UQ Holder - 06 - Lost in Anime

This season has me in a bit of a bizarro world as far as a couple of series are concerned. I really want to like Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau, but I just can’t get over the hump. And I really want to dislike UQ Holder, but I’m very fond of it in spite of myself. This show is ripping huge chunks out of a manga I really like. It’s completely deleting a favorite character, whose introduction arc is the darkest and most realistic in the entire Negima mythology. Every midi-chlorian in my body screams outrage – but I really like this goddam series. How unfair is that?

I think the most remarkable thing about this adaptation so far is that in spite of the breakneck pacing and the massive edits it requires, UQ Holder still makes sense. The plot makes sense, and the characters remain essentially themselves. Something is missing, don’t get me wrong – depth, texture, the subtleties of certain characters’ personalities and how they interact with each other – but more so than any of the Negima TV outings by far, UQ Holder is on some fundamental level recognizably the same story. And that’s a testament to the job the anime staff is doing under difficult circumstances.

An awful lot has to happen every week for this pace to be sustained, and indeed it does here. The feelings of both Shinobu and especially Kuromaru are very much in-focus. Kuromaru feels a pang of envy over Touta-kun and Shinobu bonding over her junk bike (Shinobu shares her dream of one day joining the Great Solar Race, held only once a year). For Kuomaru’s part, a very important detail is revealed thanks to Karin walking into the shower uninvited – Kuromaru is in fact neither male or female. That’s a choice he (or she) makes on their 16th birthday, a trait of Kuromaru’s demi-human species.

This is obviously a bit of a dicey subject, and Kuromaru’s feelings for Touta could be the subject of some rather crass humor – and Ken being who he is, things do occasionally flirt with that. But on the whole UQ Holder deals with Kuromaru and Touta in a pretty sensitive manner – Kuromaru’s emotions are complicated, and the series respects them as such. Does Kuromaru want to stand by Touta’s side as an eternal comrade, or risk choosing the other route and try to be a life partner? That’s a momentous decision to say the least, and it isn’t even that simple – Touta has already expressed his love for someone else (and she’s tough competition) and there are other girls (like Shinobu) who have their eyes on him. This is Akamatsu Ken, after all.

To help Kuromaru confront this dilemma, Ikkuu-sempai suggests a plan – Kuromaru poses as a girl (Kuromaru’s blonde cousin) to go on a “date” with Touta. And after Kuromaru reluctantly agrees this goes pretty well – but ironically, that only makes Kuromaru that much more unsure of the right course. And things take a dramatic turn when that third immortal hunter from last week shows up, this time traveling with a bandaged warrior named Asura. Asura finally refers to the shadow mage by name – Chao Xingzai – and it seems these two are working for none other than Fate Averruncus. How’s that for an eventful paragraph?

The fact that Kuromaru can only find the strength to defend the captured Touta after abandoning the ruse of being a girl makes all this that much more confusing for the demi-human, especially after the rescued Touta casually notes that Kuromaru’s cousin was “super cute” and the sort of girl he could see himself marrying. That decision is deferred for now (Kuromaru never says how long it will be until that 16th birthday) but it isn’t getting any easier. There’s one more shoe to drop here, though – a curious megane girl who lives on the top floor of HQ and rarely ventures out into the light. T0day she has, to perform a curious ritual (twice). Ikkuu calls this girl Kirie (Kayano Ai) and she notes – rather mysteriously – that this day is a “special occasion”. Just what that means will surely be revealed next week – along with a boatload of other stuff besides..