Episode 03: “Shibuya Yuuri! I am the Maou!”
Although this episode contains less fangirling/fanboying opportunities than the episodes that kickstarted the series, it’s my opinion that it is this episode the message of the series is set out. We’re shown here what has been hinted at in earlier episodes, Yuuri’s determination to show pacifism and kindness to his enemies and his aversion to the principle of war.
Disclaimer: I have tried to be impartial towards pairings in my piece, and as far as I can tell, I have been. All opinions and interpretations expressed are for the purposes of discussion and/or humour. Feel free to disagree with me or argue counterpoints to my arguments. Also, I cannot guarantee that there are no ‘general’ spoilers such as statements like “this theme continues throughout the series”.
Episode Summary
Yuuri discovers that Conrad has gone to the border as a human village is in trouble and together he and Wolfram escape from Gunter’s careful watch to head into the battle field. Once there, they are immediately intercepted by Adelbert who has set up an anti-magic field, rendering Wolfram and his guard unable to move.
Adelbert then proceeds to goad Yuuri and Wolfram (see quotes below) and explains the situation to Yuuri; that humans are attacking the town, not mazoku. After handing himself over to save Wolfram, Yuuri tells Adelbert that he’s decided to be on the Mazoku’s “team” and, because of that, Adelbert decides that Yuuri has to die. He attacks Yuuri with the intent to kill, but Kohi (the animated flying skeleton) gets in the way, preventing the attack.
At that moment Conrad arrives and Adelbert flees, leaving Conrad and Yuuri to embrace before Wolfram comes back. He seems in a bad mood, probably because he caught his fiancé cuddling another man. After that Yuuri tries to dig a grave for Kohi, but then discovers that the skeleton is still alive and just needs to be put back together.
The second half of the episode introduces the medic, Gisela (see New Characters section). When Yuuri tries to help her in the medical tent, he is turned away by the injured human there and so he goes to talk to Wolfram and Conrad who are watching the countryside.
After Yuuri has finished musing about the nature of the wards in Shin Makoku, Gwendal arrives with the mastermind of the attack on the village. Gwendal’s intent is to hand the man over to the village for justice, which it is implied is execution. Yuuri jumps between the accused and the villages to prevent them from killing him.
When Yuuri hears Wolfram and Gwendal talking about how the attack might mean that they can declare war on the humans, he begins to lose control of his emotions. It is then that Yuuri announces that, to prevent war, he will become Maou.
His declaration leads to him being attacked by an angry human who takes him hostage. Gwendal offers his horse, which confuses everyone, until the horse throws Yuuri as he tries to get on it (as was Gwendal’s intention), giving a young boy enough time to startle the hostage taker and for him to be taken away by the guards.
The boy is injured and his innocent request to play baseball with Yuuri causes Yuuri to bring forth his inner power to make it rain and put out the flames in the village.
There is a cut back to the castle now, where we see Yuuri’s coronation. As he puts his hand in the fountain, as per tradition, he gets sucked in. On the way through he loses his belt as Gunter grabs it to try to pull him out of the water. Back on Earth, Murata Ken is there with a police officer. Yuuri’s trousers are open to reveal his g-string and he has the cords of his cloak from his coronation to prove it wasn’t just a crazy dream.
The episode fades out with Yuuri musing that the ‘game’ hadn’t been ‘reset’ yet.
New Characters Introduced
Gisela
A medic for the Mazoku and is shown to be determined but kind-hearted throughout the series. She appears more, later in the series but for spoiler reasons, I’m not going to reveal more about her character. She’s voiced by Taguchi Hiroko.
Wolfram’s Royal Guard
These aren’t named but they’re all pretty boy magic users, like Wolfram himself. Really, there’s something incredibly homoerotic about the whole thing in my opinion, that Wolfram would only surround himself with pretty young men, but then, I’ve never put a regiment together and if I did, I’d probably choose to do the same. They all seem to be incredibly devoted to him, perhaps showing that Wolfram is a good leader.
Themes of the Episode
Peace and War: Yuuri, an extreme pacifist, is in this episode having to deal with a reality he’s never had to confront before. We’re sure that Yuuri has heard of wars on the television, he will have even studied them. His anti-war attitude is probably echoed in many Japanese people, who still have the memory of Hiroshima fairly fresh in their minds.
When Yuuri is confronted with the idea of humans killing humans he can’t comprehend it. He says that he could understand if Mazoku did it, but not humans. This in itself can be interesting. Yuuri here implies that he could understand war and murder if, say, people like Wolfram were doing it, whose hatred of humans in this part of the series is still fairly pronounced. However, because it is humans and not human-hating Mazoku, he finds it unforgivable. This double standard is explained by Yuuri as “like dogs and monkeys, snakes and mongooses, but that’s because they were born different”. Yuuri can accept the idea that destiny or jealousy of others powers can separate races, but not simple politics. Later, Yuuri simply finds all types of violence between people distasteful and often it will cause the Maou to appear.
Acceptance/Assuming of an Identity: In this episode Yuuri agrees to be the Maou to prevent war and bloodshed. He ‘takes on’ the identity of Maou, regardless of the lack of transformation in this episode. His orders and words are already being taken as though he is Maou before this and he is referred to as ‘heika’ by the majority of characters including Conrad and Gisela (the Japanese equivalent of ‘your majesty’ which literally translated means ‘Enlightened One’). It should be noted that Wolfram and Gwendal do not refer to him that way, Wolfram using his name (he is his fiancé after all) and Gwendal referring only to Yuuri by the title ‘gaijin’ which means ‘outsider’.
Yuuri, up until this point, has been completely unwilling to become leader of Shin Makoku and because of this, the less accepting of the two brothers have refused to acknowledge him as leader. Wolfram and Gwendal don’t even consent him when they discuss the pros and cons of declaring war.
By taking on the identity of Maou, Yuuri has the right to overrule Gwendal and Wolfram. Later he regrets his decision, but by then it is too late as Yuuri’s identity is now almost synonymous with that of the Maou.
Quotes
“These guys need a sacrifice. They will set you on the throne, just so they can have a figurehead to help run the country. You are a normal human. That is why the magical seal doesn’t work on you.” (Adelbert, 5.23-5.33.)
“Isn’t this what you always say? ‘What can humans do? We can’t let the humans rise up against us.’ Do you know who torched that village? Humans did!” (Adelbert, 6.08-6.19)
“I finally understand the feeling of embracing another guy.” (Yuuri, 10.15)
Yuuri: “Why do they do this? I thought they would be Mazoku who hated humans.”
Wolfram: “Why would we do that? This is our land. Burning it would ruin the land. Not to mention the forest.”
Yuuri: “It’s not that I don’t understand that humans and Mazoku are natural enemies. How do I say it… Like dogs and monkeys, snakes and mongooses; but that’s because they were born different. Why would humans fight each other?”
Conrad: “Then are you saying that there are no conflicts on Earth?”
(13.20-14.00)
Yuuri: “You asked me if there were conflicts on Earth too.”
Conrad: “Yes.”
Yuuri: “There are. But you know, there always was someone trying to stop it. Even if they’re fighting, everyone wants peace. So how about you guys? Just wait until you can declare it a war?”
Gwendal: “Hold your tongue, Outsider. If you don’t intend to lead our country, then stop talking. I have responsibility to protect New Makoku. I don’t know about your country, but we, the Mazoku, have our own way of dealing with things.”
Yuuri: “Then… Then I’ll change it. I’ll change the way of the Mazoku. I’ll become the Maou!”
(16.33-17.23)
Screenshot folder (99): http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3AHJQOGN
Although I have embedded some into my post, these are just ones I took. Generally I took a cap every time a new character or expression was shown. They aren’t from the raw episodes so there are subtitles on them. I uploaded to MegaUpload, but tell me if the link breaks and I will upload them again.
Next episode is parsnip_chan
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