10 Second Anime - Musaigen no Phantom World - Episode 11

Haruhiko mysteriously becomes a first grader. Mai looks after him while his colleagues figure out how to turn him back to normal.

Episode 11 - "Young Boy Haruhiko"

Heh.

This episode was such a tease! It's the first one without Ruru and Haruhiko having their little explanation set piece. Mai looked like she was in big trouble, even calling herself the Phantom Hunting Mom. All that grabbed my attention and then the episode started with Haruhiko messing around with the Device. And... then Haruhiko had his own personal episode. He was Girl of the Week, so to speak.

What helped make the episode fun was that it mainly centered around Mai. First grader Haruhiko is even more boring than regular Haruhiko, but at least he pushed Mai's buttons a lot quicker and more often.

Dat Koito Look.

The other girls didn't factor in so much with Mai carrying the load in caring for a 6 year old boy, but the Koito softening project continues.

There's something weird about the coloring of her eyes though. They look flatter than the other girls and the pupils don't seem to focus that well. Sometimes I could swear the animators are trying to portray her as blind. It could be that the red eye coloring doesn't work well with KyoAni's choice of eye style. I just notice Koito's eyes being a little off compared to everyone else's.

Dat Chibikko Haruhiko.

The mechanism behind Haruhiko's transformation back to his first grader self was pretty much the same as Reina's and Kurimi's enchantment to enter other worlds. The catalyst was a little essay he wrote describing his perfect Sunday with his parents, which was an unfulfilled wish on his part. I doubt the Device played any part in it. He was soldering connectors to it, so it was apparently still not working.

I found it interesting that Ruru first hit upon the idea of making him wish to be a grownup to break the ensorcellment. Of course, she went straight to his preferred lad mags, but it ended up that to make him really wish to grow was not just boobs, but to protect certain big boobs. Sorry, Reina. That Mai-Haruhiko ship has already left port.

Shosuke, the best friend side character, had a nice comical jealous moment. All the attention the girls were giving adorable Haruhiko made him realize he was in the Springtime of his Youth!

My favorite part of the cheek squishing was how Ruru was also squishing his cheeks from afar. Hee!

There were some nagging inconsistencies in dealing with Haruhiko's transformation. First, he woke up late, which was used as a clue that he was a young version of himself, not just made to look younger with his memories intact. He wondered why the housemaid didn't wake him up. But normally, Ruru wakes him up. So, why didn't she wake him up this particular morning?

We got a nice tidbit that Ruru met him in Middle School, so Haruhiko didn't know her. He must have met Mai later too.

The other thing was Mai spending her money to take care of Haruhiko while he stayed with her in her school apartment. Well, who pays for Haruhiko's stuff normally? Why didn't they just use his family credit card or whatever? Ah well. I'm sure it was just to get those funny scenes of Mai acting like a single mom.

Mai and Haruhiko the Odd Couple.

As soon as Haruhiko made his Kafka Metamorphosis comment which Mai didn't get and then she gave him a noogie, I knew that their relationship was exactly the same no matter the age difference.

Haruhiko sitting in the shopping cart grabbing snacks gave me some chuckles.

Dat Mai Single Mom Fanservice.

Ironically, with Mai playing the role of the mother who left Haruhiko, she actually prolonged his enchantment. Why would he want to grow up if he can hang around a beautiful Big Sister type who cooks, cleans, tickles and goes to the playground with him? Well, she won't write cutesy things on his rice omelet, but that's a small compromise for everything else.

I appreciate the humorous setup for this episode too. In place of Haruhiko's prologue, we had a dramatic battle intro and it turned out it was all because a cat used the sandbox as kitty litter. Hey, I'm with the sand phantom. Cat pee is disgusting!

Little Mai was adorable! But we also know that she liked to beat up young phantoms too.

Cannot Be Unseen.

Little Haruhiko wanted to grow up fast to protect Mai's big boobs, or something like that, which broke his wish fulfillment spell and most of his first grade size clothes. Modesty would always leave him with his underoos, but I loved that they made a stray joke out of how small they were when teenage Haruhiko found himself in them.

Even better, Mai and Cthulhu got roped into the joke! Haruhiko better take responsibility since Mai can't get married anymore...

So, what did we learn? Haruhiko has a broken home. Mai has a missing mother. Koito doesn't remember her family very well. Himeno-sensei did not entertain having Haruhiko come live with her for even one second. Oh, and we have two more episodes to actually deal with that Device. Will this fluffy show finally get some edges? The only continuity so far has been in the seasonal changes and the character development, but no overarching plot. The Device has been with the show a long time, so maybe they'll finally use it for something.