Okaa-san Online Review Episode 2

After the review of last weeks episode, I was really looking forward to seeing how this ended up, not just because of the ecchi connotations but because it’s so much fun.  And sure enough, Okaa-san Online episode 2 was every bit as much fun as I’d hoped. This week’s show is called, wait for it…. “It’s Just A Coincidence That They Are All Girls. Got That? Wipe That Smirk Off Your Face!”

It opened with a smiling but instant mother explaining, syllable by syllable, exactly how Masato’s raiding party was going to be chosen. “In-ter-view with mom.”  For Masato of course, this is the stuff of nightmares – although we suspect he reluctantly agrees because he is living in a computer game and all the likely candidates are girls.  I guess his mother wants to make sure they ‘play nice’ and aren’t ‘skanky’.

The first girl is a heavy knight (I bet nobody says that to her face!)  Her hobby is dealing out twice as much pain as she receives after letting the enemy hit her as much as they want – then she ‘overkills’ them (just to be clear, that means kills them a few times, it’s the MMO equivalent of ripping their head off and peeing down the hole). This woman is either a perfect tank or completely bonkers!  Most likely both. Personally, I always thought tanks were nutters! – She is their queen! She is called Rushera.

While Masato nods approvingly at the attractive and stern lady covered neck down in armour, Okaa-san re-iterates that she is a cruel heavy knight and holds up a marking card with a cross on it (I think it signifies failure). It seems that Okaa-san has different criteria for choosing a tank in a raiding party.

Next up is the pretty but slightly batty Torino.  She is absolutely the right choice (being a rogue class myself in MMO’s, their sage wisdom and fun loving ways are always a pleasure for the rest of the party and the fact that they can be really sneaky too just adds to their charm). Her hobbies are stealing and she likes to punch in the face people and take their stuff, perfect!

Okaa-san confirms, just for the purposes of clarity, that she is a very wicked thief.  Smiling, she tells Torino that she is calling the police.

Clearly, Masato’s mom has no idea how to chose a raiding party. The normal format as you know, is a Tank (someone to take damage during the fight and keep the enemy occupied), someone to deal the damage (usually two or three people) and a person to heal anyone that is injured.  It seems that Masato had at least picked the right classes but we can see where this is going, and I guess we aren’t too hopeful for the next candidate, am elf priest called Sallitey. And, sure enough, she gets the fail card too.

Sallitey is rejected because Okaa-san doesn’t know what an elf is (yeah right, we’re looking at the real reasons and they are nothing to do with ears!).  

Porta is next up. This is a totally unsuitable little girl who cannot enter into combat (she registered as a non-combat player ?!) but she has lots of skills in creating items, appraising items and general merchant stuff. She also has a 300 items storage bag! OMFG! – that really is useful!!

Okaa-san is very impressed and agrees for her to marry Masato.  Haha, yep, we knew that was coming but it was still funny.  Masato was the only one shocked by the statement, even Porta agreed (she is like thirteen and speaks with a squeaky little girl voice!).  Masato tries to explain that he is choosing a raiding party but his mother is having none of it.  Anyway, the first party member has been chosen, her name is Porta and she is a little merchant girl who can’t fight!  Masato’s chances of becoming God Ye (lol, Kings Avatar reference sorry, I couldn’t resist) are diminishing rapidly.

The next candidate is called Wise and she is only 15 years old.  Porta points out that she is a Sage which is a very powerful class able to use spells to do damage and heal.  While they read the information about Wise, they notice a comment at the bottom of the application, “If you don’t choose me, I’ll chain cast (continuously cast) instant death spells on you.”

The determination Wise demonstrates isn’t necessarily her wisest move.

While Okaa-san is interested to learn what chain-cast means, Masato studies her stats.  They seem great but but what isn’t great is her personality.  Apparently, she likes blowing up her party members, buildings and other stuff just for fun. The picture looks good and as we all appreciate, such high entertainment credentials means she will almost certainly be chosen for the group.

Masato of course decides that such a personality would simply be too much trouble and crumples the application up and throws it away.  The application paper however, has other ideas and un-crumples itself and floats gracefully back to the table.  Masato, not quite reading the situation properly, then tries and again and when that doesn’t work he becomes annoyed, throws the paper to the ground, and stamps on it.

The paper ‘squeals’ that he is a jerk and promptly turns into an annoyed, 15-year-old, red-headed sage. It was very impressive but Masato didn’t really have any chance to acknowledge it. Wise opens her book of spells and recites a short teleportation spell. Masato is whisked away to the countryside where he is stepped on by the annoyed and now vindicated teen red-head.

Wise tells Masato (who isnt the slightest bit interested) that this is her favourite place.  He asks her to take her foot off his face and she reluctantly agrees. At this point, we are subjected to a very long and drawn out movement of her lifting her foot gradually…..  watch carefully….

….. I think there may be a clear plot-point and I’m sure this sequence is of some considerable importance…..

I mean, the sequence takes soooo long and is soooo gratuitously ‘fan-service’, that I just have to believe that there is some underlying significance…..

Naaa, maybe I’m wrong.  

Masato, after getting an eyeful, calms down a little and talks to Wise in a conciliatory tone.  He tries to look at the situation from her point and suggests that the reason she turned into the application paper was to impress him and his team.  She sheepishly agreed that this was basically true.   Masato suggests that they sit down on the grass and conduct the interview.  Wise agrees….. wisely.

Meanwhile, Okaa-san and Porta had contacted Shirase (a government official that is playing an NPC (Non-Player Character) in the game) who reports that Masato and Wise cannot be located.  Porta tries to console Okaa-san who tries to persuade herself that although Masato, unlike her, has a ‘single hit, solo target attack’ she’s sure he will be fine (in the same way a mother would have concern for her little boy going out into the cold without his scarf).

She is however, worried that Masato will make friends with someone else in her absence and go off on adventures without her. Perhaps that’s a little overly possessive, but Shirase agrees that this would be very bad……., she has a plan (her eye twinkles knowingly).

The scene then changes back to the field outside the city and we find out that Wise is another test player like Masato. Wise is, indeed, wise and she helps Masato understand what the games true function is and why he was accompanied by his mother. This sequence is great an an explanation of the name of the game they are trapped in – and I’m still laughing! As you know, the game is called MMMMMORPG which stands for, “Mum’s Massively Maternal Multiplayer Making-up-with Offspring Role Playing Game.”  Haha, suddenly it all seems to make sense!

Initially, Masato doesn’t believe Wise and they argue briefly, in the end, she persuades Masato that it’s the truth and indeed, the object of the game is to get parents and children closer. This is why people are brought to the game in pairs and told to go on adventures together.  Wise goes on to say that she doesn’t understand why the game was developed but she does know that you are unable to get back to your own world until you are able to fulfil the ‘win condition’.

Masato asks what this ‘win condition’ is.  The scene changes to the city where Mamako (Masato’s mother, okaa-san) is being instructed by Shirase, “The most important part of the game is the relationship between mother and child.”

Believe strongly in the bond between you and your son,” says Shirase, ” and speak to the Earth.  Earth is a mother as well and she will understand and grant your wish…. Probably!”

Then the scene changes to Wise who is basically telling Masato the same game objectives that Shirase is telling his mother in the city.  She tells him that at first, she too was adventuring with her mother, but they got into a fight and split up and now she is trapped. She wants to join the party with Masato so that Okaa-san can become her mother too and so that they can complete the game and return home.

The next sequence in an increasing wonderful selection of scenes is when Mamoko raises her sword to the sky and pleads with Earth.  She explains that she doesn’t want to tell Masato who he should be friends with, she just wants to tell him to be nice to his mother too!  If the Earth mother understands this, she should let her know where her son is.

Wise on the other hand is letting Masato know that she doesn’t believe it would be easy to make up with her mother.  Suddenly, the Earth (mother) moves and the plot of ground that they were comfortably lying on, raises quickly into the air.  At a couple of hundred feet or so, Wise and Masato fall off and plunge to the ground screaming.  In the city, Mamoko (Okaa-san) can see her son and Wise through her telescope.  She is relieved to have found him and she also feels that she’s won an important battle.

As the children seemingly fall to their deaths, a little fanfare sounds to say that Mamako has a new skill, she can now find her son whenever she wants and immediately interrupt whatever it is that he has gotten himself into.  It seems that every scene is stacked against Masato and that he will soon be driven away from his mother in the same way that Wise has fallen out with hers.  I’m wondering if the tables will turn soon and we will see the odds stacked against Mamako. I’m really loving this though, it’s a lot more intelligently written than I thought it was going to be and I’m continuously chuckling.  The special skill is called ‘Mothers Fang,’ you just godda laugh!

Alas, Wise and Masato survive the fall although Wise is immediately imprisoned because her spell for transporting Masato away is seen as a Player Kill attempt.  That seems a little harsh.  Wise certainly believes so.  Her saviour however is Mamako.  She suggests that Wise joins the party and helps with their questing and in return, they will help her reconcile with her mother. Wise doesn’t want to, she would rather destroy the world than make up with that ‘vile woman’.  Masato asks her to do it for him as he thinks she would be a great help to the party.  She agrees and is released from prison soon after.

Then they head out to their first mission to a dungeon,  It’s explained that by killing monsters they are able to gather necessary materials and money to enable them to quest more effectively.  Okaa-san assumes that she will be able to get some new moisturiser and they all agree to head off.  Just as they are about to descend, Okaa-san stumbles and falls, the rest of the team grab out to try and try to stop her but they all fall down too.  There was clearly some accidental boob grabbing, but nothing of much consequence.

At the bottom of the dungeon, they find themselves in darkness and unsure of what to do.  Apparently, the Sage is unable to make light (which Masato finds annoying) and Porta is unable to produce anything from her bag because she lost it in the fall.  We look at Okaa-san during this banter and she tries to calm everyone, she also tries to motivate them and cheer them – and suddenly she begins to glow.  It seems that as soon as she performs a motherly, affectionate activity, she wins a new skill or level.  As she begins to glow, the rest of the team are able to see where they are and recover themselves.  This was a great scene and really well directed.

Mamoko has learned the new skill, ‘Mothers Light’, a skill which Wise remembered her mother also once had.  The party head through the dungeon and eventually meet up with a bunch of slimes (normally the easiest of ads), they trap the hapless Wise while she is the middle of casting a spell and it is Okaa-san who must deal with them.  She is completely overpowered in this game as we know and it only took a single whoosh of her sword to destroy the slimes and release their treasure (a set of square, blue gems).

Alas, while Porta collects the gems, she is interrupted by hundreds of slimes falling from the sky. They consolidate into a single Slime Monster and attack Mamoko.  The slime knocks her off-balance and Masato gathers her away but not before a dastardly wet slimy substance covering Mamoko’s clothes begins to eat away at the fabric.  Within seconds, all her clothes are gone and she is naked to Masato’s amazement and horror.

Since Masato is wet with the slime too (but his clothes are strangely unchanged – the game designers really knew their stuff!), he is not able to easily get away from his mother (and her embarrassment) without slipping and effectively writhing around on her naked body.  It’s very embarrassing for all.  Eventually, they are distracted by Wise, who has managed to recover herself and attacks the giant Slime Monster.  As she is about to hit it again with a spell, Mamoko gathers herself together and grabs her swords.  She looks sternly at the slime and shouts, “You melted a mothers clothes in front of her son. For this, you must be punished.”

To be honest, that’s a pretty dastardly thing to do! Death is too good for it!

Sure enough, Mamoko kills the Slime Monster with a single whoosh of her blade and jumps for joy (and starts glowing again).  She calls across to her son for encouragement and recognition of her wonderful bravery and skill – alas, all Masato can see is his naked mother jumping up and down excitedly. Porta runs over to help her dress (although the only item she had in her bag was an apron – of course it was!).  Wise shouts and they turn to see the Slime Monster turn into a pile of gems…… and a coffin containing Shirase!

Wise uses her special abilities and revives her immediately.  Shirase stands up promptly and announces that she is the ‘Mysterious Nun, Shirase’.  It seems that because they defeated the monster that ate her, she is able to give them a special quest.  They need to gather their belongings and head to a farming village west of Mammalia.

They go to town to buy some equipment with their huge pile of slime gems (which turns out not to be worth very much). However, Okaa-san is impressed by the eggs, meat and vegetables at the market stalls and for some reason, that starts to worry Masato.

And there this terrific episode ends.  It was a blast, I enjoyed every minute and chuckled lots. The writing in particular was great, the direction was  very cool and the pacing was excellent. The characters still need to develop a little more. Porta, for instance, was pretty much redundant during the episode, but the voice acting particularly from Masato’s character (performed by Haruki Ishiya), was really good.  I can’t wait for next weeks show which I’ll certainly be reviewing!

I’d rate this a cheerful 8.8 out of 10. What did you think?

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This review is copyright Tony Fawl, not for reproduction without the author’s permission.

Episode 1 Review is HERE    –     Episode 3 Review is HERE

Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? or Okaa-san Online is directed by Yoshiaki Iwasaki. The characters, story, pictures and design for this show are the property of J.C.Staff, KADOKAWA, Tokyo MX, KLab and BS11 and of course Crunchyroll.  All rights reserved.