Karin ep.10

January 16, 2006 | 10 Comments

I'm sorry that this ends up coming really late but I'm really flat out lately. In between work and trying to organise my trip, I barely have the time to sit down and watch something. It doesn't help that I kind of lost a bit of interest in the series. I feel that lately the writers have no idea what kind of series they want to create here. The storyline seems to be all over the place and lacks the urgency that the manga posesses in spades. I think this has been the case ever since Winner is included in the story. I think his appearance takes out a lot of the serious tone of the first few episodes. And unfortunately, it is the serious tone of the manga that I like so much about the series. Because of this, I decided to put this on back-burner. I'll still review it for now but the review won't come as fast as it used to be since I have other series to cover now.

The episode begins with everyone in Karin's class receiving their test result. Maki, Winner, and Karin got a really bad mark in their test and as a result have to retake the test. Kenta, on the other hand, gets a really good mark despite the fact that he's always busy working part-time. Anyway, the teacher warns the students that if they don't pass the second test, there'll have to face a parent-teacher meeting. When Karin tells her parents about this, her father objects violently at the prospect of parent-teacher meeting. He claims that someone will find out their secret if that person comes to their house. Her mother thinks that all Karin has to do is pass the exam and therefore, she thinks Karin needs someone to teach her. Since Ren is not available, she thinks Karin should ask Kenta to teach her. After a few 'rough persuasion', Karin has no choice but to ask Kenta to help her out. Much to her relief, Kenta agrees to teach her.

At the same time, Kenta is reminded by his mother to leave the weekend open from any kind of activity because 'that day' happens on the weekend. The next day, Kenta begins to teach Karin inside the school's library. Unfortunately, other students see the two and immediately assume that the two are dating. Because of this, Karin and Kenta decide to study at their workplace. This, however, is not a good idea either because they feel sorry for their busy manager and end up helping him serving the customers. After deciding that their respective house is not the right place to study, the two agree that they are better off going to a public library to study. Unfortunately for Karin, her father finds out about it and immediately disapproves of his little daughter being alone with a boy. Because of this, he begins to send his bat to spy on the two and then goes out of his way to the public library just to watch over the pair.

At the same time Karin and Kenta are having fun studying together. Karin thanks Kenta for spending his time trying to teach her while Kenta thanks her for always providing lunch. Karin also finds out that Kenta is able to get good marks while working part-time because he's motivated to become a good citizen. In the middle of their study, however, Karin realises that her father has been watching over them. When they go to confront him, however, he pretends that he's looking for a book. He, however, manages to warn Kenta to not do anything funny to his precious daughter. Meanwhile, it seems Kenta's mother has been in some kind of depression due to an unknown reason. To make things worse, it seems Kenta decides to ignore this. At the same time, Karin's father once again is seen stalking her daughter and Kenta in the library. He then becomes overprotective when a group of kids think that Karin and Kenta are dating.

Karin quickly scolds her father for always getting the wrong idea. Later on, however, he tells Kenta that despite being clumsy, her father is a good person. After Karin lost her first blood, she was taken into a hospital in order to be examined by doctors. Fearful that the doctors will experiment on her, Karin's father risked his life in order to get his daughter out of the ambulance. At home, however, Karin asks her father not to interfere anymore. Karin's father agrees to do this but thanks to Boogie-kun's nudging, he becomes overprotective again and thinks Karin is going to do the deed on her last study day with Kenta. At the same time, Kenta's mother reminds her son that today is the anniversary of his father's death. Kenta, however, angrily tells his mother that he can't make it because he has to study until late. Later on, Karin finds out that her father has switched the lunch she made for Kenta with a bunch of books.

Karin becomes angry at her father but Kenta tells her that he's actually a bit jealous that she has a father who cares for her. He then tells her that the truth is, his father left him and his mother but his mother didn't tell him the truth when he was a kid. Kenta is also angry at his mother because she still has feeling for his no-good father. Because of this he tries to maintain distance with his mother. After he said this, however, Kenta notices his mother standing in the rain waiting for him to go somewhere. Kenta eventually feels sorry for her and apologises for being rude beforehand. Meanwhile, Karin goes home and tells her father that she doesn't hate him. A few days later, everyone gets their make-up exam back and Karin did a good job in it. Karin's father is relieved when he finds out about this. His happiness, however, turns into fear after Boogie-kun suggests that Karin have burning love for each other.

Impression:

This is a somewhat light and dark episode that focuses on Karin and Kenta's parent. Karin's problem is that her father is too overprotective while Kenta feels that his mother has lied to him. In both cases, the parents did something to ensure the safety/happiness of their child. But they have done this in a way that actually alienates the child from them. I'm actually interested to know more about Kenta and his mother's past but unfortunately this episode is more concerned with the over the top shenanigans of Karin's father. It doesn't mean that I'm not enjoying the comedy part because I do. In fact I find Boogie-kun's suggestive words to be hilarious. But like I said before, I think there's something missing here. The writers seem unsure if the series should be serious, comedic, or romantic. Maybe it wants to do all three but so far the attempt is half-baked and as a result, none of them is particularly memorable.

© memento 2003