Kuragehime - Episode 7

In case you hadn't fathomed it from the latter part of last week's episode, this week's Kuragehime effectively completes the back story as to exactly why Kuranosuke is a part of the Koibuchi family, as well as why he's the black sheep of what otherwise seems to be a rather well-oiled political machine.

Anyhow, putting that to one side this sees Shouko becoming increasingly frustrated with the delays to the redevelopment project in her charge, largely brought about by the fact that Amamizuka's owner is still out of the country and thus unable to sign the contract required to sell that particular building.  In an attempt to grease the wheels she pays a visit to Amamizuka - something which seems unlikely to be successful at first, until its residents are won over disappointingly easily courtesy of some complementary macaroons.  That leaves it up to Kuranosuke to defend Amamizuka in their stead as he fortuitously drops by, even going as far as proclaiming that the current residents will club together and buy the building.

Thus, much of the rest of the episode is spent with Kuranosuke trying to find ways to make money, from unsuccessful attempts to persuade Chieko to part with some of her doll collection through to a rather more successful appeal to the building's resident mysterious manga creator.  Despite all of this however, Kuranosuke himself seems to be the only won taking this endeavour seriously, even going as far as trying to blackmail his father into giving him the money towards the building, with seems less than likely to succeed itself.  Away from all of this, Shouko still has Shuu Koibuchi tied up well and truly in her little scheme, which is itself beginning to ripple outsdie of those two individuals as it drags Tsukimi and Kuranosuke into what is going on... a chain of events which also draws those two individuals together in some increasingly interesting ways.

This week's instalment continued on from last week's effort in that it didn't dazzle or prove to be a riot of laughs; instead it just worked diligently at keeping the various aspects of its story moving smoothly and believably.  This made for an episode that was enjoyable without being stunning, yet one that kept me in rapt attention, with the Tsukimi / Kuranosuke / Shuu love triangle in particular becoming fascinating stuff.  I hope these more sedate last couple of episodes aren't sign of the show running out of steam, but with so much potential still to be tapped into I can't imagine that it'll be wanting for directions to take its story any time soon.