and he grabs his sword. Michio waits for him to open the door and immediately impales him.
Michio teleports out after realizing other bandits have been stirred by the commotion.
After a night of risking his life yet again, Michio resigns himself for the night- content at least in having done all he possibly could to get the money he needs.
Michio reports his bandit cards for a bounty. He was initially anxious that the knights would be suspicious of a new guy in town that looks different was going around killing bandits, but he is paid after their cards are confirmed. After counting the amount of money the knights gave him, Michio is ecstatic, as he now has enough money to buy Roxanne.
The lack of webm’s here is mostly due to a lack of interesting movement from Roxanne. It’s mostly restricted to simple bows and shifting the weight of her body. And no, the bows do not lead to any jiggle. The cost of that animation was likely spent on later episodes and more important scenes.
As for the story, Michio arrives at Alan’s business, and per their agreement, Roxanne is sold to Michio. Michio is worried at the somber look Roxanne has when he arrives, but learns that it was simply that Roxanne doubted once that Michio would truly return for her, which she apologizes for.
Hyoujuu Issei’s art is truly magnificent and perfect for this series. I hate to mention anything that might seem like a complaint but I don’t think the anime is doing as good of a job of showing Roxanne’s anxiousness in the early chapters, through neither posture or facial expression. This is important to characterize her, and to make her growth as demonstrated in the later chapters more significant. The panel above demonstrates this perfectly- just compare Roxanne here to Roxanne in later chapters, when she grows accustomed to Michio. Perhaps this will be fixed with the blu-ray release.
These early episodes of pre-Roxanne ownership are now over. Now we enter a new phase of the story, which as I mentioned before is a looping sequence of labyrinth exploration, sex with Roxanne at home, and some occasional side bits, such as Michio going out into the city with Roxanne for whatever reason. Some of these bits are significant for this site, such as the creation of the bath which leads to a few great scenes. Your potential long term enjoyment of this series will be tested before the end of this anime, I guarantee it. The glory of this is that you will answer this question yourself: how often can you be exposed to the same context before you grow weary, even if it’s something you enjoy? Eat your favorite food too often, or listen to your favorite song all day every day, and see how long it takes before you get tired of it.
More on the series itself though, soon we will see the next episode’s PV which might indicate how far the ATX broadcast intends to go. I predict the spiciest bits will be hidden behind the blu-ray release, but we should probably get at least the foreplay. There is also the possibility that the sex itself may not be too well animated, or even animated at all. There is precedent with this- Ishuzoku Reviewers, whatever you think of it, did have minimal to no movement during the actual sex bits. Be prepared for the possibility this happens with Meikyuu as well. One thing I noticed also is that the animation and stills are beginning to degrade in quality. The amount of time spent on particular animations and sequences is probably planned well in advance, so next episode will be very telling- how much did they budget on the actual sex bits? We will see next week.
