Kyokou Suiri – 07

I’m inclined to say this is probably my last post on Kyokou Suiri, though that’s not set in stone.  As always I’ll reserve the right to change my mind if the next ep impresses me, but I hate to leave loose ends.  So if you don’t see a post next weekend you’ll know why.  Bases officially covered, let’s move on to this episode and why it, like the ones before it, wasn’t able to close the deal.

If questions like that were easy to answer, I probably wouldn’t have been doing this for the past ten years.  I can state the obvious – In/Spectre has just never totally “clicked” with me.  What’s harder to quantify is why.  On an intellectual level I find the series interesting, and this episode was no exception.  There were a couple of “huh” moments as there have been every week, where I find a concept or a suggestion quite interesting and thought-provoking.  But as a story?  As characters?  That’s where the circuit never closes for me.

To be clear, I don’t hate any of these people.  Kotoko is a bit annoying but truthfully by anime cute girl standards, it barely registers as such.  The problem is that I just don’t feel anything towards them most of the time – Saki being the most frequent exception, perhaps because she’s the one who sees these events play out with the most relatable reactions.  I think the reason Zetsuen no Tempest worked so much better is that there was a marvelous sense of drama to it – it was like watching an opera, where stylized and overmannered dialogue and behavior is the norm.  Kyokou Suiri is so tonally flat that none of that effect works to its benefit.

There was really only one scene in this ep that made much impact on me.  That was when Kotoko – after lounging around the hotel room “as-is” with just Kuro present – quietly put on her spare parts on and prepared herself as Kuro silently stood by the door and waited to let Saki in.  Ironic that in a series that never shuts up it was a scene played out in silence that had the most impact – but that’s partly why it did.  It was quite tender, and it displayed more emotional connection between those two than any where they talk to each other.

That’s not enough to go on for me.  Neither is the Nanase storyline, though it is interesting to an extent to see Kotoko try and defend the truth by creating a believable lie.  And dumping the whole thing at Rikka’s (Kuro’s mysterious “Nee-chan” cousin) feet at this point would be kind of a cheat, if indeed that’s where the narrative is headed.  Creating a compelling piece of fiction is a complicated alchemy, requiring the skillful blending of many ingredients, and it’s not easy to get right.  Sometimes it just doesn’t come together, and right now that’s where I am with Kyokou Suiri.