Kinji steps in to take over guarding Shirayuki before he just slaps Aria over her attitude.
What They Say:
Kinji’s nerves are shot over the all-out war between Shirayuki and her pint-sized protector, so he takes the job into his own hands. But after a night of fireworks, the shrine maiden gives him the slip!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the threat that Shirayuki now faces, things are pretty awkward between the main trio as Shirayuki and Aria certainly grate against each other in a lot of ways and Kinji’s caught in the middle of it all. Because of this, and the way that Aria is freaking out, Kinji has decided to just do it himself and will become the main protector for her, though Aria will more than likely be watching from the side to see what’s going on. This change of the guard certainly suits Shirayuki though since she’s got her long time crush going for Kinji and this means a whole lot more time to be spent with him and likely without Aria around. It’s like a double win for her in this regard, though Kinji just sees it all as a heck of a lot more work for him when he wants out of this whole butei thing completely.
This does bring the two together to do some fun things together which are cute, such as him working as her bodyguard while she does some shopping. That gives us the usual kimono scene where she buys something really special and blushes over it as he looks at her admiringly. There’s the predictable cene at the beach where she wears his jacket. And then they get to play with some sparklers as well which adds a bit more childhood flavor that fits between the two. Of course, he’s also realizing that she is a good bit older now as she shows off some ample cleavage for him, accidentally I’m sure, and their whole conversation leads to a real softening between them that hasn’t quite been there before in a way. Naturally, interruptions abound, but at least it’s not Aria that’s jumping out of nowhere and causing chaos.
What else isn’t a surprise is that Shirayuki later ends up going missing when Kinji lets his guard down for a moment and that brings us to the big action side of the episode. Not that it’s significant in the end but it feels like we’re thrust into a lot of action because of the intensity of the music that really goes all out while just doing simple panning shots and stills of the characters talking. It goes towards something bigger with Kinji trying to find her, but there’s just so much pressure from the music that it again feels overly forced and out of place. The show definitely has things I like about it, but it’s sequences like this, that are there to set up the next episode no less, that just end up being so in your face with what it’s doing that you want to just spank it and put it in time out for a bit so it can settle down.
In Summary:
Removing Aria from the bulk of the episode isn’t a surprising choice as it’s a good point in time to let Kinji have some alone time with Shirayuki while working over the way she’s being hunted down. The two have a lengthy relationship behind them that’s been hard to feel like it works well throughout the run so far but they get a little bit closer here if only because the settle Shirayuki down and work through the checklist of things that can soften the way we view their relationship. The dynamic of this episode again comes across as out of sync. The opening starts with a whole lot of arguing, then it gets soft as it deals with the childhood romance couple thing, and then it goes into fist pumping action music with little real action. It’s like this is an ADD show that doesn’t quite know what it wants to do.
Grade: C
Simulcast By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
