Thursday 17 July 2008

Wagaya no Oinari-sama - Episode 12

I'm pretty sure some kind of international law dictates that every anime series must have at least one hot springs episode, and thus to avoid a long prison term for all of its script writers so Wagaya no Oinari-sama ensures that its mandatory requirements are fulfilled by giving us just that.

After winning said hot springs trip as part of a lottery, we find the usual gang get to meet up with the boy's Great Grandma from those opening episodes. Then, of course, no episode would be complete without some kind of spirit out to get Tooru...


Not for the first time with this series, the main crux of the episode falls flat from what is, quite frankly, a lack of effort. Just as things get interesting, with Tooru cornered by this little girl who isn't what she at first seems, then the whole debacle comes to an end with little more than a few tears before bedtime to show for it. Considering the whole premise of this series, and having Kou and Kuu as guardians, was based around Tooru being in grave danger, it seems a little odd that all of his moments of 'peril' have come largely from wishy-washy characters who, even as bad guys and girls, are far too nice to actually hurt or inconvenience anyone too much.

With that in mind then, it's hard to really pin down any particular point to this episode, it really just splashes around like a goldfish that has no interest in any of the shiny ornaments you put in its tank. 'Pointless' always seems like a harsh description of anything that's only trying to be entertaining, but I'm afraid it seems to fit the bill rather well here, considering the absence of any real humour, emotion or anything else that might have given this otherwise lacklustre affair some impact. This hasn't exactly been a great series at the best of times, but to be honest this particular episode failed even by those hardly stellar standards.

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