First Impressions – Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge
Where “Let me cut you” is an acceptable pick up line
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Well, this is certainly a hairy situation ahahHAHAHA okay never again, I know, I’m sorry. Anyways, if you haven’t guessed, this series is about a dude with a serious love for hair…and a chick with a serious head of hair to match. I was also promised some murdering, which is 90% of why I’m here. |
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…I came into this hoping to see scissors and I was greatly rewarded. However, I don’t know exactly how I feel about said reward. Though on the plus side, think of all of the terrible puns I’ll be able to use blogging this in the future! |
Overcooled // Trichophilia: a condition where someone becomes sexually aroused by the presence or thought of hair. Haimura Kiri has this as well as a very strong haircut fetish. Now, even though I knew he had this fetish before watching the first episode, I was still kind of surprised how much he was into hair. Cuticle Detective Inaba claimed to be about a detective with a hair fetish, but it was such a goofy show that it never became anything more than a running gag. Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge takes a different approach and portrays Haimura’s hair fetish very seriously…which is honestly kind of creepy.
It’s one thing to get your rocks off to hair. No harm there. It’s another thing to like it so much that you are willing to trespass on property, smear your face against the glass and whisper “your hair sure is purrdyyy” to a complete stranger. Then again, the girl doesn’t seem particularly taken aback with letting a potential stalker into her home, so maybe that’s just how things work in that universe. Anyways, it’s still really unsettling the way he runs his fingers through the hair of a complete stranger and gets noticeably hot and bothered over it. He loves hair so much he can’t even control his impulses. Not only does he instinctively ravish her hair with his fingers, but he unconsciously whips out scissors whenever he sees hair he wants to cut. Slightly better than whipping out his penis, I suppose, but not by much.
Damn, this guy is a smooth talker
The real kicker is that Haimura explains his fetish stemmed from childhood. He used to enjoy (platonically) cutting the hair of his family members. Since Haimura only seems to like cutting and not dying, drying, washing, and all that other fancy hairdresser stuff, his family decided to switch to a hair salon. This made Haimura upset as he had to constantly suppress his desire to cut hair. As a result of all that suppression, he’s developed a sexual complex about hair. It’s a bit of a jump in logic, and it sounds like something Freud would say, but that’s apparently the origin story of his haircut fetish.
So does Haimura just really like hair or is he in danger of having some sort of mental condition? So far I think he just really, really likes hair. As long as he’s not hurting anyone else, then it’s fine. As weird as his hair fetish is…he’s only doing it with consent. In the end, they are both just big creeps who have found the perfect topic to bond over.
Karakuri // So we go right from learning that Kiri has a SERIOUS hair fetish right to fluffy romance. You know, if normal people found some guy was breathing heavily at their window, they would probably be severely creeped out. Not Iwai though. Granted, she was probably lonely since the only two other people she appears to know (maybe) killed her father and (maybe) might kill her. So unfortunately for Iwai, I think that Kiri might be the most normal person she knows. …Which is why the sudden romance (or at least extreme blushing) kind of works. …Plus there’s the fact that between Kiri’s scissors (which may or may not have killed someone before) and Iwai’s normally uncuttable hair, it’s like they were meant to be. They’re definitely forcing a couple on us here, but considering that Kiri and Iwai definitely don’t have a normal state of mind, it kind of… works. …It doesn’t make the hair cutting scene any less odd though.
This all seems like it escalated rather quickly. I have to hand it to Kiri and Iwai though, the two of them had some pretty deep conversations considering that they (presumably) only met a few days ago. Maybe it’s because Iwai seems a little sheltered. I can see why she’d be depressed since her father died, but she seems to have an awfully gloomy approach to life since she even said that she’d be okay with Kiri killing her. Kiri though… maybe it’s the being a descendant to a serial killer that makes him thus, but it seems a bit silly that his life was ruined because people wouldn’t let him cut their hair.
Sure, Iwai is like Kiri’s dream girl, but what’s he going to do now that her hair is all gone? If he was smart, he would open a salon or something. …I don’t know how the customers would react since he’s kind of creepy, but still. It’s better than sitting there fantasizing about it. I don’t know about laws in Japan, but I had a few friends who apprenticed at a salon while they were still in high school. Oh well, Kiri will be busy enough soon.
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Final Thoughts
The hair fetish thing is a big of a turn-off for me…but oddly enough I still want to watch more. The promise of action always reels me in! Next week shows teasers at some fights with the Killing Goods. The kinds of weapons we’ve seen are a pair of scissors and a syringe. You can’t tell me a fight between those two things won’t be a grand old time.
Unfortunately, the stuff we are shown this week is really just…odd. They’re dead serious about the hair fetish to the point where it feels like a sex scene (kinda like the toothbrushing scene in Nisemonogatari) and yet they make a bunch of jokes about anything BUT hair. The tone switches from goofy jokes about random topics to erotic haircutting. All of this is accompanied by the most cheesy and repetitive music. While shows like Phi Brain are aware how dumb they are and fully embrace backstories about parents being killed by puzzles, I fear we were actually supposed to be upset when Haimura said his childhood was ruined by professional hairdressers. I’m a bit disappointed by how Crime Edge turns out, and if there isn’t enough action in the next 2 weeks to balance out the hair-touching and sappy romance then I don’t think I can take it.
Well, I enjoyed Dansai Bunri so far. Yes the romance, but I kind of like how it takes itself seriously. I mean, it’s nowhere near the level of sheer unadulterated awesomeness that Jojo was, but that show was ridiculous, took itself seriously and it somehow worked. I don’t see how this anime can’t do the same. Though I highly doubt it will reach Jojo level.
Plus, I’m pretty sure that absolutely everyone has a screw loose in here. Kiri is obvious, but even the other two characters that ‘took care’ of Iwai are really creepy. I’m expecting more serious things (well, ridiculous things that seem serious) to pop up in the future since everyone and their dog appear to be relatives to serial murderers. As for Iwai… well, I spoiled myself looking up Kiri’s name to see if was seriously written with the ‘to cut’ character (it is; I laughed harder than I should have), apparently the entire premise of the show is that the girl has killers after her due to some kind of killing goods game. …So in short, I highly doubt that she’ll become any more useful in the future. Kiri on the other hand, is the one protecting her, so at least he’ll become more useful. Let’s just hope he doesn’t solve everything by giving his enemies hair cuts. …Though that might be worth watching in itself.
So the premise is certainly interesting and the show takes hair REALLY seriously, but it should be interesting to see where this goes. This first episode kind of reminds me of C3, where things didn’t become worth watching until episode 2 or so, so let’s hope things improve. …And by improve, I mean get more morbid. That scene with the bloody scissors was great, let’s see more of that in the future. The pieces are certainly all there, so I hope this was just an exposition episode to explain why Kiri feels like protecting Iwai in the future.
Hopefully we learn more about these two as well.
About Tag Team
We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
This reminds me of the classic David Lynch film, Blue Velvet x the anime C3.
In the first, as with most of Lynch’s work, you must not apply logic to any situation. It gets in the way, and it doesn’t provide you with any answers.
In the second, we have the Killing Goods, much like the Living Weapons of CubedxCursedxCurious.
Other than that, I cannot comment on the hair fetish, as it seems no more out of place than any other things that anime characters get genkii about….
I liked the pacing, we had character development, exposition, and lulz and feels balanced out, with none of them treading over each other.
I’m looking forward to the next episode…
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Ahaha I don’t think logic is going to help much here. This world seems to have it’s own rules to normal, so we’ll just see where this goes.
As for C3, the atmosphere is kind of similar. I wouldn’t compare Killing Goods to Cursed Objects myself, since Killing Goods don’t seem to be sentient (though I may be proven wrong later). I’m kind of hoping that this doesn’t turn into a harem thing like C3 did either.
I’m just still wondering what Kiri is going to do now that Iwai’s hair has been cut. Is his hair fetish now sated? What now?
So yeah, I’m looking forward to episode 2 as well.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 304 comments
This was really weird. Yet oddly enough, I enjoyed it. In fact, I even thought it was rather cute.
I’m kind of picky about and don’t generally like action-y shows, so I’m a bit worried about where this anime is going from here. The whole story with the Killing Goods doesn’t have me sold yet. But I’m still gonna watch some more episodes and see where this heads. I’d personally be content just watching Iwai and Kiri be cute and fluffy in their own, odd little way though~
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Once you ignored the fact that they only met a few minutes ago and suddenly got all hot and bothered due to hair, it was actually pretty cute xD
They didn’t really explain much about Killing Goods, so I kind of feel the same way. In my case though, I think once I get a better explanation, it will get better. …Though I’m still wondering how one could fight effectively with a syringe. Against something small like scissors, sure. But what about a larger weapon? …Anyways, yeah I wouldn’t mind more fluffiness either~.
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
I think I might have had the opposite reaction from you two. As a single episode, I thought this show was hilarious, and I enjoyed it greatly, but I just can’t imagine it turning into anything good, no matter what they do with it.
Professional Hairdressers: I think the reason they started going to pros instead was because they were freaked out about Kiri. Take a look at this screen grab they show when he tells his story. They aren’t just deciding to go somewhere that gives better service, EVERYONE in this picture is screaming.
imageshack.us /photo/my-images/836/crimeedgesalon.png/
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Yeah, I agree it’s more because Kiri was getting really creepy about it, and they were like “ok, he’s gonna stab us or something here…
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Ah, I think that way makes more sense. The way I saw it was that everything was innocent until the parents said “haha, ok, that’s cute but we need a REAL hairdresser now” and Kiri started getting freaky when he was in haircut withdrawal and tried to cut hair even after being told no. Addicts get violent when they can’t get their fix.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Lol yeah, I think I saw that as withdrawal as well. He seemed perfectly complacent (and not like a serial killer) until they took what he loved away from him. Though admittedly, the atmosphere of the flashback does look creepy even before that point.
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
I think Kiri is a habitual liar. This is one of the things that I find most interesting about the show. There is a big gap between what he says and what he does. For example, in the beginning he claims to have just gotten off the bus by mistake, and then innocently wandered up to the house, scissors in hand. That’s obviously B.S.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I thought the show was pretty interesting. It certainly pegged the creepy meter, but with both Kiri and Iwai interested in each other (even before Kiri successfully cut her hair), it’s hard for me to really be that worried about them. It was further creepy that they’d both fetishize the scissors that way, but thinking about it from Iwai’s perspective, she has basically been a prisoner because of her cursed hair. Now Kiri and his scissors have come along, and instead of treating her like a curse, he’s essentially liberated her.
We’ll see where the show goes from here. It certainly didn’t give too many clues to what the guys were all up to.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Oh, something I forgot to mention by hitting reply too early. I really liked the way they depicted Iwai’s hair. It wasn’t beautiful or cute or anything. They were really successful in showing it as an unwanted anchor, an imposition, really a curse. I thought that worked well.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Again, what I said about the other two people who hang around her being (probably) serial killers and Kiri being the only ‘normal’ person around her. Plus, the other two girls obviously don’t treat Iwai well anyways.
I think a lot of the lack of ‘beauty’ for Iwai’s hair was also due to the animation art style. Everything about the characters looks kind of bulky.
POWUH: 500-599 with 519 comments
Oh boy. This show. I thought Inaba was bad but this guy. Sheesh. His love for hair is crazy.
The whole episode seemed like it was rushing overall with trying to set up the backstory so they can get started on the main action right away. Especially that scene with the grandfather. “You’re upset? Let me tell you about the curse of a pair of scissors!”
Iwai on the other hand, I feel like there has to be more to her than just having magic uncuttable hair.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Ahaha at least he doesn’t keep a collection of hair (….that we know of) lie Inaba did xD
LOL yeah, that who scene with the grandfather felt a lot like exposition for exposition’s sake.
I think Kiri might have a hidden side to him that’s been hinted at (like, he’s seriously crazy or something). I don’t know about Iwai, but it would be cool if she had a secret or two as well.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Oh GOD hair p0rn is not sexy OK, Kiri? Still the end was pretty heartwarming :3 Also, screw tht two chick tht abused Iwai.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Another hair themed anime but this one looks way better than that one last season that I’m having trouble remembering the name. Oh, yeah, Cuticle Detective Inaba. Kiri is quite the creepy protagonist. His obsession with cutting hair makes me think of the guy from the Charlie’s Angels movie with a fetish for cutting women’s hair then sniffing it and because of that, I feel he’s teetering into yandere territory, slowly but surely. The guy walked up to Iwai like a serial killer. Overall, I like how the first episode went. With the mention of objects like “Killing Goods” and seeing almost every character seems psychotic, Dansai Bunri gives the feel of both Mirai Nikki and C³: Cube x Cursed x Curious.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 95 comments
Who read the manga?