Omg, an actual story. And a pretty good one as well. This is something you will not expect from an anime like this. Still, I have to say that I like it. Most comedy-anime try to introduce a plot, and fail miserably, though Makai Senki Disgaea manages to shine in this department. Especially Gordon played a great role, although I’m still having visions of him in a waitress-outfit. So wrong.

In any case, every piece of the puzzle comes together. The beauty is that you never see it coming. Both the angel from the first three episodes as Gordon, Thursday and Jennifer were into a plot by the humans to take over the demon-world. And especially Jennifer and Gordon have troubles with this, as they managed to see the demons living their daily life. It also seems that the angels are involved in this plot by the humans as well. I so can not wait for Flonne’s reaction when she finds out about this. After all of her preaching about the goodness of heaven, her world will probably be shattered when she finds out that the thing she always believed in appears to be causing the ultimate destruction.

I love the way that Disgaea is built. When you look back at it, everything seems to have been extremely well prepared. Gordon and his companions were more than just objects. The first eight episodes were actually meant in order to get the viewer introduced in the Demon world. In order to see all of the twists, and the daily lives of all of the demons. Much like Gordon and Jennifer, in a way. In the meantime, the creators filled up time by showing either some kind of filler or Laharl’s quest to find the one who ruined his life, get back to his castle and Etna’s personal problems. The recovery of the Tome of the Demons was also done in an extremely creative way. I love it when something is found when you’re actually not looking for it at all. After all, this does remain the fact in the real world, and I see too little anime who realize this.

I also loved the first part of the episode, at which there even was no clue about the story at all. I could already see what Laharl was up to even before he explained it, and it was so evil. Still, it did give some nessecary character development between the two parties before the humans invaded. And as always, Flonne’s voice-acting keeps getting better and better. This was probably one of the first times that voice-acting actually impressed me.

Oh… the pain. The horrible pain! When I thought that Bleach couldn’t get any worse, here it comes and waltzes the viewer down with a whole hour of garbage. And when I say garbage, I mean PURE garbage. I can’t believe how incredibly cheesy this episode had become. If I had a spoon nearby, I’d gouche my eyes out.

Ichigo’s fight was okay, I guess. He didn’t do anything, no flashy powers were shown, nothing special at all. It was decent, except for the fact that the bad guy managed to get away, leaving total progress at zero again. How long to those guys plan to continue this horror.

No, the horrible thing was Inoue. I remember that I hoped for the combination of her, Rukia and Cloud to think up one fantastic strategy to beat that woman. I think I like that woman the most, from all possible bounto’s. She’s the only one who has mastered her doll, it seems. And yes, the woman was pretty entertaining. Even though it’s a talking sword, the fact that the two of them argue with each other has pretty awesome effects.

Then, the horror struck, when the woman leaves, and a bounto whose doll can take over persons appears. THIRTY WHOLE MINUTES are spent for Inoue trying to save Rukia who has been taken over. And what about strategy? Well, that could have saved the day. Until you realize that Inoue has the intelligence of a sheep, chasing its own tail. I mean… ugh. >.<

In any case, the way this was resolved was just horrible. There are countless Deus ex Machina which could even make Star Ocean Ex jealous. Cloud could have saved the day, but he just doesn’t do anything at all. The bad guy easily lets the good guys have a conversation before he attacks, and Inoue finally saves the day by collecting all of her inner power which seems to be strong enough to defeat Rukia. Then, to make things worse, the bad guy doesn’t die, he escapes. So, what was the total plot progress of this episode again? I think we need to explain the meaning of those words to the creators before we can answer this.