A few episodes back, I complained that Kana had no character. This episode proceeded to give her one. Fair enough.
Seriously though, I really like it when a character I previously disliked or even hated redeems him or herself. And this episode had this for Kana. It’s a great sign of how a series is changing for the better. Out of all the episodes that centred around Rikuou’s classmates, this is the one I like best so far, even though the stakes of this episode are probably the lowest of the entire series with that random mirror youkai.
But yeah, we got to see Kana as she was young, she stepped out of her role as simple damsel in distress and actually started critically asking Rukuo and Nura questions. It’s not like she was a bad character anyway, I just disliked her because she was nothing more than a plot device that Rikuo needed to save. This episode had her again captured by a youkai, but she did step out of that role and became more than that. I especially liked how, since this episode was told from her perspective, it became a strange little horror episode, especially when Nura dragged her to that Youkai restaurant.
The end of this episode also introduced the new upcoming villains, and it’s here where this series is really going to have to deliver, especially as next month it’ll get some serious competition when Letter Bee starts airing again. While Letter Bee has way more flaws than Nurarihyon no Mago, it does have a better setting, atmosphere and soundtrack, plus at this point it also looks like its overarching story is a lot more interesting than Nurarihyon’s. It’ll have to put in some effort to not get overshadowed.
Rating: * (Good)
Thank you for covering this! :>
Next episode is finally where the first major arc starts. Can’t wait to see it animated 😀
Well… That’s pretty much all the character development Kana will get. Next arc is where the action really begins and the focus will start shifting to Yura, I hope them to do a good job with the animation, so far it hasn’t been that standing.
At the rate things are going i don’t think she’ll have any more character, like ever. I’m also quite annoyed that the single most important part of this episode was taken out, much like with many other points through out the series so far.
@Dthiswhtuseek:
What exactly do you mean? What important thing did they leave out?
I have to admit, I found this episode a bit annoying, as I still don’t like Kana very much. And her “Is this guy…. your friend?” reminded me a lot of Detective Conan where the girl also never seems to find out that the two persons she never gets to see at the same time are one and the same…
But I liked the vodoo doll 😀
@Moonhawk
I think he’s refering to the final part of the episode, I was certainly expecting some blood there… If you’ve read the manga you’ll remember.
I would disagree and say that Nura has more problems than Letter Bee. Letter Bee does have a lot of mysteries but a lot of them are getting revealed in the manga so it’s clear the manga-ka planned that far in advance (and put in foreshadowing for somethings wickedly early). Nura however seems to be running until they run out of rivals to challenge the Nura clan, which could take a while admittedly, but the plot twists there feel more like the manga-ka had a vauge idea how to make it work and then figured out just a week or two in advance.
Just my two cents anyway, I like both of them but I like the manga versions more and LB the most of all.
I have to agree with you there, specially with the most recent chapters of Nurahiyon it seems as though it was pretty thrown in. Well i haven’t made that much head way into letter be to make a proficient comparison just yet though.
lol, when rikuo was taking her through the corridor to me it seemed like kana was thinking she was being taken to a love motel.
You would think a monthly manga would have better planning than a weekly manga… having to churn out 20 pages a week is a lot more hectic than 25-40 per month.
Kana’s party/trip to the restaurant was my favorite part of the manga. Looks like it came across well in the anime, too. But it’s unfortunate, her role in the story was marginal to begin with and will become even more marginal from now on. IMHO she’s just there as a OTP to provide a human partner for Rikuo – so that his children will be one-eighth Youkai. Yura could fulfill that role as well, but she’s being typecast as Rikuo’s rival/comrade instead (but not doing a good job of it so far).