Kamisama Dolls 12

Kuuko springs Aki and frees Hibino. Hirashino corners Kuuko and Hibino, but Kuuko pushes Hibino outside and grapples with Hirashino, killing him with his own gun in a struggle. Hibino is met by Mahiru on the roof, who has a bone to pick with her vis-a-vis Kyohei. She gets carried away and throws Hibino off the roof with Magatsuhi, but Kukuri catches her in the knick of time. Utao and Mahriu have a sustained duel, ending when Kukuri lands a blow that makes Mahiru lose control of her Magatsuhi. Now out of her control, it grabs Hibino again. Kyohei saves Mahiru from its swipe, then rushes to Hibino’s aid, only to be ensnared himself. As it crushes them, he remembers the day he told his parents he’d be leaving the village, then meeting Hibino in school. Entering the battle, Kirio accidentally knocks Kukuri out. The episode ends with Kukuri waking up, but rather than singing Utao’s song, it’s singing Kyohei’s.

Rape threats…gun grappling…seki duels, kakashi group battles…flashbacks…this episode had a little of everything. Once again, Mahiru takes the lion’s share of screen time, and she’s still a horrible selfish brat, but she becomes a little more sympathetic once Utao manages to beat her Magatsuhi. Cornered, beaten by a little kid, she’s an emotional wreck. When she loses control of her Magatsuhi, she panics. As I said, bringing her in so late was a bold move, but I’m still glad it was done; her presence and her feelings for Kyohei help get both Kyohei and Hibino thinking about what they are to one another. It also forces Kyohei to stop trying to escape the village.

I thought a lot more was to be done with the diet member, but his death makes me question what his purpose was. Also, while she’s really fun to watch and listen to, Kuuko is again really only around to kill him and save Hibino. Her only goal at this point is to be involved in all this intrigue – the embedded journalist, as it were. But she did kill a man in the middle of Tokyo – one would think there’ll be consequences. The cliffhanger was well-played: it would seem empty kakashis respond to whichever seki is projecting the strongest emotions, in this case, Kyohei’s. I just hope that after all this soul-searching and exposition, the finale will me more than just another episode of Save Princess Hibino.

Rating: 3.5

5 down, 7 to go: Current Anime Rankings as of Today

With four series completed (Ikoku Meiro no Croisee, No. 6, Tiger & Bunny, and Usagi Drop) and one dropped (Morita-san wa Mukuchi), we felt like now was a good time to put up part of the new RABUJOI Big Board and see where things stand with seven series left to wrap up for Spring/Summer 2011:

Summer 2011

Episode # :	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	AVG
Mawaru Penguindrum	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4				4.000
Kamisama Dolls	4	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	4	3.5	4	4	3			3.636
Usagi Drop	3.5	4	3.5	3.5	4	3.5	3.5	3.5	4	3.5	3.5			3.636
Blood-C	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	4	4	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5				3.600
Kami-sama no Memo-cho	4	4	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3	4	3.5			3.591
Dantalian no Shoka	4	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	2.5	4	3.5				3.500
Ikoku Meiro no Croisée	3.5	3	3.5	3.5	3.5	3	3.5	3.5	3	3	3	3.5		3.292
No. 6	3.5	3.5	3.5	3	2.5	2.5	3.5	3	3	3.5	3			3.136
Morita-san wa Mukuchi	2.5	2	2	2	2.5	2	2	2						2.125
Weekly Average	3.6	3.4	3.4	3.3	3.4	3.3	3.3	3.2	3.6	3.6	3.2	3.5	0.0	3.391

Spring 2011 Carryovers

Episode # :	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	AVG
Hanasaku Iroha (second half)	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3	3.5	3.5	4	3.5	4	4		3.583
Tiger & Bunny (second half)	3.5	3.5	3.5	4	3.5	3	3.5	3.5	3	3	3	3.5		3.375
Ao no Exorcist (second half)	3	3.5	4	3.5	3.5	3	3	3	3	2.5				3.200
Sket Dance (second half)	3	3	3.5	3.5	3	3	3.5	3	3	3	3.5			3.182
Weekly Average	3.3	3.4	3.6	3.6	3.4	3	3.5	3.3	3.3	3.2	4.0	0.0	0.0	3.335

Stray Observations (many with baseball references): 

• Cliff Lee is a good pitcher. Mawaru Penguindrum is a good anime. These are facts. Depending on how the first half ends, we may be compelled elevate it to Favorites.

• Currently tied with the completed Usagi Drop, Kamisama Dolls will need to rally in the twelfth inning to order to claim second place.

• With some new twists that open the series wide open, Blood-C also has a chance to take second, but it will have to score 4s in its final two innings; not an easy feat.

• Memo-cho and Dantalian no Shoka are following similar paths: excellent starts, consistent standout-ness from weeks 3-7/8, and lost a little command towards the end.

• Ikoku Meiro no Croisee was a pleasant enough series, but never moving enough to score a 4. Lack of hussle?

• No. 6 suffered the same fate as Fractale, only worse: it looked good on paper: a big world, big ideas, great concepts; but not nearly enough time to realize any of it to our satisfaction. Should have been at least a 26-episode season.

• Thanks to the brief firtation with the mediocrity of the three-minute Morita-san, we have our most colorful scoreboard yet! If we remove it from the Summer watchlist, the overall season rating jumps from 3.391 to 3.549 –  a 15% rise. FYI, our average of all anime since we started rating them hovers around 3.5, ’cause if it ain’t standout, we usually won’t watch it.

• Just like its first half began, Hanasaku Iroha looks to finish strong. Just gotta wrap up the Ohana+Ko arc and a few other things.

• Ao no Exorcist…doesn’t. Apparently the anime story deviates greatly from the source manga. We don’t read source manga, so we didn’t notice, but if the manga story was better, it might have been better if they’d used that. As it is, Ao is whiffing at the off-speed stuff and late with the heat.

• We’ve stuck with Sket Dance for 26 games, but we don’t know if we’ll stay with it for all 39. Fall 2011 is a big season coming up, there may not be time. And one can’t rush a gentleman’s game. Unless you limit the amount of time a pitcher takes to come to the plate.