Yumekui Merry 02: The Green Plant

Picture and title do not match!

A mix of moe here, a dash of creepy dream world here.

They just had to put her in a cat jumper. Just had to!

OM NOM NOM DOUGHNUTS

Summary:

This episode begins the night after the fight with John Doe (they keep calling him John Do, it’s making me angry) with Merry awaking in a bed. They share a lovely dinner of curry (of course) and Yumeji sneaks a peak at the ladies in the shower. Of course after these heartwarming events, Merry would hightail it out of the house playing lone wolf. Anyways, we meet another character, Yumi, who has been sharing her physical body with her dream demon Serio (A freaking plant demon. Those never last because plants are stupid.). This demon isn’t an evil one but one that helped her realize her dreams of becoming a nurse. A new transfer student who seems to be sufficiently anti-social and suspicious joins Yumeji’s class. Back to Yumi now! She touches some rusty and diseased pair of scissors and gets teleported into the dream world where her demon Serio is eaten by another demon. Now she’s possessed. ONWARDS!

I like the blend of comedy and moe in this. It doesn’t take it too far away from the plot; it skirts always within view. Comedic relief is usually done well or horribly. A show like this needs the comedy and short segments of everyday life to set the pace. Otherwise, it would be a generic “my demon fights your demon” type of show. This is likely why most anime has a school setting. You can easily pace yourself and have a segregated and clean area to add comedy.

Everyone needs to have something special. She has lightning bangs.

The unique thing about this particular anime is the settings. Much like Puella Magi Madoka Magica which is Shinbou-ized, Yumekui Merry has a very specific style. The dream world depends entirely on the dream demon. A rusty scissor demon seems to have bear traps and the like hanging around her world. Mr. Cat aka John Doe has a world filled with Japanese cats and fish. It makes for a very contrasting environment.

Remember kids, don't pick up rusty objects.

I’m seem to be reminded of Digimon or Pokemon. I don’t know why… maybe because of the personal dream demons and fighting in a sterile environment devoid of human societal issues. Just two demons fighting it out over supremacy. I can see that Merry is like Pikachu, being the little jerk that he is, and she even has that yellow jumper. I hope it doesn’t fall to those levels but it’s a possibility.

I guess the real wild card is Yumeji’s abilities. Assuming that he’s the typical hero character, he’s going to try and save everyone’s bodies with his weird power. If they’re having a nightmare that night, he’ll break into their house and douse them with water.