To some this may be the strongest episode of Kiznaiver to date. However to someone like myself I find myself mixed on what I just witnessed. I have said before that what I like about this series are the aspects which are distinctly Trigger which would be it’s sense of wacky humor and character chemistry. However this episode didn’t feel like Trigger, no this felt like Okada. A particular fear I had for this series is that Okada was helmed as the writer and Okada is very fond of melodrama. Too fond I would say. People acting ignorant for the sake of heightening drama, characters launching into emotional outbursts over the most trivial of details, arguments in the rain and teenage angst. These things are distinctly Okada and perhaps because I happen to be rewatching an older work of hers, Toradora, this episode didn’t quite hit the emotional high it intended for me. This is the particular problem with soap opera drama, if it hits it’s mark it’s emotional and riveting. However if it misses it’s hackneyed and contrived. While I certainly am not saying this episode was a failure, I think it lost value from me because I am able to see the strings Okada is trying to pull. So Maki blames himself for her friends death because her friend was dying of a terminal disease and she pushed her away for fear of getting hurt before she died. I can certainly see why that would be upsetting but you really made it out to be a much greater issue before. It’s a little irritating when a character makes such a fuss over an mysterious trauma from their past only to have it be something so utterly minor. Everyone is making a big deal out of this and I find it a little distasteful. As to why, let me put it this way. This episode was about Maki and Makis feelings so nothing else really matters. I look back at the opening of this episode as Niko, very out of character starts telling Ruri’s parents to care about Maki’s feelings which while she is admonished for, is pretty much the attitude the episode takes. At the end of the episode Maki’s issues are resolved and she can move on from this to make new friends. Meanwhile Ruri’s parents are free to wallow in despair over the death of their daughter because they served their purpose in resolving Maki’s issues. For we all know that a friend you had for about a year or two is far more important than parents you knew you for your entire existence. So hey Ruri’s parents may destroy themselves out of grief over their daughter but who cares? Maki’s happy and that’s all that matters. You may understand now my particular lack of being emotionally moved by this character arc.
I do like what is presented here though as Maki and Ruri’s relationship is an interesting one. They bonded by combining their talents to create a manga and over the time became so close that it potentially could have become romantic. Maki makes it clear that she stopped herself before she reached that point but not because she didn’t swing that way. Rather because she didn’t want to be devastated by her lover dying on her. I find it nice that the relationship between them isn’t really sexualised which it could have very well been considering this is trigger and that had no issues doing Yuri fanservice before in KIll la Kill. Rather just their feelings lining up and maki pushing her away once Ruri made a big advance on her. In regards to this it’s difficult to determine whether Maki is gay or bisexual as her feelings for Ruri definitely insinuate that she was romantically interested. As for the rest of the Kiznaiver they seem preoccupied with finding out about Maki behind her back and decide to become her friend in order to solve her issues. Yuta ultimately ends up the main savior her as he lets her know that Ruri wrote a different final chapter to the one she proposed to Maki. One that effectively showed she had no hard feelings about what she did. For some reason they all play in the water because Maki suggests it and I am a little confused on what Maki was trying to accomplish. It seemed to say that she was looking for inspiration to write a new manga chapter but honestly I say it was a flimsy excuse for an emotional scene. That said it’s a pretty heartwarming scene as all the character run into the water and start messing around. I also just realised that Yuta runs like a girl, I just find that immensely amusing considering his front he put up. Then we have Maki admit to her feelings and decide that the other Kiznaivers are closer than friends to her. Honestly I am more interested in how she will conduct herself from now on as her mysterious emotional baggage is cleared up. Perhaps will she develop feelings for Yuta, or in a strange twist of fate become attracted to Niko? Either way it looks like we will be moving on from Maki and dealing with Tenga next time around where he’s likely going to bring up feelings for Chidori. He’s got a pretty big chance too seeing how much she blushed when he was going around topless.
~AidanAK47~
You are WAY to obsessed with Okada, it sounds to me like you went into this episode carefully watching for things to pick at
You don’t need to bring up her name every time and say how she’s the writer, every time you do it just reinforces that you’re paying more attention to her and not the anime
That’s quite an odd thing to say. I would have thought that paying attention to who is writing the script is paying attention to the anime. Didn’t quite think I was feeling on her that much and main reason I brought her up her is because this episode really is typical of her style.
So why do you never bring it up for any other of the series this season? It’s not like their writers lack common pitfalls of their own. It’s always Okada this, Okada that, oh look the parent’s aren’t as involved so the whole thing is pointless, other people may think this is great but I know better, I can see the strings Okada pulls. It just makes your whole argument feel incredibly silly, “no this felt like Okada” this line in particular feels insanely cheesy to me. It feels like you know other people will like this episode a lot so you have to clarify to those people what’s wrong with it, and that just feels off to me.
The other two series I am covering are adaptions so the animes writer isn’t quite as influence on the final product. Most of the critise/praise should be pointed at the original creators. In joker games case I can’t as the novels are not translated. Same goes for Re:Zero though I could judge that through the manga adaption but considering that it’s an adaption it wouldn’t really be fair.
Just for you I will try avoiding mentioning her in future posts but even with my comments about her removed from this post I don’t think that invalidates the point I was trying to make.
“It feels like you know other people will like this episode a lot so you have to clarify to those people what’s wrong with it, and that just feels off to me.”
Yes. I know there are those who will like this episode so I make a point to explain why this episode didn’t connect with me personally in order to let others understand why I would come to think this. It’s just me presenting my opinion in an informed manner as apposed to saying “this episode was poor because I say it is, come at me bro.” The important factor is that I am not saying people shouldn’t like this episode. Rather just why I didn’t.
I actually agree with Aidan, I think that the absurdist elements work best when not bogged down with melodrama, what this series has to do is find the right balance. The problem with this is that the melodramatic aspects of the series don’t ring true, and is a lazy attempt to develop characters. I wish that the series would have the courage to take more risks and stumble into tragic life story territory.
I don’t know why you want real emotional trauma from this series. I think the series is doing fine with just being trivial on the emotional dump.
I find this show entertaining. I enjoy watching a bunch of unlikely personalities being forced to be friends. And it’s being handled well so far as far as I’m concerned. I don’t really care for any serious melodrama at this point, nor do I think the show would benefit from it.
This is the only show I’ve been watching this season with a constant grin on my face. That’s all I care about.
I’d say that I enjoyed this episode well enough. The only thing that I don’t really like the show to develop was the pairing up. Because then the show will spend more time to develop the romance, thus will downplay some other relationship. Like in this episode Maki is the main character, so Yuta and Niko were developed a lot, but how about other characters? I think at this rate I would never see the chemistry between say Hisomu and Maki, or Tenga and Niko outside of them as a group together and that bothers me a lot.