Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Jahy-sama wa Kujikenai! - Episode 2 - 10 Second Anime

Jahy searches for crystals, she reunites with her former subordinate, Druj, and faces trials in the mountains.

Restoration Plan No. 2 – “Druj Asks No Questions!”

Hmm.

The Great Jahy used two storytelling devices to create a series of comedy gags and teach a moral lesson in a slice-of-life setting. The first device is a reversal of fortune. You can call it karma or an aphorism like “the greater the pride, the greater the fall.” Both describe how Jahy went from the big house to the doghouse. Druj, her faithful and masochistic servant, found herself living in luxury after she came to the human world. Druj went from groveling on the floor to living it up in a penthouse. How did it happen? We don’t know yet. Is it related to her accumulation of mana crystals? Perhaps. But we do know that Jahy’s pride still won’t let her ask her former assistant for help. Druj’s unreserved faith in her master’s abilities perversely motivated Jahy to continue living in squalor. That’s admirable too.

The second device The Great Jahy used is one we often see in slice-of-life anime: mirroring. The anime that uses this the most is Natsume’s Book of Friends (Natsume no Yuujinchou). The youkai friends often mistake him for his grandmother because of their similar smells and how the supernatural beings have a different sense of time. Yet Natsume will still act the same that mirrors how his grandmother befriended the youkai first. The mirroring serves to teach a universal lesson across time and generations in Natsume’s case. The Great Jahy used mirroring to span diverse groups of people.

In this week’s second half, Jahy faced hardships in the mountains while searching for mana crystals. At one low point, she found herself injured and stuck on the ground. She then saw a fallen crow hatchling in the same circumstance. After rescuing the baby bird and putting it back in its nest, Jahy received a reward in retrieving her lost necklace and an even larger mana crystal piece. The mirroring wasn’t over yet.

After falling and thinking she would not make it off the mountain, the Landlady found her and carried her home. Jahy was now the baby bird who accepted help. The lesson here wasn’t that helping the baby bird gave Jahy the material reward of her possessions. It was that by helping others, others would help her too. When did The Great Jahy become slice-of-life healing anime? There’s more to this show than sexy dark-skinned demon fanservice.

Heh.

It’s hot in Japan. What else is new? Soaking in red wine must have regulated body temperature wonderfully. Ha! Look at the little sweat body Jahy made on her cushion. Oh good. The little demon has a magic way of finding other crystals using a map. Gems in the human world are expensive! Hoh! This rich, beautiful lady recognized Jahy! It’s Druj, the demon commander’s maid, punching bag, demon bench. The demon commander was not a pleasant lady in hell. Well, a sadist is a masochist’s best friend, so I won’t be kink-shaming.

In the human world, Druj has been on her own. Successfully too! Jahy is the first one she reconnected with. It’s clear that the demon commander relied on her subordinates for everything and was soft in the head to boot. It’s not a surprise she failed at her mission of protecting the Dark Realm’s mana crystal when confronted directly. People fail upward in all bureaucracies... So many jokes about how untalented the formerly powerful demoness is. So many jokes about how Druj imagines ways to save the demoness’s pride. Druj is a good girl. I like her. I have questions about why she needs to buy gemstones, though.

Jahy’s pride will not allow her to buy overpriced coffee! She will enjoy a café’s air conditioning. Hoh, that crème brûlée looks good. The demon commander has too much pride to insist on a taste. Druj has a brilliant imagination to put her master in a favorable light. The master’s creativity to justify her poor living conditions is nonexistent. Poor girl. Literally.

Oops. The next time Jahy searches for mana crystals, she ends up at Druj’s penthouse apartment. Even more jokes about human luxury that the demon girl never imagined. She’ll come in for ice cream, though. Druj’s furniture matches the comforts of the demon palace in the Dark Realm. That’s some inverse fortune happening here. Har. Druj says Jahy’s apartment building looks like the hellhound kennels back home. The little dark demon is figuratively living in the doghouse! Hee. Roombas are human cleaning familiars. That’s not wrong! Guh. The envious demon girl lays a demon guilt trip on Druj. Envy is one of the seven deadly sins, you know. The little demon girl can’t even steal crystals properly. So much pride is falling here.

The Great Jahy decided she needed to salvage her pride by collecting more mana crystals than Druj. It’s time for a mountain expedition! I’m impressed. The little demon girl saved up money to buy gear and provisions for a big hike. And she became lost, a crow stole her only mana crystal, all her things fell down the mountain, and it began to rain. Then she fell and injured herself. Is this the end for the Great Jahy?

She has no one to save her, but she can rescue a pitiable crow chick. They’re in the same circumstances. Look at that! She helped the baby bird, and she got her necklace back! Plus, that large mana crystal she was searching for. Jahy still has misfortune, though. She’s hanging from a branch. Who will save her now? Ah. Landlady? The little demon girl fell so far down the mountain she’s right behind her apartment building. Landlady will carry the lost child back to her nest too. She lost all her gear and much of her pride, but she found a huge chunk of the mana crystal. Will the Great Jahy accept her victory? Of course not!

We got the entire ending credit sequence this time. We didn’t miss much. Next time, the Great Jahy swallows her great pride. Maybe?

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