Katsute Mahou Shoujo to Aku wa Tekitai shiteita represents a quandary for me, no question about it. It’s a Bones series that’s lovely to look at. It has a compelling narrative behind its production. And I like a lot of what it does as a story. But it doesn’t offer me much to work with as a writer. It’s short, it’s usually extremely simple in terms of plotting and character. I don’t know what it is exactly (that was true of Fujiwara Cocoa’s other anime as well, but that gave me a lot more raw material). I know it’s interesting and distinct but I don’t know if that’s enough.

I will say this, it has its twists and turns. Last week’s episode was the silliest, and not entirely in a good way. This was certainly the most serious. It starts off with the familiar back to exploiting Byakuya (there’s no explicit indication that this is a flashback, so I assume it’s not). It gives us some background on her past, showing her growing up in a youth home, then as an adult taking refuge hiding out in a cupboard. Familiar-san sends her off on a beer run, which seems to be the point at which Mira’s henchmen capture her and bring her in for interrogation.

Fomalhaut’s absence from most of this episode is a positive, no question (his one appearance is mostly unfunny comic relief with no real plot relevance). The tone of the whole interrogation sequence is the intriguing juxtaposition of cuteness and edgy sensuality Katsute seems to specialize in. Obviously this represents a dilemma for Mira – the whole interrogation is being filmed, so even him slaughtering all the henchmen present (which would pose problems itself if this were going for any sort of realism) doesn’t help much. His loyalty is clear – he prioritizes helping Byakuya escape over his own welfare (even if she herself doesn’t).

It’s not every series that’s going to play staging the raping of a prisoner for comedy, I’ll say that much. I have a healthy curiosity about how the series is going to ultimately extract these two from their seemingly intractable situation, but the fact that it’s going to have to do so without the author’s input (presumably) is a cautionary note. There’s also the matter of a new mahou shoujo – and new familiar – being added to the mix. I still think Katsute Mahou Shoujo to Aku wa Tekitai shiteita needs something else to bolster a pretty threadbare narrative foundation, so this twist might be a good thing. As for me, even though next week is the halfway point I guess I can only play it by ear and see how I feel after each episode.