Anime Reviews: Beelzebub Episode 55 - I Have Lost My Pompadour. The Great Demon Lord Has Come.

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Plot Summary
Himekawa comes to school with his hair down, attracting the attention of the school's on-standby fangirls.

No Japanese High School should be without them.

His "friends" don't recognize him, despite having seen him with his hair down before. He explains that he ran out of his usual pomade (yes this is a real thing. Education through anime), and the regular kind isn't enough to get his hair to stay in pompadour shape.

He decides to go home, tired of the attention he is getting, and runs into a group of delinquents looking for him. Kanzaki picks up the phone Himekawa left behind, and learns that Himekawa loses half his strength when he doesn't have his pompadour.

The butler manages to bring Himekawa the special pomade, and after some help from Kanzaki, Himekawa styles his hair back to normal, and deals with the thugs. The episode ends with Kanzaki trying the pompadour out to increase his own power.

Oga's dad is relaxing at home, when the Great Demon Lord (GDL) comes calling. After calling Hilda, Dad spends the rest of the day entertaining the GDL, under the impression that he is a visiting foreign dignitary.

Hilda spends the day gathering the necessary offering for the GDL, and after getting Oga and his friends to help, they are finally ready to mee the GDL. But once they arrive back at Oga's house, Hilda discovers that the GDL has already left.

My Opinion
The two stories in one episode format is a strange one I've only ever seen done in Beelezebub, at first I thought it was ridiculous for them to tell a story that couldn't fill its own episode, but after a few episodes like this, I find the format growing on me. After all, if a filler story is bad, it's only wasting half as much time as it normally would.

That being said, I'm on the fence about these two stories. I do enjoy seeing Himekawa and Kanzaki get more development, and their strange friendship is fun to watch, but I can't help but come away from this episode wondering, "So what?" Did these stories need to be told? But I suppose the same thing can be said about any narrative. Again, my baseline to judge filler is whether I laughed. And I did laugh. Himekawa always seems to be involved in the most ludicrous stories, and I would be doing myself a disservice if I expected anything less from Beelzebub.

The GDL story was predictable, but a fun chance to see more of the GDL, and Oga's dad. I actually enjoyed the characterization of the GDL as a guy that just takes things as they come, and doesn't let anything kill his chill, versus Oga's dad who is the typical salary man terrified that anything he does will make his client angry. Interesting bit of social commentary there, where it was not expected. I wouldn't mind seeing more of the Demon Lord who goes with the flow, and the mousy, nervous little businessman.

If you liked my review, Watch the Episode Here!