The first half of this episode was very good, though the second half was a bit lost on me. Let’s just start with that one. To start off with, it again was a bit of an anti-climax, but what mostly bothered me was the part in which Nura talked to Kana. We’re supposed to feel along with her and all, but really: who is she? It’s been seven episodes so far, but what exactly have we learned about her so far? That she likes Rikuo and gets jealous. I didn’t really notice this up till now because she has always rather remained in the background, but this girl is even blander than the rest of Rikuo’s classmates, who despite being annoying at least have gotten some characterization. Was she also this bland in the manga?
I liked that fight in the first half, though. There were a number of rather standard still frames used, but at the same time there also were quite a number of well drawn poses for Rikuo, in which you can really see that he’s using his entire body to support this sword. That’s not something I expected from a series like this.
Yura also didn’t really accomplish much, but I like the build up that has been put into her character. She’s obviously meant as a character for later arcs, and the current arc is bit by bit trying to get her close to Nura’s secret and I’m quite interested in how the creators are going to end up using her.
Rating: * (Good)
“Was she also this bland in the manga?”
While she was a bit better in manga, she was still bland. However, the scene where Rikou gives her Tsurara is much, much, much less dramatic in manga as well (he just gives her to her, says hi and leaves).
She is theoretically removed from the storyline later on (while Tsurara and Yura remain as important). But the director of anime is a Kana fan so God knows how much screentime he will give her.
Anyway, my expectations for the next episode will be high since the director promised to improve the flashbacks based on what the mangaka told him (the stuff that couldn’t be included in manga as the mangaka doesn’t seem to like dragging stuff too much)
Kana is not that important of a character. As said before, the director seems to be a fan of Kana.
I really enjoyed the first half, but the second half wasn’t that bad either, even though it was slow pased. The music segment and the ambientation for the meeting between Rikuo and Kana was really good.
Still… I’m a Rikuo x Tsurara shipper all the way 🙂
Kana suffers from the Sacchin sindrome… Demoted to secondary character
Isn’t it sad, Kana?
Still, as said before, it seems that the director likes her, so this is the result. The scene was really well animated though, so I can’t complain. I liked both halves of the episode, the animation and music for the Rukuo and Kana meeting was perfect…
I’m a Rikuo x Tsurara shipper though 🙂
Kana’s role is obviously to be the love interest for Rikou. There are a few similarities of when Nura ji-chan was “courting” Youhime.
All of the Nura men always ended up marrying a human XD
I am quite sure that Nurarihyon’s father, his grandfather and other ancestors did not marry a human.
Anyway, I don’t think that even the mangaka decided who the LI will be, especially since he didn’t plan the whole story from the beginning but is rather using “Make as you go on” approach (at least until chapter 57). The chance is high that the manga will end without ever clearing up who he ends with anyway.
Still tough, looking at how she was unimportant for 98 chapters (even tough there were many opportunities to give her screentime and relationship development) I’d say that Kana’s chances of becoming a LI are very slim now, even tough she was obviously the intended LI in beginning.
They all marry humans…The manga shows the grandfather courting a human and Rikuo’s mother shows up regularly.
Anybody else think Shimono Hiro sounds…very strange being agressive with a deep voice?