Kemeko DX - Episode 2

The opening episode of Kemeko DX quite frankly left me cold, and sorely tempted to drop the series after that single instalment. However, fair guy that I am, I wanted to at least give it a second chance to redeem itself.


To be fair, episode two of the series has in fact at least given it a stay of execution in my anime-watching schedule. While a lot of the madcap craziness continues to be almost totally devoid of amusement to me, this second instalment managed to worm its way ever-so-slightly into my heart by piling on a large number of pop culture and anime cross-references, from Ghost in the Shell to a completely random reference to Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (which seems to be turning up all over the place at the moment, even Toradora! revolved an entire conversation around a phrase from that show), whilst even poking a little fun at the brothers who founded Kadokawa who produce the series. It also managed to amuse somewhat with its depiction of Sanpeita's Mum, the horribly overworked manga artist who (along with a colleague) has just pulled four straight all-nighters in this episode - Her sleep deprived behaviour is probably the highlight of this instalment.

Aside from the humour, as far as the plot goes we get introduced to Tamiko (Sanpeita's sister), and also find out that the girl inside Kemeko doesn't appear to be the girl Sanpeita promised to marry ten years ago, while also discovering just who Kemeko and the girl who 'drives' her is supposed to be fighting against.

So, I suppose what we've learned here is that throwing a bunch of cultural references into an anime series tends to make me far more forgiving of its flaws than usual. The whole Kemeko suit thing just annoys me hugely for some reason, and the general premise and humour of the series does nothing, but as long as it can remain sly and clever in its use of other materials to bolster it, then I might actually find myself watching the series from beginning to end without ever mustering up the heart to drop it.