Never mind three, sometimes the four episode rule serves a purpose, sometimes it doesn’t. With Kai to Otome to Kamikakushi it’s simply not enough (though the Patron Pick could still weigh in on it). I’m not sure how I feel about this show at this point, and this episode was no help. It was solid enough in its own right, but a very cagey one on the whole. A few teasers, a few hints, a good deal of casual fanservice of the type we used to see a lot in anime. But not much to make one feel certain about where the series is going.
After a brief cold open with Uname-sensei (she has horns now, which one would imagine is hard to explain), the focus turns to Ren’s health. Oto is concerned that he should seek treatment after his travails with Uname, but it’s clear that he’s not going to find the sort of treatment he needs at the local clinic. Sumireko-san is theoretically writing on her day off, but in fact winds up having a solo “hanami” inside her apartment after a trip to the convenience store for alcohol and cheap sashimi. She has a run-in with the cat from the ED, which steals her small bites, but that’s not the only uninvited visitor she’s to receive that day.
Ren dumping Oto off on Sumireko fits,I suppose, though at fifteen a normal girl would probably be expected to manage on her own for a couple of days. He’s obviously gone off to get treatment somewhere she can’t or shouldn’t go, and the “apartment wife” and Oto have a sort of reluctant girls weekend. There’s a trip to the sento and ramen and some guarded conversation, but this is all pretty neutral in the big picture. We also get a look at Mari, a classmate of Oto’s (I don’t remember if we saw her at the school to be honest), apparently the daughter of the bath house and a pervert.
So who’s the “old man” Adashino-kun goes to see? And where is this shadow land where he does so? There are a of secrets about these siblings who may not be real siblings, and Old Man seems to be in on at least some of them. Old Man is quite concerned that Ren “used his eyes” during the school incident, something it’s implied is very bad for him both in the short and long-term. If Ren and Oto really are siblings why is he so determined to “send her home”, and not go back there (wherever “there” is) himself?
I’m interested in the answers to these questions to an extent. And Mochizuki is doing some interesting things with the visuals to the extent that the budget allows. But the overall alchemy isn’t quite clicking for me. Mysterious Disappearances is walking what for my tastes is a pretty thin stylistic line, and sometimes it strays and comes off as overly mannered and less than authentic. It’s the very definition of being on the fence, and at this point I’m hoping we get an episode that strongly pushes me one way or the other.
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