「ワタシ平凡?」 (Watashi Heibon?)
“I’m Mediocre?”

“Insecure” was the word that escaped me last episode when trying to describe Kanon; however, it looks like there’s more to her than meets the eye (… and no, I don’t mean she’s a Transformer). While the whole fading in and out existence bit is still a large part of Keima’s latest target, his attempt to try and address it being there for her every step of the way wasn’t enough. As a result, Kanon’s story goes the distance in what looks like a three-part arc — a first for this adaptation. Before delving more into that, I have to say that Elsie was absolutely adorable this episode like she always is, starting with how she flipped out about Kanon disappearing. Then there was her help in scoping out the target and mingling with the die-hard fans, which led to her profusely apologizing to Keima and his mother. Her bubbly attitude paired up with Keima’s short fuse is one aspect of this series that I don’t think I’ll ever tire of.

As for Kanon, I’m admittedly at a bit of a loss on what to make of her character and why she disappeared right when everything appeared to be going well for her. In the past when Keima’s said his trademark “I see the ending” line, I usually had a somewhat decent idea of where things were headed. This time around? Nothing, nada. In fact, I felt kind of dumb since it seemed like there were enough hints from Keima’s view on how idols should behave. To my defense, when Keima does brag about knowing how things are going to end, the series generally hasn’t given enough indication as to exactly what it is. This includes Ayumi way back in episode one, which from what I read of the manga while writing the season preview, was supposed to show that Keima had already outlined how she would throw all the fruit at him before discovering the running shoes underneath. I’m by no means expecting to have everything spelled out to me in that detail with Kanon, but I can’t even picture an ending at this point because I still don’t know what to make of her constantly dwindling presence. Part of me feels that I’m simply not reading into what’s being suggested enough, but the confusion I have already makes it difficulty for me to even ascertain whether Keima’s flustered reactions are a part of his game plan. The immediate thought is yes they are, but the sight of Kanon’s cleavage (is she wearing nothing under that coat!?) followed by a reluctant head rub put some doubt on that. So either they’re hinting at nothing conclusive and saving everything as a surprise for next time, or I’m really just not getting the foreshadowing that the writers have given.

Looking at things objectively, there’s the backstory involving Kanon in her former idol group Citron and very clear indication that she almost has a phobia over being unable to get someone’s undivided attention. In regards to the latter, it’s been suggested that it goes back to her earlier years where no one seemed to bother to even take notice to her presence. Keima of course was the latest “problem” of Kanon’s since he didn’t care about her idol status one bit, but alleviated that concern when he started to make his move to win her over. All of that adds up to is…… something that will be revealed next time! The whole “prestissimo” (fast tempo) message didn’t help me much either since I’m not sure what it’s alluding to, so I’ll reserve judgement on that until I see how the rest of Kanon’s story unfolds. I will say that my impression of her character has improved a bit, though it likely had something to do with the only victim of her stun gun being a tree this week. Next time, answers!

* It looks like Manglobe is taking a page out of GAINAX’s style in Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt for some comic relief.

 

Preview

44 Comments

  1. >It looks like Manglobe is taking a page out of GAINAX’s style in Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt for some comedic relief.

    GAINAX’s style???
    No,It’s Tezuka Osamu’s comedic art stye.

    opplatinum
  2. w0w kanon has many episode so far. and at least in this episode the animator add route animation when keima already saw the route for kanon at the beginning. i wonder how the next episode will look like. will it be half kanon half another series or all kanon.

    ♛Croosboy♛
  3. There are arcs in which the ending that Keima sees is hard to guess, even when the capture seems simple. I’m surprised myself with the endings Keima pulls out with the captures/conquest in the manga. So don’t feel bad, Divine :D. Just see for yourself what ending he will do here.

    That said, I’m guessing that the wrap-up of this arc may take up a whole episode rather than only half which I initially guessed Show Spoiler ▼

    Oh well, it doesn’t bother me one bit, but people are kinda complaining about this being dragged too long. You can’t please everyone I guess. I certainly am pleased with this arc and this show 😀

    1. all of the captures so far have only taken one episode, so personally, I’m glad this one is stretching on longer.

      btw, I think prestissimo is like an alternative episode title. it means there will be two more episodes for Kanon.

      ponpon22
  4. haha, nice transformer reference there 🙂
    for some reason I like this episode way more than last one, probably because Kanon isn’t being so aggressive anymore? the nameless tree… you will be remembered… 😀
    though it feels like she fell for Keima too easily, if you can say she is partly fallen for him…
    seems like the p..p..p.. from last episode and prestissimo are all hints?
    Keima should consider a job of detective work due to his ability to analyze people… especially girls 😀

    jrj
    1. i was having a pretty bad case of muscle soreness after a run so i decided to try an epsom salt bath. taking my psp in there was the first thing i thought of. the plastic bag idea was pure genius though!

      RickyMack
  5. Of course she’s not wearing anything under that jacket! She’s an idol, she needs to be able to change quickly when she arrive at her studio. So not wearing anything is even faster. It was so funny when Kanon started calling Keima for everything, with the eyecatch spam.

    And I also don’t have the slightest clue as why she disappeared, and I haven’t read that portion of the manga.

    Rockmanshii
    1. the other captures make brief appearances throughout the manga as well, yes there is a reason.

      Show Spoiler ▼

      RickyMack
  6. Could people stop spoiling stuff for those who don’t read the manga, like the guy doing the review here for us, Divine? One of these days, you people will spoil something and the person doing the review will end up just dropping the series altogether.

    And for the record, yes, I am one of the people who have read the manga. However, Kanon’s arc is definitely taking more time than even I thought she would get. That being said though, the anime sets up how Keima is going to capture Kanon’s heart. There have been enough clues, though if you aren’t looking for them, you’ll miss’em.

    I do find it interesting that Kanon’s arc will get to 3 episodes in length. I thought for sure it was going to end this episode, and when the ending actually came I was like “dude, so there next week”. Its been a long time since I felt like that, even moreso since I know the story, so kudos to the guys doing this.

    Dorian
    1. most of the spoilers are pretty vague enough, some of the captured girls show up again cause they are in the same class as keima so its a bit expected, plus elsea already explained that he is still in their hearts even if they forgot/dont know him

      amado
  7. I’ve read the manga and watching this animated version really confuses me. In the manga Keima was never so flustered in the early captures, but in the anime it’s like they’re emphasising the fact that Keima gets flustered as if it’s not deliberate. Does that mean that they’re aiming for a definite ending within these few captures or not?

    NanoNano
    1. keima was always flustered, the anime just emphasized it more than the manga….

      and yeah, they might have did it to make him more sympathetic but I prefer him as being a cool and collected guy he is in the manga(he is still cool and collected but seeing him flustered doesnt really make it show)

      I also thought that kanon’s arc was gonna end here but they extended it a lot more

      amado
    2. Personally I prefered how he was still disinterested in the real world and how he eventually grew a bigger attachment to real life later on, but I guess they had to do something in these few episodes, but still…

      And yeah, I also thought that this Episode would conclude the Kanon arc, guess I was wrong. But how are they going to stretch the conclusion now into a full episode, since I don’t think having a half episode on Kanon and a half episode on filler (or Shiori) will work well.

      NanoNano

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