New episodes of this anime always put me in a peppy mood every week. The more I watch, the more I realize how charming the show is in not taking itself too seriously. This episode features some excitable moments and some that made me pause and think a bit. Anyway, let’s get right into it! 

Plot & Story

Mamako and crew visit a store in search of new armor. After trying on some embarrassing outfits for Masato, they find one good fit for her and move on to a quest. As they head towards the village of Maman, Masato gets into another argument with Mamako, but makes up with her with the help of Wise and Porter. When they arrive in the village, they’re told to help stop the Empress of Night, who has been taking sacrifices in the form of attractive men. Soon after, Masato and his party kill some time at a hot spring and gradually figure out that the Empress of Night is Wise’s estranged mother. Mamako and Masato are determined to reunite the two as the Empress of Night closes in nearby. 

Episode Highlights

Mamako is a Cool Mom

The anime wouldn’t be itself if it didn’t have Mamako driving the story. This episode highlights just how much of a Cool Mom she is when she tries on different types of armor. Masato is dying from embarrassment because it just looks like she’s cosplaying everything from skimpy outfits and school girl uniforms to demon lord get-up. Despite this, Mamako always maintains her open and positive personality that you can’t really hate. 

More Fan Service… Sort Of

Sadly, there aren’t any new mom puns this week, but the episode makes up for it with some fan service – just not in the way you’d expect. There’s a hot springs segment that plays it pretty straight and for jokes for the most part. It avoids many of the cliches, a girl hitting the guy peeping or the guy getting embarrassed by naked girls. Masato probably has the best comeback to Wise ever and leaves her running out of the bath. 

The First Villain

Wise’s mother, known as the Empress of Night, makes an appearance in the second half and is the antagonist who has overruled the game’s system. She has a personal guard of shirtless hunks carrying her around the country and apparently has an abs fetish. Don’t let this schtick fool you though: she handily takes out Shirase, who failed to protect herself against her powerful attacks. I can see why Wise doesn’t really want to associate with her. 

Comments

A key strength of this anime adaptation so far is seeing how conflict plays out between mother and child. In this case, we have two scenarios: Masato/Mamako and Wise/Empress of Night. We’ve already seen the potential friction between Masato and Mamako. He’s once again annoyed by his mother being there and yells at her in frustration after the whole armor shopping incident. It’s a pretty real moment because we’ve probably done or said similar things to our own mothers. I think one of the more important moments in the episode is where we see Masato realizing that things can’t always go the way he wants and Wise calling him out on that. He knows it’s not right to sulk and often blames himself for such actions. Mamako has good intentions and is a forgiving mom who doesn’t get too upset when Masato says things he doesn’t mean. She’ll make you remember this fact as she cleans Masato’s ears while laying on her lap. 

On the other hand, we have Wise and the Empress of Night. We know they have an estranged relationship and have been separated from each other in the game. While she’s initially depicted as selfish and a deadbeat mom according to Wise, it’ll be interesting to hear her side of things later on. Their relationship is complicated and Wise goes a bit into their history, revealing her real name as Genya after one of her mother’s favourite hosts. After her parents divorced, Wise says she resents her after she tried reconnecting with her via the game. The feeling is mutual for the Empress of Night. 

Wise sees Mamako as the ideal mother she never had and believes their relationship is too distant to be repaired. Mamako has the last message in the episode, explaining to Wise that a parent’s relationship with their child is never really over and that these bonds go beyond genes or family trees. I think this is what Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi Target Attacks? is really about and I hope Masato learns a thing or two from this experience. 

Mom Versus Mom

Next week’s episode promises a battle between mothers and a possible confrontation between Wise and the Empress of Night. I have to thank Mamako and her party for giving me plenty of material to write about this week. What did you think of this episode? Do you look forward to seeing the Empress of Night? Let us know in the comments and check out our other Summer 2019 anime reviews on MANGA.TOKYO. 

Up Next: Kids Are Kids and Parents Are Parents but Also Human Beings, and It Takes All Kinds, but They get Through It Together, Right?

Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?

Summer 2019 | Anime Info | Simulcast