Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha – 02
Looking pretty cool, Inari.
The second episode of Inari Konkon rolls around, but unfortunately this time it brings mixed feelings. I wouldn’t say the episode was bad, but it was a bit of a step down from the previous.
Home Visit
Hashimo will never live this down.
Let’s talk about what’s good about this episode first. Namely, the continued portrayal of Inari as a naive girl. Which is just fine, because she’s only in middle school so we can’t expect her to deal with her crush with any more elegance. And fortunately this naiveté also results in some hilarious situations. Inari transforming into Kouji’s friend because she was too shy to give him handouts herself was silly enough. But then Kouji invites “him” into his room for some “guy talk,” which clearly Inari was not prepared for. And then there’s that moment when she reminisces about their first meeting. Yeah. I feel sorry for Hashimo. On that note though, one has to wonder if and when the show will bust Inari for her abilities. She’s only taking the appearance of others, so surely when the people she impersonates are questioned about the actions she takes on their “behalf” and discrepancies arise, she will be ousted pretty quickly. At least, they’ll realize something is terribly amiss even if they don’t identify Inari as being behind it all.
Celestial Pains
Inari and Uka-sama’s relationship is so sweet.
Now for the bad stuff. That’s pretty much the entire second half of the episode. Going to the Celestial Plains and meeting Amaterasu-sama was fine and all. In fact, I rather liked the introduction of more gods and their various ways of seeking entertainment (playing otomege for Uka-sama and screwing with humans for Amaterasu-sama). But the whole “test” was so cookie-cutter generic that it left a bitter taste in my mouth in spite of its arguably well-done presentation. The moment Amaterasu-sama uttered the words “no transforming for a day,” all of us could have already guessed that Inari would fail due to some extenuating circumstances. And furthermore we could have predicted that the real test was of her human character, so she would pass anyway (though to be fair the addition of judging Uka-sama as well was a nice twist). Sometimes shows can get away with being trite, which is something I’ve championed many times before. But I really just didn’t get a good feeling out of what Inari Konkon did. Hopefully the next episode doesn’t repeat this sentiment.
Despite the unfortunate genericness of half the episode, I don’t think Inari Konkon is down for the count just yet. I really like Inari in spite of all her flaws, though I admit I can see this getting old pretty fast if she doesn’t get smart even a little. But the way she’s presented makes you want to cheer her on. Probably, she strikes a fine balance between honest, good nature and clumsy naiveté. If she could just work on that shyness and clumsiness, it would do wonders for her character and the show in general. For one, she should stop relying on transformation gimmicks (for everyone’s sake) to approach Kouji. Which is what she needs to start doing if she seriously wants a genuine relationship with him. We do see a potential beginning sign of this though, with her gathering the resolve to give Kouji the charm (ignoring the part where she lied to herself that it would be best to give up on him), so the prospect is looking good.
Onii-chan to the rescue?
About Sumairii
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I can see where you are coming from with the whole, “The real test was…” trope. I thought they pulled it off better than expected. It could have been more facepalm worthy, but they fit it in with the characterizations.
I’m still on the fence about the “cliffhanger”. Given that we see Onii-chan notice something about the temple raises our suspicions. Now that we see him taking rough charge, that raises the stakes, but I would have felt it better done in the middle of an episode, after we had seen some character development on his part.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I am quite surprised with this series so far! I was originally going to pass on this but since I learned it only has 10 episodes I might as well stick around and enjoy the ride.
LOL That ending this week! Onii-chan is super protective of his sister? I wonder what that is all about…
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
DATS MY IMOTOU! GET YER OWN!
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
My imouto can’t be this god-like.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
This is a really nice show. Amataseru trolling them was pretty typical, but I thought the test was fine. Yeah, it’s typical, but we get to see the limits of Inari’s character, and I thought her regret at ‘failing’ Uka-sama was really nice to see.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Hahaha!! The moment Inari had that fantasy image of Amaterasu before actually meeting her, I knew she wouldn’t look anything that. She looks more like that witch who trapped that girl in Spirited Away. It should be blasphemous that these deities force such traumatizing ordeals on humans just to kill some time because they’re bored.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
I enjoyed this episode, including the test. I would have liked the situation to be a bit more dire for Sumizome Akemi than simple heat exhaustion though.
But oh god, that image of Amaterasu with the droopy ears is mentally scarring. I’ve seen people with mutilated earlobes and it’s just every bit as horrifying to see in real life as it is in anime.
Seeing Inari(Hashimo) hugging Kouji from behind was golden. And since it’s an awkward topic, Kouji will never bring it up again (shifty eyes) while Hashimo will be blissfully unaware of his past “transgression” (innocent puppy eyes).
Liking this show so far, the relationship between gods and humans are fun to watch. Reminds me of Gingitsune from last season, which was a pleasure to watch.