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Beheneko: The Elf-Girl's Cat is Secretly an S-Ranked Monster!
Episode 5

by MrAJCosplay,

How would you rate episode 5 of
Beheneko: The Elf-Girl's Cat is Secretly an S-Ranked Monster! ?
Community score: 3.8

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We went a whole episode without any blatant mentions of Aria wanting to do the nasty with her cat, but I guess that was an episode too many. I gave the show a lot of credit last week for at least being clever about how it incorporates that humor through Stella, and I will say that Stella is probably the most interesting character in the show thus far. Getting to see someone who lived their whole life as a primal animal get more integrated into a more civilized society has been interesting, and it's also nice to see how her instincts as an animal clash with this new body's instincts. I also think the banter between her and Tama is pretty funny, as they have a cheeky relationship that he isn't allowed to have with anybody else. I also like how Stella has too much pride to blackmail Tama into a physical relationship so his secret is safe and the two can continue to communicate with each other.

Compare that to Tama and Aria's relationship, which is wrong for many reasons and I end up getting whiplash when the episode ends with a traumatizing scenario. One minute we're making jokes about how everyone is just OK with being a harem to this cat, and then the next minute, we have Stella staring at her dead body in the face. I feel like the show is better when it's a bit more tongue-in-cheek rather than blatant with its humor and its character interactions. Even the way the lore gets integrated is surprisingly subtle. I thought it was a little bit convenient that there is a whole race of people out there that can manipulate dragon parts so that no one would get suspicious of Stella being able to use her dragon abilities. Then I thought people who can utilize those abilities were reincarnated dragons all along! While it is convenient, it also leaves larger lore implications.

I am very curious about what next week will look like because the show hasn't established a consistent tone and the most serious thing it's tried to explain is Aria's backstory, which still had a hint of silliness undermining it. Are we going to have an existential conversation next week about dealing with the trauma of your own death? Or are we getting more cat humor? I don't know, but I'm curious.

Rating:


AJ also streams regularly on Twitch as the indie Vtuber Bolts The Mechanic where they talk about and play retro media!


Beheneko: The Elf-Girl's Cat is Secretly an S-Ranked Monster! is currently streaming on HIDIVE on Saturdays.


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