Haiyore! Nyarlko-san W episode 11 review
這いよれ！ニャル子さん W

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Nyarlko is pleased to see the Banshin system is being put back into place. She explains things to Mahiro when Yoriko, Cthuko, and Hastur show up, ready for a camping trip that Mahiro knew nothing about.With Luhy, Yoichi, and Tamao in tow, the group arrives at the camp site. Mahiro refuses to eat any of the food, suspecting anything Nyarlko brought, so he even turns down chocolates, though everyone else has one. Nyarlko is offended, but Mahiro won’t listen. Instead, he goes fishing with Yoichi. Nyarlko and the others play in the river. Mahiro ignores Nyarlko’s requests to join them in play, leading Yoichi to ask if that’s OK.

Hastur, Luhy, and Shanta-kun request Mahiro join them to explore a place they found, so he does along with everyone else, save Yoichi. The place looks like a traditional, Western haunted house, so Mahiro wants to leave, but he’s overridden. Everyone but Mahiro has a hiccup before Nyarlko and Cthuko drag Mahiro into the abandoned mansion. They find apparent evidence of something horrible happening. Nyarlko starts thinking of the fun she could have with Mahiro when she disappears from his side. Hastur rushes up, desperate for a make out session with Mahiro. Mahiro has to distract him to make his escape. At the same time, Luhy is trying to make out with Nyarlko, forcing Nyarlko to go nuts on her.

Tamao catches Mahiro and confesses that she can no longer stand on the side and support Nyarlko’s love for Mahiro, wanting Mahiro’s love for herself. He’s snagged from her by Cthuko, who then wants some Mahiro love for herself, stating that it isn’t a problem for her to be in a relationship with Nyarlko and Mahiro. Nyarlko kicks Cthuko aside and as they fight, Mahiro’s mother starts coming onto him. Mahiro flees, aided by Nyarlko, who gets him to a cave. She learns from Atko that the chocolates were laced with a love potion, explaining why everyone acted weird. Since Nyarlko truly loves Mahiro, it had no effect on her. Plus, she wants Mahiro to love her from the heart, not from the effects of a love potion.

Before Mahiro can respond to this, the group finds them in the cave. Luhy goes for Nyarlko while everyone else tries to get freaky with Mahiro. The love potion wears off, leaving everyone to wonder why they are in a cave. They group packs up to leave when Nyarlko gets a text, stating the building of the Banshin has completed despite Nyarlko earlier stating it might take 500 years. After they leave, Tsuruko comes to their camp, holding her manga manuscript. She was working on it in the abandoned mansion and was responsible for the mess that Mahiro and company found. She finds Yoichi still at the campsite, fishing. He hiccups and falls for Tsuruko, offering the confused girl a large fish he’s caught.

Thoughts/Review:

Man, they really jacked up the creepy factor on this episode. I really could have done without Yoriko lusting for her son here. I’ve long thought her relationship with him was just a tad unhealthy. *_*

The episode again highlighted how Cthuko has growing feelings for Mahiro on top of Tamao’s feelings. I really feel bad for Tamao whenever her feelings come up.

Nyarlko comes out golden in this episode, but here too, I feel badly for her, enough so that I want to smack Mahiro in the back of the head.

Nyarlko still gets clingy, but she really does restrain herself quite a lot. That came through in the cave when she laid out why she wouldn’t use a love potion on Mahiro because she wants him to truly love her. Further, she kept a distance from Mahiro, giving him room to breathe and just enjoyed being alone with him.

It is clear that Mahiro is attracted to Nyarlko, but in true shounen fashion, he has to be all wishy-washy for there to be a humor element as well as a “when will Mahiro and Nyarlko get together” element. As such, I’m feeling bad for Nyarlko, who’s in this mostly unrequited relationship with Mahiro, hoping that one day, he’ll give in. No doubt, if he does ever give in, the dam will burst as Nyarlko won’t be able to contain her feelings any more. ^_^;

I liked seeing Atko getting a name drop in this episode. I guess she was a character invented for the Haiyoru! Nyaruani: Remember My Love (Craft-sensei) series, based on the Cthulhu spider deity, Atlach-Nacha. She was incorporated into the novels sometime afterward, so assuming there is another Haiyore! series in the future, I’m guessing we’ll get to see her again.

On the parody front, I rather enjoyed the episode’s title nod to the A Certain Magical Index/A Certain Scientific Railgun franchise.  There was a rerun of Cardcaptor Sakura and Full Metal Jacket parodies via Luhy, making me wonder if the production team is running out of ideas.

Still, overall, this was a good, enjoyable episode. Next one is the last one, but hopefully, they won’t try any tearjerker stuff.