Shonen Beam

[scanlation by Red Hawk Scanlations]

Oh, it’s that one Gokult lady again. I would like to see more of Haqua’s partner. As an old-school dating-sim buff, the concept of a buddy who operates on the town-map system of the 90s is immensely promising. That said, Gokult lady will likely stay as a side character for a while yet.

Just as Elsee is taking Kanon’s place using a magic disguise, Haqua now is using magic to disguise herself as Elsee. Now all we need is Kanon to sub in for Haqua once this whole cursed dagger thing clears up, and the cycle will be complete.

Not that it would ever fool these eyes

Haqua wastes no time getting tsundere on Keima. That routine could do with a little more variety, but I think that them being partners for the duration of the arc is a good opportunity to take the chemistry beyond that of a standard tsundere relationship.

The logic behind deducing where the other goddesses are is vintage Keima. It still seems he has some deeper reason as well, but he continues to cite games as his number one precedent for pattern-recognition. Good to know that part of him is still as strong as ever.

Kanon’s public confession seems to have had wide-ranging consequences. Now the whole school knows, and the fans are raging. Fortunately, Keima seems to have integrated even this into his grand master plan.

Possibly the lamest protest group ever

We’ve been getting really mixed signals from Chihiro. She’s been ambiguous about remembering things whenever asked directly, but her actions, both passively and now actively taking an interest in Keima, suggest she does remember. I would not mind her being a significant cast member at all. That said, hopefully the ambiguous “Does she remember me or not?” teases will all be settled by the end of the dance festival.

Haqua is definitely a more interesting sounding board for Keima’s explanations than Elsee. The exposition of Keima’s plan was made way funnier by her deadpan comments afterward. This is the kind of chemistry I was hoping for.

The makings of a perfect partnership

Ayumi seems to be acting more aggressively towards Keima as well. She is another prominent and enjoyable character, but her and Chihiro both having goddesses would be a bit of a reach. It would be kind of lazy, just going with characters who have gotten the most post-conquest screen time, and would leave little room for potentially interesting but less prominent characters to play a role.

Keima’s final internal monologue of the chapter is yet another bold statement, but it differentiates itself from other similar statements made in the past in that it’s made with him lying upside down against the wall. Classic.

Final Flash: This chapter had some decently entertaining moments, and did its part to advance the arc forward.