Kamisama Dolls - Episode 12

To say that Hibino is having a bad day in this week's Kamisama Dolls is perhaps a contender for "understatement of the decade" - almost raped, threatened at gunpoint, thrown from the roof of a building once or twice and at risk of being crushed to death by a kakashi.  Yeah, I think that's probably a cue for me to stop moaning about my bad day where the tea urn stops working...

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself here, as this episode begins with Hibino at the mercy of her rather unsavoury captor, only to find herself saved by Kuuko of all people, who seems to spend much of this episode doing a passable impression of Jack Bauer as her efforts involve stunning people, kicking them in the stomach and wrestling an armed gunman in the form of Hirashiro, who seemingly meets a sticky end before Kuuko frames his assistant and then runs off with him.

Meanwhile, Hibino is left to escape via the outside of the building - a route which brings her straight into contact with an angry (when isn't she?) Mahiru, who is more interested in discussing the intricacies of Kyohei's relationship with Hibino than the gunfire sounding off inside.  Eventually, Mahiru's short temper leads to Magatsuhi throwing her from the building, although luckily for Hibino it's at just this moment that Utao, Kyohei and Kukuri make their appearance to save the day.  Despite some attempts at reconciliation, before we know it Utao and Mahiru are facing off, with an almighty battle between Kukuri and Magatsuhi seeing the latter going on a rampage outside of Mahiru's control - a berserk frenzy which means extreme danger for Kyohei and Hibino in particular.

Once again, Kamisama Dolls seems to hit its stride when it makes the most of its kakashi and quite literally bounces them off one another - in this case the reason behind Kukuri and Magatsuhi's battle is largely pointless (let go of the broken cookies, Utao!), and even Mahiru's terrifying love for Kyohei feels a little forced, but it does make for some tense action as the episode progresses and the fact that a lot of its characters are stark-raving bonkers in some shape or form certainly keeps things entertaining.  We also seem set for an interesting (if slightly predictable) ending, which at least gives us hope of the series ending on a high note when it occasionally seems to have forgotten what the entire point of its story was.