Arifureta - From Commonplace to World's Strongest Season 2

Episode 8

In a stunning narrative subversion, this week's episode of Arifureta puts its segment with Hajime's classmates over in the kingdom at the beginning of the show, instead of the end! And they say the isekai genre is running out of creativity. Relax, at this point I dunk on Arifureta, well, not necessarily because I love it, but because I've at least entered into an understanding with its foibles, and the fair ways it's ironed them out over the course of this second season. That structurally-recurring visitation on all these people who aren't Hajime effectively means we're primed for this specific climax of the story, and starting the episode with it is in service of resolving the cliffhanger there we left on last week. We get some suspense over whether Meld will actually survive the attempt on his life (he won't), and some portents about the corruption ring being run by Daisuke and his new nun friend which was why Princess Lily ran off a few episodes ago.

Don't worry, by the way, if keeping track of all those movements and motivations has been too much of a blur in these episodic epilogues for you, as the aforementioned Lily is all too happy to drop back in partway through this episode to re-explain the whole thing in its back half. Speaking of structural stumbles, this probably makes for the biggest drag of the episode, presentationally, but another part of me really does appreciate Lily's spiel for recounting everything and directly signaling us moving into the next phase. It definitely comes off a bit sudden, in some ways; There's a sense that the Hajime harem's disconnection from this story while they explored the labyrinths simply amounted to mere faffing about while they waited for the actual plot to catch up with them and explain itself.

I certainly don't intend to rail against the idea of 'filler' in storytelling. Every piece of a planned plot has its place, and as I've analyzed in preceding weeks, Arifureta's labyrinth-explorations and interactions between Hajime, Kaori, and some of the others all existed at the behest of some characterization or thematic advancement. They turned a bit about Hajime taking in an adorable mer-foster-daughter into a full character arc with noted, tangible development at the end of it! But that sense of 'disconnect' is still what I kept coming back to in this episode, as the group randomly came across Lily, loaded her into the backseat of their magic Humvee, and let her exposit what the next leg of the story was supposed to be. It felt like this turn could have been deployed any time since this second season began, with no sense of placement in the full journey we've otherwise been seeing these people on.

That's admittedly an in-the-moment criticism I'm coming to as I reach for more analyses of an episode that's otherwise just 75% informational. And the communication of that info, to its credit, still gets to speak to the development of Hajime that's been commented on throughout this season. Previously, he wouldn't have had Kaori in his party or been privy to her connections in a way that would have allowed Lily to seek out and approach him as readily as he did. And his immediate jumping into this fray that will likely lead to this season's big final battle is initiated by his appreciative attachment to the kidnapped Ai-Chan-Sensei, another element that's been reinforced by characters commenting on how Hajime's come further than even he is willing to admit. In a sense, it almost feels like Arifureta is trying to be as tsundere as Hajime himself about how well softened up he's been by all this companionship. It can be cute sometimes, but other times it just obfuscates a through-line the show has otherwise illustrated pretty well, actually.

Thankfully, that is properly on display at the end of this episode. Hajime's warp-speed arrival to save Ai-Chan-Sensei does add to the pacing-whiplash I was already getting from this one, but I think it's worth it to see these two interact in a way that fulfills that connection I've been commenting on for a while now. Just to begin with, there's an adorable amount of chemistry here, frowned-upon as student/teacher romances must be. Hajime himself is just amusingly oblivious, more concerned about his teacher possibly being brainwashed than he is about inadvertently kabe-don-ing the poor tiny tutor. But there's also that established earnestness to the two's continued opening-up to each other, as we learn that aiko has been more considering Hajime's first-season-ending dispatching of Shimizu, and doesn't really blame him for the whole situation. It demonstrates the obligation she feels to try to impress on Hajime the self-worth he should have from the endearment she and others feels towards him, while his response indicates how, even for all his superpowers and love-interests, he's still having trouble self-actualizing that worth. It's a surprisingly simple, real-world-relevant point to make: That we could all use a teacher or similar adult in our lives who believes in us to this degree.

It's a thematic acceleration that helps cushion the blow of the otherwise too-fast plot acceleration I feel this episode had going on. That works because Hajime had already remarked that saving Sensei was his key priority, and would probably lead to a confrontation with the big bad guys here as a necessary side effect. So when the apostle angel baddie from the opening sequence (turns out her name's 'Noint', by the way), pops in at that moment, sure it feels a bit perfunctory, but it was a structurally-foreshadowed perfunctory, at least. And given the choice, I think I'd rather watch Hajime reach some sincere emotional understandings with his teacher before he goes to punch God's messenger in the face, as opposed to spending an episode-opening stretch watching some bad guys ramble about machinations I still don't fully understand or care about.

Rating:

Arifureta - From Commonplace to World's Strongest Season 2 is currently streaming on Funimation.

Chris is a freelance writer who appreciates anime, action figures, and additional ancillary artistry. He can be found staying up way too late posting screencaps on his Twitter.