English Dub Review: Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense “Maxing Defense and the Eighth Event”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
The preliminary round of the eighth event finally begins. The members of Maple Tree fight their hardest, making the most of their new monster companions in hopes of ranking high for the main event.

Our Take:
The episode sees the guild players competing in the preliminary round for the game’s eighth event. This enticing appetizer before the main course has the players racing to grab the highest rank possible. To do that, they must defeat as many monsters as possible while battling the other players who get in their way. However, the catch is that they have to deal with the gimmicks while doing so, which may not work well in Maple’s favor.
After a couple of fun detours involving taming monsters and hunting crystals, we finally get to see the prologue stage of the eighth event in action. The entire episode sees the guilds competing in the preliminary event, but it mainly focuses on Maple Tree trying out their new companions to get the highest ranks possible. To the surprise of no one, it’s just as fun and endearing as we thought.
The episode offers many obvious callbacks to the Pokemon franchise, with the characters using their animal companions to attack their opponents, especially the monsters. This comparison makes a lot of sense since the popular franchise is getting another series in a couple of weeks. The episode showcases how the companions function, especially the ones from the Maple Tree members. Some of the examples include Tsukimi dominating the other guild, Iz and Fay setting up explosives to blow up the monsters (which I found hilarious), and Kuromu using Necro to boost his armor and stats. However, the award for best use of a monster companion goes to Kanade, who uses Sou’s mimic ability to avoid getting killed by the Order of the Holy Sword and their own companions.
The episode also sees the battle between Mii and Payne, which is the most “explosive” fight we’ve seen in season two. But, of course, the epic showdown is interrupted by one of Maple’s unintentionally insane shenanigans. During her quest to defeat the monsters, Maple got eaten by a giant alligator but was able to control it with her wool skill while getting stuck in its mouth. Unsurprisingly, this caused another issue for the administrators, who are getting many complaints about the unbalanced game.
Overall, this is a highly entertaining start to the game’s eighth event that sees the Maple Tree guild earning high rankings. More importantly, the episode was also the most fun I had in the show’s second season regarding its light-hearted comedy, action, and charm. It’s also another solid showcase for the players’ cute companions, with the Flame Emperor’s members showing off their own at the beginning of the episode. That includes Shin’s sidekick, Wing, an eagle with a cowboy hat. Based on Maple Tree’s status from the preliminaries, we can bet that they might have an easier time dominating the next part of the event.