Saturday 6 September 2008

Yakushiji Ryoko No Kaiki Jikenbo - Episode 8

When a whole spate of suicides strikes a single apartment block, there can only be one answer - Someone is pumping a 24-hour marathon of Yakushiji Ryoko No Kaiki Jikenbo onto everyone's TV!


Oh wait, sorry, that isn't it. Of course, the real explanation is a far more plausible "Ultrasound Bug", whose ultrasonic communication mixed with a cell phone signal causes people to become suicidal. After all those reptiles throughout this series, I suppose it was only a matter of time before killer insects got their turn, and if nothing else this episode was certainly a step up from the really rather atrocious past couple of instalments of this series.

Actually, this was a pretty well-paced and delivered episode despite its ridiculous premise (which I have to give a bit of a free pass on account of this show dealing with supernatural phenomena) which also managed not to take itself entirely too seriously unlike the last episode, which was rather too heavy handed in its treatment of killer trees, and for that I can only be grateful. While I'm sure some people have warmed to Ryoko and Izumida and their relationship, personally the former in particular leaves me cold, especially with her blasé indifference to the suicides in this episode which irritated me somewhat.

At the end of the day though, I'm not sure that any level of episodic improvement will manage to dissuade me from poking fun at this series, it just seems somehow ripe to be giggled at for its stupid ideas. You have to start wondering if the writers for the show have been 'attacked' by ultrasonic bugs urging them to create such crazy plots - There certainly seems to be some kind of reptile and insect fetish going on here given the number of episodes to feature them in some shape or form.

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