I’m going to jump right into the next batch of episodes. To really enjoy and understand the intentions of the anime, you sort of have to know about the game. Just a little bit. It explains much better why Yui is there. Also the episodes are similar to the routes of each god in the game, so if it doesn’t really make much sense in the anime, the company that did the anime might have had to some twists and turns in the stories to keep it somewhat true to the game. I think…at this point, I will have to make a part three, simply because of the lengthy details of the episodes.

Episode 6: Tsukito

After the story of Takeru, the next episode naturally focuses on his brother Tsukito, or as Apollon calls him, Tsuki-Tsuki. He is nothing like Takeru…at all. You wouldn’t have thought they were brothers. But he’s really interesting as he takes notes on EVERY little thing. Being the moon god, he takes watching the moon one of his most important “missions”.  He has a very soft spoken voice and has a rabbit familiar named Usamaro, named by Takeru. His god form is lilac colored hair with long strands on both sides of his face. He wears a long flowing robe, and has a headpiece as well. It’s this episode, in which Loki causes major problems for everyone…not just Tsukito and Yui.

The episode starts off in front of the school, where Tsukito has made it his mission to make sure Yui and the others, plus the other students are following the school rules. He catches Hades with a bag of daifuku in his school bag, who claims it is his lunch. Secondly, he catches Loki with multiple things in his pockets. Then he goes up to Yui and checks to make sure her uniform is standard. Of course him being a god, and not knowing any better, he tugs at Yui’s skirt to make sure it’s by the knee. At this point both Apollon and Balder gasp, and Apollon stops Tsukito, and Balder says it’s not nice to tug on a girl’s skirt.

Tsukito ends up collapsing due to lack of sleep and he is taken to the infirmary. We find out that Tsukito had been staying up all hours of the night to work on his moon-viewing party, and also got up extremely early to check students on the guidelines…like 6:00 am in the morning early. Thoth tells him he may not be able to graduate from the school, and this leaves Tsukito worried.

Loki, of course, always getting into trouble…decides to stand up and “help” Tsukito out. Thor of course knows Loki is up to no good. Loki has “lovers rings” which he places on Yui’s and Tsukito’s fingers. They join together at the hand and neither one of them can break free. Loki declares that love is the answer basically, and a mutual understanding will break the rings. Of course Tsukito knows nothing about love and has a hard time understanding everything. Loki then tells him lovers communicate by kissing one another, and so Tsukito turns to Yui and asks for her to kiss him. Of course, Apollon, Takeru and Balder go nuts and leap at them before they can kiss. Unfortunately, anyone that touches their hands gets shocked by the rings.

Tsukito had been preparing for his moon-viewing party, so Yui has to come along with him and basically watch him make benches, which utterly failed several times. And then there are their spies. The jealousy of the others is just hilarious. You would never have thought Takeru would like Yui so much after how he treated her, but there you go. It was very obvious Apollon liked her from the start, and Balder… he is a possessive god and wants Yui to himself. I really don’t like Balder, but that’s just me. So you have the spies, but Hades, Dionysus and Thor are there as well, so obviously they are really, really curious. Hades looks at Dionysus and asks what is he doing there, and Dionysus shoots back “I could ask the same about you”.

Yui and Tsukito end up making food, being spied on again and Yui feeds Tsukito with a fork, as he had been hungry and too lost in his concentration to realize it. Of course you hear these gasps of horror and Apollon exclaims he wants Yui (he calls her “Fairy”) to feed him too. What’s creepy is how Balder suggests they feed Tsukito a whole bunch of food at once and Apollon has to tell him it would make Tsukito choke. The group is so caught up on that, the only person that realizes that Tsukito and Yui left is Dionysus. It’s at this point Yui talks to Tsukito and realizes he doesn’t know what fun is, or anything for that matter. He does his missions and that’s it. Yui is able to somehow open is his mind to what life is actually about, instead of just doing missions all his life.

In then end, Tsukito’s party is a huge hit, and he has several plates of food; I can’t tell if it’s mochi or what, but there are several flavors. It’s obvious Loki has been up to no good again, because Dionysus eats a green mochi and it turns out to be wasabi. He screams, and demands for water or better yet wine. Tsukito and Yui sit at a bench and look at the moon, and everything Yui has told him, seems to have worked. The rings break off after they share the idea that the moon looks beautiful than ever before. All along Loki had tricked them, saying all they needed was to share an understanding (without learning about love in the process). Tsukito tells Yui Loki has played a joke on them, but it seems he still enjoyed being around Yui. This is when everyone rushes over in a panic and asks if they are a couple. Poor Tsukito gets bombarded with questions.

This is a really nice episode, and having it focus on Tsukito, it helps the viewer get to know this quiet god a lot more. He takes his life and missions way too seriously, yet Yui is able to help him realize life is more than doing missions. Obviously it works on a huge scale, because now…he likes her too. The reactions of the two being alone by the other gods are really, really funny. So it’s a combination of seriousness and comedy.

Episode 7: Balder

This is the episode I really, really don’t like…simply because I don’t like Balder. Other than that, the story is actually written well; Thor actually talks a lot in this one, and we finally get to know him a lot better as well. From day one, Balder had a thing for Yui,and even then it was creepy because he got jealous when Apollon took Yui on a ride with Pegasus. We find out that Balder can’t be killed unless he does it himself, or by mistletoe. So instead, he trips and falls constantly. And that’s what happens when he meets Yui. He trips and falls right on top of her.

Thoth has the bunch plan a Christmas event, and so Apollon, Dionysus, Balder, Tsukito and Yui sit down and discuss what they will do for their event. Balder really, really wants to work with Yui on this, but seeing there are three Greeks, three Norse, and two Japanese gods,  Yui decides to work by their mythology. So obviously she’d work with Takeru and Tsukito. Balder hates this, so much that he “punishes” Yui and demands she eats with him every day. Takeru and Tsukito ask Yui to join them to plan their booth, and Balder answers for her by telling them they have to see Thoth. Which Yui doesn’t like as Balder is already making her nervous. Loki starts intervening because he has a huge bond with Thor and Balder. In the game, Loki is nothing like the Loki in the anime. Yeah, he does pranks and all, but the way the route goes for Loki, he is sweet and just wants to have fun with Yui…until he finds out she’s human. But that’s for my otome blog post.  Somehow, I want to say Loki knows all about Balder’s temperament and wants to protect Yui, even though he hates her. It gets worse when Loki finds out Yui is human.

All this time as Loki gets jealous of Balder’s growing closeness with Yui, there is an issue developing with Balder. Balder is slowly turning into the god of destruction and Loki and Thor know this is happening because Loki had a plan from the beginning of what they would do to him. As Yui walks down a stairwell, she hears Loki and Balder yelling at one another. Loki has every right to be upset. Thor, Balder and Loki have been extremely close since they were kids, and Balder and Thor were the only ones to befriend Loki, who had been banished by the other gods. Yui is about to go after them, when a hand grabs her shoulder.

It’s Thor, and he takes Yui away to tell her the history of the three. She finds out about the bond that Loki and Balder have, and Balder’s history itself. I want to say Thor steps in at this point because he knows it’s not dangerous, but a dark issue to deal with. The music in the episodes featuring the three is actually really emotional. I don’t know why, but it always makes me a bit teary eyed. But Balder continues to dive deeper into a really dark obsession, and Yui finally realizes she needs to find some way to get away from him.

All of the events between Balder, Loki and Yui start causing problems with getting work done for the festival. As soon as Yui comes back with supplies for her booth, Loki catches up to her and corners her between two booths. He seems to be trying to brainwash her, and yet it doesn’t work. Yui is so happy thinking Loki wants to be friends, when all he was doing was trying to manipulate her. Loki stops and looks at her with shock. It’s when this happens that Balder sees the two talking, and automatically thinks Loki has a thing for Yui as well. All through the series before this episode, you think Balder is sweet and gentle with all the students in love with him. It’s this episode that makes you realize he is NOTHING like he was before.

Episode 8: Loki

The problems continue on from episode seven, when the Christmas event actually takes place. Yui is helping Takeru and Tsukito at their booth, but has so much on her mind with the events with Balder and Loki, that she doesn’t really pay attention, and Takeru basically tells her to quit daydreaming. Yui is able to slip away before Balder is able to get to her table. She goes to visit the Greeks booth, where Hades and Dionysus have flowers that they are selling. When Yui finds out Hades grew flowers, Hades gets terribly shy and blushes. He’s so cute when he blushes. And Apollon made candles, which look so grotesque it scares Yui as the wax melts. Dionysus calls him a moron and that no one would buy those things.

Yui makes her way to the Norse booth, and she sees Loki calling out to attract buyers. Thor just stands there, not knowing how to attract customers, and Loki tells him how to do so. Thor sees Yui looking at them from a distance, and he clicks his tongue and has her come over. Loki tells him that’s not how to do it, and Thor tells him that’s why he’s not good at it. He tells Yui to cover for him. Loki is not thrilled, but he isn’t a jerk to her. He asks why she came there, and she didn’t know what to say. He talks to Yui as to why she needs to stay away from Balder, and this is when Balder catches them together at the booth. He gets super pissed off, and grabs one of Loki’s really big pranks that explode with a pink cloud so no one can see what happens, and Loki notices Balder grabbed Yui, and so he goes after them.

This is why I hate Balder. Because of this; and I tend to skip these two episodes because of Balder himself.  The jealousy from him is again, so creepy. It’s like he is Yui’s stalker. He takes her away and when Loki finds them, Balder is about to kiss Yui, saying she will only be able to look at him. Loki comes just in time, pushing Balder away from Yui. It can only be assumed all this dark, creepy actions by Balder is due to the god of destruction slowly taking over. I love Loki in the episode though, and Yui visiting the others booths is amusing, but Balder kind of ruins the episode. But that’s the point; to see how bad he can behave.

Balder grabs Yui again, and heads back to the school building, Loki hot on his trails. He tells Loki he cannot allow Loki to have her, and Loki argues with him that he doesn’t  have feelings for Yui. Balder starts glowing and starts to transform into his god form, starting to destroy things around him. Loki grabs Yui from him, so she isn’t hurt, and Loki heads towards Balder to calm him down.

Yui of course is terrified and has no idea why this is happening. So when Balder passes out, Loki and Yui take him to the infirmary. As they sit there, Yui asks him about Balder, and Loki tells her everything, especially Balder’s dark side. Yui tries to understand, and talk to Loki about it. Loki finally realizes she’s not a bad person, and tells her he can see why Balder likes her. So yay! Loki and Yui are now friends…and it took eight episodes. Balder finally wakes up and asks what had happened. Loki does not want to tell him, and he had told Yui not to say anything about it. But Balder seems to know what happened, and knows Loki is lying to him, but won’t say anything.

After Balder recovers, they decide to go back to the festival. At this point, Apollon gets Christmas and Santa Claus all mixed up as they start sending lanterns up in the sky. While Hades is looking at a book and tries to figure out what they actually do for the holiday. Again, another blonde moment for Apollon. It’s no wonder he’s called an idiot by Thoth.

We see a sweet ending, with everything resolved and everyone happy. Balder takes Yui’s hand and Loki grabs the other one as Balder apologizes for his behavior. He tells Yui he will calm down and be friends with her. And this makes everyone get along. We realize all the gods have flaws in the series, and that is why Zeus picked these particular gods to get help from the human girl named Yui.

Apollon’s story line will begin Part 3.