Seeing as Kazuhiro and Marie “died” the past two times they switched worlds (at least onscreen), it’s kind of refreshing to see them simply call it a night and switch the normal way. They might as well anyway as they’ve encounter a roadblock in their adventures. Both of them want to explore the newly found labyrinth but Marie realizes that her guild will most likely prevent her from doing so since she’s not high ranked enough. There is an exception clause that allows a member to do the investigation if they discovered the labyrinth first. However, this comes at the stipulation that the discoverer must be accompanied by a reliable ally. Kazuhiro doubts he fits the bill and he’d like to have a third member who can provide some much-needed defense for the party.
Before Kazuhiro and Marie switch between worlds, we see the dragon from earlier in the show spy on them through the crystal she gave them. The dragon learns about the duo’s plans with the labyrinth, which concerns her as the labyrinth is a “place of calamity”. My guess is that the dragon will assume her human form and accompany Kazuhiro and Marie, acting as their third member. She certainly seems powerful enough for the exception clause to work. What kind of complicates this hunch is the fact that the dragon’s eggs start to hatch. Even if she is Kazuhiro and Marie’s friend, I don’t know if she’d want to head over to buy milk.
Upon returning to Japan, Kazuhiro heads off to work. There’s a cute moment here where Marie briefly tries to stop Kazuhiro to leave, all but confirming that she’s developed feelings for him. With Kazuhiro gone for the time being, Marie takes it upon herself to clean the apartment before enjoying some anime. Funny that Marie basically acts as a housewife here when she and Kazuhiro haven’t even made anything official. I really am amazed at how cute this character is. Even her simply using a vacuum cleaner and figuring out a microwave is adorable.
During work, Kazuhiro receives a text from Kaoruko, who invites him and Marie to have dinner with her and her husband Toru (Kenji Hamada). As the title of the episode suggests, the group chooses to hang out at a French restaurant. The choice of French cuisine is probably just to expand Marie’s horizon as a foodie (her reactions remain on point as always) but I do like that the show is exposing Marie to another culture in our world. It’d be amazing if this leads to Marie taking interest in other cultures and wanting to travel abroad. Admittedly, that’d probably be way out in the future since Marie isn’t done with her tour of Japan.
Kazuhiro mentions to Kaoruko and Toru about the anime film Marie enjoys watching and how she wants to see scenery similar to what shown in the movie. With that in mind, Kazuhiro wants to travel with Marie to different places in the countryside and eventually take her to his grandfather’s place in Aomori. Toru recommends Chichu and offers to hook his friends up with a reservation at a hot spring a friend of his runs (and this is after he offers to pay for everyone’s food, this man is amazingly generous). I hope the traveling starts soon. It’d be a nice way to bring the slice of life side of things more in parity with the plot set in Marie’s world.
Upon learning about Marie’s interest in anime, Kaoruko invites her to watch an anime she recommends. I think I joked earlier in my episode reviews about Marie becoming a weeb but now, it’s starting to become a reality. Don’t do this yourself, Marie. You can still live a normal, happy life! Understandably, Kazuhiro is a bit wary about Marie hanging out while he’s away at work. The Ichijo couple seems friendly enough but it still begs the question how they’d react should they find out about Marie’s identity. I actually hope they find out that Marie is an elf. That could really strengthen the group’s bond and it could be funny seeing someone other than Kazuhiro try to maintain the big secret.
I really like the last scene, in which Kazuhiro and Marie head back home together. Marie thanks Kazuhiro for the opportunity to make new friends and in response, Kazuhiro thanks her for coming to Japan and changing how he views the world around him. It’s the closest Kazuhiro gets to confessing to Marie without actually giving a confession and it makes me root for these two more than I already do. A kiss would’ve been a great way to end the scene but you know what, I’ll take the hand holding. As silly as it sounds, it does feel pretty momentous and it certainly makes the scene even more romantic. Seriously, can these two just get married already? The sparks between these two are so strong that it might set something on fire.
Watch Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! on Crunchyroll
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