Kyouran Kazoku Nikki - Episode 3

After the second episode of Kyouran Kazoku Nikki caught me almost completely out of left field with its rather heart-warming plot, I was somewhat more prepared for what episode three had to offer, which is probably a good thing, as it largely continued in the same vein.

After the closing scenes of episode two suggested further peril to Yuuka's happy life with her new family, so those threats are realised this time around. As we learn more about Yuuka's past, so the rest of the 'family' close around her to protect her once again in their own inimitable fashion (which, in a suitably madcap fashion, involves beating people to a pulp using the Mona Lisa and small-scale nuclear explosives - You really couldn't make this stuff up), while also accepting the perpetrator of all this heartache for Yuuka into this merry band of misfits to boot.

While the madcap shenanigans which I was expecting from this series do find time to poke their head above the parapet often enough, the majority of the episode is once again focused on the importance of the family above all else, coupled with the denunciation of material goods against having people actually care about you - Not the kind of moral message you'd expect from this kind of series, yet it proves to be oddly compelling. When a cat-girl who believes she's an omnipotent god tells you that love is important above all else, I suppose you just have to listen and take stock of these things.

After this rather nifty two-episode 'Yuuka arc', I'm very much curious as to where this series is going to go next - Having already confounded my expectations, I really daren't predict which direction it will head in from here. By all rights, this show simply shouldn't work - Putting together a bunch of disparate characters to moralise over how 'all you need is love' (with humble apologies to The Beatles for making that comparison), while simultaneously blowing up their enemies is a simply ridiculous concept that should be chased out of any self-respecting anime writers brain on grounds of madness. Yet, despite all that... It works. I like the characters, I like the story no matter how much it veers between being crazy and generic, and I like the animation and soundtrack. Perhaps it means that I should spend some time in an asylum to sort my head out, but if that's what it takes to continue enjoying this series, then so be it.