Subculture Anime Blog

Cute bunnies will save everyone!

Summary:

Touka watches Momoka as she eats a lot at breakfast as usual, and he finds it strange when she puts salt in her tea to drink. Yumiko tells Touka to take care of Momoka as he leaves for school, because she is an important girl. Touka describes her strange habits in reply, as Momoka comes tripping out of the house. He lets out a small smile, as the two head to school together. Inside the house, Kiyotsugu mentions Haruhiko’s need for a bride soon, which makes Haruhiko think of Momoka. This makes him very red, and he spits his tea out after accidentally putting salt into it. Haruhiko expresses that his father is always doing things without realizing his feelings outside, and he panics again at what he thinks his father is saying through the window above him. Makoto has been waiting for Momoka and Touka at school, and she tells them that she is a tour conductor for the day. Touka tries to leave, but Makoto warns him of things like people disappearing in the area. She tells them that at times, people of the past would pass by in an illusion. Momoka suggests to an unconvinced Touka that they should follow Makoto’s instructions in precaution, as Makoto gives them bunny badges for the tour. Momoka expresses her gratitude to Makoto, and they begin the tour shortly afterwards.

The three make their first stop at the library, and Momoka unthinkingly calls out to Haruhiko who is there. As they make their way deeper into the library, Makoto begins explaining Kimitsumihara’s history. There was a fire that killed everything in the area, and the town was built afterwards. There were also hints of an advanced civilization and gold. Momoka expresses to Touka that they live in an amazing place, but this makes her wonder how she came to exist there. The three go after the scroll they were looking at after it falls off the table, but they all look up to see Kikyou floating out of the area. Momoka asks who Kikyou is when Makoto mentions her name, so Makoto tells her that she is Kamitsumihara’s legendary counsel member. She explains further that she does not appear often, so it is lucky for anyone to see her. The three walk outside to see a large crowd idolizing Kikyou. Overhearing the crowd wondering what she must be thinking about, Touka and Momoka jokingly suggest that she is probably thinking about simple things such as what is for dinner. This pisses everyone off, and the butterfly triplets even arrive to tell them that they do not know anything. Kikyou seemingly causes the rain to pour, to everyone’s amazement. Haruhiko brings up the belief that foxes find wives in the summer rain, but this also makes him panic at the thought of Momoka again.

Momoka and the others come across Haruhiko practicing kendo, as he goes on about the things he needs to do before obtaining a wife. However, he find that everyone has already moved on before he can finish his thoughts. Momoka and the others see a foxes’ passing, and they attempt to be quiet to avoid being seen. One of the masked beings takes off its mask to reveal a skull, and Momoka is taken in by its spell. Kikyou sees this through a mirror, as Momoka is taken in wife’s garment to the center of skeletal beings. Touka worries that Momoka’s disappearance may become like the others, and Makoto suggests that Kikyou may have a way to save her. Touka runs into Kikyou, and she puts on a mask after creating a magical barrier in front of Makoto and Touka. The skeletal spritis begin undressing Momoka, but she tries to stop them from taking off Makoto’s bunny badge. Kikyou suddenly appears, and she unsheathes a sword to destroy the foul beings. Kikyou returns to Touka and Makoto with Momoka, and Momoka expresses her relief that she had not lost the badge Makoto made for her. The students gather in awe to watch this, and Asuna in the crowd gazes at Touka. Back at the Kamiazuma household, Kiyotsugu reveals to Haruhiko that he has been keeping in touch with a pen pal. They had discussed that their son and daughter would get married, so Haruhiko’s fiance is actually a foreign girl who introduces herself to him in person. Her family name is Kanjonashi, which is what caused Haruhiko to have a misunderstanding the whole time. Elsewhere, Touka adds salt to his tea to drink, and he finds it delicious.

Impression:

First of all, I’m sorry this is so late. I had trouble getting it, University, etc. I don’t know why, but this is the one show that really makes me feel regret for not being able to blog it. For some reason, I really think it’s the show that defines my blog. It’s the one show that I’ve always looked forward to blogging every week ever since I started, even though seemingly no one watches it. I mean, nobody watches this show! Well, although I do enjoy sharing opinions with everyone, I mainly blog for my own satisfaction. At least, that’s the excuse I like to give. It’s pretty crazy that’s it’s almost been half a year since I first started blogging this and other shows. Time goes by quick. Anyways, maybe I should finish ranting and actually talk about the episode.

I am definitely going to have to say that Kikyou was extremely awesome in this episode. She just doesn’t get enough screen time as one of my favorite characters, whereas my other favorite girl, Momoka, gets plenty. It’s really interesting how everyone in the school regards her so highly, and Touka and Momoka’s dialog was really funny in regards to that. I’m sure that Momoka’s interaction with her had a lot to do with the previous episode’s events. Ironically, my prediction from last week was somewhat right and wrong. Although Haruhiko believed that his marriage was going to be arranged with Momoka, it ended up being with a foreign girl. His visions of Momoka were great, and I love how the writers found random chances to add in the fanservice. There were also little hints of incompatibility, like Haruhiko spitting out the salted tea. On the other hand, Touka enjoyed it, and can see Momoka’s not so amazing traits.

I really liked the implementation of the common fox legend into this episode, and it had me being reminded of shows like Aria, xxxHolic, and other great shows. Some of Kamitsumihara’s history gave me some annoyances though, particularly in translation. I find that so many of the details actually have no relevance to the actual plot. Kikyou’s speeches have me gasping for air in particular, because by the time I finish writing down what she is saying, I find that it is actually useless babble. I also like to notice little things like Makoto’s tour. Did they not have class that day or something? Oh well. Other small things that i enjoyed in this episode included Asuna’s “su-te-ki” and Yumiko’s strange gestures while talking to Touka. The animation also seemed to take a small dip in parts of this episode, but I’m hoping that is in preparation for an amazing finale. With only three episodes left, I believe that the next episode will be the “first” introduction episode into modern Kamitsumihara, and the last two will be into the past. My prediction could be wrong as always, however.