Kyoukai no Rinne ep 14 [ Adventures in Bland ]

Have you ever started an anime with optimistic hopes? If you follow my history on the blog you’ll find that I have a very long tested method in which I become excited or invested in something only for it to be a complete flop. This has happened in many ways, and some less severe than others. You have some mild cases like Black Bullet which were basically ‘alright’ until the interesting finale, and then you have severe cases like Blood C and Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun.

As an anime reviewer you always try to take into consideration the process as time goes on. Who is the writer? What are they trying to do? What’s the thought behind the show and is there a time limit on it? Most of us will give an anime a few episodes so we can see the beginning of the process, and I have given Kyoukai no Rinne far more than that.

The biggest problem with this episode and all the other episodes of this show is that nothing is ever accomplished or learned. We saw how awful a father Rokudou’s dad is and yet despite all we’re meant to feel, he is a joke. He is almost harmless in how he is played off in the series. Surely none of us are meant to like him or enjoy his company, but even things that are clearly bad are played for laughs.

This episode is well. . .episodic. It’s yet another self contained story where everyone does what they always do. Jumonji has the hots for Sakura who is oblivious to everyone’s feelings. My big problem with Sakura is she feels so blank. She has the same response to all situations, figure out the supernatural and never be invested in anything else. Never care about boys, never rant about feelings, just be blank and only interested in this one element. She is a one note character and that’s just poor writing.

I have to give Inuyasha this, Kagome, Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku- even the more one note versions of them seemed to be invested in more. Miroku was the worst offender who seemed to forget his own affliction (unless it was making excuses why he couldn’t use it because of bees) and even he had aspirations. In Kyoukai it’s as simple as ‘money, kill spirits, pine’. I know why this is the case. We’re in a high school setting. So why do none of these kids really behave like high schoolers?

Sakura basically has no hormones. Is she asexual? No, the eventuality of this series is she will end up with Rinne because that’s exactly how Rumiko Takahashi works. Everyone ignores their feelings or angsts about them for forever, but this one is definitely a new twist. Literally feel nothing other than the occasional glimmer because, well, why bother?

It would help if these mysteries were interesting but they aren’t. Nothing about this show is interesting because nothings grows. I’d love to have continued but seeing as there are what, 11 more episodes after this? That means I’d be covering at least 5 more. I just can’t take 5 more episodes of this, and having to sit through at least 6 more. The fact of it is, this episode was just stale. Ageha is in love with Rinne so now there is a ‘fun’ love quadrangle.

Here’s my prediction: when Rumiko Takahashi ends this series in 50 years Rinne and Sakura will go on to have a bland romance. The mysteries will remain subpar. And without a Shikon Jewel or a magical gender swapping plot line there won’t be much more than the occasional interesting Japanese mythology reference. And you know what? As a reviewer, I just can’t keep going. There is nothing about Kyoukai no Rinne I can recommend except that it doesn’t offend me. It does nothing. It simply exists.

And I’m simply stepping back.

Oki