RDG: Red Data Girl – 12 (Fin)

Frightened of the power she’s unleashing, Izumiko vanishes into the realm of the gods. Masumi leaves Mayura and joins her there, professing his love for her. Miyuki finds Takayanagi, who Izumiko turned into a dog. Without Masumi, he has to summon Wamiya to take them to the realm. They fight waves of ghost soldiers as Masumi sinks Izumiko into the role as Lady Hachioji, with him as her lord. Miyuki manages to summon the power to reach out to Izumiko by cell phone. Wamiya sends Masumi away, and then turns into Miyuki, who tells her to say she needs him, and they return home. The curse is lifted from the academy, the ghost army withdraws, and Takayanagi regains human form. As Izumiko considers Miyuki’s proposition, he falls asleep on her shoulder.

This was a fun finale! Masumi turns into the bad guy and tries to steal Izumiko away, who is so scared of messing up other people’s lives she’s willing to spend the rest of hers isolated in some celestial backwater, with only ghosts as company. Takayanagi finally gets his comeuppance for being such a pompous dick all the time and is turned into a little dog! Better still, he and Miyuki – never exactly friendly – actually team up to save the day. Miyuki has to level up against a zombie army. The conspicuous use of cell phones throughout the series comes to a creative head as Miyuki makes the impossible possible: both he and Izumiko get reception in the godswood!

Throughout RDG’s run we got the feeling that this was consistent, quality work, and all the pieces were there, only they were too seldom taken off the shelf to use. So we were pleasantly surprised when the finale did just that. All the pieces fall into place with style, making for an exciting and often moving completion to a series that could ramble on at times but eventually got to a very satisfying point when it mattered most. RDG ended on a high, rather than a meh, and actually left us hopeful for an eventual continuation of the story. Miyuki and Izumiko still have to ensure Himegami doesn’t destroy the world (again) while at the same time figuring out what they truly mean to one another, beyond divine vessel and bodyguard.

Rating: 9 (Superior)

RDG: Red Data Girl – 11

As the Sengoku battles begin, Izumiko and Miyuki stay on the periphery; Miyuki gives her her cell phone, warns her to stay out of the fighting between Souda and Takayanagi, and to call him if she needs anything. Takayanagi bumps into her and strikes up a conversation; she gradually lets her guard down and goes with Takayanagi and Angelica, forgetting about Sagara. When she hears his name, she remembers again. Her braids come undone and she scolds Takayanagi, destroying his homonculi, but then wavers when she realizes they’re about to find out what she is…

No matter how hard they try, Izumiko and Miyuki can’t stay out of the fued between Mayura and Takayanagi. This week they’re both “spirited away” (after a fashion). Takayanagi targets Izumiko and tries to win her over, while Mayura, having spotted a suitor, asks Miyuki to pretend to be her fiancee. She proposes this under the assumption that, like her and Manatsu, Miyuki and Izumiko can never be a couple, even though both of them care for the other more than anything else. Her proposal is meant as an act of pragmatism, to buy her time. Every day she’s not engaged to be married is a day she can celebrate.

Through their actions, both Mayura and Takayanagi also accomplish something interesting with Miyuki and Izumiko, respectively: they bring something out into the open that both of them had always believed to be just between them. Miyuki seems surprised Mayura knows of the feelings he has for her (even if he shouldn’t be, losing his poker face so often these days!), while Takayanagi puts Izumiko in a position to summon the formidable spiritual power within her in order to right supposed wrongs. He makes her do a lot of things she wasn’t aware she was doing, and she ends up making a big scene when Miyuki pleaded with her to remain invisible. She’s not that anymore.

Rating: 8 (Great)

Stray Observations:

• The “war games” turn out to be Capture the Flag, Backgammon, and Balloon Popping. We were hoping for swords, spears, and homonculi but what’re you gonna do?
• Izumiko really doesn’t like it when Miyuki talks about Himegami.
• Wamiya was of no help to Miyuki this week, but Masumi won a game of backgammon for Mayura.
• Mayura gets so close to Miyuki under that platform thing, it looks for a moment like she’s leaning in to kiss him. We like Mayura, but Miyuki isn’t hers, and he needs to be on his guard!
• Takayanagi seems to like hanging with foreigners – which matches his global ambition – and they with him, as they’re all captivated by his Japanese-ness. Angelica in particular seems like a true believer. 
• Izumiko is pretty badass there at the end, until she starts to lose her composure, and then…something happens; we’re not sure what, but it probably isn’t good.

RDG: Red Data Girl – 10

Izumiko patrols the Warring States Festival. Middle schoolers try to snatch her up for their parade, but she’s ‘rescued’ by Miyuki. She tells him she doesn’t like him talking about the Himegami, and he suspects that they might be one and the same. While investigating a haunted house making girls sick, Izumiko has another hallucination about the slaughter of Hachiouji. They’re surprised to find Yukimasa in the nurse’s office, who rattles Miyuki’s cage. When the parade ends, Mayura and Izumiko attend the festival director’s radio broadcast, and Mayura is nominate and accepts the position of ‘princess general’, leading the defense agains Takayanagi’s armies in tomorrow’s mock battle. Masumi pays Izumiko a visit.

Where there’s a school in an anime, more likely than not there’s going to be a school festival, and RDG is no different. Yet despite the rather unusual characteristics of the student body, this festival proceeds pretty much like your standard festival, with few surprises. Cotton candy, polls, haunted houses, etc. Those of you expecting the battle between Souda and Takayanagi, and everything that entails, will have to wait until next week.

We were a bit disappointed by how little happened this week, though what did happen was good. Many of the scenes with Izumiko and Miyuki merely reinforce that they’re slowly becoming more than just a priestess’ vessel and her trusty page. Yukimasa threatens to limit Miyuki’s exposure to Izumiko, but Miyuki promises he won’t avoid her. Whatever his dad says, when the battle comes, be it mock or not, he won’t shrink from his duty to protect her.

Rating:7 (Very Good)

Stray Observations:

• We liked how Miyuki noticed that both Izumiko and Himegami get jealous when he discusses the other, suggesting the two aren’t wholly separate beings.
• Izumiko has another “flashback” from the POV of the lady of the fallen castle, but the significance of this remains a mystery. (One shot in the dark: that lady may have once been Himegami’s vessel.)
• We’re not going to say we rated this episode a 7 rather than a 6 just because of Izumiko’s Epic Braid Buns…but they sure were friggin’ adorable.
• The brief final scene where Masumi returns and he and Izumiko talk about love also helped raise the rating. For some reason, a ghost flirting with her doesn’t really phase her that much as a living boy would, plus it’s cool that she uses him to bounce off thoughts she can’t necessarily discuss with Miyuki, because they’re partly about him.

RDG: Red Data Girl – 09

Houjou Academy commences preparations for the school festival, the main theme for which will be the Sengoku (Warring States) period, including a combat game commemorating the bloody 1590 siege of the nearby Hachiouji Castle. Takayanagi asks Izumiko to side with him rather than Mayura. Izumiko has a strange hallucination and wakes up in the nurse’s office, where Yukimasa warns her of impending trouble.

After learning a simple self-defense spell from Miyuki, Izumiko models for traditional clothing, which requires her braids be undone. However, the Himegami appears after she has re-braided her hair, while Miyuki is scolding Izumiko. Now fully “synchronized” with her body, Himegami can come and go and do as she pleases. Miyuki takes her to Hachiouji Castle’s keep, where he tells her who and what she really is.

Hailing from a country with less than three centuries of history, we are easily intrigued and even astounded by the histories of far older countries like Japan. We are also, sadly, dreadfully ignorant of most of it, despite our interest. This episode was made richer by the historical background, especially when you consider the forces that be may be using the entire festival, and the impending battle, to decide which school faction will advance in the competition for World Heritage. A “not so safe” battle is coming, and Izumiko will have to choose a side.

Even more fascinating is everything we learn about Himegami: how she’s not really a god (though she is god-like), but was once just another human, who lost her body many thousands of generations, and indeed three timelines ago, and fears the fourth, the one in which Izumiko is her vessel, may be her last chance to avoid the annihilation of humanity. This episode has to feed us a lot of new and important info, but it never felt anything like an infodump. The stakes have been raised significantly, making the petty conflict between Souda and Takayanagi seem peripheral, even irrelevant…though it probably isn’t.

Rating: 8 (Great)

Stray Observations:

• When Izumiko hear’s someone screaming “Milady!” prior to passing out, we can’t help but think she’s inhabiting the memory of the castle’s lady, during the siege in which the lord wasn’t home and thousands of women and children died horribly.
• Dressing Izumiko up in a period costume wasn’t just random, but a potential plot by someone who may have wanted to bring out the Himegami.
• Himegami has some nice fish-out-of-water moments in Izumiko’s body, taking note of her “stifling” braids, her exposed legs, and her unfamiliarity with the legal drinking age
• Himegami can draw Wamiya out of Miyuki to protect Izumiko. That being said, Wamiya doesn’t much like him!
• After spending the better part of a day with Himegami, at its end, all Miyuki wants is for Izumiko to come back. The episode ends without her returning.

RDG: Red Data Girl – 08

Izumiko suggests summoning Himegami so Sagara can ask her to help bring back Manatsu. The summoning fails, and Izumiko stumbles into Masumi’s plane, where she meets him. He agrees to take her to the cave where Manatsu is trapped behind a massive boulder. Izumiko dances to remove it, but Manatsu stops her; he was outside the cave all along, and it is Masumi’s full body as a nine-headed dragon who is stuck in the cave. Mayura and Sagara arrive, but the dragon escapes. Sagara is able to protect Izumiko, and Himegami appears independently to re-seal the dragon in the cave. Izumiko and Sagara return to their plane and Izumiko’s mom is there, detaining Himegami as long as she can. Sagara also tells her he and Wamiya joined forces to protect her.

This was a gorgeous episode surging with an otherworldly mystical atmosphere (and eerily gorgeous moonlight) as Izumiko literally steps into another world. As Masumi notes, hardships make her stronger, and there’s no hardship worse for her now than seeing Mayura cry. As far as Izumiko is concerned, she owes Mayura for all she’s done for her, and in return she’s going to do everything she can to bring Manatsu back. And while all she knows how to do is dance, that’s enough to get the job done. We love her forceful determination: she’s done standing on the sidelines. If there’s even the slightest chance she can help, she’s going to.

Her trip to Manatsu’s plane has, as we said, a spookily beautiful aura to it. On more than one occasion we were reminded of the ancient forest in Princess Mononoke – a place ordinary humans don’t quite belong. Of course, Izumiko, Sagara and Manatsu are not ordinary humans; they have spiritual powers. But we like how it takes collaboration with Wamiya for Sagara to stop the dragon, and even then, he’s not powerful enough to return it to a slumber. That takes Himegami, through Izumiko’s mother. Proof that both Izumiko and Sagara still have much to learn – and they’ll learn together.

Rating: 8 (Great)

Stray Observations:

• Izumiko handles getting hit on by ghosts quite well.
• She also gets to dance again. Her dances are always lovely and entrancing.
• The back-and-forth banter between Izumiko and Sagara this week was often quite amusing. We particularly enjoyed Izumiko equating Himagmi to a cellular signal, and going into 20 Questions mode as soon as she spots wings on Sagara.
• A tearful but relieved Mayura hugging Manatsu while warning of future repercussions for running off in the first place was a very sweet moment.
• As soon as we saw those black wings, we had a feeling Wamiya was involved.
• Izumiko brought Manatsu back, but he has the same heart condition that took Masumi’s life, so he’s still in danger.
• If there was any doubt before, it’s pretty clear by now that Sagara has a budding romantic interest in Izumiko. Why else would he care what her type is? Ganbatte, Shinkou!

RDG: Red Data Girl – 07

Mayura tests Miyuki by sending ninja after him who are controlled by Masumi, and he must either find the true Masumi or break his barrier. He can do neither and is saved when Suzuhara tells him where Masumi is, and the test proves he’s a newbie just as he claimed. Manatsu gets a message that Tabi has fallen ill and heads to the stables to tend to him. Masumi fills in for him on the trip, but Mayura isnt happy Manatsu has gone alone. After Kisaragi performs a purifying dance, but Masumi is strong enough to resist it. The next morning Izumiko and Miyuki visit Manatsu, and learned he’s euthanized Tabi. Mayura confronts him, not wanting them to be apart, but Manatsu didn’t want her to “choose” him. The spectre of Tabi coalesces, and Manatsu mounts him and rides off.

This week we delve, along with Izumiko and Miyuki, intot the depths of the very unconventional Souda family. Mayura is one of the most powerful people in Houjou Academy, but draws much of her strength from the bond with her triplet brothers, one of whom has already passed away. She shows no mercy in testing Miyuki, and is only mildly apolgetic after she’s proven wrong. In her mind, she had to know one way or another, and it wasn’t something she was going to trust his word about until he knew he was who he said he was: a novice mountain monk. If she were serious and counted Miyuki as an enemy, it’s made pretty clear he wouldn’t stand a chance. This goes against expectations, in that we thought we’d see some new power of his awaken.

Still, we don’t mind that that didn’t happen, either; it means he’s been honest in his doubt these last few episodes. Instead of Miyuki, it’s Manatsu who undergoes a transition this week, after Tabi dies. He actively decides to put Tabi down, to let him rest and spare him further suffering. He does it because he’s exercising his powers as a human to bypass fate and end things on his own terms. He’s mindful he and Mayura and Masumi can’t always be together (even thought Mayura doesn’t want to think like that), so in the final twist of the episode he contemplates joining Masumi in the “in-between”, so that they can stay together. Which sounds an awful lot like suicide, something Mayura won’t abide.

Rating:7 (Very Good)

RDG: Red Data Girl – 06

Izumiko and Miyuki accompany Mayura and Manatsu to their home in Nagano. Their family throws a big barbecue party where Izumiko gets drunk and passes out on fruit punch. She wakes up and meets a ghostly Masumi again. The next day the group heads to a shrine at Togakushi for a meeting of the student council’s executive committee. Mayura’s fanclub, the “Japanese History Club” in tow, but President Katsuragi and VP Akinokawa warn her the council will remain neutral in the fight between Mayura and Takayanagi, a fight which will decide who becomes a canidate for the World Heritage Collection. Mayura confronts Miyuki, insisting he choose a side, and then she decides to test the extent of his powers.

The more we learn about Souda Mayura, the more relieved we are that Izumiko is on her good side. As for Miyuki, well, Mayura thinks he’s hiding something, and isn’t as weak and useless as he says he is, and is determined to find that out, even if she has to use force. Meanwhile, Izumiko finds that school is not just a figurative battlefield, but a real one in which hearts and minds are won and lost and political maneuvering comes as naturally to her classmates as clapping erasers. It’s also great to see someone first established as a kind friend in Mayura suddenly put Miyuki’s back to the wall and even challenge him to a fight. It shakes up the status quo nicely.

Like Izumiko, we found ourselves a little overwhelmed by all these new concepts cropping up, but at least she and we know a bit more about what this series is going to be about: Houjou academy is little more than a crucible in which gifted students fight other gifted students for precedence  It’s apparent the neutral student council is composed of those who’ll judge the eventual victor, who will receive candidacy in the World Heritage Collection, the full benefits of which remain nebulous but are obviously very important. So we’ll see what roles Izumiko and Miyuki play in Houjou’s little war.

Rating: 7 (Very Good)

Stray Observations:

• Izumiko’s blissful, carefree drunken scenes are lovely. Miyuki should have caught her, the ass!
• Does Mayura truly consider Izumiko a friend…or just another high-level strategic asset?
• The council’s leaders jealously protect both their positions and their neutral status, and even the mere hint of maneuvering on Mayura’s part compels them to air out all the laundry.
• Welcome to the New-Look RABUJOI! We’re still tweaking things, and it will be a while before new Org Charts are set up, but a start’s a start.

RDG: Red Data Girl – 05

With his late brother Masumi’s help, Souda Manatsu is able to cow Takayanagi and his homonculi to avenge Mayura’s injury. Takayanagi takes down the website and withdraws from the council president eleciton, which is won by Kisaragi Jean Honoka. When Yukimasa joins the school’s faculty to protect Izumiko, Miyuki is angered and separates himself from her. But when Izumiko falls in with the “shadow student council” led by former president Murakami Hodaka, Miyuki comes for her right before she performs a dance for them. The Himegami speaks through her, imploring Miyuki not to let her come to life, or it may spell humanity’s extinction.

Thanks to Yukimasa, Izumiko learns the truth about where she is and why: she, like the other students at Houjou Academy, are members of an “endangered species” of humans who can communicate with the gods. If such humans were to become extinct, some say the human race would die out with them. We kind of like this concept: it certainly amplifies the importance of both Izumiko and her classmates. All are one of, and the last of, their kind. They must never forget who they are or what they’re capable of. Unfortunately, Yukimasa’s mere presence threatens Miyuki and Izumiko’s bond, at least until Izumiko is in potential danger and Yukimasa isn’t there to save her.

RDG is putting forth some of the trappings of an unlikely romance between Miyuki and Izumiko. It certainly hasn’t progressed very far, but it has progressed, and in a very organic and elegant way. One reason Miyuki likely hates Yukimasa is that he reminds him how weak and inexperienced and full of doubt he himself is. He hates himself because he doesn’t know what he should do or if he can do it, and Yukimasa showing up is almost a confirmation that he can’t be trusted with Izumiko’s safety. Yet his fondness and personal duty to Izumiko proves stronger than both hate for Yukimasa and doubt in himself. Regardless of any other considerations, he’ll stand with Izumiko. And she wants him by her side. Sounds like the makings of love to us.

Rating: 7 (Very Good)

Stray Observations:

• Souda Masumi threw us for a loop: he’s a he who was just happening to assume the form of a girl.
• When she sees Miyuki speaking to Mayura, and Mayura’s hand on his shoulder, Izumiko seems to experience jealousy for the first time.
• Himegami’s warning to Miyuki sounds like a call for him to possibly go against Yukimasa’s plan, if Yukimasa plans to revive Himegami, that is. We don’t know yet.
• Her lips were really red.

RDG: Red Data Girl – 04

Prior to her first day of high school at Houjou Izumiko meets her roommate Mayura’s triplet brother Manatsu, as well as the first year class’s top student, Takayanagi Ichijou, who takes note of her long hair. On the first day. Izumiko decids to forgo her glasses, and as a result sees dark inhuman shadows among her classmates. One such shadow asks her tomeet him in the A/V clubroom after school.

When she goes there, Takayanagi ambushes her, believing she’s a demon. Sagara intervenes, destroying Takayanagi’s homonculus. Izumiko, Sagara and Mayura check out a support website classmates recommended to her; one made by Yakayanagi. Logging in causes the computer to explode, injuring Mayura. Later that night Manatsu and Sagara agree to go get back at Takayanagi. Manatsu and Mayura summon Masumi, their deceased triplet sister, to aid them.

Izumiko is no longer in a small town isolated in the mountains, but attending a school populated in part (if not in full) by ‘people like her’ and Sagara; that is to say, humans who have supernatural talents. Her roommate decribes herself as a kind of monk like Sagara, and the class valedictorian is a potentially malevolent sorcerer who uses homonculi and takes an immediate interest in Izumiko. Sasami and Kamiomi would fit right in here, and the Kagami sisters could probably hold their own quite well.

Just as trimming her hair had a significant effect on her supernatural abilities, so to does not wearing glasses on her first day; her glasses are a charm that keep her from seeing “too much”. Because of this slight change, she’s able to find out about the nature of her new environment far sooner, and quickly learns that it’s essential to have friends around to protect her, and the more powerful the better.

Rating: 7 (Very Good)

Stray Observations:

• To be honest, Takayanagi is a bit of a boring dick so far, but we liked the understated roll-out of the Souda triplets. We would ask why they’re being so nice to Izumiko. Perhaps they realize who and what she is and simply want to help.
• This series has so far proven adept at nicely building up supernatural events. Sagara’s spirit bow and the exploding computer, for example.
• After Wamiya turned out to be a real threat, Sagara is now far more willing to hear Izumiko out, and no longer dismisses her concerns out of hand. When Mayura suggests they’re “a pair” though, Izumiko demurs.
• Izumiko’s a bit of a damsel in need of constant rescue at the moment, but we’re sure she’ll kick some ass once she gets settled.

RDG: Red Data Girl – 03

After her possession by Himegami has no ill effects, Izumiko and Miyuki return to the village. Her classmates ask her to deliver a souvenir to Wamiya, as an apology for them forgetting him. Wamiya asks her about Miyuki and gets upset when he learns she’s changed her mind about hating him. Using classmates as puppets, Wamiya has Miyuki attacked. Miyuki and Izumiko escape in a car driven by Nonomura, but Wamiya chases them in the form of a crow, and forces them off a cliff.

Wamiya gives Izumiko an ultimatum to stay in the village with him, demonstrating his power by creating a storm over the village. Miyuki doesn’t believe he’s capable of fighting Wamiya, but Izumiko stands up to him, and makes him submit to her. Izumiko decides to attend Houjou Academy with Miyuki, and performs a dance to release the crow god – Himegami’s familiar – from Wamiya Satoru. Later, Izumiko arrives at Houjou with her folks, and meets her roommate, Souda Mayura.

Suzuhara Izumiko and Sagara Miyuki are weak beings, but by this episode’s conclusion, neither intend to stay that way for long. In fact, after Miyuki protected her last week (if only by staying by her side and taking her hand), this time it’s Izumiko who saves Miyuki (and Nonomura) from the wrath of a nasty crow god that is the embodiment her wish to make a friend who understood her. That friend – Wamiya Satoru – is really a familiar to Himegami, who if brought to heel by a confident Izumiko, will go out of control.

That doesn’t happen, and the harrowing experience Izumiko and Miyuki share strengthens their bond, as they’ll continue on a path together for some time. The dance Izumiko performs to release Wamiya is what pumped this up from a high 7 to an 8; it was a truly beautiful, lyrical sequence that reminded us of Yuna’s sending dance in FFX. Both it and her taming of the familiar showed both us and Miyuki that there’s more to Izumiko than meets the eye.

Rating: 8 (Great)

Stray Observations:

• All episode titles contain the phrase “First [something]”, and each episode has thus far delivered on putting Izumiko in a new situation.
• We like how far Izumiko and Miyuki have come in only three episodes. Miyuki’s naked contempt has evolved into cordiality and reverence, and he’s far more amenable to staying by her (and by extension the Himegami’s) side, since it will make him stronger. Also, her dance enchants the hell out of him.
• That Lexus they went off a cliff in is really safe!

RDG: Red Data Girl – 02

Izumiko gets a new cell phone from her mother Yukariko in the mail and with it, an invitation to meet up in Tokyo. Izumiko and Miyuki use their school’s class trip to Tokyo to do so, but everywhere Izumiko looks, she sees dark, shadowy, threatening figures. Sagara surprises them by appearing, and telling them they won’t be meeting Yukariko after all. Crashing in an apartment for the night, Izumiko is possessed by some kind of divine being, and tells Sagara that Izumiko will probably be her last vessel.

As the OP helpfully points out, “Red Data” is a reference to The International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, or Red Data Books. Obviously, this suggests that Suzuhara Izumiko is a rare girl whose preservation is Sagara’s priority. Last week we saw a lot of what makes her different from ordinary humans, but that was just scratching the surface. As it turns out, she’s never been able to use cell phones or computers. This essentially makes her a culture of one: stuck several decades in the past and unable to avail herself of the technology that the rest of modern society takes for granted. A girl like this needs to be protected, and while Miyuki will follow Dad’s orders and stay by her side, it doesn’t mean he isn’t going to complain or question the efficacy of the task.

This week we fly to Tokyo (a very accurate Shinjuku, to be exact) with them, in hopes of meeting with her very busy mother (who works at the “public safety something”). But this meetup never happens. It’s almost as if Izumiko’s trip was a test to see what threats show themselves. In the end, Miyuki finds out what makes her so special, besides the technophobia and ability to sense creepy figures mixed in among the masses: this girl is a vessel; for whom exactly we don’t know. Moreover, the entity who inhabits Izumiko (imbuing her with an ethereal aura and gorgeous yukata) states Izumiko may be her last such vessel…endangered species indeed. While the nature and mission of this entity and her specific powers remain a mystery, there are parties out there who want that power, and Sagara fears his son alone is not sufficient protection against what’s coming.

Rating: 7 (Very Good)

Car Cameos:

Honda Fit/Jazz Honda Stepwgn Suzuki Swift Suzuki Wagon R

Toyota Alphard Toyota Comfort Toyota Noah Toyota Vitz

RDG: Red Data Girl – 01

One morning, the shy, passive Suzuhara Izumiko decides to cut her bangs. At school, it gets mixed reviews, and when her class must gather info on the net using computers, she ends up using them as a conduit to video-chat with her father in America, then disables power to the whole school with her mind. A helicopter lands and Izumiko is taken away by Sagara, who turns out to be a mountain monk charged with protecting her. She learns that she is the “Himegami”. Sagara orders “reinforcements” in the person of his son Miyuki, who isn’t keen on hanging out with the dull Izumiko.

This episode starts off establishing the beautiful environs of a village in the Kumano mountains. We found out this was directed by Shinohara Toshiya, who also helmed The Book of Bantorra, but while that series was awesome, it was a bit lacking in production values; not so here. Like Tari Tari and the excellent Another, this series not only looks, but sounds and feels fantastic. Despite all the natural beauty, there’s a deep melancholy about the beautiful but unpopular Izumiko (appropriately voiced by Hayami Saori), which stems partially from her never having made a decision for herself. If her life is like the river in her village, she’s never once paddled against the current…until she decides to cut her hair and makes a stand about where she wants to go to high school.

What’s also engrossing about this series so far is that it doesn’t come out and explain exactly what makes her so special. We see an awesome sequence where she finds herself underwater in the computer lab, and then she knocks out the power in said lab when she snaps out of it, and we hear a lot from Sagara, but not too much. Like Izumiko herself, we’re still mostly in the dark about who the Himegami is and why she must be isolated and protected. But we certainly feel her pain. Sure, she has nice friends who defend her from bullying, but they don’t even have her phone number, and she doesn’t even have a phone. She wants to take control of her life, but isn’t sure how. Her dubious “manservant” Miyuki doesn’t have high hopes for her, but who knows: she may just surprise him, herself, and a lot of others when all’s said and done.

Rating: 8 (Great)

Car Cameos:

• Lexus GS
• Toyota Vitz
• Toyota Prius
• Mazda MPV/Toyota Noah