What They Say:
“The Killer of 99, Koikawa Shungiku”
While on patrol, Jinbei can’t understand why the people of Edo hate Shungiku. When Shungiku is accused of murder, Jinbei stands by his new sword master.
Content: (please note that the content portion of a review may contain spoilers)
Like last episode Jinbei once again tags along with one of his new teammates at the Insect Magistrate’s office, deciding to take on the rough-looking, constantly-drinking Shungiku as his master when he gets a look at his swordsmanship. Thus we begin to learn the backstory of another character. As Jinbei follows him around, not actually learning anything about fighting, we soon see that despite his skill at killing the insects, Shungiku isn’t well liked in Edo as the people throw rocks at him and call him a murderer. Things become much worse for Shungiku when, after noting the rash of robberies committed by someone slicing their way into houses, Shungiku is found at the scene of a crime and immediately accused.
It’s at this point that we get Shungiku’s backstory, and it comes up in the most contrived way. Kotori goes to the Magistrate to apologize for Shungiku’s actions, and the Magistrate asks to hear Shungiku’s story — even after Kotori reminds him that he’s already handed over the swordsman’s history. It would have been predictable for Shungiku to tell it to Jinbei in the jail cell, but it also would have been more natural. Even his backstory, predictably dark — his father is the leader of a gang of thieves, but he refuses to kill because his downtrodden mother begs him not to, until one day something awful happens and he can’t keep that promise — feels forced , a setup for him to inevitably break down. The episode gives us another awkward moment after Shungiku and Jinbei defeat the real culprit, giant mantis bugs (apparently they like to steal gold) and Shungiku gives his excuse for being at the crime scene. It’s such a dumb reason that even the characters admit how unbelievable it sounds. It’s obviously just a drawn-out joke about how stupid Jinbei is, but it’s still super forced and a little unsatisfying.
The episode strays from its focus on Shungiku for a bit in the middle, when we shoot off to see what Mugai is doing. He receives a visit from an old female friend (if Hibachi getting her clothes sliced off at the beginning wasn’t enough fanservice for you, her near-inexistant outfit will probably make up for it). We’re reminded of Mugai’s previous association with another group, the Insect Hunters, who he apparently betrayed. While this new information initially seems a little out of place, it carries more weight when Shungiku’s backstory finally concludes, and we realize that these two might have a dark connection.
In Summary:
Once again Jinbei serves as a sounding board, helping us to learn more about the other characters while not actually achieving any of his own development. Thanks to some awkward storytelling Shungiku’s backstory wasn’t as heart-wrenching as it was obviously intended to be, but it’s still a somewhat exciting look into his past. There is the barest minimum of exposition as we see a member of Mugai’s old group and get a hint at something bigger that may be brewing in the future — perhaps a big enemy aside from the bugs that Jinbei and the others will have to fight? Time will tell. Assuming that Kotori and Mugai don’t get their own backstory episodes, there’s just one more to go, and then maybe this anime can start getting into the meat of the story.
Grade: C+
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
13″ Apple Macbook set to 720p
