First Impression: Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department

In a world where tokusatsu heroes are real, beleaguered lab assistant Touka Kuroitsu works in monster R&D for the nefarious Secret Society: Agastia. Her boss forces her to give a presentation to the society’s bigwigs on a barebones proposal he threw together at the last minute. The proposal gets rejected; although the supreme leader thinks the monster is cute, the chief of staff complains that it needs a punny name. Fortunately, Chief of Staff Megistus is maybe might be an understanding superior who encourages Kuroitsu to ask him if she needs a deadline extended so that she can rest properly (the HR department informs him when society members fail to use their paid leave). Elsewhere, Kenji, the cashier at the takeout restaurant where Kuroitsu buys her lunch, is actually Divine Swordsman Blader, heroic nemesis of Agastia. He confronts…well, it was supposed to be a wolfman, but the supreme leader meddled at the last minute and forced R&D to make her a cutesy wolfgirl instead. One wardrobe malfunction later, the wolfgirl has accidentally defeated Blader.

That was bonkers, in a good way. I got some World Conquest Zvezda Plot vibes from this episode, with it’s nonsensical portrayal of a sinister (?) organization bent on global conquest. Since I thought WCZP was hilarious, that’s a good thing. I was also impressed by a reveal in the credits: In the episode’s montage of heroes, they showed animated versions of a bunch of a real tokusatsu characters. How cool is that?! My chief complaint is the naked wolfgirl gag that just felt awkward rather funny and undermined the actual humor found in the rest of the episode. This looks like it will be a very silly story, and I’m on board for more. If you’re in the mood for something goofy, you may want to check out this show. Whether I stick with it will depend on if they end up leaning more on naked wolfgirl humor than on “Why didn’t you give the monster a name that would be a pun on Loch Ness? Rejected!” humor.