All the things I liked about Kannazuki no Miko, Volume 3 are things that no one else cares about…and ditto the things that I don’t like. ^_^
But before I start on any of these, let me begin by thanking Daniel for his sponsorship of today’s review! Yay, Daniel! Thank you kindly. ^_^
There is basically nothing I can say about Kannazuki no Miko that will change anyone’s opinion – and no matter how many people tell me that it’s a great series, it will never really change my opinion, so I guess I’ll just comment randomly. ^_^
Volume 3 covers everything that happens after Chikane embraces the evil of Orochi, Souma determines that he will fight to his death to protect Himeko and Himeko decides that whatever happens, she has to know the truth about Chikane, and why she has made the choices that she has.
The scene that is supposed to give us insight into the Orochi’s obsessions is very weak. The glimpse into their issues in the Drama CD was significantly better. I still believe that a more detailed look at these would have been interesting. “Betrayed by…” we are told, each Orochi with a supposed cause for them turning to the dark side. And yet, all of the things that made sense (like war) happen all the time. If that was enough, there’d be way more than 8 Orochi wandering around. And how, I wonder, was Miyako “betrayed by God”??
In contrast, Chikane’s obsession is explored in great detail. And I did like the way she, under cover of arrogant competence, destroys the other Orochi. That was cool – too bad nothing stays dead long in anime. Evil Chikane has poise that good Chikane completely lacks.
I will never be convinced of the logic of Chikane’s plot to make Himeko kill her. It really doesn’t make any sense, but what do I know – I’m only a writer, editor and publisher. I remain unrepentant.
There is no doubt that the end is a decidedly Yuri ending. What I’m not convinced of is that the girl gets the girl. We see the two of them reincarnated (as Chikane predicted) in our world, far from the magic land of Mahoraba, but if what we’ve seen is a repeating cycle, there’s no reason to think that it won’t just happen again.
The thing I liked the absolute best has to be the idea that the classical gods of Japan are actually giant robots. There’s something so karmic and cosmic and…satisfying…about that. At any rate, it *would* explain the ubiquity, wouldn’t it? ^_^
Oh, and here’s a final bit of curmudgeonliness:
Himeko and Chikane’s final confessions of love are pretty sweet. Good thing Chikane was dying from a stomach wound and had so much time for them to talk and resolve their issues, huh?
It was also a good thing that Souma’s eternal curse turned out to be a latex suit that his deceased brother was able to cut him out of with a single cut. That was kind of a relief.
This DVD is a pretty nice package, with spiffy cover a mini-pencil board of hawt yuri secks by the manga artist and a inside cover of same. 4 episodes and the “extras” of non-credit OP/EP and Geneon advertising. (It is not unreasonable to think of a company’s advertising as NOT being an extra.)
Ratings:
Art – 8
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Yuri – 9
Service – 7 (apparently the most sexy thing about underage cat girl nurses is their butt sticking up. I had no idea.)
Overall – 7
It’s really not bad. I enjoyed the whole series – more this time than the first time, probably. Chikane and Himeko are a cute couple, when they finally get there. But I will go to the grave saying that it simply makes no sense. ^_^
I’m with you on Chikane’s plot making no sense.
But as I subscribe to ‘low expectations are the source of happiness’ school of thought, I’m just grateful that this series made marginally more sense than the manga version.
Plus if this series helps to mainstream Yuri anime, I’ll be well pleased.
I concur with the first paragraph. The second, not so much.
By “mainstreaming” the world usually means “dumbing down”. I know it is inevitable, but I’m never going to like it. :-)
It’s really not bad.
A-HA! Thanks.
Still hoping for a Hayate Anime, though. I mean, if someone reads the Kannazuki manga and goes “We need an anime of this!”, people should be lining up to beg to make an anime for Hayate… >_
I’m not exactly sure if Chikane’s plot didn’t make sense or if they just tried to develop her character in the last 2 or 3 episodes. I really wanted her to be really great right from the beginning and she wasn’t until the end.
It was okay. It just felt like they were rushing through it to get to the big “twist” at the end and forgot that oh, hey…we have actual characters. Maybe if they had made it longer?
The complete instability of this series and in Chikane herself is precisely the reason I was able to understand it. I picked it up knowing full well it was a blend of many genres but with the purpose in mind of watching an actual Yuri series. (Growing up with Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura adding to numerous other manga books I was familiar with the lesbian undertones and comfortable with them but I wanted to actually see a series centering on this.) I enjoyed it with no really strong opinions on it until, naturally, episode 8 where Chikane makes her decision to join the Orochi. I can see why someone would stop watching the series right there but I persisted wanting to know what exactly this was all about. When the series ended I was satisfied for what it was but never truly got a straight answer. And in the end I think that was the point. I don’t believe you can rationalize Chikane’s thinking, her own ‘obsession’ of sorts with Himeko and the knowledge she couldn’t be with her, in my opinion, is what pushed her to rape. No it doesn’t make sense but her reasoning? She was selfish, as she admitted to Himeko in the end. (Perhaps it was the only way she felt her desires could be fulfilled and ‘save’ Himeko at the same time) Again not rational but impulsive. As for Himeko’s decision and her overall character, yes it was clichéd but I can understand treasuring a relationship so much you would sacrifice everything else for it, that’s probably not too healthy, but in the end Chikane was her ‘number one’.
As for the Orochi, I think Tsubasa was similarly unstable in his ‘affection’ for his younger brother. I agree that getting more background information on the other Orochi would be interesting but in the end I think it was for the best. The way the series was written I cannot help but think it would have become much worse if it had continued on for the number of episodes needed to enforce that. In the end I think it was resolved whether intentionally or not by Chikane and Himeko as they were able to change their destiny by not succumbing to the enforced separation and promising to meet again. Was the story finalized? Certainly not, but I wasn’t expecting that.
It certainly was a messed up story as were the relationships but a memorable glimpse at that.
~ Lycoris
Where I’m from, we call KNM a TRAINWRECK. Heading straight for a nursing home, an orphanage and a nunery. Maybe taking out some puppies too.
Doesn’t make sence… maybe true. Do all people care… nope :).
It was a really great series all and all. Considering I haven’t seen that much Yuri related stuff I thought it was very sweet… (plus the ending made me cry the first time). Though the story had it’s inappropriate terms, it just made it all worth while that they got togeather. :) (P.S totally agree about the manga stuff though, it wasn’t as good as the series).
Once more with feeling: There is no reason to believe that they get together. The cycle of death and destruction was never ended. What is likeliest to happen is that the whole thing simply repeats over again.
I think it’s an Asian thing. The whole, ‘I mortally wounded–time to monologue’. I’ve seen it constantly in anime, and even more so in Indian and Chinese movies. I’ve seen more Asian death scenes than I should after being made to watch endless hours of Eastern movies. They all have make sure they tie up all lose ends verbally. So I wasn’t surprised that Chikane managed to bleed pints of blood out and still spent about fifteen minutes of telling Himeko the Whole Truth.
I would have been shocked if she just *died*! Like a *normal* person! o_O
And I was wondering, why does Chikane act like it’s her fault for everything? If it’s true that they’re part of a never-ending cycle of miko killing miko to save the world, then doesn’t that mean at some point, in one of their incarnations, that Himeko may have killed Chikane instead? Or is Chikane reincarnated every time as the same psycho? But what makes their story that’s being told presently any different or any more special than their fates of yore?
So many questions, no reasonable answers…
Wasn’t it implied that the Orochi was completely destroyed in the last episode? As in; won’t reincarnate or whatever? That’s the impression I always got. Granted, it would be nice to know exactly HOW that happened, but hey, what’re ya gonna do?
The Necks’ orgins are kinda why I wish this anime had more than 12 episodes, so they could be fleshed out a bit more.
Also; would it have killed them to put more effort on the mecha fights? I mean, I wasn’t expecting G-Gundam (Though it would be nice if it were, considering the way the mechs were controlled kinda reminded me of it.) or anything, but come on!