The Demon Girl Next Door Season 2

Episode 9

Dark Peach has returned! While the reappearance of our (and Shamiko's) favorite Momo Variant is undoubtedly a welcome one, it isn't actually great news for the magical girl herself, since the unchecked levels of magic power she expends in Dark Mode are enough to drain her energy completely. Thus, the first half of "Pitch-Black Feelings!! Darkness Peach Returns!!" is devoted to the girls' madcap scramble to save Momo from her own dark side before she's nothing but a hollow core.

It's “high stakes” insofar as a Demon Girl Next Door story goes, but don't go thinking that the order of the day still isn't for supremely ridiculous shenanigans. Whether it's Mikan having to shoot her friend point blank (again) first thing in the morning, or Ogura stopping by to inject some of her trademark bizarro energy into the plot, this episode doesn't stop to take itself seriously for even one second (and that's a good thing). The best example of the week has to be Shamiko stopping dead in her tracks, knowing full well how serious things are, because she physically cannot stop herself from yanking on the strings that may or may not be holding Momo's skirt and underwear up. Between that and literally begging Momo for the chance to rub her exposed belly, this is Shamiko at her goofiest and her gayest.

So it comes as no surprise that the solution to Momo's existential crisis is fully rooted in her “friendship” woes (read: Lesbian Angst). It turns out that all of Momo's darkness was borne from her being mad at how she went and did all of that homework ahead of time and still didn't get to eat Shamiko's bento box as a reward. It's even less surprising (but no less satisfying) when Shamiko saves the day by offering Momo a taste of the original, more “homely”-looking practice bento she made last week. What's that? Did I make audible and embarrassing “dawwww” noises as a result of all of this cuteness? Yes. Yes I did.

And that was just part one! The other main story of the week sees Shamiko and Momo venturing out to see if Sakura's hitherto undiscovered Magical Girl Hot Spring can prevent Momo from unexpectedly transforming into Dark Peach again. While I'd argue that the previous sketch wins out when it comes to the adorability factor, this hot springs adventure might be the funniest part of "Pitch-Black Feelings!! Darkness Peach Returns!!" I was even laughing at Ogura's antics here, which is a good sign indeed, and Sakura manages to score even more giggles from the not-quite-grave with the letter she left warning away any would-be visitors of her hidden springs. She left a bunch of traps and familiars to fight, you see, mostly because it was funny, and besides, they're all comically non-lethal by design.

All in all, this is yet another rock-solid episode of The Demon Girl Next Door. We've got laughs, we've got romance, and the show is continuing to build on the ramifications of Shamiko and Momo's Bogus Journey from the mid-season finale. We even get to revel in three different magical girl transformation cuts, and Shamiko scores her first-ever victory against a completely harmless and ridiculously easy familiar! That's good eating, as any fan of the show will tell you, and I remain ever so grateful that TDGND continues to dish out such satisfying entrees for us to dine on, week after week.

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The Demon Girl Next Door Season 2 is currently streaming on HIDIVE.

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