Kyouran Kazoku Nikki ep.02

April 22, 2008 | 10 Comments

This one is a lot better than the first episode. While the episode does have that after school message feel to it, at least it also comes with a generous amount of comedy. The animation takes a slight nosedive in the form of inconsistent character design. At one point some character's face looks as if it's deformed more than it should be. It's nothing awful that the episode is unwatchable though. And as you can see from the screenshots, the episode still retains that nice color palette that characterizes the first episode. Also, did anyone else get the Wizard of Oz reference? While Ginka is not exactly a scarecrow, Teika and Hyouka sure fulfills the role of the lion and the tin man.

At a school, a teacher tells her students that Midarezaki Yuuka will join them from today. She then asks Yuuka to write her name in kanji at the blackboard. When she's about to do so, however, Yuuka sees that 「姫宮 零子」 - Himemiya Reiko is written on the board instead. Because she's nervous, Yuuka ends up breaking the chalk that she uses to write on the board, causing other children to laugh at her. Seeing Yuuka almost breaking into tears, the teacher tells her that she can go back to her seat but when she's about to do that, a kid trips her over, causing her to fall flat on the floor. This causes Yuuka to wonder why she's always such a failure. Back at home, Kyouka wants to have wedding ceremony and starts imagining the various wedding dresses she can wear. Ouka, however, is not as enthused because his wedding was just a job so he doesn't want to go through something that embarrassing. Unfortunately for him, Ginka shares his mother's enthusiasm by suggesting that he, Teika and Hyouka should sing in the ceremony as "Kyouran Sisters".

Kyouka argues that this is that an important event, claiming that Enka children would think that having family is nice that they'll forget about getting revenge. Because of this, she thinks this is a perfect event for the harmonious family plan. Ouka, however, knows that this is just an event to entertain Kyouka herself. Not long after this Yuuka goes back home and is surprised to see her 'mother' in wedding dress. After getting brief explanation about the ceremony, two men in black starts outfitting her with maid of honor dress. When Ouka praises the dress that Yuuka wears, however, Kyouka becomes jealous and kicks the guy in the face for being lecherous. He, however, argue that he was seeing her through a 'father's eyes'. Yuuka seems amused by this but her smile does not fool Teika who can smell the smear of blood in her and knows that she's been injured. True enough, Yuuka forgets that her knees are still bruised. She, however, claims that it's nothing important but when she knocks herself against the stairs, she drops her books, revealing that it's been covered by insulting words like "Kimoi" (disgusting), "Baka" (idiot), and "Shinu" (die).

Teika immediately realises that something happened at school and they should consult this with their father. Yuuka, however, refuses since everyone is excited about the upcoming wedding ceremony so she doesn't want to bother them with this boring talk. Because of this she runs upstairs after asking Teika not tell this to their parents. The next day, the preparation for the ceremony starts and Kyouka receives various cakes (presumably from the Supernatural Counter-Measure Division). The only abnormality is the box of sushi, which apparently has been ordered by Gekka. Ouka, however, is not that excited about the ceremony because he's concerned about the profiles of the children. After reading Yuuka's profile, he realizes that Yuuka is the daughter of 'demonic' family, Himemiya, a family of conglomerate known because they get profit from crimes, war, etc. At the same time, at school, Yuuka is being bullied by her two classmates again but it looks like Teika and Hyouka has attached a transmitter in her bag so they know what happen to her. Meanwhile, Kyouka informs Ouka that she already knows all about their 'children' background. For example, Midarezaki Ginka is 23 years old and his real name is Kizakura Gininichi and was born from yakuza family and was forced to live like a man.

As a result, Ginko suffers from gender identity disorder. Midarezaki Teika, age 7. His real name is Shakuya. He's in a grassland called "Savanna" was raised as the successor of Bister King but due to internal conflict, most of his kind have died. Midarezaki Hyouka aka Black-13. His age is 3, a biological weapon created by Dr.Gebok, the Chief Researcher of Artificial Lifeform R&D 3rd Lab. Hyouka destroyed the lab so he was put to sleep. Kyouka points out that no one in this family is normal so it's more important for Ouka to look at what's in front of him instead of at a piece of paper. Meanwhile, Hyouka and Teika are at school, trying to find out what happens to Yuuka. They immediately see her being bullied by a bunch of high school boys. Teika wants to help his sister but Hyouka stops him because they could kill the other kids. He explains that while they only spent so little time together, he really wants to save Yuuka. However, if he does that, he get the feeling that Yuuka and everyone will be sad. After the boys are done with Yuuka, Teika and Hyouka are rushing towards Yuuka. Yuuka are happy to see the two worried about her but she asks them not to tell their parents. Unfortunately Ouka is already there and he's not happy that the two didn't tell him what happened.

Yuuka, however, tells Ouka that these two are not at fault. After all, once she goes home, she can have fun with everyone. Ouka wonders why she wants to lie to herself like that but Yuuka explains that she's just happy to have a place like that. Back at home, Kyouka eats too much and ends up having to spend a lot of time inside the toilet. Meanwhile, Ginka finds a letter addressed to Ouka from Yuuka. In the letter, Yuuka says that it would be better if this world disappears. She also wonders if God hates her because she hates God. She then bids goodbye to everyone in the family. Ouka tries to get Yuuka to open the door but she refuses to do so. Because of this, Kyouka asks Hyouka to open the door with his laser. Everyone then enters the room to find Yuuka crying in a corner. She wonders why it's always like this, why she's always bullied even though she likes everyone. She feels lonely and if she's really the child of Enka, she might end the world. This is why she wants to die but she also doesn't want to die. Ouka immediately steps forward and hug his daughter, allowing Yuuka to cry as much as she wants. Upon seeing this, Ginka realizes that the letter was a plea from help from Yuuka. But even if she didn't write that letter, someone would have noticed her because they all love her.

Kyouka suddenly gets an idea on how Yuuka can be accepted by her friends. This involves Teika and Gekka to scare the students off by pretending to be monsters. Yuuka then appears and tells the two that she won't let them bullied her friends because she's a combat robot designed to fight monsters like them. As soon as she said this, Ouka fires some empty blanks towards the ground, covering Yuuka with dust so Kyouka can take her up the sky while Hyouka takes her position. Yuuka is embarrassed by this but Kyouka can't be stopped. On Kyouka's instruction, Hyouka slashes Gekka even though the truth is Ouka just shoots the ground again to cover the fact that Gekka runs away from the area. Teika then pretends that "Yuuka" is too strong so he'll retreat for now. Ouka then tells Yuuka to go out there and take her main role back. Thanks to the act, everyone is impressed by Yuuka. In the aftermath, Kyouka and Ouka gets married again in a wedding ceremony. "Kyouran Sisters" were also there to sing the wedding song. That night, however, someone is not happy that Yuuka gets to be the heroine so she orders the two bullies from Yuuka's school to break Yuuka until she screams and goes insane from pain. She then throws money to the bullies as a payment. The girl tells herself that she won't let "Reiko" to have a fulfilling life when she herself is at the bottom of the pit.

Impression:

This time around, the story revolves around school bullying and what a kid must do to overcome it. The problem is, the solution that Kyouka offers is not a good one. Not only it's a form of deception, it doesn't exactly tackle the problem that Yuuka has at school. What would happen if one day something endangers her classmates again? Wouldn't they expect Yuuka to do something about it and transform into a super cyborg who can defend them? Moreover, the majority of her classmates don't actually bully her. They just tend to laugh when she falls down or trips herself. The real problem here is the two bullies who always pick on her and the fact that Yuuka herself has little self-esteem. Having said that, the solution that Kyouka suggested did provide a short-term solution and at least it shows that there are people who care about Yuuka. Hopefully this will at least build her self-confidence a little bit. The problem is not over though since apparently the two bullies have been ordered to pick on Yuuka by that Suigintou wannabe. It's interesting to see more and more anime dealing with the topic of bullying. It makes me wonder if bullying is a major problem in Japan. The question is, why don't these kids fight back? Is it because they're afraid of the repercussion?

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