Kita ze Inbou! - キタぜ陰謀!

[ Episode 12: One Dirty Butler ]

12 episodes later and we get a Shinra episode. About time.

Shinra is the main character of the show, after Ren probably. It’s safe to say so after seeing all the promotional art if you ever look for Kimi Aru. It is funny, however, that only now, one episode away from the finale, we have an episode dedicated to Shinra and no one else. I have to say that although I did not like her at the beginning, now my feelings are somewhere between tolerance to affection.

It was a normal day in the Kuonji residence with Shinra acting her usual teasing self. After a heartwarming conversation with Ren, she decides to use him as her personal for the time being. Ren joins up with her to the concert, where her former mentor will attend. After the show, Shinra was astonished to learn that although she was great, she did not exceed his expectations because her heart wasn’t there. Ren understands what he meant and decides to lighten Shinra up but asking her out on a casual date. At the end of the date Ren and Shinra talk about their feelings and you can tell there is a spark between those two. That is until Ren tells Shinra he understands her feelings completely. Shinra is upset by that remark saying that carrying the burden of the Kuonji family and be the heir is a feeling no one can relate to. Ren tries to explain that Shinra needs to live life to the fullest and enjoy herself, but alas it does not work and she decides to leave Ren in the post. Ren walks slowly after being shut down by Shinra, but not until he encounters his father in the streets. The two confront when he exclaims Ren’s birth was the reason of his mother’s death, and that leads to probably the most intense scene in the show, that doesn’t involve giant beams… To be continued…

As you can tell, it was an interesting episode with a lot of conflict. I can assume all the episodes until now showed us how much of a closed person Shinra is (especially episode 10) and although we see some sort of a turning point near the end, it reverts rather quickly to status quo. That was the main problem of the episode; we didn’t get to learn more about Shinra although this episode was entirely dedicated to her. I think the actual change of heart will occur in the next episode when Shinra will realize that what Ren said was true.

Overall, it was a good episode, probably better than the last 3 episodes. Taking a serious approach after the ridiculous episode that preceded it makes the show more watchable. It was a little weird that although we get to see Ren’s father, he doesn’t show up until the end of this episode, besides the clearer flashbacks. Since each episode got better and better since episode 9, let’s just hope 13 will end it properly.

8/10