May I Ask for One Final Thing?

Episode 8

Last week's dalliances with Scarlett's friends and family were perfectly pleasant, but they also had me feeling like this show was spinning its wheels a bit. This week, though, May I Ask for One Final Thing? is on Plot Stuff™ overdrive, cramming as many revelations, conflicts, and heaping gobs of lore as it can fit into a single episode. Is the result a little unwieldy? Sure, I won't deny that, but it's also the most exciting that the narrative has felt in some time, so I will happily endure some sloppy storytelling here and there.

We'll start with the first big item on the list, which is that there are actually two holy Dianist Saints, with Diana being the public-facing avatar of the goddess, while Scarlet herself is the second. This makes sense of how close Scarlet and Diana are, and it helps explain some of why Scarlet might be blessed with such ludicrous strength and skill (more on that later), but it sure does seem like an oddly major revelation for Scarlet to just casually drop as a detail of her larger plan to thwart Terenezza and the Palmians. Don't even get me started on how people who have known Scarlet her entire life - like her own brother! - could be entirely in the dark about Scarlet's incredibly important role in one of the world's premier institutions. It makes me think we're just a couple of seasons away from the industry producing a light novel series with a title like Holy Wars as the Cherry Blossoms Bloom: Gloria in Excel-Sis! My Adorable Little Sister That I Thought Was Just a Lazy Shut-In is Actually Next In Line to Be The Pope!?

(If any publishing agents are interested in capitalizing on all of my incredible light novel pitches, please feel free to hit me up on my socials.)

Still, for as oddly placed and presented as this crucial bit of backstory is, it helps the show to set up the long-awaited rematch between Scarlet and Terenezza, who is confirmed to be a former Japanese teenager who was killed and reincarnated to become the malicious avatar of the jealous, vengeful goddess, Palmia. The madwoman has set herself up as a proper RPG boss to be revolved with, complete with an army of vaguely Eastern European goons and a squad of underlings to serve as the requisite mini-bosses. It's a fun little flare-up of spectacle, even if we know that there's no way for the show to resolve things so quickly with another month of episodes left to go in the season. Once again, the English Dub is, in my opinion, the best way to experience the fun. There's just something so primally satisfying about hearing Morgan Lauré so gleefully spit out lines like, “Hello again, you bitch! What a fool I was not to flatten your face!”

That Scarlet once again fails to flatten said face of said bitch is only because she has found herself wrapped up in a truly cosmic conspiracy that even a woman of her caliber cannot simply punch her way out of. At least, not yet. Something I really appreciate about May I Ask… is that it's one of those isekai fantasy shows that actually seems interested in building the “other world” part of the formula that is so oddly neglected by the rest of the pack. The gods here have goals, relationships, and roles that are fleshed out enough to be interesting, even if they aren't terribly original. The back half of the episode is where we learn that Scarlet received the blessing of Chronos, a third god from the pantheon, as a baby. This, naturally, goes even further to explain why she can flagellate the laws of nature and reality like they were some pompous nobleman's hitherto untenderized ass-cheeks.

May I Ask for One Final Thing? is not the kind of ambitious project that will win awards for its novel and meticulous storytelling, but that's perfectly fine. In simply putting in the effort to make its worldbuilding, characters, and plot all at least “pretty good”, the show has ensured that the audience will stick around and have fun as Scarlett thrashes wretched aristocratic asses and knocks the teeth out of punk-ass villainesses and their would-be gods. That's all we can ask for.

Episode Rating:

May I Ask for One Final Thing? is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on BlueSky, his blog, and his podcast.