Kai to Otome to Kamikakushi is certainly one of those shows squarely in the crowded bubble zone this season. It has a lot going for it – interesting visuals and an intriguing premise, a distinct sense of style. I just struggle with this intensely mannered sort of dialogue and tone most of the time. There are exceptions – Zetsuen no Tempest comes to mind at once, though the author’s other series did nothing for me. And the series Mysterious Disappearances most reminds me of, Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge. But that one wasn’t mannered so much as flamboyantly theatrical – it actually had a certain earnest quality to it.
Another element one has to accept with this show is that it embraces the pandering with abandon. It’s kinky and transparently trying to be titillating about it, in an altogether throwback sort of way where anime is concerned. Starting off with a fetish mystery in a girls’ school setting seems right in character, really. And when Sumireko reports back to Ren about what she saw in her undercover mission, he doesn’t take long to come to a theory. Namely that this is the work of an ushi-oni, a legendary youkai that appears in folklore from all across Japan (seemingly different in appearance in every region).
The cold open has already given is the gist of what’s happening here. The teacher behind the dribbler attacks, Uname-sensei (Horie Yui) was bullied as a child for being poor and wearing the clothes her grandmother sewed for her from scraps of cloth. Just why she has this ability isn’t immediately clear but she’s using it as part of anti-bullying crusade, a sort of long-delayed revenge tour. We also get an interesting little subsection where Ren refers back to his childhood with Oto, which was obviously not a bed of roses. Just where is he trying to send her back to? And why do they have these strange abilities (like telepathy, for example)?
As it turns out Uname-sensei borrows these powers through the amulet her grandmother gave her. Ren comes to the school and confronts her after using Sumireko as the bait in a staged bullying trap. He demands she surrender it to him, but the teacher refuses. Eventually she ups the stakes by setting Sumeirko on fire (faerie fire still burns), which she can do because in fact this power isn’t coming from an ushi-oni at all but from Chirinki, a vengeful God from whom the ushi-oni supposedly were created (though as far as I know Chinrinki is strictly an invented character here).
I’m not not sure what to make of this business of Ren using his powers to (seemingly) transfer the amulet’s curse to himself. Nor of Sumireko’s miraculous healing ability – she seems seems to show off a new ability every episode. All’s well that ends well, seemingly – Uname-sensei apparently didn’t do enough evil to have karma take her life, and while he doesn’t have Sumireko’s magically-enhanced constitution Ren’s injuries don’t seem too severe.
These mysteries of the week underlying a recurring plot is a formula that can certainly work if the writing and execution is up to the task. And Koi to Otome has shown enough in the first three episode to make me at least hopeful that it is. Thee next arc is going to be pretty telling for me, though, as I’m kind of on the fence about the first one. I definitely want to like this series, and that’s an important step in the right direction. But it’s no more than that, and we’re nowhere near home yet.
Alhazred23
April 26, 2024 at 6:09 amI suspect “Chiriki” is another pronunciation of “Jinriki,” the ox creature from the Okayama legend mentioned under Ushi-Oni on Wikipedia. They use the same kanji.
Guardian Enzo
April 26, 2024 at 8:45 amInteresting, thanks.
Nicc
April 26, 2024 at 7:41 amSo, the case gets solved in this episode, more or less. The episode begins with how Uname-sensei got to this point with a flashback into her past. Both of her parents died when she was a child and so she was taken in by her grandma in the countryside. She was bullied in school for being poor and the adults at school would rather blame the victim than do something about it. This would create problems for her grandma as well too. Right, it’s not clear then how she got the ability to do something about it and got these powers.
Sumireko checks in with Ren about what she witnessed. Ono’s classmates were fine after they left the school grounds, which matches the rumors. Yep, that zipper on her jersey was hanging on for dear life. YKK zippers are top-of-the-line, but they can only handle so much. Ren quickly forms a theory about the type of Curiosity who might be responsible for this. He also gets into the nature of mysteries as “False Mysteries” and “True Mysteries”. Between this series and “Tonari no Youkai-san”, I wasn’t expecting to learn so much about yokai this season. He comes out with a plan to draw it out. It means that Sumeriko has to play a student for one more day.
A trap is set in which Sumeriko pretends that she is being bullied and so that Uname-sensei comes to the “rescue”. It works, though Uname-sensei’s position is twisted enough that she thinks that the victim should be made a “dribbler” for their own protection. That’s when Ren comes out (And gives the sensei a good sniffing while he’s at it) and he figures out that her power is coming from that amulet she’s wearing in her hair. It’s not only an amulet, but also a cursed item. It was a family heirloom which has a fragment of a youkai. Over the generations, its history has been forgotten and so it’s only recognized now as a protective charm.
Right, we also get a brief glimpse of Ren and Oto’s past. Just exactly where are they from and why are trying to exchange Curiosities for train tickets? As you said, they also seem to have telepathy. Uname-sensei retaliates as Sumeriko attempts to get her to hand over the amulet. She’s badly burned, but they don’t seem to be life-threatening. Ren does seem to take the curse into him and both him and Uname-sensei are harmed in the process. It does seem that she didn’t do too much evil thus was spared. If she did kill somebody with her ability, then her life would have been forfeit too. It seems that Sumeriko healing abilities seem to have something to do with whenever she ages up or down? Well, the mystery is solve and the amulet has been neutralized. Alas, Ren didn’t get to capture the Curiosity and so there’s no possibility to get a ticket. It also turns out this first guess was wrong and that they were dealing with a much more powerful youkai. That ends the first arc. I do like the show so far, but I think I may need a couple more episodes to seal the deal.
Nadavu
April 30, 2024 at 5:50 amAnd the prize for most awesome word choice in an anime review goes to…. “titillating”.