The Misfit of Demon King Academy II

Episode 4

While the last two episodes of The Misfit of Demon King Academy II had been pretty predictable based on what we have seen in the first season, this episode is much more reminiscent of the season premiere than those episodes—and yes, that's a bad thing. Like the first episode of this season, this episode is jam-packed with an endless stream of proper nouns and plot points that require you to give the episode a second watch or take notes so that you can head to the wiki and look everything up when it's over. Worse still, none of the major events in this episode (save for the episode-ending cliffhanger) are given any room to breathe, and the audience has no chance to reflect on the greater implications of each before the next one occurs. When it comes down to it, this episode feels like you're watching the story on fast-forward.

It's honestly a real shame, because everything we get here would be genuinely enjoyable with double the run time. We get Anos overcoming three different trials in “Anos-esque” ways—i.e., splitting his soul into 14, closing his eyes to see the unseen, and showing that his control of magic is basically perfect. Heck, we even see him walk through a magical TV screen to crash the bad guy's big reveal party.

We also get some important character points that give key hints to the season's myriad of mysteries. Of the four Dark Kings, two of them are being blackmailed into the position—and while they might not be loyal to Anos, they're ready to board the old “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” train if their loved ones are rescued. We see Leena break down crying at the hidden grave, showing that, deep down, she knows not only who is buried there but is also an important enough person to have been told how to find it. Meanwhile, we learn that the Spirit King is Shin (as was heavily foreshadowed). However, it is the post credits' last-minute revelation that serves as the series' biggest reveal so far—and one that finally gives us the final piece of the puzzle to not only figure out why Shin has betrayed Anos but also what is going on with much of this season's plot in general.

From her introduction, we've known that Misa is half-demon, half-spirit. Her father, the demon, gave her half of his sword—and given that said sword is Shin's, it's easy to surmise that he is her father. As for her mother, we've seen this season that Shin was clearly in love with the Great Spirit Reno—not to mention the fact that the various demons and spirits sent by the Spirit King have been quite clear that Misa is Reno's daughter.

But even understanding that Misa is Shin and Reno's daughter, the big question remains: why attack Anos at all, and why now? Shin might have had a chance at killing Anos when he was pressed to his limits against Meleheyth at the sword tournament, but even though he was present (as we learn this episode), Shin did not attack. A possible reason for that is that Shin had no need to kill Anos back then. Now, however, the situation is different: using the information we've learned across both seasons, we can reasonably guess that he is being forced to choose between the life of his liege and that of his daughter—and he has chosen his daughter.

To understand why this is, you have to remember that spirits are based on and draw their power from legends. As such, when it comes to half-spirits, if belief in their associated legend becomes too weak, they start to die as their spirit half becomes unstable—as we saw in the case of Lay's mother.

The key issue here is that Misa is the spirit of the legend of Avos Dilhevia. If Anos were to announce himself as the Demon King of Tyranny and have the Seven Demon Elders back his story, belief in Avos Dilhevia would disappear almost overnight. Worse yet, rather than simply being forgotten naturally, the legend would be either supplanted or outright rejected. There's a good chance that this would kill Misa, and that is why it's only when Anos prepares to announce he is the Demon King of Tyranny reborn that Shin attacks. As long as almost no one believed him, Misa was safe. But now that she isn't, Shin is willing to do anything to kill Anos—even using his daughter's own legend to do it.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Now the big remaining mystery is: How do the gods and their plans for revenge factor into this?

• A pair of lovers sharing the same body... I hope there is some spell that they can use to separate temporarily or else it's really got to suck. I mean, imagine trying to hold a conversation by switching back and forth constantly!

• I wondered how Lay was in two places at once during the fighting tournament. Now we see that the masked Avos at that moment was Shin, not Lay.

• So, Lay and Misha are both Avos... makes sense they'd fall in love.

• Our biggest hint about Misa being Avos Dilhevia's legend was the fact that half-spirits can't use their spirit magic without potentially killing themselves due to them usually having weak legends. However, Misa has had no issues using hers. Logically, this meant that her associated legend must have been incredibly prevalent.

• I'm not surprised Misha and Sasha show up at the end—Misha's magic eyes can likely find any hidden passage easily and Sasha's can just destroy stuff until the passage is revealed. I'm more surprised at Eleonore and Zeshia showing up. I wonder how they found the hidden passages.

• So, 10,000 Zeshias are chillaxing in a dungeon below the Demon King Academy, right? How do they decide which one gets to go to school with Eleonore? Also, is it always the same one? Or do they switch out?

The Misfit of Demon King Academy II is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Richard is an anime and video game journalist with over a decade of experience living and working in Japan. For more of his writings, check out his Twitter and blog.

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