Kyoukai no Rinne ep 12 [ Ageha The Shinigami ]

There’s something special to be said about the way Rumiko Takahashi sets up worlds. Each and every story she manages to create a fascinating world, interesting monsters, captivating characters and an overall good story that leaves readers wanting more. This is the case with every Rumiko Takahashi title I’ve ever read and unfortunately, they all come with a catch. Once Rumiko has established every aspect of the world she wants to create, no one ever grows. The plot stops where it is. Characters stagnate. If anyone is in love, it’s never resolved and will only be resolved at the very end. To put it bluntly, Rumiko Takahashi so loves her own work that once it reaches her very favorite part, she keeps it there until readers and watchers are disatisfied and then keeps going, knowing full well that while we may not enjoy it anymore we want to see where the shells of our favorite characters end up.

This episode begins the ending of the first part of that formula. Finally we’re seeing just about everyone the beginning of the story had to offer: Rinne’s father, the mysterious shinigami girl, his grandma: we’re nearly to full cast material here. Afterall, what is a cast if there aren’t more characters to pair off or make madly in love with the main characters who will obviously end up together? I guess this episode marks the beginning of my disinterest. While right now the show has interesting concepts, what I hoped when I picked this up was a series where Rumiko Takahashi showed her growth as a manga writer and learned how to tell a story in a much more astute way.

Well, if these episodes are any indication, Kyoukai no Rinne is no different than any of it’s predecessors: A fascinating world built to be nothing more than Rumiko Takahashi’s playground of boring monsters of the week. Even now as they introduced new characters Rinne and Sakura seem to have a boring feeling to them as they fight the damashigami’s of the week and attempt to keep school life normal. They don’t learn more about themselves, really, and their affections for each other go at such a snail’s pace that no real romance would bloom this way.

I like the new characters. I liked this episode. And that’s why I’m starting to feel annoyed watching this show: slowly I’m beginning to realize that the older characters don’t grow and the newer characters will soon be in the same place as their counterparts. What is my proof? The entire shtick of this episode was introducing a tragic character, Ageha, and the entire episode Rinne ignored her attempts to converse with him because he was so obsessed with the money. We’re on episode 12 and he is already reduced to one note of his development for the sake of humor. Didn’t we just get some resolution to at least some of his debt? ugh.

One thing I did love, is that Ageha’s beloved sister ran off with Rinne’s father. I find it kind of ironic since he didn’t seem to care for any one woman. LOL. But of course that debt I mentioned? Yeah it wasn’t settled because his father billed him for the ‘suffering and losses’ when they got the flu. I hate this man. I won’t be able to quit this show until I see Rinne’s father burn. BURN!

We end up in another two parter, however, because basically Sakura is kidnapped and we’re learning more about Ageha’s sister…who is Rinne’s father’s assistant. Ageha happens to knock on the door right as Rinne goes to retrieve Sakura, thinking she might have been taken through the Reidou, and we’re probably in for some kind of reunion. Here’s hoping it will be interesting.

All in all, I wait with anxiety as I realize how close this show gets to becoming just another Takahashi kind of show, cause deep down, I do love it.

Oki