The pros and cons – all in one.
We have another episode featuring more of the same. At this point, what else do you expect? Having been trained on the ecchi of the past I understand that many would be frustrated at the pace of this series, but as I said from the beginning, that is its nature. Again, it isn’t until much later that things pick up, even well beyond even the manga at this point. I struggle to fully define what this series is, but I would personally not call it an ecchi.
We start the episode at Alan’s place, directly from the end of episode 6. Michio is asked to protect the residents of the second floor.
Michio takes this opportunity to experiment with magic. A lone bandit fleeing from the fight provides the perfect opportunity for Michio to do so.
Michio casts a dangerous spell named “Equivalent Exchange” which brings his mana to dangerously low levels. Alan arrives and Michio fears he may realize what Michio is capable of (casting spells), but Alan is under the assumption that something else caused the mess.
Roxanne apologizes for her role in Michio’s current condition, that is, for requesting that Michio help Alan leading to his current state, exhausted from a lack of MP. Michio travels to the labyrinth to recover some MP.
Most of the remainder of this labyrinth excursion is Michio experimenting with his new mage spells. I will not paraphrase everything that Roxanne says here, so if you’d like to know more about magic in this universe, you’ll have to watch the episode.
The first instance of service in the episode, Michio imaging a naked Roxanne, or perhaps it’s a memory of a previous experience with her? But what prompts this bit from Michio? He intends to change his strategy to using primarily magic in combat out of a desire to protect Roxanne, who he values greatly. A good as time as any to think of an attractive naked girl. No, doing something like this wouldn’t distract you.
Michio and Roxanne encounter and defeat the second floor boss with ease. They decide to move onto the third floor where we’ll meet some new monsters.
This series can call these “kobolds” all they like but I refuse – these look far too much like goblins for me to accept any other name. Unfortunately, neither Michio nor Roxanne brought their club with them, so they’ll have to make do with other methods of extermination.
Michio is surprised that two different “kobolds” dropped two different items – one a knife, and the other salt.
A city named Quratar was mentioned earlier in the episode, but Michio is only now making an effort to travel there via teleportation to the Imperial City, which Quratar very closely borders. Much later down the line (not in the anime even with a season 2), we will see Michio and the rest of his harem return here to take care of some important business.
Michio returns from Quratar, exhasuted from MP use. Of course, the best solution to an exhausting day is to have a fun night with your female slave, which you’ll see just below. This is probably what most, if not all of you care to read or see. And like always, there isn’t much to explain here, so text will be minimal.
Unlike episode 5, this episode’s sex scene was simply reduced in scope, rather than almost removed entirely. There were a number of angles and perspectives that were not used which is disappointing.
Michio again feels anxious that living in an inn, others are nearby that could (and probably do) hear him. It is this desire for privacy that galvanizes Michio’s actions in the following episodes – a relocation to Quratar.
Michio is surprised to learn that there is an entry fee for Quratar’s labyrinth, and that it also located in the center of the city. Roxanne tells Michio he can bypass this fee using Warp, earning some praise from Michio in the process.
This brings us to the end of Chapter 23, and there is likely to be several other episodes that don’t cover 4 chapters, assuming my prediction that the anime will end at Chapter 37 is correct. It is also a worrying possibility that the next major service scene is reduced in scope just as these past two were (episode 5 and 7). I have my doubts though, as I do think it will deliver, but the precedent for its reduction is certainly there given what we’ve seen so far. Next episode will be telling as well, there is a good service scene, but who knows how that will turn out?
