Karin ep.3

November 17, 2005 | 2 Comments

Well, it's three episode down and the animation is still consistently good. So I think it's safe to say that J.C Staff are going to treat Karin quite well. Unfortunately the storyline seems to be a bit slower in pace this time around. I don't mind this because the episode in general is still pleasant to watch. However, I do miss a couple of scenes that were in the manga. Speaking of the manga, this episode seems to cover right up to the end of chapter 6 but the majority of its storylines have been altered a little bit to facilitate the 'happiness' theme that is presented within this episode. Unfortunately, the treatment of the theme is quite superficial and in the end, only serves as a way for Karin to figure out how she can get rid of her nosebleed problem whenever she gets close to Kenta.

The episode begins with Karin being confronted by her parents because they want to know her blood preference. Since Karin is kind of slow, Ren decides to just spell it out for everyone that Karin has a preference for the blood of people who are unhappy. Karin is upset to hear this because she wants her blood preference to be something a bit cuter. The scene then shows how Karin's mother has preference for liars, Karin's father has a preference for pride, and Ren, of course, likes people who are stressed out. Karin's family think that Karin's preference is a difficult one but nevertheless think it's better than not having a preference at all. The next morning at Usui's household, Kenta's mother is unusually happy to the point of being creepy. Because of this, Kenta decides to ask her mother if she saw any girl in the park yesterday. But his mother doesn't seem to remember anything and instead think that Kenta has a girlfriend.

Meanwhile Karin is on her way to school when she, of course, bumps into Kenta again. Kenta tries to say something but by the time he changes his mind, Karin already flees for her nose. Despite this, she still nosebleed her way inside the park. Karin realises that this is a problematic issue for her so she tries to figure out how to get rid of her problem. While erasing the kanji for unhappiness from her notebook, she realises that she can make her problem disappears if Kenta is happy. Meanwhile, during lunchtime, it is obvious that one of the problems that make Kenta unhappy is his poverty. At the same time Karin decides to ask Maki what 'happiness' means to Maki. But Maki ends up giggling her way before guessing that Karin is in love. She then asks Karin what makes Karin happy herself and Karin recalls how she becomes happy when she finds money, eats a lot of food, and wins some prizes.

The girls realises that this attempt doesn't work so they other ways to find out the meaning of happiness. So they go through books, Internet, and then going to a bridal shop to find out the meaning of 'happiness'. The two, however, immediately flee when they see a couple kissing each other. In the end they can't help but wonder if marriage equals happiness. Back at home, Karin is startled by Anju when she goes into the kitchen so she decides to ask her sister what 'happiness' means for Anju. Unfortunately for her, it's Boogie-kun who decides to answer that for him 'happiness' means making people unhappy. He, however, quickly shuts his piehole when Anju glares at him. The next day, as Karin walks to the school, she once again encounters Kenta. But before Kenta even manages to utter a word, Karin once again flees for her nose. The incident causes Karin to be temporarily placed in the sick room because she becomes anaemic again.

As she lies in bed, Karin tries to figure out what could possibly make Kenta happy but she ends up sleeping like a boar. During lunchtime, Maki asks if Karin feels better. Karin nods and tells her friend that she got a lot of sleep. Since Karin is not in the mood to eat, she offers her bento box to Maki who gladly accepts it. While Maki and her two other friends are having lunch together, they overhear Kenta's grumbling stomach. They then start gossiping how they never see Kenta having any kind of lunch. Feeling sorry for Kenta, Maki decides to give Karin's bento to him. Kenta is immediately excited upon looking at the bento. In fact, he looks kind of scary here. That night after completing her work at Julian's, Karin is advised by her manager to go home together with Kenta. Karin immediately agrees but when she realises what the words actually mean, she freaks out. Nevertheless, she decides to use the opportunity to find out what makes Kenta happy.

As the two walk home together, Kenta suddenly tells her that he thanks her for the bento. Karin is surprised to see her bento box but nevertheless listens as Kenta tells her how her mother is a good cook. He, however, becomes embarrassed when Karin tells him that she was the one who made the bento. That night, Anju visits Karin in the kitchen and asks if Karin finally knows what's the meaning of 'happiness'. Karin says that she hasn't find out about it yet but as she washes her bento box, she remembers how Kenta told her that the food was delicious. Suddenly she realises that Kenta seems to be happy to be able to eat bento. So she decides to make bento for him. Meanwhile, Kenta's mother comes home to tell her son that her interview didn't go too well but she still looks happy nevertheless. Kenta is concerned about this and even more so when he notices that there are two holes in her mother's neck, similar to a vampire's bite. Kenta quickly puts the two together and wonders if Karin is actually a vampire.

Impression:

I actually don't mind this episode even though it seems to be stretched out a bit. The entire episode seems to be about Karin trying to figure out what happiness means for Kenta and not much of anything else. The storyline also seems to have been altered a little bit from the manga. In the manga, Karin gave the bento box to Kenta herself. While in this version, she gave it to Maki, who then gave it to Kenta, who looks miserable and hungry. I personally prefer the manga version because the anime misses out one comedic scene that I was looking forward to see. In the manga, after Karin gives Kenta the bento box, she imagines feeding Kenta some food with her chopstick. She, however, then runs away in horror upon realising her imagination. The anime also seems to eliminate the scene where Anju confronts Kenta during a rainy day. But this will probably appear later on within the story.

© memento 2003