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「カメラと包子と野良猫と」 (Kamera to Paozu to Naraneko to)
“A Camera, Baozi, and a Stray Cat”
I wasn’t expecting anything on the more lighthearted side in this series, but watching Aoi and Kazura’s contrasting personalities try to work together proved to be just that. Simply enough, it all started off as a simple request from Fuu Lan (Fujita Saki) to have some pictures taken of her restaurant’s food so that her menu can compete with the competitor’s realistic replicas — a commonality at Japanese restaurants even today. While Kazura’s logical side was quick to kick in with him pointing out how difficult it is to capture the taste of food in a photograph, I was pretty amused by Aoi’s gung-ho nature taking on the request as a professional when in reality, he was only concerned about having Fuu Lan’s baozi to eat. As skilled as he is when it comes to covert operations, Aoi is still rather fickle in my opinion, which is why moments like that, along with his sudden loss of motivation when he saw what he was up against, are always fun to watch.
Much like the previous episode with the bombings at the Big Four, I was anticipating that the two of them would be inadvertently dragged into a mission-like scenario this week. After seeing Aoi’s pouch containing the film of both Fuu Lan’s food and one of their lieutenant’s family vacation suddenly go missing, it sure was looking like things would turn out that way. The fact that the two of them went to great lengths to gather information on who the culprit might be led me to think as such too, which is why I was completely surprised when it turned out to be a stray cat. This fake-out turned out to be a good one though, as Aoi and Kazura’s reactions were priceless when the cat nonchalantly strolled by them with the pouch in tow. Subsequently, watching Aoi be an idiot and chase the cat through all the high and narrow spaces while Kazura took a more humanly accessible paths was mildly amusing as well.
In the end, they were able to find the cat since Natsume happened to be rather knowledgeable about its whereabouts and how it has a thing for baozi — something that Fuu Lan is more than aware of. With the way things were so neatly wrapped up, this episode primarily came off as a bit of comic relief; however, it did emphasize how well Aoi and Kazura work together even though it doesn’t seem like they do. Or at least, that’s what Yukina thinks. Because of that, I actually enjoyed how this episode showcased the series in a slightly different light. Next time, it looks like things will be back on the more serious side of things, as it seems to focus on some of Kazura’s backstory.
Preview
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I love this series!
I’m really getting into this series. Looks like a good fun episode!
I think it will be great episode ^^
LOL, Aoi and Kazura’s WTF faces
wow still 5 comments
Wow, I feel sorry for the cat a little. xD
This was a funny episode!
Okay, just got through the first episode of Night Raid. and it seems like a pretty solid action series to me.
Although one minor thing which I found odd was how the Chinese guards didn’t notice the Japanese spies’ HEAVILY ACCENTED Mandarin when they went to “rescue” that President guy.(I’m a native speaker of Chinese (and English- I’m Chinese American), so it was PAINFULLY obvious to me; not to mention absolutely hilarious :P)
this light-hearted episode was a refreshing take on the 2 guys. it’s really too bad that it is only a 13-episode run. would love to see more of them.
..alright, finally got through the other 3 episodes, so now I’m up to speed. So the one thing Night Raid has going for it (in my opinion) is its unusual setting- Japanese spies in Shanghai, China. That’s what made it interesting to me, and kept me hooked. The whole psychic power thing just seems a little generic though.
But the team behind this show seems to be aware of these facts. They try not to overplay the powers (Like how there’s no power usage in the 4th episode after the power-heavy 3rd), and pay close attention to illustrating the setting (the little Chinese girl who Aoi rescued in the 3rd episode was a nice touch- setting emphasis through character interactions, so it really feels like Shanghai, not Japan in a box labeled “Shanghai”).