Kami-sama no Memo-chō – 02

I must confess that the second episode of Kami-sama no Memo-cho didn’t interest me as much as the first one did. It seemed to lack a certain snap that the premiere had, somehow – the entire episode had a more generic feel to it, and I found myself drifting during much of it.

That’s not to say I disliked it. It was interesting to see the Yakuza be a central player in an anime, which doesn’t happen all that often (although there have been some high-profile exceptions). The new case is a pretty classic modern detective story – man on the run from the mob leaves a huge wad of cash with his daughter and disappears. The daughter, a half-Japanese/half-Thai girl named Meo, shows up at Alice’s doorstep desperate for help and alone, her mother having already passed away.

I wasn’t especially taken with Meo, despite her surface resemblance to Steins;Gate’s Suzuha, who I like a lot. She was certainly kawaii but it was a going-through-the-motions kind of cuteness, a very generic character I thought. The Yakuza characters were more interesting, as we waded a little into the inner workings of the Kishiwada Group. If Narumi had any doubts that he was mixed up in a dangerous game this should certainly dispel it, and in fact he was warned off the case by Alice’s contact within the group, Yondaime (Ono Daisuke).

I also wasn’t as enthused about Alice or Narumi this go-around. Alice didn’t have any really interesting nuggets of dialogue as she did in the two-parter, and the gags about her reluctance to bathe and odd taste in food proved themselves to be best-suited as one-timers. She’s interesting, but I need to see her grow beyond being the curiosity – which was enough to make her interesting for an episode or two – to the real person. As for Narumi, while the surface resemblance to Mikado-kun from Durarara! is there, he hasn’t yet shown the steel spine underneath the mild exterior yet. Narumi is the innocent lamb among the wolves now, but Mikado was always a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Narumi – apparently hiding no major secrets as Mikado did – is going to provide much of the character development in the way he changes in response to what he sees.

So, in summation, decent mystery (to be continued) but not a lot of dynamism in the characters this week. Here’s hoping the premiere is more typical of what this series will ultimately be. And lastly – why did they get rid of “Colorado Bulldog”? That was a great choice for an ED, I thought, and certainly stood out.

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3 comments

  1. l

    Meo-chan called her father, typical of her.I hate when follower don't do as they were told by people that do know what's happening. She should have just do everything alice said, don't ask stupid question and don't wander off.

    @Enzo
    Hmm, in my opinion. This sort of show build quite heavily on the strength of the character to bring the show interesting.(e.g. Stein Gate) For the first 2 episode, i fail to see any character that i can say i enjoy. They better buck up soon, otherwise i don't even know what their selling point is.

    Hints to improve show:
    Alice should be hentai tensai tantei
    Narumi should say "I'm mad student, so cool"
    And Ayaka should say"Tutturu"

  2. t

    Well I remember someone who was familiar with the novels said this case was the least interesting one in the novels,so yeah,despite it not being as interesting as the premiere it still look forward to future cases.

  3. Good to know, Totoum. I still think there's a lot of interest here and I have high hopes (I'm on an alliterative roll today).

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