10 Second Anime - Junketsu no Maria - Episode 2

Junketsu no Maria - Episode 2



Maria's overt interference in the battles near her forest draw the attention and ire of the archangel Michael.

Heh.

Bonus points to any show dealing with the Catholic Church that actually uses "Yahweh" when talking about the Holy Father.

 

Oh man. Don't ever debate theology with an archangel. All of human history worshipping all sorts of gods, and Michael tells it like it is: "The prayers of people are not requests, nor are they commands. They are actions of this world, which the Heavens do not mediate." This reminds me of one of the great aphorisms of the Christian apologist C.S. Lewis - "Prayer does not change God. It changes me."

 

Hey, you think it's a coincidence that Maria's love interest is named Joseph? I don't think so. Also, the woman in the village who's known her the longest is named Martha. Martha was the sister of another Mary, who were both sisters to Lazarus. Also not a coincidence.

 

Hahaha! Maria is so innocent she has to make fuzzy clouds to hide Priapus' lack of genitalia. She's obviously taken lessons on censorship from the Japanese media. Artemis feels the frustration.



Maria doesn't want to hear about the "D!"

 

Artemis is a greek fertility goddess. Priapus is a minor fertility god, but what he's famous for is a huge constant erection. This where we get priapism from. All you viagra users, call your doctor... That's why it's even more hilarious for Priapus the Incubus to show up like a Ken doll!

 

The witches' magic portrayed here, jazzed up to Japanese standards, still follows Old World cues. Ingredients need to be thrown into a pot, or mixed, or burned. But after all that, then you get your flashy magic girl sequence.



I love how gritty and practical this show treats medieval sexuality. Artemis notices there's a lot more homosexuality going on, it's a trend, so they need to get an incubus to handle that workload. Enter Priapus. Heh. Also, good job on showing homosexuality and fetishized sex being prevalent among the clergy and the wealthy. This show isn't shying away from anything.

 

Speaking of practicality, Artemis is all for it. Instead of a rich lady they meet a rich man for Priapus' first job. Surprise!

 



Hey, that guy likes men and little girls. Artemis thinks it's time to just roll with it.

 



Perhaps Maria can make Priapus a more "complete" incubus now.

 

Aw, Maria tries to play it cool, but she's not very good at hiding the fact she basically pulled a dragon out of a bucket to keep Joseph from being harmed in battle.

 



Yeah right she didn't "totally" know that Joseph was there too.

 

I liked Michael's three halo effect.

 



I wonder if it's referring to the Trinity.

 

 

Geh.

Artemis continues to impress.

 



Respect the tools of the trade!

 

Plus, she dispenses with preambles when work needs to get done.

 



Hey, when people are good to go, it's good to get going.

 

 

Hmm.

One of the most tiresome questions of post-modernity is "Why does God let bad things happen?" That's the cry of a child or an atheist trying to win an argument. The answer, which Michael puts eloquently is Natural Law. He lists to Maria all the "bad" things happening to people at that very moment and asks if she is going to save all those people. Of course, that's impossible. But Natural Law also applies to the animals, plants, everything. Those things are always killing each other, rotting, eroding. Those are "bad" things happening to those "lesser" creations too. Is Maria going to save those things as well? Of course not. Which is Michael's point - these "bad" things are only so because you don't like them, which is also a part of Natural Law.

 

People, in a sense, have it worse than the animals, plants and rocks, because they have the awareness of their mortality. It's not that "bad" things happen. It's just things happen. People are different too because they have Agency and Intent for their actions. These are also things that just happen. The bookend to the question "Why does God let bad things happen?" is "Why doesn't He do something about them?" The answer is He did. He made you. Now you do something about it.

 

At this point, this where the angels get into trouble for trying to preserve Natural Order. Maria's actions, using magic to summon old gods and demons, is deemed outside of Order. But according to whom? A witch and her powers are as much a creation of God as the rest of the people are. That this power is easily abused is no response since other people's Agency and Intent have made swords and bows to do bad things too. Why are the angels drawing the line at magic instead of metalwork? That's a nice wrinkle to throw into the morality debate.

 

We got a nice cliffhanger here, because Joseph just shot an arrow into Michael. What's the Natural Order of things now? Obviously Maria doesn't die, because we're introduced to a new familiar, named after the Prophet Ezekiel. What's going to be her deal?