Subculture Anime Blog

God’s nekomimi.

Summary:

Mariya presents Kanako with a new bag to replace her old one that has been ruined, but to Kanako’s worry, there seems to be something living inside of it. Mariya has Kanako guess what it is, but Matsurika explains this as one of Mariya’s jokes as she goes on to prove that the inside of the bag is empty. Kanako then takes out the necklace she plans on wearing for the day, which is one that has an adorned cross attached to it. Mariya explains to Kanako that accessories are not allowed at the school in response, however, with the exception of rosaries. Mariya follows by showing Kanako her own rosary, which she even allows Kanako to borrow. As Kanako leaves the dorm, Matsurika wonders why Mariya has let Kanako borrow something so important to him. Further more, she notices that Kanako’s necklace resembled Mariya’s rosary quite a bit.

While Kanako is with the other girls, she learns that there are other kinds of rosaries as well. Shiki shows that she has one in the form of a ring, as Yuzuru explains that there are some exceptions to the “no accessories” rule. Before lunch, Kanako takes note of the strangely large amount of nikogori in her desk. She links this to the recent happenings that seem to have a connection to the horrors that she previously heard about from Mariya. Kanako’s thoughts are interrupted by Shiki noticing Mariya’s Rosary, as she further shows the properties of the special stone attached to it. When light is shined on the green jewel, it changes to a vibrant red. Shiki goes on to tell Kanako how much the accessory is worth, and of course, this turns out to be more than Kanako can imagine. Outside, it is revealed that it was a group of girls who caused the troubling events for Kanako.

The troubling girls continue to plot while Kanako is in gym class, then putting a certain item in her bag. When they see what is inside, however, they are horrified. Kanako appears to find the girls in the act, and when she asks why they are doing these things, they quickly credit it to their jealousy over Ryuuken and Mariya’s interaction with her. The leader Honoka then pretends to throw Mariya’s rosary out of the window, causing Kanako to desperately chase after it.

Even as it begins pouring rain, Kanako continues to search for the rosary that was never thrown outside. Honoka and the troublesome girls even start to feel sorry for her, but Honoka is still unable to forgive her. Shiki and Yuzuru wonder where Kanako could be after classes, but as Nanami had seen everything that previously happened, she takes Mariya’s rosary to Kanako outside. Kanako is clearly relieved when Nanami helps her, but as the two return to the apologizing troublemakers, she further surprises the group by announcing that she would be dating Kanako from now on.

Ryuuken meets Kanako a bit later, then wondering if she has been in trouble because of her again. As Mariya and Matsurika approach Kanako, they watch in shock as Ryuuken declares to protect her from here on. Further adding to the twist, a strange monster has been created by mendling from Yonakuni.

ED: “Kimi ni, Mune Kyun (君に、胸キュン)” by Yu Kobayashi, Asami Sanada and Marina Inoue – This showed up in the broadcast version of episode one, but I’m just now mentioning it because it was skipped in episode two. It’s for my own records. Don’t judge me! I’m still not sure if I like the style, and the song isn’t something I’d usually listen to. Definitely unique for an ED though.

Preview: I’m thinking about just leaving these out, lol.

Impression:

Nekomimi bloomer~!

Since subs have been getting out to most of the blogsphere by now, I got the chance to see what the general opinion of Holic was earlier in the week. Overall, it was really more or less the same old story. There are those like myself and TheBigN who love it, but would love it no matter what because of Shinbo/SHAFT, then there are those like Moogy who seemed to dislike it for the very same reason we enjoy it. Ironic, right? (Aroduc also dropped it because he only pretends to like Shaft.) Going into this episode with these things in mind though, I was at least able to acknowledge some of the criticism the show is getting.

I can already imagine that people will claim so much style was used in this episode that the drama gets lost, but I would have to disagree. After all, this isn’t a drama. Though Holic obviously has some dramatic elements, it has been a comedy from the start. And without the stylistic choices that the studio made, this would only become a very awkward version of Marimite. I felt genuinely sorry for Kanako during the later scenes of this episode, while the rest of the half hour successfully had me laughing out loud. How many shows can accomplish that?

This week’s episode took notes from the OP, because it was purely high tension. It was even kind of exhausting, with so much dialog going around while very little was actually accomplished. I absolutely loved the several stylish stills that showed up throughout though (in classic Shaft style), and the split second of color isolation made my senses flare as they always do. It looks like Kanako will be getting her harem route after all, with both Nanami and Ryuuken deciding that they need to protect her. And of course, we can’t forget about good ol’ Mariya. I can’t wait to see where this is going.