Tsugumomo – 04
Now we have two Kiriha. We should always be so lucky?
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…nah, we only have the one Kiriha, and she’s undergone a rather dramatic change this episode. But she’s not the only one… |
A Tale of Two Loli
Once more, clear from the get go…
So we pick up where we left off last time, with both Kazuya and Kiriha facing a possible curbstompin’ against Kukuri’s massive and goddesy blob of water from the sky. It pretty much looked like a foregone conclusion from there However, if the aftereffects of Kazuya’s win mean anything, it’s possible that Kiriha was looking at a things going a different way in the battle; she might have been thinking they could have talked it all out and not have to had battled at all. But regardless of the feelings, Kiriha is on the backfoot, and instead of relying on herself, she has to rely on Kazuya’s new found power to give them the edge they needed. Now, it seems that neither one of them would have suffered much. Kukuri never came off as an outright villain, and it’s quite the surprise that she even ended up admitting that she was depowered to begin with. That smoothes out a wrinkle as to why the amasogi are running around the area. But it does bring up the question about who is directly able to handle the situation.
The boy can produce….
So that brings up Kazuya’s potential as an exorcist/malison cleanser. He does seem like he’s a great candidate, doesn’t he? He’s got some sort of ghostly or dreamy, yet still very womanly apparition, that is giving him very cryptic, and yet still very useful, information when he needs it – Ayasakua means cherry blossom, if anyone was curious. He’s able to master the ins and outs of some complex tsugumomo combat forms on an instinctual level – loved his big drill! He’s not weak, despite some adolescent rumblings – any normal person would loose collective stuff when faced with the stuff he’s put up with. Plus, and this is the most important part, he just has anime protagonist written all over him. However, I like that they took the story to the place where the audience would be suspicious. He’s too good and it happened to quick. Something else is developing or has already developed underneath the surface, or in the past, or in the background, and there could be a whole host of things that explain how this nobody is able to go from zero to hero after a dream, a kiss, and some standard shounen tom-follery. Kiriha knows it and Kukuri knows it, and this was something of a gamble on both of their parts. The goddess wanted this outcome, the obi didn’t. The only thing we’re missing is the exact stakes that both of them were gambling each other over – which we will get to as the story progresses. For now, Kukuri got the upper hand, despite over-taxing her power as well, so Kazuya is going to be shounen-exorcist-boy-in-training.
Fanservice aside, this was a favorite of mine in the manga cause I like it when Kiriha is playful
…and all that is pretty much the meat of the show. Well, there is the fanservice. Which brings me to the lolified elephant in the room, doesn’t it? The censoring. To me, that’s the biggest foregone conclusion. Of course it was going to be changed around to suit terrestrial broadcast codes. Those are the rules. While we can have a separate argument about those rules; and for the record I think most of them are pure Bygone Silliness, they’re not going to change by complaining about it online at least not that much, at least not in isolation with each other. Look, the manga wasn’t beat up in a fight and had the pages stolen from it permanently when the anime was made, and the mangaka still works hard making highly detailed hentai, regardless of if there was an adaptation or not. Everyone knew these things, or should have known these things. None of it changes the progression of the story anyway, and that’s what counts for a TV show. You want porn? It’s the internet, follow your nose, you’ll find it elsewhere. Heck, go to Hamada-sensei’s Pixiv account, he’s got you covered, and if he doesn’t, then there’s no help for you…
So I’ll put fanservice (or the lack of) aside. This was always going to be the dicey episode anyway, as it has to explain some things while keeping other things on the QT. It want’s to mirror a standard sort of shounen-like story while also being it’s own thing, which I think it does very well, and it doesn’t over rely on the formula to make it work. It takes the standard tropes of having a destiny, getting power, and how to use that power and puts it’s own unique twist on them. But it’s an emerging one that took several chapters to explore, and they kinda had to nail it in this one part. It think they did, and it stands out as quite nicely done. It feels like a logical progression, while maintaining that there is more to come. So with all that firmly in mind. See ya’ for…
It’s All Bull, No Ess
About skylion
All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
The conclusion of the fight from last week was great! I Loved how Kazuya got to use Kiriha to fight even though it felt like I was watching Bleach due to Kazuya visiting a “inner world” and talking to someone and gaining a power boost or learning a new OP ability, but that isn’t a bad thing because it works given that this series has plenty of shounen elements.
LOLi Kiriha reminded me of when Lala shrunk down to LOLi size in ToLoveRu Darkness due to using too much power, but I loved how Kiriha’s personality stayed kinda normal and LOL getting those cosplay outfits from his classroom friend hahaha good stuff.
Love how the original creator has a pixiv account and streams on Youtube! I know the creator of My Hero Academia had a Pixiv but he does post art on Twitter and even does a bit of fanart from precure and I think a bit of Marvel as well? He loves Spiderman.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I think I see it in anime more than I do in US TV. But the carryover from a big battle the previous episode, just doesn’t take up as much time the next episode. I expect it to take the full slot of time, but it’s nearly only half. But the second half is a wind down, innit?
Yeah, manga readers have insight, and I forgot to remind not spoil, but Kazuya will visit the other world at least once more this cour, if my knowledge of the source is intact that is.
It’s only been the past year that I’ve added some official and artist twitter to my feed, and not only are thier’s really cool, but the retweeters can get crazy.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeah I have no problem with inner world stuffs it makes for interesting events! I just know it’s used in a lot of shounen series, but with his inner spirit being his mom is a cool addition.
Yeah i’ve cut back on following pixiv artists I had 2k followers and got it down to 900 LOL still not a lot.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…and Kazuya’s inner world only get’s more and more interesting. Let’s just call it interesting….
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
In other words, Kiriha’s a hand-me-down and obviously her former partner was Kazuya’s mother. While I ponder how Kazuya was able to see her during the conflict with Kukuri, I wonder how she’d react to Kiriha being so “familiar” with him. The fact Kazuya has yet to bring up his mother (Or that we haven’t seen anything relevant to her in the house. Not so much as a framed photo), I’ll take that as a sign something happened before he could remember anything. He doesn’t even recognize the woman who gave the advice on how to use Kiriha’s power.
Things are going into uncharted territories as is. Kazuya’s one thing because he’s a focus but even if it’s an unwilling development, he’s dragging Chisato along with him and she’s utterly unrelated to all this. Imagine just how warped her perception will be the longer this goes on. That said, she should’ve been Kazuya’s first stop for getting smaller clothes since she’d sooner understand why he needed them given her involvement. Now he’s gone and stained his image. That meet with Osamu in the park looked shady as hell. Anyone would totally get the wrong impression.
Kukuri’s loss of height was expected. The OP sequences giving it away killed the surprise, assuming it was meant to be kept secret.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Well, I would like to see both you and Kiriha in the same room when you call her a “hand-me-down”. She likes Kazuya, and look how he treats her when he even mildly upsets her. 🙂
But the familiarity will be addressed later; and again, some changes here and there in the adapttion, so I don’t know how it will shape the rest of the cour going down the road, they may trim some aspects here and there to fit the timeslots.
As for Chisato, she needs time to process everything, and she’ll catch up quick. So why didn’t Kazuya go to her for children’s clothes? The mangaka explained that it was funnier the other two ways.
Also, and it’s neat that you mention it, he’d rather have it stained with the other two. Those two with either forgive him and/to not give him to hard a time over it. Chisato won’t ever forget and will paper fan him into oblivion – cause overreaction is a key part of very broad comedy – something that this story never lets go of, not even in it’s latest chapters.