Do you have any siblings? The episode explores it and I’ve always wondered what it’s like to have siblings.
What They Say:
Shinobu manages to score zero points on her math test. Unable to let this slide, Aya helps Shinobu study at school, and Aya and Karen ask Aya to help them study as well. Between studying, Karen discovers a camera in Isami’s room, Shinobu’s older sister and model.
The Review: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
When Shinobu accidentally calls Yoko “onee-chan,” it starts the story of how the two met. As it turns out, it was much similar to accidentally calling her onee-chan. In elementary school, Shinbou was looking for her sister and Yoko takes Shinobu to Isami’s class.
The gags continue as Shinobu gets her math test back to find that she got a zero. When Aya accidentally says something wrong (it’s translated as fo’ sho’ in the subtitles), Shinobu thinks this will be on the test and starts appending it to the end of her sentences. To help Shinobu learn math, everyone decides to get together to study. But when Aya’s busy teaching Yoko, Shinobu goes to Isami. Isami asks for “one of [Shinobu’s] most prized possessions.” But Isami turns down Shinobu’s Venetian mask.
There’s a series of gags before the episode gets back to some story content, and this time Yoko’s wondering what everyone thinks of her. What the story really ended up being about is siblings. Since Shinobu already has an elder sister, everyone else ends up wanting Yoko as their own sister. It sort of delves into how sibling dynamics work as an only child, an older sibling, or a younger sibling.
In Summary:
Last week, I was kind of wondering why I was still watching KINMOZA. But this week reminded me of why I liked its first episode so much. It’s no Genshiken and never will be, but it’s still funny after five episodes (not an easy feat for a 4-koma gag anime) and there’s actually continuity. There isn’t just gag after gag after gag and it makes the episodes not feel long or drawn out or, most importantly, repetitive.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Equipment: Radeon 7850, 24 in. Vizio 1080p HDTV, Creative GigaWorks T20 Series II