HEADS UP: I (Sara) feel that I talk even the tiniest bit more in-depth about the contents of the episode than Lesley, especially when it comes to the ending of the episode. If you haven't seen the episode yet, please proceed through this review with caution, as it may contain more spoilers than a typical review on this blog.
The episode begins with a meeting between the Restaurant Union, where Munami gives out the idea of hosting an eating contest, under the guise that it's celebrating the completion of the wall. The members of the Union agree, and one of them even suggests adding a prize to help get people excited about the event, even deciding to charge admission to prevent potentially taking a loss. They decide to give only the most filling foods, and the decision is made to host the contest in two weeks, deciding to make preparations for the contest to help build up the hype. Of course, Boxxo has been here this entire time and doesn't know why he's supposed to be here if it didn't seem like they needed his help.
Of course, it turns out that the Union ends up needing Boxxo's help: The Voracious Devils (also known as the Band of Gluttons) and Shui from the Menagerie of Fools are going to be participating, and they have really big appetites. Boxxo's way of helping is by giving the Union cola, which they decide will be provided for the contest alongside water, and before the contest advertise the drink but sell it on the more expensive side, but available on contest day for free. The day of the contest rolls around, and since there were entries than anticipated, the participants who had made it past the tryouts were broken up into two blocks.
The participants in the first block take the stage, and the first five people who finish their food will move on to the finals. All five finishers from this block end up finishing before time runs out, being the Voracious Devils and Gocguy (as Boxxo called him). The competitors in the second block end up making it to the time limit, with the finalists being Shui, Lammis, and three other characters. The finals is a bit different: you have to eat as much food as you can before time is up, but you get multiple plates instead of just one. When you finish one plate, another is given to you. When the finalists enter, Boxxo transforms into a jukebox to play one song, and even plays another song during the finals itself. Shui ends up winning the finals, receiving the wonderful prize of free usage of Boxxo for a day.
Shui decides to head to the Origin stratum alongside Boxxo and Lammis (because nobody else can carry Boxxo), where they stop by a house where a single woman is taking care of a handful of kids. Shui decides to use Boxxo to help feed the kids, and then Boxxo turns into his balloon vending machine form to give the kids balloons. Afterwards, he changes into his powerwasher form and, with hose pouring done by Lammis, play in the water. Boxxo then transforms into his washing machine form to wash the clothes while the kids go to take a bath. But since there's no hot water in the bath, Boxxo transforms into a hot spring vending machine and dispenses the hot water needed, and everyone manages to successfully take a bath.
The evening goes by with food, and we learn that to be able to traverse to other strata that aren't your home stratum and the Origin stratum, you have to get to the transfer circle in the Origin stratum, and the woman here is taking care of children who got left behind by their parents. We also learn Shui's wish: for the children in the stratum to be happy. Later on in the evening, some guys come for Boxxo, so Boxxo decides to fight back, he begins by creating smoke, and then preparing ice. He then turns into his washing machine form to create a spooky atmosphere, before making a barrier and expelling the ice, scaring the guys coming after him. He turns into his jukebox form to play music that fit the mood.
The next morning, Boxxo shows what happened and the woman decided to go have a chat with them. As it turns out, she's the one that taught Shui archery. She comes back, Boxxo noting that there are no longer any arrows in her quiver.
This was a very fun episode, and I don't know if I'm the only one that thinks this, but it helped to build Shui as a character. We finally got to see the jukebox form that we've seen in the opening and ending since the second episode, and it's always interesting to see what Boxxo has up his sleeve when it comes to dealing with situations. Though the name of next week's episode, "The Dead's Lament Stratum", definitely seems like it won't be as happy and upbeat as this week. Guess I'll just have to wait for next week to find out what this episode has in store.
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