Kita ze Inbou! - キタぜ陰謀!

[ Episode 8: Showdown: Uesugi vs. Takeda ]

AGEHA-SAMAAAAAAAAA!

I have to say when I first saw Kojurou, I was thinking he is going to be a typical secondary male character like in any harem anime I have watched so far: a pretty boy, cocky, popular among the girls and horny as hell. In other words someone who’ll be a contrast to Ren’s good qualities. I was amazed though that it was not the case. Kojurou, does not only stray away from that horrible stereotype, but he is actually more loyal than Ren, making him an even better butler in the long run. Because of that, their confrontation was entertaining.

After being “harassed” by the nurses, Kojurou finally escapes from the hospital in order to meet with his beloved master, Kuki Ageha. To his dismay though, Ageha does not pay attention to him and still sticks to Ren, even though Ren understands Kojurou.
Ageha and Ren train together until the two are slowing closing in to kiss each other. Before he does so, though, Ren starts having pictures of the Kuonji family, thinking he should not “betray them” (kinda funny he is not even considering Kojurou there, eh?). Ren steps back, but as aggressive as she always is, Ageha snatches the kiss from him. Kojurou, for the first time, radiates ire from himself as he and Ren quarrel over her. Taisa butts in and stops the two and Kuki is mad at Ren for fighting Kojurou because he is not worth her attention anymore. Kojurou notices the attention Ren gets and asks if he ever was a better butler than Ren would he be acknowledged. The Kounji mistresses decide to use this opportunity to have a competition between Ren and Kojurou and the winner will be Ageha’s personal…

The first part of the episode was regular fare, although every seen that included Kojurou was highly entertaining. His seiyuu Nobuyuki Hiyama does a great job of portraying his easygoing oaf like attitude, yet he manages to pull off seriousness when needed, akin to his performance as Ikkaku from Bleach. Speaking of Seiyuu, it was implied from Ren and Taisa’s interactions that there is a Mobile Fighter G Gundam reference when those two interact since they voiced both of the main characters (Domon and Master Asia, respectively), but it was the first time Ren was using one of Domon’s lines during his confrontation with Kojurou, which I thought was a witty move in the part of the writers.

When the decision to have a competition came up, I was worried for the worst case scenario. I remember the time when I thought He Is My Master was hilarious and had some nice characters, and then came episode 3 along. From there the little sister, Mitsuki, had an urge to arrange a competition each episode for no reason that involved having her big sister molested in one way or another. KimiAru, however, is much more clever than that, but that’s not so hard to pull of. What was great is not the competition itself, but examining the characters’ views; Kojurou wants to prove himself to Ageha, Ren wants to prove he is a superior butler and the rest of the family wants Kojurou to win so the situation will be back to normal before Ren gave Ageha more attention, but also for Kojurou’s determination to be the best for Ageha, which makes the results of the competition more satisfying.

Although it had a slow start, I have to say this episode was great and I loved almost every second of it. After the romantic tension between Ren and Ageha it was nice to see Kojurou added to mix and witnessing how Ageha is torn between the two. It’s funny because I haven’t even said the word “Shinra” the enitre review and yet it was, so far the best episode of the show to me, and that says a lot since 2 episodes ago there was a bear doing the Mikuru beam.

9/10