「白狐の祟り」 (Byakko no Tatari)
“Curse of the White Fox”

Shifting away from the paranormal this week, Yakumo focuses more on the detective and romantic side of things. When they say college students should live on campus, Yakumo takes it too the extreme. As there hasn’t been a lot of things revealed about Yakumo’s family life, it’s interesting to see where he lives; inside a room on campus. Mind you, not a dorm room, but a clubroom — stocked with everything you would need to live. I can see toothpaste, a toothbrush, and some water in his fridge. And in a office styled cabinet, it’s well stocked with a futon, clothes, and a mirror. Everything a broke college student would need to live off of.

What’s really beginning to irk me is Yakumo’s relationship with Haruka. After nearly capturing her heart and helping her put the memory of her sister to rest, he has her leaping over hurdles for him. By hurdles, I mean has her working a part time job to pay off the 25,000 yen ($305) that she owes him. Instead of finally grasping the opportunity to make Haruka his, Yakumo manages to somehow ruin the moment when he tells her that she doesn’t have to pay him back. By using such harsh words as “contract” and “terminated”, Yakumo is very blunt on what he wants. Most girls would have given up on guys like this, but not Haruka, who can’t stop thinking about Yakumo or his pretty red eye.

And amazingly, everything connects in the end when the actual mystery case begins. As the episode title “Curse of the White Fox” alludes to, a temple shrine is rumored to be haunted by a fox spirit. This temple is about to be torn down and the company in charge is having trouble managing the project due to various problems believed to caused by the “curse” of the temple. At Haruka’s part time job, she overhears Mr. Irie, the president of the company in charge of the job, and decides to go investigate herself.

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Again, this actual detective work this episode was really short. On the other hand, there was a ton of character development between Haruka and Yakumo. The president of the construction company also played a huge role in that development. By enabling Haruka to be more honest with herself, it gives her the strength to stick by Yakumo’s side. In the midst of the entire episode, the two dark figures who wear those funky shades seem to be stirring up some sort of commotion, ending the episode with candidates of girls who may be picked to implant a soul into. Something sinister is afoot.

 

Preview

20 Comments

  1. I find that everything seems really rushed, forced and squished together such that I actually loose any enjoyment from the episode as time goes on. .____.
    I hope this problem is fixed in future episodes because I really like the premise of the show.

    As for the episode itself, I enjoyed seeing Yakumo’s family situation. And though his cousin is kinda creepy, she’s still really really cute. <3

    Irational Promise
  2. I liked this episode. But to anyone who’s familiar with the series, does it ever get dark? I was thinking this would have a similar tone to Death Note but so far it doesn’t seem that way. But those backstage conspirators might change that…

    Bossun
  3. I kept suspecting his uncle of something… I don’t know, he looked wayyy too cheerful and nice, and there was something about his voice…. well whatev. Coming into shows with no expectations is great, since I’m sincerely enjoying this. 🙂

    Kit Kat
  4. This ended up being better than I thought =) Plus points for character development even though I wasn’t too interested in the side characters…
    I read the very short manga and this episode wasn’t in it =X Hmmm… I guess I should read the novel before making judgment calls.

    Buttercup
  5. It was a good episode!
    Haruka-Yakkumo couple is a nice pair!
    I like Haruka a lot ^_^ She’s sweet and cute!Perfect for a girl of my type haha 🙂

    And I really like the concept of the dead spirits Yakumo explains.
    He says that the spirits of the dead are the feelings left by the humans when they were alive.If they were not peaceful at the time of death,then their spirit will be bound to that place unless they are at peace.It is very much like what is said in real life!

    Too bad this series is only a 13 episode series.
    Hope they make a season 2 when they cope up with the financial problems!

    Looking forward to episode 3

    Fai D Fluorite
  6. Hmmm.. well for me, episode 02 was a bit underwhelming. The case was a pretty weak one which could have been better if there was a little more buildup with some twists and turns, kinda what I would expect from a mystery.

    But it wasn’t all that bad, I liked how they introduced us to Yakumo’s life (living in a club room should be tough yet perky at the same time ^^) and relatives. The cute little girl and the incredibly suspicious uncle definitely picked my curiosity. From the preview, probably a car mystery next week, looks fun.

    Jaden
  7. ..if you ask from me, this episode didn’t have so much “detective”. Psychich- yeah pretty much, Yakumo- mostly, Detective- where? I mean you seriously can’t call that “this is there and that’s here, so the culprit is in the some-random-building”- speech being detective :’D But I hope it get’s better, and after all, we DID get a lot of character-development 🙂
    .I apologize for my crappy English..

    raionhime

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