The Gorilla God's Go-To Girl

Episode 3

There is something at least mildly amok with the subtitles for this show. It's nothing like the Yuzuki Family's Four Sons debacle, but there is a major inconsistency with how the family names are spelled. When I first watched episode two last week, and again this week with episode three as of this writing, Sophia's last name was written “Riller,” Isaac's was “Chien,” and Eddy was Eddy, not Eddie, and his family name was “Feles.” Then, when I rewatched episode two with my sister some hours later, the names were “Reeler,” “Sheehan,” and “Eddie Pheles.” In the interest of trying to sort it out, I read the first six chapters of the manga's English translation (it's being released chapter-by-chapter, with only six available at the moment), and the more literal animal names (Riller, Chien) were used in that version. So I'm not sure what's going on behind the scenes, but it's at least mildly annoying. Given the introduction of a fellow with bird of prey powers and the last name Adler this week (“adler” being German for “eagle,” in line with “chien” being French for “dog”), I'm inclined to believe that the more animal-obvious spellings are what the creator intended.

Depending on your tolerance for inconsistencies, that may be less irritating than the plot point with Sophia's hair this week. The commander of all the knights, Sir Cheval (“horse” in French), singles her out because he says that her bangs are in her eyes. Honestly, that's a very valid complaint; as a knight, she doesn't want her hair down and in the way. But the problem is that in the art, Sophia's bangs are much less in her face than Eddy's and Louis'…and after she gets a haircut, there's no discernible difference. The move is almost certainly meant to remind her (and us) that she's a girl in a field where no girl has tread before, as well as to allow her to meet Louis in town to further the romantic subplot.

And Sophia being a girl is something she can't – and doesn't want to – forget. Most of her angst about being beloved by the gorilla god comes down to two things: it makes her feel less feminine, and it makes her stand out. While there's certainly some gender studies issues to unpack in the confluence of those two things (ladies should be retiring, you know), the bigger issue for her is really that her life has been completely derailed. She's been fed ideas about what a girl is “supposed” to be for her entire life, and she never wanted to deviate from that. But now she's being forced off that path, and she's not comfortable with it at all.

What she's not realizing, however, is that this is largely in her own head. Even though this is a light-hearted series, it's still working to show that having the power of a gorilla doesn't make her any less who she was before. The scene at the bakery with Louis does a very nice job of driving this home: Louis wants to go in and gorge himself on pastry, but he's uncomfortable doing so because he's a boy, and it's not a masculine thing to do. But Sophia is a girl, if she goes with him, it's safe. Not only does this show that he (and society) views her as feminine, but it also helps to point out the stupidity of arbitrary gendering. Louis can be a boy who likes pastry, and Sophia can be a girl who can break a rifle with her bare hands. The only people who care are themselves.

That said, I do feel for Sophia. Poor girl just wants to slip under the radar of mean girls like Carissa (who I hope has a really stupid blessing), but instead she's out there being low-key fought over by hordes of eligible knights. It's an introvert's nightmare, and she's living it every day, unable even to brush her hair without pulverizing her hairbrush. Right now, I'd say the show is doing a decent job of balancing her distress with the comedy. It may not be the best-looking series this season, but this episode continues its trend of being a lot of fun.

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The Gorilla God's Go-To Girl is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Sundays.