Again, I blame Ruin Explorers translation for taking up most of my time.  Hopefully this results in me being on time releasing a subchapter every two weeks… for the next three or four subchapters at least.

Anyway!  We’re getting into some of the good stuff here.  One would hope there’s no way to screw it up… but this animation manages to surprise me constantly.

We start episode 7 off with Bozes and Panache getting chewed out for going against the treaty (not that they had any way of knowing).

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang plan on rescuing him, and Kuribayashi finds out Itami is a Ranger.  Honestly, this scene could have been cut… but it remains.  And, as expected, it’s nowhere near as hilarious as it was in the manga.  Kuri’s expressions weren’t nearly as funny (but at least they tried), and the reaction the other girls had to learning their lovable dummy is actually some amazing warrior was curiously low-key.  I’m utterly baffled at how they could screw up such an easy scene so badly.

Anyway, Itami wakes up to find himself surrounded by beast-girl maids (and one token human maid).  It seems the former master of the manor hired different races because he was liberal.  And/or because fetish.

Princess Pina figures the only way to prevent the full force of the JSDF on her country is to appease Itami by giving him Bozes.

But she comes in at the same time Itami’s unit is in the middle of saving him (and I guess having a bit of a party) and, embarrassed, she gives him a knuckle sandwich.  Pina tries to defuse the situation, but Itami has to report to the Diet, so she figures she should go with them as an emissary.

Now, despite my above gripes, up to this point I had no problems with the episode.  The pacing was on point and it was very amusing.  But then something happened that I definitely saw coming but was very much hoping wouldn’t be the case.  When the group approached Alnus Hill, Pina saw the JSDF soldiers training.  So far, so good.  She commented on how strange their movements and equipment were.  Excellent.  But when she learned that their “magic wands” were in fact weapons, she never said that her army could even the odds if they were in possession of said weapons.  Yeah, it’s just one small bit of dialogue, but it told us a lot about her.  It showed that her loyalty is ultimately with the Empire, she hasn’t given up (yet) on finding a way to beat the JSDF, and it shows that she’s clever enough to adapt quickly upon learning new information.  It might seem like a small thing, but I feel like that took away a large part of what makes Pina, Pina.

Anyway, yada yada yada, we end with the Other World girls about to pass through the Gate into Japan.

Next episode!

Everyone’s shocked when they see the sights of Japan, naturally.

We meet up with some agent from wherever; it’s not all that important.

Kuribayashi learns that not only is Itami a Ranger, he’s in Special Forces.

I’m kinda starting to like easily-excitable Anime Kuribayashi.  I guess that’s what happens when you give her EMOTION.

Anyway, we get stuff like Tyuka shopping for clothes, reacting to the food, yada yada yada.  All good stuff.

The main point of this episode was the Diet meeting, and we get that bitch that’s trying to drag the JSDF through the mud by blaming them for civilian deaths.  Rory puts her in her place, and we get a great scene where everyone reacts to how old she and Tyuka really are (and are relieved when Lelei is merely 15).

We also get some nice imagery when Lelei explains lifespans.

And hey, speaking of Sailor Moon Crystal…

I swear, we are inching closer and closer to a Rory Mercury two-frame axe twirl.

Pina and Bozes meanwhile attend negotiations regarding the 6,000 prisoners the JSDF took in during the Ginza Incident.  They end the meeting with a handshake.  I am disappointed that there was no comment about how it’s a ceremony of betrothal in the Other World.  It would only take a couple of seconds.  I have no idea why this adaptation is dead set on erasing tiny opportunities to learn more about the other world’s culture.

Everyone joins back up and we’re told from agent whats-his-face that there’s some unknown enemy getting leaked information, so the group has to do quite a bit to evade them.  One of the so-called enemy runs in to try to steal Rory’s axe but fails because it’s so heavy.  Agent whats-his-face tries to lift the axe but literally breaks his back and has to be ambulanced away in what is probably one of the most hilarious moments of the anime.

Rather than go straight to a rendezvous point, Itami brings everyone over to an apartment… where his ex-wife lives.

I’m… not sure how to react to that.  I love Risa, and she looks adorable… but she doesn’t look nearly as disheveled as she could.  Just more of that anime adaptation prettifying everything.  Hell, they even prettified that Diet member a great deal.  It’s downright bizarre.  And doesn’t it make Itami look kinda REALLY creepy that his EX-wife looks like she’s in middle school?  Are they trying to make it look like he has a lolita fetish?  I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that… I just want to know if that’s their intention.