I liked the premiere of Helck well enough, but the second episode definitely entertained me more.  And there seems to be a general consensus that I dropped the manga too soon (it was still mostly in gag-driven mode) to see why it became so highly rated.  So I have a fairly generous sense of optimism that it will win me over in the end, even if for now it would still fall somewhere in the bubble category.  Talk to me in a week or two and I might feel differently.

The anime is going to run 24 episodes, and while that’s not a lot to adapt 12 volumes, it should be plenty to at least get to the “good parts”.  These early parts are pretty good too, even if the joke more or less keeps repeating itself.  It’s Hon coming up with schemes to thwart Helck, Helck being awesome and blowing them out of the water, and Vermillio doing (not always) metaphorical spit-takes in response.  It’s the same joke but at least it’s a good one.  And with the anime it has a legendary group of seiyuu enjoying the process of executing it.

Hon’s latest stratagem is to make the final qualifying event a horse (well, steed) race and stick Helck with a patently inferior ride.  Even in the manga I knew exactly where this gag was headed, but to be fair Helck was obviously not going for surprise much at this point.  Helck’s status as an under-bro extends to beasts too, and he expresses great sympathy for the house cat (or whatever that is) he’s been stuck with.  He effectively runs the race himself and of course that’s still enough to finish first.

Thee spies have reported that there are 103 of the winged knights in Castle Urum, but no humans anywhere to be found.  How so few enemies could overwhelm of the demon realm’s most powerful lords is a matter of some consternation, but Vermillio’s boss Azudora (we still don’t know why he’s so beat up) has come up with a rather clever idea.  He proposes making the final round of the demon lord competition a quest to retake Urum, killing two birds with one stone.  They get to potentially retake the castle (and find out just how strong these winged knights are) and put Helck’s true loyalties to the test at the same time.

The one (well, most obvious) flaw here is sending the four finalists to the slaughter, so Azudora also suggests Vermillio go with them – which she does, as “Anne from Management” (I think Anne from Accounting would have been even funnier).  Her reaction when Helck offers to shake her hand says everything about her headspace at the moment, but Vermillio and Helck working together was something that always had to happen for the story to progress.  How much does Helch really know about “Anne” – is he as innocent as he seems?  This is a guy who always seems to know a lot more than he’s letting on.