A week full of cute mini=arcs is never a bad thing with Shinigami Bocchan. To be honest though I’d rather have seen something like this cut than see the sorcery school arc trimmed to two episodes when it should have been about five. Probably about five minutes of this episode was really essential material.  It’s all good, and in a perfect world we wouldn’t have to lose any of it. But we’re about three eps short of a perfect world with this series, and choices had to be made.

In effect then we got a slice of life interlude as a kind of breather episode before the final arc kicks in. First off Zain drops off another bag of tricks for Bocchan and Alice – and you’d think Bocchan would have learned his lesson the first time. Various and sundry items are tried, including a love potion which has no effect on a person already in love and a body-switching item so the Duke and Alice can “touch each other”.

Gerbera, meanwhile, has sort of accepted Sharon back into her life (after Sharon goes to visit her sister – who I don’t believe has been mentioned before – anyway). In fact she recalls saying she loved Sharon, among other things, and that Sharon was her only friend. We learn a bit more about Gerbera’s past here, with a longer mention of her husband (“earnest but perpetually in ill health”). Basically this is one constantly unhappy lady, unable to share affection with her own children, and she clearly needs Sharon a lot more than Sharon needs her.

Daleth continues to be obsessed with the idea of turning human for Walter. So much so that she appoints Keto as her successor (much to the latter’s horror). She even seeks Keto and Teto’s help in trying to figure out the last step in her turning human spell – a kiss – but of course those two are as clueless about it as she is. She really hates her job, which is kind of a shame as she’s actually quite good at it (and popular).

Speaking of Walter, his addition to cross-dressing is only growing worse, and Viola is enjoying the hell out of goading him on. This time she suggests he trap it up so he can sneak out of the house and see Circus Gemini after Gerbera has forbade him from leaving the mansion. On the way back he’s victimized by the pickpocket who’s been terrorizing the town. And, with Caph’s help, brings him to justice (which forestalls his mother’s ire for one more day).

Finally, we have Viola and Rob interacting for the first time in a while. After a recuperating (from a refreshingly low-key anime cold) Duke sends her off to talk to Rob, she finds the old gent asleep – and tries to sneak a peek under his eyepatch. He lost his eye in a fight, he explains. Her attention then turns to a music box, which Rob is none too keen to let her open. Viola assumes the worst, especially seeing the inscription on the bottom, but the box as it turns out was a gift from Victor to his wife. And not only that, one which led directly to her demise. Even with horses, NPCs in animanga are terrible drivers.