Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge – 03
He tried the front door first, but it was locked.
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Bitches love scissors.
Oho, Kiri might turn into a harem lead yet. Kashiko certainly seems to like him. …Or maybe she likes him because he likes her hair. She’s certainly not as psychotic as I had originally believed due to her reaction to Iwai. I guess she was just jealous of Iwai’s hair… or something. The explanation about Iwai’s hair having no age seemed kind of pointless other than giving a reason why she seemed to dislike Iwai at first, but maybe this will be important in the future. In any case, I’m glad that they’re on better terms now. One because Iwai really needs friends and two, if Kashiko does end up as one of the people trying to kill Iwai for some reason, it’s more interesting if the two of them are close.
Oooooof course Kiri is the descendant of the (fictional) worst murderer in the history of mankind. I feel like I should have seen this coming from far away. Pushing that aside though, it’s now even more curious as to why everyone else seems to be suffering more from being an Author than he is. Maybe it’s because he has a pretty steady Instead and he avoided losing it during childhood due to being able to cut his family’s hair, but still. He said the very first episode that he was holding back from cutting people’s hair for quite some time. Maybe he has some high level resistance to his Killing Goods due to Greyland or something. …Though I’d still like a reveal where he has a bunch of murder victims stuffed in a closet somewhere and it only looks like he’s been sane this entire time. Fun fact: Kiri’s last name translates to something similar to “grey land”. So Greyland probably changed his name after he was banished or whatever. I just thought that was an interesting carry over.
This was also interesting in a “what the hell kind of purpose did this scene serve?” way.
I really hope I was just misinterpreting this. …Either they did this to show just now average and innocent Iwai is(/to show how terrifying the situation is), or this is homage to some kind of fetish. Maybe both. Er, at least Kiri still accepts her and wants to protect her. I guess Iwai’s whole purpose is to humanize Kiri a bit. He makes killing (because it seems like he’ll kill someone in the future) okay I guess because he’s doing it for her sake as opposed to doing it for fun. Iwai certainly believes in him, even after watching him effortlessly take out a murderer, so she’ll be his saving grace I guess. It certainly seems like I was right on my assumption of the first episode being the foundation for Kiri protecting Iwai. Their relationship keeps growing too, which nicely keeps things from being too angst ridden. Overall, I think they’re doing well on showing daily life and incorporating the murder aspect into it without the transition being too jarring or weird.
HNNG he may not have done well the last fight, but seeing Kiri cut away at his opponent here was fun. Again, they used the monochromatic coloured animation for dramatic effect that works really well. It became clearer this episode that Kiri really is affected by his Killing Goods. Since the usual reaction to the scenario is fear (as kindly demonstrated by Iwai), but Kiri obviously wasn’t panicked at all. I was expecting more of a struggle really, since the hammer was waaay larger than Kiri’s Crime Edge, but I guess that also meant that it was a little on the slow side. It’s kind of boring that Kiri reverted back to his usual self afterwards since he was on a roll there with that fight, but I’m sure we’ll see more of that in the future.
Now, I know they said that the guy’s death here was suicide, but really now, there’s someone in the OP sequence who totally had a noose. Until they introduce said character, I’m going to be totally suspicious. Why would they kill the convict? Well, considering that absolutely every one is messed up in the head here, why not. If it is someone else’s doing, I assume they’ll give an explanation like “they failed/ was pathetic enough to leave their hammer behind, so there.” And if it was actually your regular suicide, I’m still blaming the whole serial killer thing since the guy was obviously long gone off the deep end. Funny how he left the hammer behind because the bond or whatever between them broke and Kanae totally said that the items couldn’t be left behind or thrown away last week. Now if only Yamane’s problems were that easy to solve. …Or maybe the suicide was repercussions for leaving the object behind. I don’t even know anymore. I’m also saddened by the fact that we didn’t get the Killing Goods’ background story, let alone a name for the guy. I hope this isn’t a trend, since I’m admittedly slightly more interested in the Killing Goods and murder part of the story as opposed to Kiri protecting Iwai.
As a last note, I was kind of expecting Kanae to have creepy cameras set up or something so he and the society could watch the action take place as opposed to sitting there going “kukuku I bet there’s murder going on right now”. You’d think that with a society that likes setting these things up, they’d actually watch them. Or maybe they just like seeing the after effects. In any case, Kanae is definitely still creepy. Unlike Yamane and Houko, who actually seem like okay people provided that they’re not out to kill you. Yamane actually even provided (unhelpful) help this episode and Houko made it quite clear that she doesn’t want Kiri to lose (I assume, until she can kill Iwai).
…Since Kiri’s name had a lot of obvious purpose behind it (and Iwai mentioned the first episode that her name was written like “celebration”), I looked into some of the other character’s names as well since a lot of them sound unusual. As expected, all of the other characters have, er, fitting names. The kanji used for Yamane’s name seriously translates to “ill child”, which is just a terrible thing to name your kid maybe her parents had it coming. Houko’s kind of translates to “ruling child” (which is rather fitting considering she keeps Yamane under control) and Byouinzaka in general something along the lines of “hospital hill”. Though that might have come from the fact that their ancestor was a nurse (since last names sometimes come from occupation. …Though I don’t know if the Japanese follow that tradition at all).
Anyways, it was both more and less of a battle this episode as compared to the last one. This time, Kiri definitely fought (since the last time was more about keeping Iwai from being killed as opposed to killing/hurting Yamane), but at the same time, the fight was really short. The build up to it seemed longer and more difficult than the actual fight itself. It wasn’t even quite as interesting as the one from episode 2 either, since there wasn’t any back story involved, the antagonist didn’t seem to have any deep reason for targeting Iwai, nor was there really any struggle from Kiri. …Though that horror movie feeling from the chase scene was alright. Though Kiri kind of wasted effort there locking the doors, even though the sledgehammer knocked through them with ease. I just hope the opponents get more interesting from here on out, since this one was kind of a let down after Yamane.
This woman looks friendly enough.
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
I think what separates Kiri from the other Authors is that he found his Relief at roughly the same time he discovered his Killing Goods and his Authorhsip.
The relationship between him and Iwai is endearing, despite Kiri’s blunder in “I want to cut your hair”. Typical boy….But these two differ in that I think the two girls rather hate each other.
This was a great episode and if they keep with this template and expand upon it, it will rock the Spring.
POWUH: 500-599 with 519 comments
That does make sense but he did have the scissors in his possession for a long time. From what Yamane said, the syringe was telling her to use it and that’s what spurned her authorship. That didn’t seem to happen to Kiri at all.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Plus Kiri seems er, more human then the rest of them. I mean, Yamane has Houko to relieve her murdering instincts on, but she still lost it pretty quickly. Who even knows about the hammer guy this episode.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Oh maybe… though he kind of had his Instead as a child too due to cutting his family’s hair. For now, I’m just going to assume that he’s ~special~.
Ahahaha I do like the two of them together too. I think the Byouinzaka’s have an awkward relationship due to the whole parental murder thing, but I don’t think it’s really hate. Houko said she hated Yamane before, but was silent when she was asked if she hated her now.
Yeah! This is turning out alright despite being iffy on the first episode. Thing are keeping entertaining at least.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I also wonder if perhaps Kiri was never driven to that point of obsession with the scissors until he met Iwai. Certainly not to the point where he felt murderous, unlike Yamane and apparently the others.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I thought the atmosphere in this episode was excellent. They did a great job in moving from emotion to emotion without it seeming fake, unintentionally jarring, or narmy. And I thought the scene she wet herself was purposeful in setting atmosphere. Iwai’s not a hero, and she’s not really just a scared little girl. I don’t get that “just being pushed around” vibe from her, more of a ‘sheltered and inexperienced’ feeling. And I liked that that scene was good at setting it up as terrifying for her, without having to make it something especially terrifying for us.
This is one of my favorite shows this season, I really like the atmosphere because they’re making it a thriller and mystery series without making it gory or jumpy.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Yeah, they do emotional transitions well. Though I find that most of them go back and forth from “look at how much better your life is, Iwai! …Oh, wait. It still sucks.” It’s still a smooth transition though.
…I don’t know where you’re getting the not gory part since the scissors in Yamane’s hands the last episode looked pretty gory, but I guess there’s not a lot of excess (compared to say, Mirai Nikki or Shinsekai)
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Actually, I don’t find blood problematic. It’s the ‘and gore’ part of ‘blood and gore’ that gets me, which is more severed body parts, entrails, visible insides of people… That’s what I’d rather not see. A bloody arm is no problem, and their representations of Kiri’s slashes are fine.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Ah, the stuff they usually censor for BD release. …Now that I look back, this has been pretty gore free for a show about murderers. Though I guess it helps that Kiri isn’t exactly blood thirsty and syringes don’t exactly dismember people.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
It’s strange. Since when has cutting hair become sexually stimulating? Or is that because of the unique relationship Kiri and Iwai have? And there was a bed right there when he decided to watch over her. A crude way of saying to “take things further”.
This should be a life lesson: Never trust the words of an unstable murdering psychopath, especially one that tried to kill you. I couldn’t tell whether Yamane’s false information was intentional or not. One would wonder why she’d go out of her way to warn them but it might be out of her own interest to make sure Iwai doesn’t die until she gets the chance to kill her herself. The red eyes and megane glints aren’t helping to make her image appear tamer.
Kiri coming to terms and embracing that he has the blood of a murderer in his veins was refreshing compared to always seeing and hearing leads dreading the blood and lineage they inherited because their ancestor did something terrible. The way he owned the murderer by severing tendons was badass and it’s odd that doing so didn’t restrict his movements from escaping. They are, after all, linked to muscles. The obvious enjoyment he got from that experience is fueling the chance that he might become a killer himself. I was thinking Jack the Ripper while he was describing his ancestor and that he was a foreigner though it doesn’t seem too far from it.
The possibility of the hammer author hanging himself isn’t sitting well with me. It’s too odd for someone driven insane by an insatiable lust for killing. I could only come to the conclusion that another author is behind it. The OP was showcasing all the authors and there was one holding a book and zooming out from his frame, there was noose. Suicide can be ruled out easily taking that into account.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
I guess anything can be sexually stimulating in anime. That’s right, even the most mundane activities are at risk! What will they pervert next?!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Blow dryers, Hair extensions. Full Body
Wax?
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
You got to give the Japanese credit for being creative with their perversion. Let us take this moment to look back the Nisemonogatari toothbrush scene as one of the greatest achievements in anime history. Now I can never look at a toothbrush the same way again.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
How about nail cutting? SNIP SNIP
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Make-up. I recall back in the early 90’s when my future ex-wife helped me with my make up for a character I played for Live Action RPG: Vampire the Masquerade. I played an insane silent movie star vampire. I dressed in black, white and grey clothing, dyed my hair black, and she helped me apply old style cake make up, eyeshadow and the like. I wish I could get the pictures of that.
But, having someone apply make up to you, especially the lashes is such a…….thing.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Fall in love with that, BB!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I think the better question is: What won’t they pervert next? Because it seems like everything is fair game in anime. For example, the last episode with Houko being aroused from being pricked repeatedly like a pin cushion by her sister’s syringe.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
Isn’t the answer to that question nothing though? They just leave no stone unturned!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
It’s that obvious, huh? They always go the extra mile to outdo themselves.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I live by the rule of: If it exists, there is porn with it somewhere.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Rule 34 is the only rule.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Ah, the internet beats me to it once again.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Well, it’s not the ONLY rule (then it would be rule 1), but it is one of the most referenced. And we know Rule 1 is “Do not act incautiously when confronting little bald wrinkly smiling men.”
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Unless you are the best Thief of Time.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Even Lobsang was beaten…
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I’d say hair cutting is a thing. My friend goes to a hair school and they seriously have to learn massages and such to preform on the client (…which in the textbook, one was described as “lightly slapping the scalp”, but whatever). ….Though Dansai Bunri certainly takes things further. I’d say a lot of it is just Kiri and Iwai, but it does have some basis.
I do think Yamane was trying to help them (since Houko wants to lift Yamane’s curse), but it was just… unhelpful help. I can’t see why she’d try to have Iwai killed before she could do it herself.
Yes! I’d say he took it rather well, but then again, this is the same kid who looked like he was going to go on a rampage when professional stylists ruined his life. Jack the Ripper killed prostitutes in the streets though. It looked like Greyland had his own set up in his basement or something. …Though to be fair, I was thinking Elizabeth Bathory.
Yeah, that’s basically my train of thought there. Besides, the hammer guy probably had trouble walking with his tendons cut, let alone tying a noose, which I imagine requires dexterity.
POWUH: 500-599 with 519 comments
I was pretty surprised that Kiri didn’t go through a whole, “What have I done?” after the fight. I think being able to dodge attacks for a crazy guy with a hammer and be all calm about it is NOT normal. However maybe the scissors is warping his senses? I don’t know why it didn’t affect him before but maybe these fights will continue to bring out the crazy in him.
Also that hair scene. >_> The way they were both acting reminded me a bit of the hair brushing scenes from GJ-Bu. Only so much more.
And Iwai’s reaction to Kiri staying with her for the night was priceless. XD
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
It’s almost like GJ bu prepared us for this, eh?
It’s pretty simple. The other Authors lack that very simple, yet disregarded, love for anyone else.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I hope they make him crazy! …I guess the mentality was there before? He seems to be brushing everything off as “It’s okay as long as I can
continue cutting this girl’s hairprotect Iwai”, so that’s not normal either.Ahahaha no one is safe from hair brushing!
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I still think the hair fetish thing is super creepy but goddamnit, I love the action. I like how the monochrome fight scenes are a “thing” they’re repeating for each murderer that comes after Iwai. It changes colour too! Last time it was red!
I was wondering about the names. I knew the meaning of some of them already and figured they weren’t normal names a sane parent would choose. Learning the other meanings was cool though! Thanks!
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Ahaha because everything is more dramatic with monochrome! I’m just… choosing to overlook the hair fetish. It’s what’s driving the plot forward (aside from the murderers), that’s good enough for me.
Yamane seems to have been an unfortunate child from birth. I mean, the character that makes up part of the word yandere is right there. OTL I was going to attempt Iwai’s name, but they put 4 kanji that I can’t figure out a logical explanation for together.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 192 comments
Glad to see someone else saying “WTF” at the uh…”wetting scene”. I felt kinda unsettled that they’re shoving the point that Iwai’s a damsel in distress so crudely, never mind that she’s a mere, living plot device for now. Hopefully, she shows her hidden hand as Hair Queen later on.
I disliked the monochrome scenes, they felt rather tacked-on imo. Well, at least thet changed colours this time.
Slegehammer Sam’s suicide was interesting because the circumstances were so vague, even if it was confusing at first. Personally, I’d love to see a Crime Edge inducing suocidal
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 192 comments
[Sorry, my wayward click…]
…inducing suicidal thoughts in its victims, but I guess it’s all up in the air for now.
Prof. Kanae was as mysterious as always. I also wonder why he doesn’t monitor Iwai 24/7 since he and Gossip are so obsessed over her death?
I thought Yamane meant well, but since she was under orders from her sister, it’s quite hard to tell.
Nice job with the names, I thought they were a bit clunky to be just mere names. Kanae’s is even more vague than his background too: “鼎”=”Three-legged kettle” and “皇”=”Imperial-“. So, “Imperial Three-legged Kettle”? XD It could be a reference to the Byouinzaka’s and him…
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Yeah, the wetting scene kind of wandered too close to hentai territory for my comfort… in a show about sexual hair cutting. I don’t even know. Yeah, I hope she has a hidden badass side to the Hair Queen thing other than being a perfectly okay object to murder.
I wonder what the point of suicide would be in this though since the Killing Goods seem to be actively wanting to murder. For individuals to escape the curse of Killing Goods (or maybe a twist where the Goods try to kill the owner itself since that’s murder)? Though I guess it wouldn’t have a shortage of victims provided that they weren’t the last of their line or something. It would be interesting.
Yeah, I was wondering that too. Maybe he’s not telling us the whole story…
…I don’t even know about Kanae’s name. OTL (which is why I didn’t bother mentioning it, along with Iwai’s surname) Yeah, I’m glad I looked into them, since they definitely weren’t normal. …And now I’m afraid to looks at the other characters since I’m sure their names are just full of spoilers.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 192 comments
Wow, Killing Goods “harvesting” entire families? Now that’s creepy…0_0 Your theory does brings up an interesting question though, Karakuri: how sentient are the Killing Goods? Yamane’s syringe took a ghostly Persona-ish form the other time, so maybe they have a sense of self and self-preservation (e.g. kill as many as possible)?
I’m not sure about the names spoiling, Karakuri. Back then, seeing “hospital hill” and “sick child” wouldn’t have brought anything to mind since everyone’s screwy to an extent in Dansai Bunri. XD
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Er, I looked up Kashiko’s and it was like “dark beauty” or “ink beauty” or something, which totally reaffirmed for me that she was going to be a villain, so that’s what I found spoilerish. …If it turns out to refer to something else, there’s that too. I don’t want to assume things about characters based on their names until I’ve actually seen their part in the plot.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 192 comments
You got a point there. Still, it’s something to think about after the show, no?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I doubt we’re going to get to see much, if any, badassery out of Iwai. Maybe once, just to have something different happen sometime, but I’ll be really surprised if the show makes her much of a stronger protagonist.
I think the ‘suicide’ idea is only plausible with the idea that the guy lost his sledgehammer, and the loss of such an item that is so much a part of him drove him to suicide. Of course, I don’t think it was a suicide at all.
And I think the family heirloom aspect is just kind of a tacked on thing. You’d think you’d want to get something like that out of the way, like drop it in the ocean encased in concrete or something. Maybe that drives the person it’s attached to at the time nuts, but breaks the chain. Of course, as we’ve seen in horror movies with sequels, stuff like that comes back…
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
….I’m pretty sure it’s just wishful thinking on my part for Iwai to do a lot.
Kanae said that you couldn’t throw them away (and then sledgehammer guy kind of left his behind, proving Kanae wrong, so whatever). I was under the impression that the bloodline was important though since that’s where they’d get the affinity for the Cursed Object from.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 192 comments
Me too, Highway. But who knows? Maybe she’ll develop her own defenses as the story goes along.
Hm, then what’s your take on the guy’s death, Highway? A cover-up by Gossip before he blows the story on the Killing Goods?
Maybe the Killing Goods themselves prevent the owners from discarding them? And yeah, curses rarely end quietly without a showdown, huh? XD
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Nah, Episode 4 completely explains (well, by inference, if not explicitly) Sledgehammer’s death. It was what I was thinking it was (suuuuure it was!).
The thing about getting rid of them is that it seems to me that everyone knows what they are, but only one person is ‘captivated’ by them. If that person then dies somehow, why can’t the rest of the family, which isn’t as attached to the item, get rid of it? Naaaaah, we’ve gotta keep it around so someone in the next generation can get their mind warped by it!