Kita ze Inbou! - キタぜ陰謀!

[ Episode 11: All aboard to the flower festivities! ]

Beware of the photographer with the Onsokumaru eyes! Seriously, what the hell?! I mean he has two Onsokumru lips as god damn eyes! Who the hell thinks this crap up?!

Traditional American comedy cartoons shows are usually 20 minutes long and divided to two episodes, each is 10 minutes, like for example Ren and Stimpy or Invader Zim. Between each episode we see the episode name so we are aware of the fact that after the first episode ends, the second starts right away with the title screen that solidifies the change or story arcs. Now why am I writing all that crap? The reason is this: Why did the writers of KimiAru thought it’s a good idea to put 2 story arcs with no connection what-so-ever and yet didn’t present any change?! I was watching the second half of the episode anticipating there will be a resolve to the first part, but noooooo, it’s a whole separate “episode”. WHAT GIVES!?

At first we learn about Chiharu’s crush on Benisu, and how obscene it is for the rest of the cast. It was actually a little charming to see a character not getting any attention (a lot less than Yume, thank you) and get his own episode. It was funny, but in the light and heartwarming meaning of the word, which is a nice change of pace of the usual “in-your-face” humor KimiAru approaches with. It was disappointing that Chiharu learned Benisu has a crush on Ren and just let it go. I know he is not exactly the most determined guy on the planet, but the closure was very anti-climatic.

Then all of a sudden we move to the sakura festival, and Miyu and Shinra are present as well (I forgot they are in the show too). This part is a traditional gag barrage with gag after gag. Some are funny like Natose’s attempt to speak in an American accent, but some are a miss like Shinra’s cosplay show, which was okay at most. Then again nothing was nearly as funny as Kuki and Kojurou’s performances. Sculpturing… in STEEL. Not bad, Ageha. During the festival, three thieves steal a wallet and the group arrest them before you can say the full title of this show… and the episode ends… Yes the second half is only jokes, story is practically non-apparent. The addition of the thieves didn’t add anything and actually made things more awkward. Like there was any more reason to know how much Kuki and Taisa are strong like 10 Super Saiyans… LEVEL 4! What was quirky and amusing is now dull and redundant.

Like I said earlier, there is no connection to those two story arcs what so ever, and they are confusing as they end abruptly. That being said thanks to some clever jokes (like a Zetsubou Sensei joke for Leon) makes this episode better than the ones before it, not to mention the Chiharu storyline was actually cute in its passive way. At least after the festival we finally see Ren’s dad, and it leaves a lot of questions for the last two episodes: Are him and Ren going to face off? How will the Kuonji family be involved? Will we even care? I hope for this series that we would.

7/10