Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon

Episode 7

It's funny. I didn't enjoy my time with this week's episode. I found the Tasmanian devil cubs to be more annoying than comical and spent the majority of the episode's runtime dreading what the next episode would be like if Lamis didn't appear at the eleventh hour to get everything back to the status quo. However, that doesn't mean I think the episode itself is bad. Rather, I think this episode competently did exactly what it was intended to do: make us all as annoyed by the situation as Boxxo himself is.

To put it frankly, this episode is what would have happened if someone less intelligent than Lamis had found Boxxo. It took her mere minutes to figure out that Boxxo was a sentient being and develop a simple form of communication with him. As for the Tasmanian devil cubs, they had problems with the concept even after it was explained directly to them. It never even occurred to them that Boxxo might only be able to say certain set phrases. They assume that because he can't talk with them directly, he must not be intelligent.

Whether it's intended or not, there's a larger message here—one about how people (namely foreigners) are perceived when they don't speak a country's default language well. Rather than being seen as brave and resourceful for living in a place far outside their comfort zone, they are seen as stupid for not having mastery of the native language (usually by people who are monolingual themselves).

As for Boxxo, this is the first time he has been treated this way since arriving in the fantasy world. He tries teaching the cubs his yes/no style of communication as he has with others before but fails spectacularly. Rather than communication, his goal quickly becomes proving his sentience. When they are hungry, he gives them food. Before going into danger, he attempts to show them he has a barrier that can protect them. When they are about to be attacked at night, he wakes them up and gives them the items needed to defeat their oncoming enemies. But even making wheels for himself when they complain about how hard it is to move him isn't enough to get past their preconceived notion that he is nothing but a magical tool doing things at random—which itself is a pretty solid message about the problem with blindly adhering to snap judgments and baseless assumptions.

So, all in all, with rather deep themes and a story showing just how lucky Boxxo has been, this is a rather solid episode—even if it is one I never want to watch again.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• I love that his major upgrade isn't the ability to speak or move under his own power—it's to turn into other coin-operated machines.

• It seems that, even without Boxxo, when Lamis is focused enough, she can hit her target.

• While it's played as a joke, I think “Don't piss off the girl with super strength” is a pretty good lesson for the Menagerie of Fools to learn.

• I wonder if the aerial photos Boxxo took of the maze will become important later.

Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.