The World God Only Knows Flag 10: The Voice Inside

December 11, 2010

The World God Only Knows Flag 10: The Voice Inside

When I have kids, I’ll make it a point that they learn how to read books before they learn to read anything else.  Call it a personal bias, but few other modes of communication has shaped the world as much as the printed word has, and the ability to replicate and transport ideas beyond mere sound and into reading has shaped the world in ways few appreciate.  Everything began when humanity first spoke and wrote things down.

I thus concur with at least 80% of what Shiori says.  Heck I HATE it when people write on books.  I don’t even highlight my textbooks.

Instead, it makes you go HNNNNNG!

Ultra quiet librarian Shiori is still having problems dealing with Keima who is clearly trying to find some ways to get a more verbal response out of her.  Hitting a raw nerve, while ungentlemanly, works a lot here in pushing her buttons to get a response out of anger from her.  Not limited to insulting books but even writing and drawing on them, he might be being an ass but he’s a brilliant ass in the act.  Once Shiori’s inner and outer voices switch, now we get to see how much of an effect he’s having on her trains of thought.

And once he sees the reason why she got possessed, he could already see the ending.

Escape into a world of literature.

Continuing the trend in previous arcs, the anime is coming to be very successful in fleshing out his capture targets one by one through original scenes and great voice acting.  Shiori happens to be one of my favorite characters in the manga, and here her monologues are able to flesh out even more her very shy and solitary character.  Books are her friends as she says,  so we get to see her indulge herself with them.  Again, another fantastic job Hanazawa Kana, who despite being typecast into quiet and reserved roles managed to bring out Shiori’s inner thoughts with her rambling speech.

Yes, that has to be the most adorable “baka” and “aho” I have ever heard.

It's still HNNNNG the second time around.

People have drawn comparisons between Keima and Shiori and those comparisons are actually very valid.  Their attitudes and very similar even if the objects are different.  Keima sticks to the world of galge and Shiori to books.  Keima despises people who look down on gaming while Shiori dislikes those who disrespect literature.  Both get equally angry and feel like entering lecture mode when someone tries to sound all high and mighty.  The difference, of course, is that he knows how to vocalize his thoughts and ideas while Shiori expresses them inside her brain.  Keima tries to make people (or at least Elsee) understand what galge is, but Shiori just finds it near impossible to express her feelings regarding the world of books.  In a way, perhaps Keima is drawing on his own experiences in both gaming and real life to deal with the situation.

When you think about it, they do make a pretty good pair.

Dr. Keima in the operating room.

Probably a minor plot element for some, but now with this episode Elsee’s fire truck addiction has come into full birth, so yes we’ll be seeing more and more of it as the episodes (and the manga) go by.  Honestly I still have no idea what her fire truck fetish is all about and why she even likes them.  Phallic… imagery perhaps?  Something tells me I’d rather not know.

He can already see the ending.

If the season ends next week as it will likely be, I wonder what the final episode will be all about since, you know, they probably won’t be able to make even one capture into one episode.  Well there is one I can think off, and it might not be a good one to use as a season ender.  More likely they’ll pull out one of the solo events of Keima and use it to end the season and make a transition to the next one.

Permalink