Meiji Tokyo Renka Episode 2

Whelp, this was another painfully slow episode. It really didn’t feel like they made a lot of progress, let alone divulge anymore information than we already got out of last week. In fact, the most we got out this was learning Mei’s next opportunity to return home will be on the night of the next full moon. This means she will have to wait a month, but until then, she has been told by the mysterious Magician and agreed to enjoy her time in this era, and comfortably be herself.

And that was without a doubt the most interesting part of their conversation, which makes me wonder a lot about the mysterious magician himself. It’s a curious thing how he is fully aware of how she isn’t comfortable with being herself in the modern day because everyone thinks she’s a freak for seeing and communicating with spirits. Yet he chooses her to be part of the act, and the next thing she knows she has traveled back in time to the Meiji Era where Tamayori (those who possess such abilities is to see the unseen) are not shunned for their abilities. Instead they are actually in high demand due to how rare they are. This is how Mei is supposed to experience such solace in this period. But there will certainly be some obstacles along the way, especially since she still trying to figure out the whole voice thing she keeps on hearing (and understandably, freaking her out).

Speaking of Mei, although she was still in daze for most part of her new reality, her quirkiness is starting to grow on on me. Compared to the way she closed herself off to others in the modern world, despite the insane circumstances she is in, Mei seems to be taking it in stride. And we see her strengthen her resolve it was apparent how much her resolve to make the most of this experience started to show us more of what kind of girl she really is. While she greatly amuses me for her love for beef, I thought the most charming part of the episode was when she put together a mop and demonstrated how its used. It will most certainly it will help Fumi’s back.

As for Ougai and Syunso. Starting with Syunso, it turns out he adores cats as much as Mei loves beef. He is also a freeloader who Ougai invited to live in his mansion on the whim. Their first meeting was a hilarious yet ridiculous one to say the least, considering Ougai just nonchalantly appears in front of Syunso naked. And while we’re on the subject of the devil himself, if Ougai hasn’t already established he is an eccentric character last week, he certainly did so this week. I feel like I was finally able to understand and experience the humour I hear a lot of people talk about when it comes to his character. But his overly flowery speech is something I am really going to have to get used to. It is really too much for me. Ougai has also proved to be a mysterious character himself, with the way how he is a very curious person who likes to be close to those who fascinate him, and Mei of course is no exception. He was the one to bring up the quest of searching for Syunso’s lost cat—but it’s not the living one, but rather the one missing from his painting. It was the blank spot Mei had observed earlier, but didn’t realize at the time what was missing. When the conversation was brought up, that’s when she finally figured it out, but she doesn’t now how she knew about it.

Unfortunately this was brought up so late into the episode, there was no time to actually progress the investigation. But by the looks of it, it seems this may be one of the main quests that will take some time to complete, and while she works on that, she will do some side jobs that will prove she is in fact a Tamayori.

In the end, while the episode was terribly sluggish, I still enjoyed this a lot more than the premiere. I have heard much about the characters’ humor, and I felt I was able to experience more of that today. But if there’s one thing I just wished they would cut back on, it would be the music choices for certain scenes. For instance, the one where Mei burst into Syunso,’s room in the morning and Ougai showed up and they talked for a bit, more than than the conversation, it was the track that was boring me out of my mind. I honestly wonder if the scene would have been more enjoyable without it. That being said, the preview makes me hopeful for things to start picking up next week, so hopefully they can finally get the ball rolling by then.

Last thing to mention, I did notice they used a different song in the ED (are they using character songs? I love it when they do that), and I have to say I loved it a lot more than the first one. It’s a great tune!