A fox spirit is fine, but it’s nice to have human friends.
What They Say:
Episode 2: “Learning to Compromise”
Makoto’s classmate Funabashi Hiwako is a member of the student council who comes from an elite family. One day, she gives fellow classmate Yumi a dressing down about her behavior, but she turns other girls in the class against her in the process. The next day after school, Makoto walks into a restroom to find a bunch of girls surrounding Hiwako.
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The title of this episode of Gingitsune is a bit off, the theme had less to do with compromise and more to do with not rushing to judgement based on assumptions and stereotypes.
Ah, cliques. The despised social construct which creates strife where there doesn’t need to be any. Makoto’s high school isn’t immune from the inevitable grouping up of girls. We’ve seen the few girls that Makoto seems to associate with, and the group that Yumi talks to. Makoto tends to socialize with a group of average girls, while Yumi associates with the gossipy and fashionable loud girls.
In comes the preppy and wealthy class vice president, who isn’t happy with Yumi’s brash ‘I’ll do what I want, when I want’ attitude. The conflict is almost instantaneous. However, we know from the previous episode that Yumi isn’t a bad person, and we quickly find out that Hiwako isn’t as stuck up as she appears. It’s no surprise that Makoto is going to end up making friends with both, the opening pretty much gives that away.
I really enjoyed seeing the natural way which Makoto was able to bring the two girls together to talk, and the way she was able to negotiate between the two. Granted, she doesn’t do much other than resist the urge to back away and ignore the hostility. It was also fun watching Hiwako break down in a stressed sort of way. There wasn’t anything drawing Makoto out to talk with Hiwako, she just didn’t like the misunderstanding and strife.
In that way, Makoto actually makes for a good shrine priestess. She likes to resolve issues, even if she’s clumsy at it. She’s not perfect, her optimism has it’s limits, as her ranting at Gintaro proves. Gintaro himself takes a back seat in this episode, dispensing a small amount of advice and staying out of the way.
I was a bit curious about the role of the local shrine. The girls didn’t seem to have ever visited, and Makoto had to explain the customs. I’m guessing that outside of those tending the various shrines no one else can see the spirit messengers. It does make Makoto come off as a little crazy, and I was surprised when she ‘oh by the way’ admits to them she can see her shrine spirit. The reaction to that reveal was amusing, and it’s nice not to have hide the spirit whenever her friends are around.
The animation in this episode seemed more solid than the previous, but perhaps only because there was less Gintaro to animate.
In Summary:
I feel that this episode of Gingitsune is a big improvement over the first, in both animation and direction. Makoto is assembling a nice group of close friends, one she has no problem telling straight away that she can see a fox spirit. Although the two other girls fit into commonly seen character types, there is a certain honesty about them that seems refreshing. Hey, that’s just like how the episode wanted me to think! Now that her gang is all here, perhaps we’ll meet others with Makoto’s abilities. It looks like we’ll meet with more spirits next week, and perhaps find out more about what happened with Gintaro’s missing partner.
Episode Grade: B+
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment: 27” iMac running OS 10.8.4, via Safari 6.0.5, FIOS 15/5 Mbps connection. Your milage may vary.
