First Impressions / Mikakunin de Shinkoukei

「これが経産婦だと」 (Kore ga Keisanpudato)
“The Woman Has Given Birth?”

A loli okaa-san who isn’t what she appears. Revelations all over the place! This show is burning through plot like it’s going out of style, and it’s great. This is the season’s dark horse for sure.

Dogakobo Is The Best Anime Studio Operating Today

How’s that for hyperbole for you? Okay, while I may not call them the best anime studio – in truth different studios are great at different things, and I don’t enjoy ranking things like that anyway – they are certainly among the best, and this episode shows why. Not only have their last few shows all been great – GJ-bu, Love Lab, and back into Yuruyuri – but there’s real artistry in how they adapt anime. Take this episode. This is only the fifth episode, but they didn’t run the OP because they had too much they wanted to get through.

From a strict financial perspective, this was probably a bad move. Replaying the OP is waaay cheaper than animating whole new sequences, especially when replaying the OP is assumed and therefore they wouldn’t be penalized by the fans for it. But they didn’t do that. Why? Because they want to tell the best story they possibly can. I can feel that in everything they do. They tell us the best story they can, and they assume they’ll be rewarded for it by the fans. Yes, they’re not creating new series nor are they venturing far outside the genres they specialize in, but there’s clear pride in what they do, and I see it in every series they produce. Compared to the corporate machine of studios like KyoAni, I’ll take those who adapt with artistry and pride like Dogakobo and SILVER LINK any day of the week.

Tangent over, back to the episode proper.

Mashiro’s Age

First things first: the jokes about Mashiro’s size and childish appearance never get old. From Benio sticking her in those cat pajamas to Mashiro turning around and actually liking the underwear Benio got her, it’s adorable and funny to watch her deny being the kid she is.

Which brings us to the second point: Mashiro’s age. I was struck by how normally Hakuya and Kobeni were talking when Kobeni asked about Mashiro’s age (more on that in a minute), but also how, when push came to shove, they fessed up and admitted that Mashiro is nine. They’re using the old tactic of keeping secrets up until when Kobeni asks the right question, at which time they’ll fess up. I feel like they really don’t want to keep anything from Kobeni, they just feel it’s necessary to ease into these things. Understandably so.

Hakuya & Kobeni – Talking Normally

Hakuya character development ga kiiitaaaa!! I said last episode that I wanted to see Hakuya trying more, and lo and behold, this episode he was. He was clearly more comfortable talking to Kobeni, which made for more progress in their relationship. This is good for two reason: 1) it’s easier to root for them when both sides are trying to make it work and have feelings for each other, and 2) it’s an accurate portrayal of how getting to know the seriously introverted works. People who tend towards introversion only seem to “come alive” once they warm up to you, and that’s what Hakuya is doing now. The problem is that most shows can’t afford the time to let one of their main characters warm up to the rest, so they tend to either A) already be familiar with some of the cast or B) are more extroverted. Mikakunin de Shinkoukei took the time to show how it works, and did it well.

The Loli Okaa-san of Plot Reveals!

The pace of the revelations in this show is blistering, but only because I keep assuming they’ll want to hold some back for later episodes. I did not expect for Mashiro and Hakuya’s mother, Mitsumine Shirayuki (Komagata Yuri), to start spilling their secrets left and right! Let’s take stock: They’re spirits of some sort, with Hakuya at least being a big dog, the secret can’t get out, their numbers are shrinking, Hakuya gave Kobeni half of his power which is why she sometimes falls ill aaaand Kobeni is down! In a single swoop they justified Kobeni’s sick spells, not to mention giving a good reason for the amnesia itself, though that wasn’t revealed yet. I think I’m dizzy too!

As for Shirayuki-san herself, she wasn’t what I expected. First of all, her voice. I expected her to have a more loli-like voice, but she didn’t. And you know what? Good. That’s another expectation defied, and it allowed her to be much more motherly without it seeming ridiculous. Which I liked, including how she so easily forgave Mashiro when she admitted she lied. Best of all were Kobeni’s reactions to meeting her and her casual groping Kobeni’s chest. Plot and comedy, all in one adorable (and bold!) package!

Head Pat

I get it, I so get it Hakuya! When you see a kawaii girl trying her best or being cute you just want to pat her on the head or poke her pouting cheeks! Though my reason is because I’m tall and cheeky, while Hakuya has a better one. I thought it was a nice touch that he pats Kobeni on the head because he liked it when she did that to him when they were younger. I’m waiting for her to do it while he’s in his human form, d’aaawww!

Looking Ahead

I wish loli mama had stayed longer, but oh well, I’m sure she’ll be back. For now I look forward to seeing Kobeni’s reaction to the whole “not human” thing, which I’m sure will be favorable. I mean, she’s practically Hakuya’s wife already!

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Loli mama isn’t what she appears, & comes bearing massive revelations. The head pat & cheek poke, d’aaaww! #mikakunin 05

Random thoughts:

  • Kobeni has no faults and is pretty much amazing. Sorry Mashiro. So blinding!
  • “Are we in a manga?” No Benio, you’re in an anime.
  • Ponytail Kobeni is nice too.
  • The loli okaa-san got lost. Isumi, is that you!?
  • This series’ English title is “Engaged to the Unidentified”. Well, that makes a lot more sense now.
  • I traditionally don’t like it when characters randomly run into each other, but this time it works because Kobeni had a good reason to be out and where she was (near her own house), as did the loli okaa-san (who was trying to find said house). It’s when characters bump into each other at random places they’re hardly ever at that I start ranting. Another point for Mikakunin de Shinkoukei.
  • Loli mama in neko pajamas, hnnnngg! It looks like Mashiro got her size and love of sweets honest. Hakuya must take after his father.
  • I will never meet a girl who blushes like Kobeni. Zetsubou deshita!

Check out my blog about storytelling and the fantasy novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: Unexpected directions, The market has spoken, I can quit anytime, so I don’t have to, and Admiration & those who try. My current combo counter: 26 days long.

 

Preview

55 Comments

    3. Thank you kind sir, you are an amazing man, this gif I can’t, I just can’t stop staring!! but the animation in Mikakunin de shinkoukei is amazing like what Stilts said. I just can’t get enough of this animation! XD

      TrapMaster
      Reply

  2. Have to credit those last week who said the Mitsumines weren’t human, that was the mother of all mindf*cks for out of all shows this season. Looking back now it was pretty heavily foreshadowed, but I thought something like this wouldn’t happen; looks like that idea was proven wrong 😛

    And you have been vindicated Stilts, Hakuya finally begins to act, and the little loli even says how he acts when the words escape him. Do have to admit though, poking the girlfriend’s cheeks and getting her spluttering is a valid tactic XD

    This was by far the best episode of this series so far and is a definite contender for dark horse of the season. Question is still up in the air if they can keep a similar level of pace and viewer interest, but so far this one is hitting all the right buttons. Loli mother, what more needs to be said?

    Pancakes
    Reply

      1. Unfortunately, the cheek-poke doesn’t really translate that well in real life…. Though I do admit, its cute if used the right way 😛

        The head-pat does work quite often though! 😀

        Euzio
        Reply

    2. How have I not seen this before? This…is pure concentrated adorableness! And the animation, oh man how is it that they can make things move so naturally…I don’t think I’ve ever seen such fluidity in a bundled DVD extra! Or even most regular series, for that matter!

      I would literally buy this video for the price of a whole BD box. Pretty much died at that Mashiro spinning jump in the middle. Dogakobo you guys are indeed amazing!

      NKNKN
      Reply

  5. I’m definitely glad I decided to watch this anime! I was pretty much hooked after watching the first episode and that’s when I just thought it was a typical romcom! I couldn’t be happier with the addition of the supernatural elements. And I love the fact that this show is never shy with its reveals! It becomes less about a big mystery and more about the after-effects of finding out. I gotta wonder now if Mashiro is going to end up being some kind of cat? XD I mean, those “Hakuya is like a dog” vibes/jokes were running rampant last week so I can’t help but wonder about the cat pajamas! I’m loving the dynamic between Hakuya and Kobeni now that he’s opened up more (I always loved them though). I’m a proud introvert so I can see how that factored into Hakuya’s initial behavior. I always look forward to this show every week! Plus now there’s another great character (all knowing loli mama) thrown into the mix so I’m even more excited :3

    Kira526
    Reply

  6. Still remaining a little unclear on what exactly the Mitsumines are, but that’s all right I think. We know they’re not human, that Hakuya can or could be a big dog or wolf at times, etc. I don’t think any of that’s going to be a dealbreaker for Kobeni: she’s too level-headed and all around good of a person to let things like that bias her agianst someone.

    How many times can I say “this show is wonderful, and I really really love Kobeni” before it gets old? But is is and I do! The show constantly exceeds expectations, and Kobeni as the protagonist is just really great and loveable.

    Wanderer
    Reply

  8. The third paragraph is why I never really liked what Kyoto Animation had to offer. The only one that I’m even close to liking it is Nichijou because they dropped the pretension and plot continuity and dialed the scale of surrealism to 11 pretty much ran with it.

    This anime is filled with all the right feelings and like Stilt said, you can really feel the care and planning went it to make the anime. They could’ve just filled it with moe Mashiro and Kobeni fanservice and called it a day. It has the nuance and character chemistry that are rarely seen slice of life anime. For an anime with low anticipation, it surpassed over and more.

    Soliloquy
    Reply

    1. Am I the only KyoAni Fanboy around these parts, considering these scathingly cynical remarks ignore both KyoAni’s blatant talent in terms of animation, and their limitless creativity in how they produce their anime? Although the recent series have been quite formulaic, all of them have provided above average entertainment compared to the animes released beside them, and I felt a complete disregard to the currently ongoing Chuunibyou. Most importantly, no one can do KyoAni like KyoAni, they’ve essentially redefined moe!!! Downvote this if you must, but I must reiterate I prefer Chuunibyou’s S2 substantially compared to Mikakunin, though I cannot deny that I greatly enjoy both, especially since Mikakunin became a Dark Horse of Winter 2014.

      (Note: Clannad After Story remains my favourite anime of all time, perhaps becoming the primary contributing factor to my avid KyoAni Fanboyism rather than recent moe entries of our time.)

      ShanHaxx
      Reply

      1. I don’t want to get too sidetracked, but it’s not Clannad-era KyoAni I have a gripe about. That, Kanon, and the first season of Haruhi were all good stuff. And yes, they can animate like pretty much no one else, but I don’t watch anime just for the animation. Great animation is awesome, but it only needs to be good enough, while their stories have been lacking as of late. The last one with any heart was Chu2koi season 1, while everything since has been blah.

        Basically, I agree with you on animation, but I take exception to their supposed creativity. They’re business people who are trying to wring as much money out of their series by owning the source and using their same few seiyuu and all these other tricks, and the result is that their stories are soulless. They’re slowly squandering the best reputation in the anime world, and will become a shell of their former selves like Gainax, Madhouse, Manglobe, and others before them.

        But, erh, let’s not get into a big tangent here. Let’s focus on how awesome Dogakobo and Mikakunin are!

        Stilts
        Reply

      2. Nah, they’re my favorite studio too. I disagree with Dogakobo being the best, they made some good series, but nothing spectacular.
        I really like Engaged to the Unidentified, though.

        As for Stilts, KyoAni rarely uses the same VAs.

        Rakan
        Reply

      3. Lol, I was exaggerating about Dogakobo being the best. See:

        Okay, while I may not call them the best anime studio – in truth different studios are…

        And they are starting to reuse more seiyuu. For example, Nagatsuma Juri. That’s a relatively new trend though. They seem to be going from picking the talented newbies while they’re still cheap (see: K-ON!) to developing seiyuu and then keeping them around. That may not continue though, we’ll see.

        Stilts
        Reply

      4. I think the problems arise out of KyoAni’s handling of story and plot development rather than their production. There is no question they are the forefront of animation quality, but they seem to have dug themselves a hole as of late in how most of their series (no matter how serious in nature) focus primarily moe and “cute girls doing cute things.” When they try and branch out they often fall back on these tropes to cover structural defects in the main plot line (just look at Kyoukai no Kanata).

        Ironically in the face of this, however, KyoAni has some of the most realistic and warming representations of relationships you can find, even in their more stagnant productions. Keeping this on topic it’s kind of funny with the reveal of the Mitsumines being spirits that Minakunin could now be thought of as a SoL Kyoukai no Kanata.

        Pancakes
        Reply

      5. I think its simply a matter of perspective. Each of the top studios have their own strengths. I like KyoAni too but I’d be hard pressed to call them the best simply because there are definitely other studios out there that are better in certain aspects than they are.

        For example, if we were to compare artistic background in animation, I don’t think KyoAni can match up to PA Works (just look at their shows like Hanasaku Iroha or more recently, Nagi no Asukara). There has also been the emergence of studios like Satelight (Moretsu Pirates or more recently, Nobunaga The Fool & Log Horizon) and Ufotable (Kara no Kyoukai series and Fate/Zero) in recent times. I think even Sanzigen surprised us last season with their work on Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio ~Ars Nova~. Hence, I’d rather group them as like top 5 favourites in no order rather than simply saying they are the best.

        I must say that Dogakobo has really surprised me with this series though. I enjoyed GJ-bu and Yuru Yuri, those two were solid and great to watch. But they did push themselves to a new level with Mikakunin. I may be jumping the gun considering its not even the mid-point this season, but Mikakunin would definitely take my vote in the winner of Best Surprise or Exceeded Expectations category.

        Euzio
        Reply

      6. @Euzio

        Although PA Work’s background animations are one of the best around, but we forget that in some scenes where the cameras panned away to a considerable distance, PA Works didn’t seem that bothered about actually drawing faces onto some of the characters, leaving then looking rather… awful. Ironically they kept the backgrounds looking nice, because evidently that’s more important than the characters themselves. Other than that, I largely agree with you (especially with the ‘Exceeded Expectations’, but feel the need to point out Ufotable is a subdivision of the already successful Nitroplus.

        ShanHaxx
        Reply

  12. Glad I wasn’t the only one who thought of Isumi when loli mama showed up. I enjoyed how they put more focus on the ‘mama’ aspect rather than the ‘loli’ side, unlike a lot of other shows where most of the time, they play up the loli side and you only get one or two scenes that make you think, “oh yeah, she actually is a mother, isn’t she?”

    Definitely enjoying this show.

    SK
    Reply

    1. Agreed. For one character to just drop in and spoiler everything you think they’d save for the last 3 episodes… is just amazing.

      This episode also explained why Hakuya doesn’t talk much and his lack of social ability given what his past form was. It’s just brilliant.

      Dangerism
      Reply

  14. So Hakuya is like the wolf guy from Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki?

    Also I don’t know it anyone has mentioned this yet but Kobeni’s eyes are different color from when she was little. Side effect from what Hakuya did to her perhaps?

    Dark
    Reply

  16. Yes my most anticipated episode of all week and it just keeps getting better :3
    The interactions between Kobeni and Hakuya is getting sweeter and sweeter and it’s giving me so much HGNNNNN that it’s making me lose blood faster than Niagara falls 😛 but seriously, how often do you get such a sweet moment of a main character trying his best in comforting his romantic interest and get such a HGNNNN reaction from the love interest, of course only Mikakunin de shinkoukei. The part where Kobeni realized that Hakuya was patting her head because she did it to him when he was younger and he really enjoyed it and she just blushed, that was the finisher, I just couldn’t take it anymore, all my blood drained from me and now I’m dying from blood loss and the comedy doesn’t let up either, Benio is still as funny as episode 1 and Mashiro is getting more lolier (if that’s a word) by the moment and when the loli mom touched kobeni’s epic rocket launcher (I’m assuming I inferred the meaning of the previous post right)that was awesomely funny and seeing kobeni and hakuya is just too pure for my heart XD

    anyways sorry for me just blah blah blahing my thoughts on this series and spamming but now that I’ve calmed down a little, I’m kinda curious as to what exactly everyone in hakuya’s family is cause it looks to me that mashiro isn’t a dog/wolf like creature and I feel that there’s some vague question floating in the back of my mind that I just can’t seem to grasp but it’s bothering me but we’ll see, and seeing kobeni and hakuya being all couple like is making me feel so alone, I wish I had such good waifu material in my life :,( at least I’m happy for them 🙂

    TrapMaster
    Reply

      1. Lol, well yeah but you know well what I mean :3 but either way it’s just so heart warming to watch the two, and they actually look like a married couple especially when they were shopping it just made me smile so much it’s so cute and HGNNN inducing I don’t think I can take much of Kobeni’s cuteness XD

        TrapMaster
        Reply

  17. This episode (and Kobeni herself) was pretty damn cute.

    I get why the mother could only stay so long. At the rate she was going we’d have known every last detail of every character in the series by the end of the next one XD. She literally needed to be removed due to her inability to keep a secret. Good times though since she really explained a lot of things that we were left speculating about last week.

    Kobeni’s reaction when she ‘understood’ why Hakuya kept patting her head was just great. Though really her reactions were excellent all over. From turning to stone upon meeting her ‘mother-in-law’ to getting poked in the cheek by Hakuya earlier. Kobeni has a lot of strengths, but yet she’s still such a likable character. Maybe because despite all that she still suffers from this inferiority complex towards her sister.

    Maybe it was for the best things happened the way they did. At least with the mother dropping all those bombs there was less guilt to spread around. Hakuya and Mashiro would have really struggled if they have revealed things and Kobeni had then collapsed.

    Just a really fun show. Lot of adjusting to be done now that a lot of the secrets were let out. The series is just doing a great job with character development and pacing. Great to watch.

    FlareKnight
    Reply

  18. Putting the UMA into the show with uma-ma!
    Is Shirayuki “Exactly What says on the Tin Can”?
    Hakuya seems to be a werewolf. Also the patting on the head is explained!
    Still dont know who/what is Mashiro. But she’s frigging 9! Benio!!!!!!
    Benio was epic both with accepting easily the reality about her new family being supernaturals and enthusiasm for “loli-baba” mother-in-law. Saving her to hard drive myself!

    ewok40k
    Reply

  19. Great episode, don’t have much tolerance for Benio though. It wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t get so much screen time. I need Nadeshiko to move in so she’s there all the time to inflict the pain. Ah, Nadeshiko. Best character for sure.

    Sirius
    Reply

  21. https://randomc.net/2014/01/30/mikakunin-de-shinkoukei-03-04/comment-page-1/#comment-1079715
    ^Just saying, called it last week! Even if it was as a joke, it counts, right? Right?
    But truly, Mikakunin keeps delivering awesome story with awesome pace, as well as using old (and working) things in a refreshing ways (most recently a loli-mama whose main point isn’t the loli part, but the fact that yes, she’s a mother!). I just hope they have enough story to continue doing this for the next… Holy crap there’s 7 episodes left, we’re not even halfway through. With this pace I though this was a 10 episode series at most…

    “Are we in a manga?” No Benio, you’re in an anime.
    This is another great part of Benio. When we still thought this would be a standard romcom, she was going “romcom vibes, bleh”, and that alone was already awesome. But now that we know there’s more to Mikakunin, that looks like the original author’s way of saying “don’t underestimate me”! This series is taking many already seen tropes and twisting them into nigh-unrecognizable forms.

    Anonymosity
    Reply

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