Heion Sedai no Idaten-tachi continues to put me in mind of Nekogami Yaoyorozu in terms of casting.  Somehow it’s a series with a presumably modest budget (though it doesn’t look excessively cheap) that manages to have a ridiculously heavyweight cast, even in smaller roles.  Empress Brandy’s kids showed up for the first time this week, and while I couldn’t peg who the daughter was, the sons are played by Kimura Ryouhei and Han Megumi.  Brandy may yet turn out to be a major character but the kids?  Well, I suppose it’s slightly hinted at.

Idaten is definitely weirder than Nekogami.  In fact I’m pretty sure it’s the weirdest show I’m watching, though Sonny Boy is too in a different way.  Ysley is a real puzzle – you aren’t even sure if he’s the protagonist (I’m not actually sure Idaten has one) or antagonist.  Why did he refuse to give Paula and credit for her guess about Obami basically being right?  Does he not want her to get a swelled head, or to feel she can challenge him as an intellectual authority?  Paula seems like the closest thing to a friend Ysely has.

Obami being a demon-created Idaten – with the twist that it was the dying thoughts of the sealed demons and the intellect of the Idaten who sealed them that birthed him – is an interesting development.  Obami later says that he himself isn’t sure what he is, and I think he was telling Miku the truth.  Speaking of Miku she’s one hell of a piece of work, getting so lathered up dreaming about torturing Corey-kun that she has to go to the ladies room with her best friend and take care of some business before she can re-focus on what’s happened to Piscalet and her group.  Female masturbation – much less with props – is certainly not something you see openly acknowledged in mainstream anime very often.

Meanwhile there remains a major focus on powering up Hayato, who in his current form is too weak to take down either Piscalet or Neput one-on-one.  Prontea focuses on weight, something Paula is very good at – as in, using her powers to defy the laws of physics.  Ysely’s estimation is that Hayato can’t possibly master this soon enough for it to be any help in the current struggle – which begs the question of why Prontea is having Hayato do it in the first place.  But to everyone’s surprise including his own Hayato masters the skill quickly, leading Prontea to wonder whether he’s a prodigy.  Maybe he could outstrip Rin, given enough time.

Miku has pretty much deduced what’s happened to Piscalet’s team, which prompts Brandy to summon her three children – the only three she actually birthed herself – and order them to flee Zoble.  Yes, it’s another case of a demon behaving in a very human manner, and it reinforces the impression that the demons in this series are more relatable than the Idaten are.  I still don’t know where this story is going (especially now that some sort of religious cult is being drawn into the mix by Ysley), but I don’t think rooting interests are going to clear cut anytime soon.