Haiyore! Nyarlko-san W episode 09 review
這いよれ！ニャル子さん W

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Hastur discovers that Cthune has escaped from Cthuko’s subspace room, but she’s not in the house. As the group head to school, Cthuko worries about what Cthune will do since she is so powerful. Mahiro tells Cthuko that he’ll pretend to be her fiancee again which doesn’t please Nyarlko. When they enter the school grounds, they find everyone acting strange and playing analog games. Cthuko thinks she spots Cthune, so the group heads out, only to face mobile turrets. Nyarlko goes nuts on them and is joined by Cthuko and Hastur until they defeat them all.

They head to the principle’s office, but they don’t find Cthune. Instead, they find someone named Agent Smith, who is representing a client whom he won’t name. Nyarlko and Cthuko both attempt to attack him, but discover he’s protected by an anti-violence barrier. He explains his purpose ad proposes they battle him in a game. If they lose, they participate in his experiments. If he loses, he’ll free up the school. Mahiro agrees to these terms since even a small chance of victory is better than nothing. His words touch Nyarlko, but when he tells the group he believes in them, they are all touched.

Agent Smith challenges them to a game of Daifugo, which he’s been the only winner three times in a row for the Space Daifugo Tournament. Nyarlko and Mahiro look at each other smugly since this is the game she trounces Cthuko at endlessly. In her usual fashion, Nyarlko starts her joker assault on Agent Smith, causing him to abandon the game since he dealt her the cards. He then says they’ll play mahjong, causing Cthuko and Hastur to join. However, Nyarlko wins in one move, causing Agent Smith to toss the game in frustration. He then produces a dart game, so Mahiro steps up and wins. This causes Agent Smith’s glasses to break, allowing them to defeat him and free the students in the school.

Discovering Agent Smith’s client is not Cthune, the group head home. Mahiro is still worried, but Nyarlko wants him to forget about it. However, Cthune shows up, showing off her rare character on the game she was playing. Cthune hadn’t put together that Nyarlko was the one who trapped her so Nyarlko gets careless and starts being flirty with Mahiro again. Cthune notices this and gets irritated, demanding Mahiro tell him whether his engagement to Cthuko was a fake. Cthuko ends the discussion by kissing Mahiro’s cheek in a special spot, shocking Cthune and the others. Nyarlko immediately starts scrubbing it off as Cthune flees. Cthuko apologizes, but says she didn’t mind kissing him because it was Mahiro. This causes Nyarlko and Hastur to also want to kiss Mahiro.

Thoughts/Review:

On one level, this is my favorite episode to date. That’s because Cthuko, Nyarlko, Mahiro, and Hastur are a team lead by Mahiro. Mahiro says he believes in the group when they face Agent Smith. When they pow-wow about Cthune, he’s the leader (as least, in my mind).

He tells Nyarlko she’s number 1.

He has Cthuko roast Agent Smith when they discover his ultimate purpose.

I also liked the looks Nyarlko and Mahiro gave each other when Daifugo was the game Agent Smith suggested.

I also liked the moment Nyarlko presented Mahiro with three forks for his darts turn.

It is also fun seeing Cthuko continue to become more and more affectionate with Mahiro. Her interest in Mahiro may not be at the level of her interest in Nyarlko, but it does help the harem aspects of the series since there are two alien girls interested in Mahiro.

The fun parodies, of which there are always too many for me to identify, continued. The AT Field moment of Agent Smith as well as his adjustment of his glasses were nice Neon Genesis Evangelion nods.

Oddly enough, despite the fact that I enjoyed this episode so much, I’m finding that I’m not having a lot to say about it. It doesn’t matter though. The episode was a great deal of fun for me and I like the direction Cthuko has gone.