Koi to Uso – 06

It’s kind of the usual drill with Koi to Uso this week.  That is, I spent a good part of the episode horrified, and not sure whether I was supposed to be or not.  And the answer to that is really critical when it comes to figuring out just where I stand with this series.

Forgive me for repeating myself, but the premise of this story – while fascinating – has resulted in a world that’s pretty fucked up.  I mean, here we have the government’s creepy chief pimp bringing a bunch of kids into a lecture hall to hand out rubbers, show them porn and take them to cells where they’re (effectively) forced to have sex?  If nothing else, Koi to Uso has forced me to question my own beliefs and confront my own hang-ups.  I’m a big believer that biology designed humans to be extremely horny as adolescents for a reason, and treating sex as a taboo is very unhealthy.  But damn, this shit is messed up.  People really need to be able to work through this business themselves.

Even if the ministry weren’t screwing with Yukari – which they clearly are, though for what reason I have no idea – this whole scenario would still be grotesque.  And it is grotesque even for the kids who, for whatever reason, aren’t specifically being screwed with.  No one should ever have to be put through what Ririna (whatever you think of her) was put through here.  Her government – and her parents – ought to be ashamed of themselves.  But is that what Koi to Uso thinks, or just what I think?

As for the aforementioned screwing with, it’s now obvious that Yukari was intentionally sent conflicting notices, and I assume the girl named Igarashi (Kitamura Eri) had something to do with it.  Why is a girl Yukari’s age working for the ministry behind the scenes?  Is she trolling him of her own volition, or as part of official policy?  Whatever it is, it’s a mess – and Nisaka seems to know more about all this than he should, too.  No sir, I don’t like it – I don’t like it one bit.  Now I just have to figure out whether I’m supposed to or not…

Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou – 06

It’s a week of unexpected bordering on inexplicable.  It started with the news that Dagashi Kashi was getting a second season (I still don’t quite understand how that happened, but I’m obviously pleased) and now, it turns out that Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou is a two-cour series.  If ever a show seemed destined to be a “one and done” advertisement for the source material (a light novel in this case) this show was it – but there you go.

I like a lot of things about Youkai Apato, which never quite manages to wow me but always manages to endear itself.  And now that we’re back at Kotobuki-so things should pick up, as the series experienced a definite dip (along with Yuushi’s spirits) when it detoured to the dorm.  The madness at the apartments continues with the arrival of Sugita Tomokazu as Furohon-ya, a (seemingly) human rare book dealer who’s returned after an 18-month absence with a satchel full of mythical magic books.  Sugita is one of the more reliable comic seiyuu around, and he enjoys himself and fits right in here.

The most important of his rare books is the “Petit Hierozoicon“, a sort of Tarot mini-version of Samuel Bochart’s Hierozoicon (which was a zoological encyclopedia of the Bible, more or less).  It’s sealed, but it seems to choose Yuushi as its master and unseals itself for him – in the person of its spokesman, Fool (Koyasu Takehito).  Fool goads Yuushi into calling on a few of the characters in the deck, all of whom are pretty much useless, but by far the most memorable is the Cat Sidhe, a preposterous pussy seated on a cushion, smoking a pipe and uttering snarky fortunetelling.  I thought I recognized Sakurai Takahiro in there somewhere, and indeed it is him chewing the scenery as the King of Cats.

This tsunami of big-name seiyuu is certainly eventful, but the most important development here is that the visiting Hase is drawn into the world of the Kotobuki-so – which is Yuushi’s most fervent wish.  Hase is an enigma this series has yet to unravel, a fourth-degree black belt and a general badass, and it’s going to be interesting to see how he reacts to the seemingly unbelievable nature of his best friend’s new life.