Love Tyrant

Episode 10

Love Tyrant has had a lot going on the last couple episodes. With full-episode story arcs and shocking revelations and even real character development under its belt, the show takes some time off to return to its gag series roots this week. The result is a welcome half-hour of breezy entertainment, even as more serious matters once again loom on the horizon.

You can't go much more classic harem plot than all the girls coming to spend the night at the main dude's house. (Well, there's the beach episode too, but Love Tyrant already did that one). The show actually spurs itself into this from the last episode's setup, with the primary motivation behind Akane's visit being collecting her kiss from Seiji, while Yuzu and Shikimi tag along with degrees of interest in disrupting that arrangement. Of course, Guri is already there, and in the one somewhat serious thread running through this episode, her presence being taken for granted becomes a sticking point in her love-oblivious conundrum.

But that only comes up in the second half of the episode, while the first half is all sleepover hijinks. Love Tyrant's joke-a-minute pace is back in full force, letting all the characters take turns as the butt of the humor. What's nice about this show's uniquely distributed harem setup is that it allows for affection targets other than Seiji. Yuzu jauntily skipping off to take a bath in Akane's used water is the most obviously outrageous example, but Guri's obliviousness toward all the other lovey-dovey antics provides some good background for humor as well. In a series like this, there's plenty to laugh at in Seiji taking on the stock lady-love-interest tropes when it comes to bathtime harassment. “I can never be a groom now” indeed, as Love Tyrant calls attention to how ridiculous some of these old standbys really are.

It's interesting that Love Tyrant is able to push its otherwise stock characters and plot points to their limits thanks to its nature as a merciless parody. Last episode saw the show confronting the romantic requirement of being in love with only one person, while this week plays Seiji's genuine disinterest in being hounded by all these girls for sexual attention for all it's worth. This makes the payoff where he actually does go in for the kiss with Akane much more surprising, even more so when it's hinted he might finally be developing feelings for her and coming to enjoy their odd relationship.

This ensemble misadventure is followed up with a more focused Akua escapade, as the series actually tries to follow up on her misguided feelings towards her brother. Interestingly, where the show previously seemed to make it clear that Akua's feelings were a full-on incestuous crush (because what would a harem parody be without one?), they seem to back off from that a bit this week, relegating her feelings more to simple mixed-up jealousy at him not spending as much time with her. Granted, this is all in service of Akua's eventual resolution of these feelings, but it gives the show the odd impression of making things up as it goes along. This backtrack lacks the polish and follow-through that the series otherwise gives to many of its running gags and more central character threads (like Guri's), but it's not a huge deal, since it just leads into the true focus of this segment: the triumphant return of Stolas, that dang demonic penguin!

The series has been wise not to overuse Stolas, for as ridiculous as he is. Granted, with everything that's gone on in the series up until this point, even he doesn't take the audience quite as aback as he used to, so the show tries to up the ante to compensate for this. Stolas's absurd new abdominal muscles showing off his training are a great visual gag, making him so powerful now that even Coraly in his outlandish angel form can't hold him off and raising the stakes in an entertaining way. Less entertaining, of course, is the brief moment where Stolas actually does get his hands flippers on Akua, reminding us of his uncouth intentions toward the poor girl. There is a joke there, but for all of Love Tyrant's propensity towards sex humor, this gag is just more uncomfortable than funny.

Fortunately, the penguin-sexual-harassment interlude is over quickly enough, and Akua's resolution to defeat the macaroni menace herself makes for a satisfying finale to this salacious saga. It then dovetails decently into her move towards independence, ‘growing up’ from her sisterly affection toward Seiji into her own person. This take on growing out of immature crushes is common enough in Japanese storytelling for these types of characters (I'm actually surprised it hasn't also been brought up for Yuzu yet), but for as half-hearted as Akua's character arc felt at times, it's a reasonably appreciable conclusion to her growth.

This episode ends on an odd last-minute cliffhanger, as Shikimi takes advantage of doubts planted in Guri's mind about her feelings for Seiji to whisk her away. This will be one of the bigger ideas Love Tyrant has attempted to take on, but it's been setting this up for a while, and if these last few episodes have shown anything, it's that Love Tyrant should be able to handle whatever its ambitions may be well enough going forward.

Rating: B+

Love Tyrant is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.