This feels like the calm before the storm with the way they’re setting up MagiKoi. But on the other hand, they don’t want us to be too afraid either.
Specifically, this episode Endo finds his way to Kobayashi’s place, and they take up their “divine” mission. Endo, by this point, has played the Lieselotte side-game and is on board, while Kobayashi is troubled that (except on the parody-sounding Reverse Harem route) at least one of the bachelors tends to die as well, the most demise-prone being a close relative of Lise. Yeah, the game evidently gets kind of dark for more than just the fronting antagonist. I guess MagiKoi is just the Fate/Stay Night of Otome games in this universe (or give the surprise factor, maybe the Muv Luv Trilogy of them).
During a scene, Kobayashi’s frustration with the game still being centered on Fiene cause a point-of-view swap to Lieselotte as their heroine and, at the same time, an in universe effect that is taken as the blessing of the gods. Endo also “blesses” her unfortunate relative, expressing some kinship with the guy, and the two help guide the prince to put him in charge of protecting Fiene. Lieselotte is assumed to be chosen as a protector for her fiancee, who is successfully falling steadily more in love with her.
Fiene might not need too much protection, though. Time passes in the real world and game play continues, until the introduction of the last bachelor, a playboy priest who starts out on the old script only to find things are a bit different this time around. He also finds that, while Fiene technically specializes in healing and defensive magic, she packs a mean punch – more than enough to win a two-on-one spar. The players are a little mystified, as they can check the stats and see that somewhere along the line her level got maxed out. Strange, possibly related to Sir Not Appearing In This Episode who we saw at the end of the last one, but a small matter next to translating a little tsundere behavior to make sure a scene plays out in a more friendly manner than canon.
And in general that’s kind of emblematic of the episode’s feel. They plant a good deal of seeds for plot, but that typically takes a back seat to funny setups or interactions that really do a decent job of capturing the Let’s Play vibe that the show was explicitly going for. It’s clear that while there is something of a mystery going on with this supernatural chicanery, and plenty of dark possibilities in the MagiKoi universe, our tone is overall going to be fairly light, irreverent, and indulging in what happens when a fourth wall is broken.
So far, so good I say. I’m not amazed, and don’t think this is reaching for any top lists, but Lieselotte is charming in her Tsundere routine while still being easy to identify as originally an otome villainess, the animation makes its point, and our commentators are personable enough that I’m not regretting getting their story too. And who knows what’s going to happen? Light Novel readers, I guess, but as an anime-only it could reach higher (or fumble, of course)… it just hasn’t really shown that ambition yet.