Overview: Nagomi (Alyssa Marek) finds herself struggling to move forward as a maid after Nerula’s death.
Our Take: With all the cruel bloodshed last episode, ninja Nagomi is the perfect little operative we all needed with her deceivingly cute persona she commits to. Although, hiding behind a mask serves as more than just a new job. It serves as a symbol for how she is feeling in the aftermath of Nerula’s demise.
Nerula’s old customers pay Nagomi a visit, giving their condolences. It’s the perfect mix of sweet, cheering her up, reminiscing about how much Nerula cared for, while charmingly stupid in how much they all buy into the maid mantras. It is a perfectly natural reaction to want to retreat into oneself, especially in taking blame due to her inaction. The conversation with the ramen soup owner, coupled with her tragedy, acts as a solid foundation for some much-needed change. It does all this while maintaining the essence of who Nagomi is.
With that said, the show doesn’t stay with her internal strife as long as it should. It needs more time in the oven to properly build her moral issue and eventual resurgence. But for a one-and-done entry, it works well enough.
Nagomi’s ninja skills are fun in having her own original fighting style. With Oinky Doink taking out Manami’s forces, the Crimson Supernova’s defeat solidifies Nagomi’s path forward in nonlethal fighting. The inspirational maid speech she gives Manami is corny. But, with how it fits so perfectly well into how innocent she is and her journey thus far, it’s surprisingly endearing.
Minami is turned into human Swiss cheese by her own maid group. Couple that with maid alien being absorbed into Creatureland and it makes for a one-two-punch of twists. It’ll be fun to see if they play well with Oinky Doink, along with how a divided faction of Minami’s forces bring on even more mayhem.