Welcome to Guest Review Wednesday! Today we have a brand new Guest Reviewer, Okazu Hero Alice D! I just love Guest Reviewers, it always gives me a thrill to be able to offer up a perspective that is not my own here on Okazu. ^_^ Take it away, Alice!
Though billed as a horror comedy Re-Kan! abandons the horror aspect almost immediately, for the audience anyway. The show starts with Amami, our main character with the titular “re-kan” (sixth sense) that lets her interact with ghosts, heading out for her first day of school in a seemingly normal fashion. At a crosswalk she suddenly starts hopping across and collapses in the middle of it where Inoue takes her by the hand and half-drags her to the other side of the street. Amami apologizes and explains that it was just a little boy spirit playing a prank. Inoue is confused at first but, predictably, freaks out when she catches a glimpse of it in a street mirror, and thus our two leads meet.
At school we learn that Inoue is terrified of ghosts, has a passive-agressive tsundere personality, and is very much a “grandma’s girl” to the point where her grandmother is, for lack of a better term, haunting her. We also meet Amami and Inoue’s friends consisting of Esumi, a former gangster, Uehara, Esumi’s childhood friend and occult blogger, Ogawa, who loves zombies, and Yamada, who… we’ll get to in a moment. It’s this group of friends that provides the comedy portion of the show through their interactions with each other and the ghosts that show up around Amami. There is also a rather perverted cat who very much wants to see panties, as Amami can apparently talk to cats as well (the link between ghosts and cats I am unclear on) this cat bothers her quite a lot.
As for Yamada, I still have no idea what purpose he serves. He’s the “genki girl” stereotype in boy form: loud, obnoxious, prone to breaking up moments that might otherwise serve to provide development with the Amami/Inoue relationship, and gets punched/kicked/has things thrown at him because of how annoying he is by one of other characters, usually Esumi and/or Uehara (which is suppose to be funny but is more of a relief because he finally shuts up at that point). At least with pervert cat and his quest to see girls’ panties A) he doesn’t show up as often, B) none of the characters really notice that he’s there, mostly due to C) it’s the various ghosts that stop him (which provides some characterization through their protectiveness of Amami and her friends and can be worth a laugh). The show would probably be better off without either Yamada or pervert cat though given a choice between the two I’d take the cat.
The story progresses in usual slice-of-life fashion though with the “twist” of ghosts being part of daily life for Amami who goes out of her way to provide offerings and assistance to them. There is a beach episode, of course, in which Yamada’s older, just as annoying, and slightly creepy older brother makes an appearance, and a cultural festival episode where they meet Amami’s father, who is every bit as scared of ghosts as Inoue is. This leads Esumi to point out the old saying about girls falling for people who resemble their fathers, Inoue reacts to this in standard tsundere fashion while Amami seems oddly happy about it. After this, at least once and episode, Esumi and/or Uehara go fishing for reactions from Inoue by insinuating that Inoue likes Amami a bit more than she lets on.
The best parts though, by far, come when the comedy is left behind, usually when Amami and Inoue have screen time alone. Fortunately they are fairly abundant. It’s in these moments that Inoue can show some genuine human emotion removed from the tsundere stereotype that she is locked into while the other characters are around. Most notably in the penultimate episode Inoue shows up to (nearly literally) kick Amami out of her depression by dragging her around town where they run into various people whom Amami had helped out using her sixth sense, culminating in a tearful almost love confession, but not quite (“I want to be friends with you forever”).
The final episode is a return to a “normal” life where the group goes to an amusement park, accompanied for some reason by Yamada’s brother, and have a sleep-over at Amami’s (the boys have to sleep in the yard). It ends almost as expected with the relationship between Amami and Inoue being an ambiguous ‘they have more-than-just-friends feelings for each other but won’t actually come out and say it’ sort of thing. However, the show closes on Amami and Inoue waking to the realization that they had spent the entire night holding hands and becoming very embarrassed over it. And on the roof of Amami’s house the pervert cat wakes up due to the fuss they’re making, stretches and says “Yuri? Oh yes.” before walking off screen. That parting line is certainly debatable though, it could be an indirect admission from the staff that that is the direction Amami and Inoue’s relationship is headed in or, cynically, since pervert cat could be considered an audience stand-in, it’s not to be taken seriously and is just wishful thinking. Given that the rest of the show has the other characters (except Yamada) providing good-natured ribbings to Amami and Inoue regarding their feelings for one another, I’m inclined to believe the former is the case.
Ratings:
Art – 5: middle of the road
Characters – Varies: Amami and Inoue would be around a 7, the supporting cast a 5, and Yamada a 1.
Service – 3.5: Surprisingly little for having a cat who’s only goal in life is to flip skirts and see panties, though their skirts could stand to be a hand-span longer.
Story – 6.5: (most episodes) 8: (episodes 3, 8, 11, and 12)
Yuri – 5: Most of the cast is aware of Amami and Inoue’s feelings for each other and won’t hesitate to point it out.
Overall- 6.5ish: Nothing to write home about, but definitely worth a watch if you have the time.
Erica here: I probably would never have even heard of this had it not been for you. I always appreciate the extra eyes and ears of the Yuri Network. ^_^ Thank you!
