Episode 5

Didn't I Say That We're Doing Everyone's Backstories?! is the 5th episode of the Didn’t I Say To Make My Abilities Average In The Next Life?! anime.

Plot
The Crimson Vow girls all disclose their individual backgrounds of why they all decided to become Hunters in the first place. Reina was once a peddler’s daughter and later a team member of a Hunter group known as Crimson Lightning. However, in different times and settings, they were killed by bandits. Pauline’s backstory entails that after her father was killed, his business partner usurped his company with the help of the land's noble. Reina seeks to become a Hunter to avenge her father and her former Hunter colleagues. Mavis’s background is of a family of renown knights of Count rank nobility. She ran away from home after her family rejects her request to become a knight. Finally Adele reluctantly tells her backstory. She discloses that she's originally from the Kingdom of Brandel and after her father banishes her, she joins the Eckland Academy. However, things didn’t last long there, after several incidents she absconds from the academy and travels to the Kingdom of Tils to become a Hunter.

Characters

 * Reina
 * Crimson Lightning (flashback)
 * August (flashback)
 * Adele von Ascham
 * Pauline
 * Mavis von Austien
 * Nano (flashback)
 * Viscount Boardman (flashback)
 * Count Austien (flashback)
 * Viscount Ascham (flashback)
 * Prissy (flashback)
 * Marcela (flashback)
 * Monika (flashback)
 * Aureana (flashback)
 * Princess Morena (flashback)

Cultural References

 * 7:25 - Mile says “daga kotowaru”, roughly “however, I decline”, and translated as “I refuse.”. This the same line said by a character from the manga Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken / JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. The facial expression and art style are also in the style of the manga and anime.


 * 9:45 - Mile says “watashi, ki ni narimasu”, roughly “I am curious”, and translated as “I’d really like to know!”, which is the same line repeated by the character Chitanda Eru from the Hyouka series when she is curious about something. The flowers effect, face close up and reflection in eyes is also in the style of how it is presented in the anime adaptation.


 * 12:28 - The situation with Mile being harassed and put into doing chores by a step-mother and step-sister is similar to that of the situation of Cinderella. She also wears a similar outfit to the depictions.


 * 13:38 - The silvery man-like figure and Mile’s comment of him requiring to be knocked into a vat of molten steel to defeat is a reference the T-1000 from the Terminator 2 film. The T-1000 was an unyielding enemy which at times assumed pretty much the same appearance shown here and was only finally defeated when pushed down into a vat of molten steel.


 * 13:43 - The yellow creature who travels with the “gotta catch ’em” (getto da ze) guy is a reference to Pikachu and Satoshi / Ash Ketchum respectively from the Pokemon anime. The creature with the Kansai accent that’s friends with the [magical] girl who captures cards is a reference to Keroberos and Kinomoto Sakura respectively from the manga Cardcaptor Sakura.


 * 14:45 - Mile says “sonna fuu ni kangaeteita jiki ga watashi ni mo arimashita”, which is a parody of the line “sonna fuu ni kangaeteita jiki ga ore ni mo arimashita” said by the character Hanma Baki from the manga Baki. The only difference is the use of “watashi” instead of “ore” which are both first-person pronouns meaning “I”. The line roughly means “there was a time I too thought in that way”. Further, Mile’s face and expression is similar to that of the Hanma Baki’s.


 * 19:47 - Mile’s “lightning break” attack in Japanese is “kaminari bureiku” which is a parody of the “sandaa bureiku / thunder break” attack from the anime Great Mazinger. The way the electricity was drawn from the sky and how it was shot is the same as in the anime.