Settling into school life, we see just what kind of person Harutora is. And we like him.
What They Say:
Harutora makes friends with his classmates after the battle of the familiars, which upsets Natsume. However, when Natsume is in danger, Harutora and his new friends fight to save her.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Harutora’s adjustment into school life in Tokyo, albeit at a special and unique academy, certainly made for osme fun material in the previous episode as it unfolded. We got a good feel for the place, some of the struggles that exist with the characters there as Natsume certainly rubs a few people the wrong way and we got a look at Harutora’s familiar. There was certainly a good and obvious break between what the first three episodes did in order to get Harutora to Tokyo along with Touji and what we got once there, so it definitely felt like those episodes served well as a prologue and motivator for him. Getting to know the cast he has to work with now proved to be well balanced, even if we do have some fairly standard types here. But when the familiar type in Kon that he has doesn’t bother you much, you know you’re on a decent track.
Harutora is doing his best to fit in with everyone, even with the kind of problems that comes from his relationship with Natsume, and because of his personality he’s able to overcome some of the obstacles that are there because of it. It’s good to see his personality can do that and he has the right approach to wanting to be friends without overdoing it, which could drive a further wedge in with some that have a chip on their shoulder with regards to Natsume. The one he has the most problems with though is Kyoko, and that’s largely because of the problems between her and Natsume, which goes back a number of years to when they were much younger. It turns out that Kyoko is actually a part of the larger family, which reinforces Harutora not wanting to have problems with her since family is important to him in a general and personal way. But Natsume has some real issues that need to be dealt with when it comes to her and that’s not easily done.
While a lot of the episode is focused on the whole character interaction side, to very good effect, we also get some good action as someone who takes on the title of Hishimaru has made an attack within the school to capture Natsume and be her protector. That leads to the aciton itself since everyone will naturally band together to stop an attack like this and it helps to bond them together in the heat of battle. With a giant ogre-like creature at his disposal to do his fighting for him, it’s filled with magic but has a good bit of physical impact as well that works out well. There’s a lot to like with it visually, much as we had in the opening arc, but at its core the action is just a setup for what’s to come later and for showing this group of kids that they do have something when they come together like this. It’s an easy bond to draw them in and to start easing some of the tensions.
In Summary:
Tokyo Ravens has another good episode here as it works through some familiar and expected material. It does it with some good polish, good acting and characters that are slowly drawing me in. While there are certainly plenty of things that are by the book here when it comes to just about everything, the show feels like it’s poised to move beyond that and become something more if really given the opportunity when it comes to story and characters. I like what’s here and it has a certain polish about it that gives it some additional weight. Now it just needs to step up and be something more, which it certainly has the potential to do. When a show can get me to like a character like Kon, that’s saying something considering how many sidekick characters like this I’ve seen over the years.
Grade: B
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.