Karen's Anime Blog

Still in Origin Stratum, Boxxo reviews his options and realizes that for three million points, he can become a Level Three Vending Machine. What other possible abilities could Boxxo unlock that he doesn’t have already? The mind boggles.

After the OP, our heroes start evacuating people out of the stratum, using the transport circle that Hulemy fixed. Boxxo thinks to ask how many strata their are total, so we learn that there are eight, including the last one that “hasn’t been conquered yet.” Huh. Oh right, that’s the stratum where beating it grants wishes, right? Anyway, Boxxo becomes a balloon vending machine to distribute funny animal balloons to the evacuating children and its cute.

Do they even know what balloons are?

There’s a problem with the transport circle though; if they just leave it behind, monsters will use it and cause trouble. Kerioyl offers to take the Menagerie of Fools and the Band of Gluttons to hunt down the Netherworld commander who’s controlling the monsters on Origin Stratum, and Director Origin offers to compensate the hunters for their services. You know Lammis and Boxxo are going to get in on that.

We quickly move on to the team mowing down monsters. Hevee claims he has no offensive magic, so he sits on the sidelines in battles. However, not two minutes later, he confuses three monsters with light magic and then takes them out with a giant pair of spike hammers, backed up by his Might Blessing. Wow, Hevee is kind of overpowered. I really hate the whole shoe business, but it looks like he’s staying around for a while; oh well.

“I stand back in combat,” says the absolute brute who duel-wields giant clubs and pummels enemies to death.

The group splits at a fork in the road, and Lammis and Boxxo’s group encounters a nice lake. Everyone takes a dip, with Boxxo guarding Shui and Lammis’ footwear from Hevee. The group reforms and stops for lunch. Boxxo reveals a new form: a convenience-store themed vending machine that sells rice balls and other dishes usually sold in Japanese convenience stores. I would kill to have one of the these in my neighborhood…wait, that sounds bad. I mean, I would kill someone, but only if they were very, very bad and dangerous person who deserved to die anyway, for a crack at that vending machine. I would not kill a nice person for rice balls, probably.

Everyone freaks the hell out over the convenience store vending machine, as they should.

Finally, our heroes have reached the deepest part of Origin Stratum and it’s time for a real fight. Mishuel senses a hundred or so monsters coming, so Boxxo becomes a Pachinko vending machine and fills the floor of the strata with Pachinko balls to slow down the monsters. He sprays an immense amount of balls on the floor, so I’m guessing the Pachinko balls are pretty cheap in points.

How many points did this cost? Boxxo, you’re doing too much.

Kerioyl and Mishuel bust up a bunch of enemies, and Lammis laments that she wishes she were as skilled as the two of them; then she effortlessly knocks away a monster and sends it careening, where it takes out more of its brethren. A more skilled Lammis would be a scary thing indeed. Boxxo contributes with his mint-and-cola bombs, and man, I am so tired of that particular battle hack. It was cute the first time because it was creative, but at this point it just feels like a waste of good cola. Boxxo later switches it up to cola bottles filled with Pachinko balls; still a waste of bubbly, delicious cola, but at least that seems like a more dangerous aerial weapon.

Gee, can you tell it’s been a long time since I’ve allowed myself to have a Coke?

Anyway, Boxxo wants to try to get a feel for where the monster’s commander is, so he asks Lammis to toss him over into the center of the monsters. Lammis refuses, stating that she cares too much about Boxxo to use him like a tool. I think her amount of regard for Boxxo is actually becoming dangerous, since he’s pretty durable and not using him to his best advantage could be putting the group in danger, but that’s not a problem in this episode; despite all the combat, it’s a pretty chill episode in general. Lammis does a huge attack with Boxxo in toe, and Boxxo contributes more Pachinko balls with some kind of green liquid to make the monsters slip; I have no idea what that is. Nickelodeon Slime? I’m dating myself again.

They find the commander, a woman this time, and Lammis destroys the ring she was using to control the monsters. That was surprisingly easy. Kerioyl picks the unconscious commander and pats her on the butt, which annoys Filmina. I agree with her on principle that Kerioyl should not be touching an unconscious woman’s butt, but this is a Netherworld commander who was using monsters to kill people; my sympathy is not exactly overwhelming here.

“Not so fast, Handsy Mc. Groperpants!”

We learn from Hevee that Filmina is half vamp fiend and um…I did not see that coming. That’s hella random. The twins (Ako and Shiro) flip out a little at the idea of doing “it” with a vamp fiend, but Lammis is supportive of mixed-race relationships; I mean, she wants to do it with a vending machine, those who live in glass houses and all that.

The talk turns to wishes, and Lammis of course wants to use her wish, should she earn one, to turn Boxxo back into a human; Shui wants money that she can give to the orphanage, primarily to buy food; the twins want to be a hit with the ladies (yeah, good luck with that) and Hevee wants a palace made of shoes. We don’t get to find out what Kerioyl and Filmina want, however. We actually know very little about them, so I couldn’t even begin to guess.

Our heroes return to the Origin village and it’s time for a major feast, catered by Boxxo of course. Boxxo gets creative and uses a rice machine ability to get materials to cook a dish. He actually becomes a gas stove, which is again stretching the definition of what “vending machine” means, but I guess there’s probably a vending machine somewhere that offers a cooking-fire option. Using the gas, he can actually cook food for the party, which is perhaps the most human-like thing he’s been able to do since he reincarnated. This is an ability I could see him using a lot of; maybe if I’m lucky he’ll start using it half as often as the mints-and-cola strat.

I’m not going to lie, this is the kind of cooking I do a lot of the time. Veggies and protein +rice= Dinner. Hey, it’s nutritious at least.

All in all, kind of a middling episode so everyone can finish up business stemming from the monster attack and move on to the next hotness. Now that they have a Netherlord commander to interrogate, I hope next episode will bring us more information about the Demon Lord.