Karin ep.2

November 11, 2005 | 15 Comments

Opening Theme: Scarlet by BRACE;d (9MB, for PSP/Quicktime) - Updated 20/03/2006

I am not sure if I like some of the changes that have been done to the series. For example, there is a clear attempt to make the series more perverted and I feel that this is unnecessary since the series is already good on its own. I also don't like the minor design change the animators have given to Ren, Karin's older brother. In the manga, Ren has a rather normal ear. In the anime, however, Ren sports a vampire-like ear, making him looking a bit weird. Apart from that, however, this is another nice episode for the series. The opening actually looks really good although once again I kind of wish they didn't go overboard with the nudity. A flash here and there is nice but as it is now, I think the opening makes the series looks like a soft-core porn.

The episode begins with Kenta taking an unconscious Karin back home on his back. When Karin regains her consciousness, the episode shows a flashback to the inciden where Karin asks Kenta to keep the incident a secret then fell unconscious due to losing so much blood. Kenta, being the nice guy that he is, decides to keep Karin's secret despite his confusion about the incident. So he cleans up the place then takes Karin back home on his back. Karin, however, feels unease about the entire thing and asks Kenta not to come near her before fleeing away from the poor guy. Unknown to the two of them, the entire incident is observed quietly by Anju. A few days later, the incident still baffles Kenta to the point that his mother thinks that he's unhappy with the fact that they only have simple dishes for breakfast. She asks him to be a little bit patient because she thinks she can provide better foods after she get paid this month.

Kenta asks his mother not to worry about it because today he's going to get a part-time job. Later on that day, Kenta finds out that Karin has skipped school again. True enough, Karin is seen laying arond on her bed, feeling embarassed everytime she remembers how Kenta carried her on his back. Her behaviour, however, has not gone unnoticed by her parents who decide to confront her. Because of this, Karin tells the two about the new transfer student and how being close to him make her blood throbs easily. She also laments that if this continues, she may have to quit school altogether. However, Karin's parents immediately dismiss the idea and tell her that she's not going to quit the school no matter what. They also force her to at least go to her part time job today. Because of this, Karin comes to her workplace which turns out to be a restaurant called Julian. Much to her surprise, however, she finds Kenta working at the place as well now.

To make things worse, her employer asks Karin to show Kenta the drill, so to speak. So Karin proceeds to tell Kenta what to do if a customer comes in, such as greeting them, bringing in a glass of water, etc. However, because Karin is clumsy and easily distracted by Kenta's presence, every tutorial ends in a rather disastrous manner. Even after she completed her task at the restaurant, Karin can't seem to get rid of Kenta because her manager has asked Kenta to walk Karin home. On their way back home, Kenta finally unable to repress his knowledge of what happened in the park a few days ago. Karin is shocked to be confronted about this, especially because Kenta mistook the incident as some sort of prostitution. Karin is confused what to do about this since she can't tell the truth but at the same time, she doesn't want Kenta to have a wrong image about her. Luckily for her, her brother, Ren, arrives in time to interrupt their conversations.

Ren, who's accompanied by his girlfriend quickly engage in some public display of affection. Kenta is embarassed to see the couple so he flees away from the weird family. Karin is annoyed by his brother's sudden appearance because she didn't get the chance to explain to Kenta about the incident in the park. But her brother explains that he intentionally come to help Karin. Meanwhile, Kenta is finally back at his house but is surprised to find his mother is not home yet. Back to Karin and Ren, Ren tells Karin that to her, he is probably some kind of perverted demon. He admits that the truth is he's half pervert but he's also attracted to blood of people who are stressed out. This is why he's going out with that woman. Apparently she used to be a stressed out person but after Ren sucked her blood, she becomes a more confident person. Karin is surprised to hear this because she didn't know that blood-sucking has a positive consequence.

Ren also adds that vampires has instict that makes them attracted to humans whose blood is to their liking. Ren didn't expect someone like Karin to have similar instinct but he tells her that that person, aka Kenta, has the kind of blood that she craves. Because of this, the two go out to find people with similar blood in order to find out the kind of blood that Karin looks for. During their search, the two encounter Kenta's mother, who looks like she's about to throw herself in front of an incoming train. Karin comes in time to prevent the accident. When confronted, Kenta's mother at first denies her intention to kill herself but eventually can't help herself from crying in front of Karin and Ren. She eventually reveals that she was sexually harassed by her boss while working at her job but accidentally turn on the speaker, causing everyone to know about the incident.

Kenta's mother is fired from the supermarket due to the incident. She tells Karin and Ren that similar incident always happen regardless of where she works. She eventually becomes stressed out again, making her blood even more palatable to Karin. While the three goes through the park, Karin eventually can't control her lust for blood any longer. So she proceeds to bite Kenta's mother. Just as she does this, Kenta arrives at the park and is surprised to see Karin and his mother in an embracing position. At the same time, Ren has now used his power to alter her memory but the manager who sexually harrassed Kenta's mother appears on the spot and tries to blame Kenta's mother for causing him to be fired. But Kenta's mother suddenly turns from a depressed person to a lively one and proceeds to punch the sick bastard. Kenta eventually goes home with his mother even though he's confused about the entire incident.

Impression:

I like the way the animators re-arranged the story so that it'll flow better in this version. Instead of having Ren repeatedly appearing in the series, they simply condensed his appearance so that it is more effective for the story. I also like the way Suwabe Junichi (Fuuma Monou in X TV) voices the character. He really gives the impression that Ren is quite the womaniser. This episode also gets a bit darker than the last one with the topic of sexual harrassment at work finally making it to the series. I can't help but feeling sorry for Kenta's mother here. The fact that she can't hold a job because her employer always end up harrasing her is quite disturbing. It makes me wonder what she can do about it especially since no matter what, she'll always have to deal with males at her workplace. As a final note, the opening reveals that there will be a new character coming to the series. It's quite amusing to see him being shown only in shadow form so that his face will remain a mystery until his first appearance.

© memento 2003