Sasami-san@ganbaranai Episode 2 Reactions

I’m probably not going to do this every episode but I feel a little bit obligated to react to it here. I think it’s nice to be able to hand your quiz in and get the answer back in a week. And looks like at least I passed. Perhaps better yet we ought to celebrate the anime sinking back to the realm of easy-to-understand.

It’s very casual how this episode drops in the information of how Sasami and Onii-chan are Amaterasu’s vessels at some different points in the timeline. It says nothing about the Imperial Regalia, besides that Shinbo puts Tsurugi in that down-shirt fanservice angle. Must be nice when you’re short. Oh so maniac. Tama on the other hand behaves almost like how a girl her age would. It’s probably the most dissonant thing about this show this week.  Also, how old was Sasami and Kagami 3 years ago? How old was Tama 3 years ago? It boggles me a little.

The one obvious, beat-over-the-head reference in episode 2 is the Yamata no Orochi. Others have remarked enough about it so I’ll just add my own 2c: “I guess despawning the boss doesn’t drop its loot.” The key takeaway is the ludicrousness of playing a game that’s essentially called “Devil Online” (or, as reality does it better, “Diablo“) and people are getting sucked into the game and getting stuck. Despite its great power all it wanted to do is to maintain the status quo. If that’s not some social crit on MMORPGs, then I don’t know what is.

It reminds me of the funny news articles on big nerd item release dates on how American productivity sinks.

The only other interesting thing is that Onii-chan gets sucked in, but where did he go? I guess it’s time to rewatch. Speaking of which, the way Sasami climbs into bed, and her bed, were great. This show is full of simple but deeply impacting scenes like this. I guess that’s why the ending visuals are the way they are.

PS. Laptops with a numpad can’t be that cheap.