Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!

Episode 11

I have to admit, I began this episode of Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! feeling the teensiest bit disappointed. With a title like “Two People and One Furry Friend, Strolling Through Aomori,” you all know that I got myself all hyped up for Kazuhiro and Marie to finally have a fun adventure in Japan with Mewi, only to quickly realize that our heroes' new feline friend is just a familiar of Wridra's that can act as the dragon's eyes and ears when she's not with her pals. That is all well and good—more Wridra will never be a bad thing—but the show had a gosh-darned triple-home-run-slam-dunk-touchdown on its hands, and it whiffed!

The good news is that I was able to come to terms with any disappointment I felt at the resounding lack of Mewi on account of this being an incredibly good episode of Ms. Elf, maybe the best so far. For one, it helps that I am one-hundred-percent the ideal mark for this episode's particular track of unsubtle tourist-board brainwashing. I, too, have dreamt of going on a shinkansen ride with my beautiful wife and also our cats in those cute little backpack-papoose-things. I, too, speak the love language of giving people snacks when they are feeling melancholy and nostalgic. I, too, have fantasized about wandering about the Japanese countryside and hunting for tiny spirits that are definitely not ripped straight from an intellectual property owned by Studio Ghibli.

So, really, there was no chance that I wasn't going to love this episode. It gets even more bonus points, then, for actually containing some genuinely interesting storytelling on top of all of its cozy vibes. We learn a lot more about Kazuhiro's backstory, for instance, including his hazy memories of childhood with his presumably single mother before he was forced to go and live with his grandparents off in the Aomori countryside. It makes sense that this guy would turn to adventures in the dream world, given the somewhat lonely nature of his childhood in Japan. Also, it's really cute that grandpa totally knows all about his otherworld escapades, and that his grandson's new girlfriend is definitely a magical elf-lady from a different plane of existence. Maybe Kazuhiro's mother was even from this place, which would help to explain the guy's powers.

Either way, it goes a long way towards making Kazuhiro feel more like a fleshed-out human being, and I will always cheer for that. This does the double-duty of giving more depth to his relationship with Marie, too, because how is a couple not going to feel even closer after taking that all-important trip back to Mr. Boyfriend's hometown to meet the (grand)parents? The scene where Marie gets all flustered over realizing that she has been mispronouncing Kazuhiro's name this whole time is one of the cutest exchanges these two have had all season.

Could I complain that the cat is still somewhat underused in this episode? Sure, but my Mewi-related angst will have to stay tempered for the time being, because I loved everything else about this week's chapter of Ms. Elf. It's got laughs, it's got heart, and it's got Marie acting like a total loon and hunting for forest spirit's in Kazuhiro's childhood bedroom. What more could you ask for?

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James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on BlueSky, his blog, and his podcast.