The Demon Girl Next Door Season 2

Episode 6

When I finished watching "Vow Under the Setting Sun! The Path Forward for Demonkind", I had to check the calendar a few times just to be absolutely sure that I hadn't somehow time-warped myself all the way to July. If you had told me that this wasn't actually just the halfway point of the season, but a full-blown season finale, I would have believed you no questions asked. We have even more answers to the show's big mysteries, some stellar payoffs to our heroines' emotional arcs, and best of all, the debut of Dark Peach Momo, who may officially have taken the crown of Best Magical Girl of All Time (with that one yakuza guy from Estab Life coming in as a close 2nd).

Really, the only major complaint I could even think of for “Vow Under the Setting Sun!” is the fact that it isn't quite as surprising as last week's showstopper. With Sakura showing up at last, the main goal of this episode is more to just explain how and why this phantom apparition of Momo's big sister is chilling out in the dark depths of Shamiko's subconscious mind. It's cool stuff, but it doesn't quite top the crowd-pleasing mic-drop of Sakura's initial appearance.

In short, Sakura used the very last fragments of her own energy to fuse her own core with young Shamiko's being, ensuring that our protagonist would recover from the staggering effects of her family's curse. There's also an interesting tidbit about how Shamiko's dire health was caused by her taking on the burden of Ryoko's share of the curse on top of her own, which explains an awful lot about how generally well-adjusted Shamiko's younger sister is compared to the rest of her family. It also gives us a satisfying reason for why Sakura can't be rescued just yet, since her core is still the only thing that is keeping Shamiko from wasting away again, and we couldn't well stand for that, now could we?

That's how Momo feels, and it's a testament to how strong the character writing is in TDGND that you never doubt for a second that Momo truly has come to love Shamiko enough that she'd be willing to put off rescuing Sakura to ensure Shamiko's safety. Hell, she's willing to go full darkside vassal for her adorably incompetent demon girlfriend, and yes, I'm just going to go ahead and attach some labels to the pair's relationship, because I'm confident that you don't look at someone the way that Shamiko gazes upon Dark Peach Momo if you aren't at least kind of hopelessly in love with them.

If all of that plot and character development didn't already make this episode feel like an ideal season finale, the very final scene of the episode sees Momo vowing to protect Shamiko (and her little slice of the town) with everything she has, and she does it with a smile so genuine that it brings Shamiko to tears. It's a perfect conclusion to this story arc, and I can't really imagine what more a fan of the show could ask for from this season…

Oh, wait, yes I can! Another six whole episodes of Cute Girls Doing Cute (and Occasionally Heartbreaking) Things, pretty please and thank you very much (and please don't remind me that we have to wait a whole two weeks for the next episode, either). Until next time, I'll just be here in my corner, obsessively rewatching Dark Peach Momo's transformation sequence and plotting out the first draft of my Demon Girl Next Door College AU fanfiction.

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James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.