First Impressions / Nurarihyon no Mago

「鬼棲む山に紅き梅は咲く」
“Red Plum Blossoms on the Demons’ Mountain”

It’s unfortunate for Rikuo that Kana fell for his night form and didn’t know they were the same people. Even though this isn’t a romance anime, these misunderstandings seem to be a prevalent element used to create some drama between characters. I can totally understand her feeling, since youkai Rikuo is pretty suave. As soon as he returned to his day form, he came down with a fever, which is rather pathetic, as Kiyotsugu said. I did get a chuckle for Yuki-onna’s frozen tears, giant ice compress and various other antics though, after she found out Rikuo was missing at the Paranormal Patrol Meeting, which I actually didn’t know she was a member of. Kana still has subconcious feelings towards his normal form— obvious after seeing her getting jealous at Yuki and Rikuo from feeding him medicine (with a feverish face that could be misconstrued as blush) to Rikuo helping her pack for their trip. With Shima falling for Tsurara as well, it’s like a love rectangle with one missing side (a disappointment to a lot of fans :P). However all the dodging around is pointless really, since Kana is already aware of the existence of spirits; but again, the misunderstandings keep things more dramatic.

There were various random perks throughout which I enjoyed, from Youkai Poker to kitty-ear hoodie. After they arrive at Umerakuen though, things take a serious turn, as usual. Turns out Gyuki has some sort of ill intent (no doubt trying to kill him) towards Rikuo, which has been hinted at throughout the series so far, although he’s not the only suspicious one. Considering that this is still the first arc of what I presume to be a very long series, even the most vicious looking “antagonist” usually don’t remain villains for long, unless they die so I’m not thinking too much yet. On the whole this episode wasn’t particularly interesting, as it serves mostly as setup for what’s happening next with Gyuki and what looks to be Gozumaru from the opening sequence (though looks like ). The art was still quite good, especially the stunning backgrounds, some of which are almost photo-realistic. Since the episode didn’t capture my interest, I took some time to read up on the manga. There are omakes and other content that are omitted in the anime that would introduce more background information and stories on the characters, but I understand that Studio DEEN has a limited episode count at this point and cannot adapt the manga perfectly.

Next week it looks like there will also be some fan service with the usual bath scene.
I’ve been very busy lately, but hopefully the next few posts will be more prompt.

 

Preview

18 Comments

  12. Divine, have you read D.N.Angel? Nurarihyon has countless references/ripoffs of it, like Rikuo’s Yokai Form being based on Daisuke’s Dark Mousy form, the love geometry with multiple forms is also just like the one in D.N.Angel only D.N.Angel plays it all out a lot better.

    If you haven’t, you really should read the Manga version, but the Anime adaption was a catastrophe.

    Uppfinnarn
    Reply

  13. I’d watch the anime just to see Tsurara and her cute antics ^^
    She’s so much cuter than in the manga, and the anime really brings out a very enjoyable character to watch.

    no_sushi
    Reply

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