Summer 2022 First Impressions – Vermeil in Gold

Streaming: HIDIVE

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Alto Goldfield has a problem – if he can’t form a contract with a familiar before class the next day, he’ll be held back a year in magic school. He’s already tried almost everything, but as he’s pondering his situation in the library, a book of summoning magic falls from the shelf and hits him square in the head. Luckily for him some of it is still legible, so he draws the magic circle and chants the words written in the book. What bursts forth from the magic ring isn’t any ordinary spirit, however; instead, Alto seems to have summoned himself a very powerful, buxom demon.

The demon’s name is Vermeil and she informs Alto that the reason that no other creature would allow itself to be summoned to his side is because his mana is simply too potent for them to tolerate. Luckily demons are so powerful that they’re the one exception, and Vermeil knows many… creative ways to extract the mana she desires as payment for her services. Despite some headaches in class the next day, Vermeil is deemed acceptable as a familiar. However, Alto’s childhood friend Lilia isn’t quite so accepting. She challenges them to a duel, which despite her efforts Lilia loses spectacularly. Her penance is to become friendly with Vermeil, which she accepts, albeit not without some misgivings.

Impressions: I don’t typically care for anime that exists primarily for the purposes of being sexy, but on occasion something will kind of push my buttons. I’ll admit, I like demons; I think it has something to do with the danger and immense power involved in their existence, which makes them unpredictable entities and thus sort of an emotional novelty. Anyway, I feel like the story of goofy guys accidentally getting involved with women who are extremely out of their league is a tale as old as time and not something I typically have a lot of energy to endure. But add the right ingredients and it suddenly becomes more palatable in spite of various issues.

I think the magical mystery ingredient in this particular case is Vermeil’s portrayal. When you boil the premise down to its basic elements, it sounds quite a bit like a sexy, powerful women getting “tamed” by someone unworthy but for some stupid plot contrivance making him secretly awesome. In practice, though, I think Vermeil’s existence – they way she carries herself and her playful, amused attitude – helps to emphasize the fact that she could pretty much leave any time, yet sticks around because of some personal entertainment value and the promise of that sweet, sweet magic juice. It’s absolutely not a “real” justification, and I’m sure you’ll recall what I’ve had to say about internal justifications for external criticisms, but an attempt was made and the show clearly doesn’t take itself too seriously, which helps a lot.

And to be frank, this episode is just simply and obviously better made than 90% of the ecchi or fanservice anime I’ve encountered lately. The characters look nice, the animation is decent, and there’s a nominal amount of care put into the depiction of the setting. What a blessing not to have to deal with yet another bare-bones, bleak Japanese apartment where a below-average dude lives on his own for [insert dubious reason here].

This doesn’t seem like the type of show that I’d ever call “good” in the artful sense of the word. But oftentimes feelings are so much a matter of scale and comparison, and when you’ve watched a lot of detestable things in the past, something that’s “pretty good” in comparison is a rare treat.

Pros: One of the things I’ve found absolutely comical about ecchi anime as of late is the absolutely wild censorship methods that are sometimes employed, some of which almost completely obscures actions to the point that it becomes a mystery as to what is actually going on (besides sex stuff in general). This episode is much more artful in how it hides what it needs to hide. While I definitely question how an entire nipple could be hiding behind an askew camera angle or a single feather, a minor lack of visual logic is preferable to a complete visual blockade (and yes, I know I’ll be getting some of that this season, too).

Vermeil seems like she may have an interesting backstory, if the ED animation is anything to go by (it may not). While I don’t care much for the student characters, I think she’s a lot more interesting.

Cons: This is yet another case where I really, really wish the characters in this series weren’t high school kids. It just makes everything feel very creepy. If the requirement for the main relationship is that the male character is sexually inexperienced, I promise that there are sexually inexperienced adults out there whose experiences could be depicted with less… ickiness.

The conflict between the two female characters in Alto’s life doesn’t spark joy for me, either. The conflict between “the childhood friend” and “the new hot interloper” sure is a trope that exists, and I definitely don’t enjoy it. Especially when the boy/man at the center of it all isn’t really worthwhile.

Content Warnings: Violence (magical conflict and some brief illustrations of demons/death imagery), sexual content/nudity (semi-frequent but with details obscured; one instance of fondling depicted in a way that hides what is being fondled, also dubiously-consensual kissing, as well as a character being brought to orgasm in a magical battle), fanservice (a brief panty shot).

Would I Watch More? – I liked this more than usual for an ecchi series, but I don’t know if I would watch more. Why? It’s the ages of the characters that really gets me, especially the age gap between the two main characters. Fantasy is fantasy, but that’s something that bothers me to the point that I personally can’t really overlook it.