After some early signs of promise, and the occasional flash of genius, by the end of it all I've found myself feeling really rather apathetic towards Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, to the point where it's almost a relief to reach the end of this long and winding road.
I was at least hoping for a satisfactory conclusion to the series, but if I'm frank I didn't get it. Ouka holding Kyouka at gunpoint had all of the promise of an intriguing ending, but that simply didn't emerge - Instead we were left with everyone in the "family" claiming to be the child of Enka, followed by a largely unfunny "game show" to decide what should happen to Gekka and Gouyokuou, before everyone ended up living (largely) happily ever after.
To make things worse, the whole Children of Enka issue wasn't actually resolved at all in the end, which only serves to make the entire series feel a little pointless given how this was the reason for the whole "Operation Cozy Family" plot - I don't really see there being much room for a second series, so refusing to do anything with your major plot point just seems rather bloody-minded of the script writers at the end of the day.
Overall, I suppose there are two things to take home about Kyouran Kazoku Nikki. Firstly, twenty-six episodes was simply too long for a madcap series like this, as it frequently ran out of steam, to the point where entire storylines were virtually repeated at times as though we'd forgotten it had all been done before a few weeks prior. Secondly, the series does have some good individual episodes - Very good ones in fact. These diamonds in the rough are perhaps responsible for my wanting to throw grenades into said rough in frustration, but perhaps I should be thankful for the chance to see those great episodes even if it meant sitting through hours of dull, unfunny ones. Although when I put it like that, perhaps not. Still, if someone can compile those decent episodes together and release them as a single (disjointed but at least enjoyable) DVD, then they may be on to something, as there were some definite highlights to be found in this otherwise decidedly average series.
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
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