Machikado Mazoku – Episode 9 – Shamiko’s Exam Challenge

Shamiko still wants Momo to acknowledge her. While she can’t challenge her physically, she decides to use her brain instead.

From last time, Shamiko found out from Mikan that if Momo loses her magic, she would seize to exist. With that, she wants Momo to acknowledge her. Anri suggests Shamiko to train her brain. One of the ways Shamiko can accomplish this is through exam scores. The only problem is that Momo usually gets high grades that pale in comparison to Shamiko’s. If Shamiko doesn’t score higher than her, she will have to give up her summer vacation for more training. This makes you think, is this bet worth it?

There is a bright spot for Shamiko. Momo only got a 75 in history. In other words, Shamiko focuses her efforts on history by studying all night and while going to and from school. The surprising thing is that Lilith seems to know all the famous people from Egypt and Mesopotamia. I can obviously see why given that she is part of the dark clan.

With that, she offers Shamiko to give answers so she can pass the test and beat Momo. It’s funny how Shamiko went along with this plan until the last-minute as she decided not to cheat. She let the teacher take the ancestor statue and store it for the time being.

In the end, Shamiko did good and managed to receive a score of 88 in world history, Momo scored higher with 95. Yep, so close but yet so far. I guess her dream of having Momo acknowledge her failed. Was it worth it for Shamiko to take this challenge and fail English? Maybe not.

The funny thing is that Lilith also took the test and managed to achieve the 3^rd highest grade on the exams. This just shows how smart she is. Understandably, Momo is upset that Lilith scored higher and suspects cheating. I guess in a way, Shamiko’s dream became true, but Lilith achieved it instead. As expected, Shamiko says her usual catch phrase as she uses the ancestor’s statue as a dumbbell. I guess she needs to study harder next time.

In the second half, it seems that Shamiko’s mother’s new refrigerator has finally came. She seems excited about how it can improve their lives. This is not too surprising since everyone has felt this kind of anticipation waiting to receive a new product or tech come in the mail. The funny thing is that the refrigerator wouldn’t fit through the door. This crushes their mother’s dreams as they probably spent a good amount of money on it.

With that, Mikan runs into Shamiko and borrows her for a bit. Mikan takes her to a movie theater to see a scary movie. You might be wondering what is the purpose of this? To help Mikan get over her curse of course! To me, this seems very dubious. Still, it’s funny how Mikan pulls Shamiko’s tail as she tries to run away since she doesn’t like scary movies. Either way, I have a feeling that this is more of a date than additional training. Is Mikan trying to make a move on Shamiko?

In the end, instead of being scared, Shamiko seems moved by the movie. The funny thing is that Mikan didn’t get scared by it at all and fainted instead. In other words, the horror factor didn’t have much effect on her.

In the end, they ran into Momo who is wearing a visor resembling Tama Sakura. When Momo walks away, Mikan gets upset that the training from watching a movie had the opposite effect. Meanwhile, the popcorn machine malfunctions from Mikan’s curse and Shamiko becomes frantic over it.

Thankfully, Mikan paid compensation for breaking the popcorn machine. At least Shamiko have a few days of food from this. Either way, Momo doesn’t seem bothered by what Mikan tried to do to resolve her curse. Aside from that, it seems that Lilith have a good time watching the movie despite Mikan’s curse. ¶