Kyoukai no Rinne Episode 2 [ Sakura Gets Rumiko Takahashi’d ]

For a show that really struggled to give the first episode a feeling of a new series, the second episode sure was a second episode. It was complete with unnecesary flashbacks to the first episode! So in a way I kind of was more comfortable with it than I was the first episode. Sakura is busy doubting if Rokudo was a shinigami or not, and meanwhile she and all her classmates have been haunted by the image of a skull woman warning they need to leave tribute or be cursed in three days. Oops. This definitely feels like an episodic shounen now.

I’m very amused by the characters in this episode. For instance, we quickly learn the skull mask woman is actually. . .Rokudo’s grandma!? Now that’s just rich, and the rest of the episode takes a more interesting and less episodic turn when Sakura grabs Rokudo’s sleeve and enters the supernatural barrier he’s created and is in the SUPERNATURAAL WOOORLDDD WOOOO or the world of the boundary, whatever it’s called again. She aint supposed to be there. Then in a really weird twist, the sleeve tears and she falls into some unknown part of the boundary world.

Well, I can’t fault Sakura for her ignorance of the world, but she goes off with some weird bunny mascot in order to escape some heckler. Well, it’s pretty obvious this won’t be going well. Rumiko Takahashi’s girls all tend to be smart girls who make dumb mistakes all out of ignorance, and at least Sakura seemed genuinely afraid of this guy potentially stealing Rokudo’s sleeve. Still, she gets on a gondola with him and as soon as Rokudo goes to his grandma for help she’s like: THIS IS BAD. No shit.

As it turns out, Mamiya’s being led through the Entry of Contentedness, a place where people who ended life happily and with no regrets go through. Well, hey, at least we know there are better places than Bleach’s afterlife.

Sakura is led to the steps and seems to feel content, until she hears Rokudo’s voice. The bunny gets pissed at him and seems to be trying to get her to pass on, and he is stopped from saving her. Sakura feels she has no regrets until she looks at the sleeve she has and then wishes softly she could have given it back, since he cherished it so much. Since she is not content her step breaks and she is saved. Turns out the bunny was called a Damashigami and tricks living humans to the Rinne no Wa in order to meet their quota. I really love learning all about the lore and I loved most of this episode.

It’s just nice to learn more about the Rinne no Wa, the world between the Rinne no Wa and the land of the living, and learning more about characters. I ship these two so much and knowing Rumiko Takahashi that’s just a bad idea, but I’m completely fond of it all. That’s the best way to describe my feelings on this show, I’m beyond fond of it. So far nothing offends me and everything is interesting. I loved learning that it’s all thanks to Rokudo’s grandma that Sakura can see spirits. None of this ‘she’s special’, nope, she just happened to be picked by a damashigami as a kid and was saved by a shinigami. The shinigami was careless and gave her candy. I like that backstory!

For now we’re just in normal shounen backstory stuff, but let’s see what will become of next week. Berry will be covering it but for now, I’m enjoying the show and I’ll see you all in two weeks!

Oki