Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!

Episodes 9-10

Wridra the Arkdragon has officially joined Kazuhiro and Marie's party as their dedicated tank, making the show all the better. Last time, during the bathhouse excursion, Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! went out of its way to show off how cute and endearing the lady dragon could be when she was acting as Marie's doting older-sister figure and Kazuhiro's matchmaker. Thankfully, her role in the story seems much more permanent than it otherwise could have been, and I'm glad for it. Similar shows may live or die based on the chemistry of their leading pair, but they only thrive when the supporting cast is just as strong.

Granted, not every single new character is as chock-full of potential as Wridra. We met Sven and his lackey a couple of weeks ago, and I was interested to see what kind of foes they would make in a show that didn't seem all that interested in traditional “Good Guy vs. Bad Guy” shenanigans. Well, as it turns out, they're perfectly…fine. I was hoping for some more personality or depth to Sven's whole shtick, but in Episode 9 he just ambushed the party in the middle of a field and commences one of the few extended battle sequences that Ms. Elf has delivered so far. For all of the (relative) buildup he received, Sven isn't much different from the anonymous bandits that got their butts whooped back in Episode 5.

The biggest issue, once again, is that this anime is not suited for action. The animation is too stiff, the storyboards are too plain, and the choreography…well, there really isn't any choreography. It sucks for Kazuhiro, especially, since the guy's whole deal is his illusory sword-fighting technique that should look cool. Instead, whenever Ms. Elf tries to pull off anything even remotely exciting, all I can end up thinking is, “Oh, those poor animators at Zero-G…well, I suppose they tried…”

Thankfully, the show is as strong as ever when trying to be cute and amusing. The show finally takes a break from the Dream World to give our heroes more time to enjoy a day off in Japan and make some delicious curry-rice. It's not the most adorable or interesting real-world story we've gotten, but Kazuhiro and Marie's chemistry is good enough that I genuinely don't mind just watching them spend a day shopping and cooking. Granted, I may be a little biased, because I swear to all of you that I have lived that exact exchange between Kazuhiro and Marie where he's being a little too overprotective with how she handles a knife. To this day, my wife gets grumpy when I remind her to curl in her fingers and grip the base of the blade when she chops onions…

Anyways, Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! hasn't missed a beat since I last covered it. Sure, the action material is weak, but I'm not here to marvel at Kazuhiro's swordplay, so I can forgive the occasional lackluster fight scene so long as they don't take too long. Besides, now that Wridra is around to help the crew get fancy weapon upgrades and skills, maybe there's a chance that the show will have an opportunity to demonstrate a genuinely good battle before the season is done.

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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 Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.