Heat the Pig Liver Anime - Ep 7 Thoughts

Time to figure out who this mysterious voice that calls themselves Brace is.  This post will contain my thoughts as someone who has read the light novel source material, and will cover any changes that the anime has made.  There's also a news update section at the end which you may skip to if you're not interested if my writing bores you.

Episode 7 Thoughts

Picking up where we left off last episode, Jess tells Mister Pig that she has to save Brace, to which he responds by saying it's dangerous because they don't know who she is.  Nott is woken up by the two's conversation, but once he realizes the situation, he immediately sets out with Rossi in Brace's direction.

After the OP, we see the group discussing while trekking towards their destination.  Unfortunately, it's here that a lot of nuance from the novel was cut - mainly the detective element from Mister Pig explaining why Brace's message could be a trap.  It also appears the anime cut out Mister Pig making them all speak telepathically.  It makes sense to do so as they're trying to be sneaky, but I'm sure the studio figured it would get a little confusing.  We then get a bit more lore as Mister Pig is told Yesmas aren't given the rights to enter churches and pray to same existence that the other citizens do.

We cut to Nott knocking on the chapel door with Jess wearing her scarf like a hood to hide her appearance (in the novel, she even states her name is Celes and she came from a neighboring town to purchase goods to imply she's still an employed Yesma, thereby minimizing the risk of any danger befalling upon her).  The overall conversation remains the same, but we do get a quick flashback as to who came up with the plan.  Nott's suggestion during this flashback is very much his way of doing things, but what surprised me is that the anime chose to be vague and make it seem like Jess was the one to suggest the final plan (the novel does state she insisted on being the decoy, but the strategy came from Mister Pig).  I would prefer if the anime would stop passing off Mister Pig's accomplishments to the other characters...

Unfortunately, the anime cut out Mister Pig coordinating telepathically with Jess and Nott, as well as a flashy scene where Nott gets to burst out of the chapel like a hero and leap at the evildoer while being propelled by his dagger flames.  And here I was, looking forward to a quick action scene.  Here's how this scene was drawn in the manga.

It's also a bit interesting that the anime cuts out the moment where Nott dragged Jess into the chapel while she was hesitating about entering, and instead had Mister Pig indirectly encourage her by saying they'll save Brace.  On the one hand, you lose that idea of Yesmas not allowed inside church being a strongly ingrained culture which makes Jess pause even when there's no one stopping her; but on the other, you can see this as Jess trusting in Mister Pig more than what her beliefs say.

The anime also appears to have cut out the subplot of the chapel having two basement trapdoors, because it's necessary to fool people like Nott if a Yesma ever came with another person.  It's a minor detail that makes the world feel more alive, but for the sake of simplicity, it was understandably cut.

As the three explored under the trapdoor (Rossi left behind to stand guard), I really liked how the anime had the flames on Nott's dagger brighten when he spotted those glass containers, as it reflects his emotions in the moment.

The scene where they finally found Brace was changed in an interesting way as well.  First of all, I'm glad the anime made sure to quickly explain how Brace was made to pray towards the concept of Yesmas, which was why only Jess was able to hear it.  Second, instead of the more grounded approach the novel took with Nott confirming Brace's safety then using the nearby keys hanging on the wall to unlock the cell, the anime chose to have Nott make a cool show of cutting apart the bars.  I kind of prefer the second approach (at least in anime form), because it helps highlight Nott's brash nature, which is then immediately contrasted with his kindness as he hugs Brace.

We get some more lore from Nott, and I'm glad Mister Pig gets thanked here as his contributions are worth acknowledging.  This is followed by everyone giving their self-introductions.  I like the wink that Mister Pig gives to Brace while using an ikemen voice.

I wonder if this scene with Brace and Nott afterwards is from a Short Story?  I say this because the comment Nott makes about Brace's prayer is a neat bit of information that is relevant moreso in future novels.

After the title drop, Brace is accepted to the party as she's also headed to the royal capital.  We get a bit of levity after all that seriousness, and Mister Pig finally gets to have a lengthy monologue all to himself, with the subject suddenly becoming about chest size...?  A bit of serious musing from the novel was unfortunately still cut, mainly with regards to wondering what was done to Brace underneath that chapel, and why did Jess wrap the green scarf around her wrist instead of keeping it in her bag to avoid wrinkling it (though the latter already answered this in episode 4's final scene).  Some questions to think about.

We then get another scene of levity in the form of an SS adaptation, which was also drawn in the manga.  The SS title is 男は膝枕を求める (Guys Desire Lap Pillows).

As dusk approaches, the party finally arrives at the Cross Rocklands, and we learn more about the Dark Ages before skipping to night time.  It's here that we get a much needed serious monologue from Mister Pig.  The words are practically lifted from the novel, and there's no much to say.

Finally, after Mister Pig is woken up and brought outside the cave, Nott asks him "are you prepared to die?"

Despite some problems I have with the anime underplaying Mister Pig's contributions in key moments, I think this episode was solid.  It had a good mix of comedy and seriousness, which is what defines this series.  Plus, we got not one, but two Mister Pig lengthy monologues!

News Update Section

ASCA's and Myuk's EPs for Heat the Pig Liver's OP and ED were released on the 15th.  Have you all gotten a chance to listen to them?  I found myself enjoying the acoustic version of ひとりじゃないよ a lot (YouTube upload linked below), but the limited anime edition with the special OP track featuring an ASCA x Jess duet was not as good as I had expected.  I think Kusunoki singing using Jess' soft, whisper-like voice doesn't work well for this kind of song, but it was probably done in order to contrast ASCA's voice.  I don't believe I've mentioned this before either, but I really like how the OP represents Jess' perspective, while the ED represents Mister Pig's perspective in the story.

I also found out the other day that ASCA's YouTube channel uploaded a Short a couple weeks ago with a few lines translated in English, so I went back and updated the OP lyrics translations with that in mind.  I wonder if they'll ever post an official full English translation.

Remember that Kujibikido online lottery event I mentioned back in ep 3's post?  Well the prizes finally got announced, and the S rank prize was not a dakimakura case/cover, but rather a dakimakura-size cloth poster.  For those of you wanting to own the actual dakimakura, Kadokawa listed it for preorder on their store from Nov 21 until Dec 21.

Episode 2 of Retrospect the Pig Liver was uploaded recently as well, covering episode 3 to 6.  This one talked less about behind the scenes insight to their recordings, and was more about their thoughts regarding each story beat.  I actually expected them to release this last week and only cover the anime episodes 3-5, but I'm guessing their goal is to release it after each chapter is covered from the novel, so expect 5 retrospect episodes total (or maybe only 4 given the length of the final chapter)?

Lastly, the second half of Dengeki Online's interview with the authors of ひきこまり吸血姫の悶々 (The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess) and 豚のレバーは加熱しろ  (Heat the Pig Liver) has been posted.