A new school year promises new opportunities, but also new challenges, for the Queen of Hair and her protector. Danger continues to lurk, however, in even the most unexpected places…
What They Say:
Episode 4: “Where Is the Visitor?”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
So, it’s Spring (which means a new school year) and the usual class switching occurs. Kiri and most of his friends stay in the same class, though Kashiko is not going to be with them. Is a light-hearted school episode going to occur? I wouldn’t bet good money on that with this show.
Saying that, of course, is as if challenging the writers, who immediately plunge us into a non-horrific “let’s make friends” episode, as Yamane Byouinzaka is placed into the same class as Kiri and Iwai, and Kiri encourages her to try to stop being so aloof from the rest of the class. Their classmates know nothing of the Killing Goods and Authors, so why should Yamane cause herself to be alone and disliked?
Afterwards, Kiri and Iwai go to a place her father used to go, with some of their classmates in tow (to Kiri’s disappointment). It turns out to be a bar, but as they also serve food it’s okay for the kids to come in to have a meal. They are met by Hitomi Karuko, a beautiful blind woman who plays the piano for the place. While this seems nice and all, we know the game is up a bit later when a sinister-looking man in the corner mumbles something about sinners and sorry for using “her majesty” to find them. Obviously, he is either an Author or tied to Gossip, the organization that watches from the shadows. The sinister man leaves the bar just after Karuko stops playing, and Kiri senses something wrong with him and follows. Outside, he reveals himself to be “justice.” He is descended from a judge who himself was executed after killing twenty people. He says that he has no interest in killing Iwai, but instead wants to lie in wait for those Authors who would try to kill her, since then he can “pass judgment” upon them.
As the mood just got really heavy, it must be time for some comic relief, which comes in the form of a female police officer, Kozakura Zenigata, who comes to confront the sinister man. He, however, pulls out his Killing Goods, a murderously magical Law Book. He casts a spell on the police officer and nearly kills her, but the magical noose that was strangling her breaks. The sinister man claims that it only kills people who deserve the ultimate punishment.
Later on, Kiri has taken Zenigata to the hospital, with some help from the Byouinzaka twins. It is now revealed that Zenigata knows all about Gossip and even says that Gossip and the senior police brass are aware of the Killing Goods and even help this “justice” fellow. We finally learn his name: Seigi Nakajima and learn that he likes to push Authors to commit crimes right in front of him so that he can then kill them. Zenigata, however, doesn’t believe that he will continue to content himself with that, but will at some point move to killing people regardless of their innocence or guilt.
Back at the bar, we see Karuko and her piano tuner Houichi at work, though it seems that as anyone could have guess from the start, she is an Author whose piano can be literally murderous, if you listen to her song until the very end. In fact, we see Houichi apparently wrapping up and disposing of a loose end. How does he survive? It appears that he is deaf, so Karuko can play the entire song to him as much as she likes.
While there were no “monochrome” moments this episode, there was some plot and world information thrown out there. We get introduced to two more Authors, though neither of them, at the moment, appear to have any interest in killing the Queen of Hair. That may be, but I am sure that there will be further Authors to come who will be out to see if the “legend” concerning the Queen and the Wish are true. It would seem that after several more murderous and horror-filled episodes, the writers felt the need to allow us to catch out breath, but just for this episode. A little comic relief comes in with a cop bearing a significant name (Zenigata…where could someone have heard that name before?), but whose effectiveness is highly questionable. As a breathing spell, this episode works to get us off of the bloody (and other bodily fluids) track we have been on and allows us to have some lighter moments. I suspect this is all of the respite we will have for a while, since there are certainly more Authors and more blood to come.
In Summary:
Not all of the Authors are seeking to murder poor little defenseless Iwai. Besides her protector Kiri, we come across two more Authors who state they have no interest in seeing the Queen of Hair fall to their Killing Goods: the beautiful blind pianist Karuko and the merciless judge Nakajima. Whether there are many other Authors, however, who share their disinterest is an open matter of debate. I suspect we will not be meeting another in the next episode.
Episode Grade: B
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Apple iMac with 4GB RAM, Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard
