Shikabane Hime: Kuro - Episode 7

Everything You Do Is A Balloon - At least, it is when you're Touya, the Shichisei member who remains the focus of this episode thanks to "his" control over Nozomi, who is running around trying to claim as much happiness as possible.

Of course, the final focus of this bid for happiness (and death as a part of that happiness) lands literally on the doorstep of Ouri, meaning that this episode sees both himself and Makina trying to save Nozomi while destroying Touya, something that they ultimately appear to fail at in both instances.


If nothing else, there's something to be said for Touya's character in creating perhaps one of the creepiest episodes of Shikabane Hime thus far - There was something very unnerving about "his" childlike voice (which is explained with good reason towards the end of the episode) coupled with the uncomfortable juxtaposition of death and happiness, which is probably the kind of thing you could write an essay about given its religious and social connotations. This atmospheric approach to the episode actually succeeds largely in papering over what was otherwise a pretty average instalment, which felt a little like it was simply going through the motions in terms of the action and dialogue to bring us to the point we reached come the end of this particular story arc.

So, what we had here perhaps is a victory for style over substance, but with the next episode promising to bring us some information about Ouri's real family at last (while this episode let slip a little more about Makina's parents and the reason why she ended up becoming a Shikabane Hime) it certainly has the potential to be an intriguing one.