Kyouran Kazoku Nikki - Episode 8

Despite occasionally wondering whether he was perhaps there as little more than the glue that holds the series crazy characters together, it appears that Ouka is going to get his own mini-arc within Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, and to be honest I'm rather pleased that's the case as he somehow seemed deserving of it. Thus, in this episode we learn a little about his past, and see Kyouka getting more than a little suspicious of his intentions as he sneaks out early for a 'date' with a Death God.

Aside from those basic facts, I'm really not entirely sure that I have any grasp on what's going on at all beyond Kyouka's attempts to break up this date. The aforementioned Death God is the woman we've already seen a couple of times this series, and she clearly goes back a long way with Ouka, but who is she exactly and why? That's one for the second part of the story I suppose, along with... well, all the other oddities that haven't yet been wrapped up.


Despite not having a clue as to what the episode is all about, this instalment of Kyouran Kazoku Nikki was actually oddly enjoyable - It's hard not to have at least a little soft spot for Kyouka's rantings, especially when it involves her strangely close ties to Ouka, and bonus points must be dished out for renaming an automated tour guide at a very odd theme park 'Trash the Third'.

I can't help but feel that it would be very harsh of me to cast any real judgement on this episode until its storyline is concluded, or at least explained a little better - Too much of what is shown here is just left hanging to figure out whether it's just craziness for its own sake or something a little more important to the plot (or, perhaps more likely, both). Once again, there seems to be a real attempt to bring emotional focus on the family unit in this series, which doesn't always work but has at least provided a motif for the show, but that aside it continues to be a hit and miss affair that manages to miss its target more often than not. Yet, despite all that, the sense of fun in this episode despite its more serious undertones managed to appeal to me somehow, leaving me rather keen to see what transpires next.