There were a couple of important events in this episode of Shinigami Bocchan – very important, in fact.  On the whole though this was about as slice of life as this series gets, for better or worse.  If you’re a Viola fan it’d certainly lean towards better – as for me, she pretty comfortably fits under the moeblob umbrella so I find a little of her goes a long way.  And Minase Inori’s performance isn’t helping in that respect – something of a theme actually as I’m not generally in love with the casting here, as was reinforced this week.

As for Viola’s crush on Rob, I find it falls just short of being creepy.  I think it would reach that threshold if he did anything indicating it was reciprocated, or if Viola was just a little bit older (counter-intuitively) – her childishness keeps her flirtations from seeming sexualized.  If she acted around Rob the way Alice does around Bocchan we’d have a real problem, but fortunately she doesn’t.  If you haven’t figured it out by now Viola pretty much lives in a delusional world (that whole “Viola Method” thing, ROFL), though one could more charitably refer to it as a fantasy world.  Which for a lonely child her age isn’t really inappropriate.

Once the dough has been kneaded and the cat loaves baked, the story gets down to more consequential business.  It starts out in the same vein as the A-part, with an ice skating session under the moon, but the arrival of a white crow signals change.  That would be Zain (Kamiya Hiroshi), mentioned by Caph last week.  Not surprisingly he’s looking for her  – fortunately Alice has just found her on the frozen lake, where she’s fallen through.  He describes himself as a mahoutsukai (magic user) – as noted by Caph it gets confusing referring to dudes as witches, supposedly – and proudly proclaims he has an eye for the ladies.  Though he’s a breast man – Bocchan admits he prefers thighs.

It didn’t really hit me until last week, but Kamiya and Natsuki Hanae actually have a lot of similarities as seiyuu.  I can’t even shake the impression that Hanae is doing a Kamiya impression (you know which Kamiya persona I mean) with his Bocchan performance.  I wouldn’t have gone this way with either casting choice, personally, and as Zain is obviously a very important character that’s less than ideal.  But so far at least Kamiya isn’t going full-bore with his zany shtick, which I hope continues as Zain is going to provide him a lot of opportunities to indulge himself.

Two witchy types, two humans, but these four are about the same age and their chemistry as a group is an important part of Shinigami Bocchan’s dynamic.  What I especially liked here was Bocchan musing on how envious he was of Zain and Caph’s closeness, though they “take it a little too far”, as Zain feels the same way about the emotional openness between Alice and Bocchan.  Viola in fact said earlier than she was envious of the fun Bocchan seemed to be having with Alice and Rob, even as he envies her place at their mother’s side.  It’s always easier to covet the lives of others than it is to appreciate what we have, a theme which is quite integral to this series’ overall structure.

One other rather important thing happens here, which is that Zain and Caph talk it over and decide to invite Bocchan to the witches’ sabbath on the next blood moon.  Bocchan’s kindness to Caph is already paying dividends, and of course this forbidden world is the one which should hold the answers Bocchan so desperately seeks.  After their date in the village Alice has her own reasons for wanting to come along, though she’s not inclined to share them with Bocchan at this point in the story.  It’s the beginning of beginnings really, yet next week marks the halfway point of the series.  That’s certainly more than a trivial concern.