So, I watched this episode simultaneously with Shinmaru, as we were hoping to do a MST3K style post on it, but we ended up being stunned into silence by the bizarreness of the episode. So sadly, the final product was no good. So in its place, I’ll give you three reasons why you should bother watching this episode, even though it has nothing to do with the main story and is just plain weird.

1. Gothic Lolita Nemu-chan

I didn’t know I needed this, but now that I’ve seen it, I can say with surety that my life is complete.

2. Moe Rabbit Nemuru and Mana-chan

This is an incomparable step down from gothic lolita Nemu-chan, but still too cute. Even though Nemu-chan needs to get her head checked or possibly get put on some antidepressants.

3. Moe moe Kyun Suzu-chan and Kana-chan

A step down from the Nemu moe parade, but moe moe kyun will always have a home in my heart. Oh, I might as well give you a 4th reason…

4. Hot Trap

Just kidding.

This was an awesome episode. The backgrounds looked beautiful, the animation was solid. I actually even enjoyed the music quite a bit. Yep, an excellent episode indeed.

It sure doesn’t take much to fell Nemuru’s "dad" (I still think he’s her granddad. Either that, or he was robbing the cradle with her mom). Now a question for you, why exactly is this dam worker running out to incite the crowd for? Did he think they’d help him? Or was he just blindly following a foolish dead man’s direction? If you knew some dude was heading to the dam, shouldn’t you maybe go… to… the… dam? Perhaps to try to stop him?

Now another question for you. Look at pharma dude in picture 1. He is holding a gun. Then look at him at picture 2. He is holding a knife. Now, why would he even bother attacking someone with a knife when he has a gun? Because he has only 6 bullets? Ok, fair enough. But why bother to use the knife if his stealth XP is so low. Solid Snake, he is not. Needless to say, pharma dude’s "ambush" fails and he resorts to using a gunshot to kill the one, lone dam worker (you mean to tell me that humongous modern looking dam is operated by one man!? Ok, whatever), but not before pharma dude himself is injured as well.

At least pharma dude succeeded in opening the dam. But where exactly does he go afterwards? He goes to the forest. I don’t know why. If he really wanted to wipe out the town, shouldn’t he have been defending the dam controls with his last breath? Instead, he pulls the contagious mistake of leaving the wounded behind without finishing the job. Needless to say, Nemuru’s black wolves arrive in time to minimize the damage (although it’s pretty catastrophic for the New Town).

That is one dark forest. Seems like the only light is filtering through the trees (I’m going somewhere with this, hang onto this thought). Pharma dude heads to the forest to live out the Unabomber life when Isuzu arrives to stop him from turning to the hermit life I guess and is shot in the leg. Bullet 2 gone. Nemuru and wolves arrive at the scene. Wolf-lackey #1 attacks pharma dude, but is shot down. Bullet #3. Pharma dude vows revenge on Nemuru, but Hiro arrives spouting some brave words.

So then Pharma dude grabs Hiro and points a gun at him… and in the process of doing so turns his back on Nemuru and the wolves. You know, those wolves with super strength and speed. He turns his back to them. Instead of turning Hiro around and remaining faced towards Nemuru and goons, he turns his back to them. I can’t emphasize the stupidity enough. Of course, nothing bad comes out of it. But remember how this is a really dark forest? Well, the next thing you know, Pharma dude has pulled Hiro out to a bright and sunny cliff! Where did that cliff materialize from!? Is it related to Pharma dude’s previously established talent of materializing large knives in his hands? And why is that as soon as the cliff is introduced, light starts flowing into the forest?

Now that everyone is bathed in the warm sunlight, things can happen again. Pharma dude takes a shot at Nemuru, but Hiro – in his greatest and only display of courage, is able to push pharma dude’s hand out of the way, sending the bullet astray. Bullet #4.

And then- WHAT? Floating white wolves? Kaori’s band of wolf angels arrive on the scene. This is the first time I wondered what the difference between these white wolves and Nemuru’s block cloaked wolves was. Sadly, it’ll also be the last time, since we got no answers.

Nope, we know nothing more of Kaori’s condition, nor her new role as white wolf queen. And after such murderous rampaging Pharma dude was subject to one of the most humiliating deaths I can remember. Hugged and walked off a cliff. I- uh- really have nothing more to add to that. It is as embarrassing as it sounds. Hugged and walked off a cliff. It was quite frankly, an amazing scene. Minimal struggling on his part. Pharma dude seemed strangely satisfied, even though he accomplished very little actual revenge.

And then after that things were more or less back to normal. Oh, much of the New Town was destroyed. And just about everyone moved out after learning that everyone in the Old Town wanted to get sexy time with them. Nemuru’s uncle’s research apparently lives on. But for Hiro and the gang it was back to the slice of life salad days, albeit with a little less Isuzu glomping and a little more Nemu-chan moe to fill the gap. The moral of the story is, you have to understand people who may be different from you. Even if they’re trying to turn you into a sex zombie. Especially if they’re trying to turn you in to a sex zombie.

Next week’s episode appears to be unconnected to the main story, so this is it.

Strangely, even though most of the season felt like it was paced ok, maybe even a little slow, the ending felt rushed and incomplete. But maybe that’s just because the story itself turned out to be really fluffy and had very little depth to it. Weak characters. Weak story. Nonsensical decisions. As gg stated, Ryukishi07, I am disappoint.

*Sigh* I guess I should write about this episode since that’s my job for the season. I hate that feeling when you realize you should’ve written about a different show. Ryukishi07 WTF happened!? I wanted Higurashi redux and you gave me Underworld (sans Kate Beckinsale!).

Best part of the episode was seeing Suzu-chan back. She’s so cute. Helps me to forget that Hiro exists. I’ve been wondering how the show would’ve been if Hiro had been a worthwhile lead. At the very least, it would’ve been more tolerable, and at best, it could’ve had a big impact on how the story unfolded. Think about how limp Higurashi would’ve been if Keichii was a wuss who can’t even put together a simple little wish.

See! Look at that, can’t even make a proper wish for goodness sake. It’s not that difficult! Well, maybe for someone with no hopes and dreams. Hiro has a one way ticket to Hikkikomorism. Meanwhile, it was interesting to see the white wolf procession take place with Mieko in the mother wolf role. Is it me, or does she look like she’s headed for a sacrifice situation? I mean, if Hassaku juice flows in her veins, she would be good for the town.

While the town is reveling in this quaint festival, pharma dude continues his pranks by letting Issei’s girl out of prison and letting her go buckwild on the town. Sadly for her, she only gets to kiss one guy before Nemuru and the wolf gang stop by and put an end to her shenanigans. I was a little surprised that Nemuru was so open about cutting her down in front of everyone. It seemed like in the past, they’d tried to operate more stealthily, but I guess she doesn’t care now that she’s learned that her uncle’s been killed. It’s a shame that discussion didn’t go any further. I got the sense that Mr. Hawk was justified by the town’s rules, but I would’ve liked to have heard what Nemuru’s dad/grandpa would’ve said.

It’s a little funny how quickly the two guys ditched the guy who got kissed after pharma dude pointed out that the wolf disease is contagious. Apparently, this strain of cowardice is contagious too. I call this condition – Hiroshism.

So I’m going to talk about two scenes here. After pharma dude calls out the jouga wolves for their monsterism, the jouga wolves (the Kamibito) take the bait hook, line and sinker. It’s sort of like, if you treat someone like a criminal, will they grow up to be a criminal? In this case, just calling the Kamibito monsters incites them to the point where they’re like "ORGY! Let’s kiss everyone in this town!" It really didn’t take much to rile them up. Just needed some complete stranger to call them a monster. Geez, you’d think centuries of monsterism would’ve helped them grow a thicker skin. While Nemuru and Isuzu try to hold the zombies back, pharma dude is keikudoori-ing all the way to the bank. The river bank to be exact, where he comes across Mr. Hawk who’s wondering what the hell is going on. Sadly for Mr. Hawk, one of pharma dude’s special talents is to be able materialize a large knife out of thin air. Too bad he didn’t know that. Ugh, this is getting very clichéd.

As you can guess pharma dude stabs Mr. Hawk, then tosses him the "research" saying he didn’t need it to begin with. Pffft. Pharma dude might as well spit on Mr. Hawk and kicked him a couple times while he was down. Or maybe pointed and laughed at him for ruining his best suit. But Mr. Hawk gets his comeuppance, because pharma dude makes the same mistake he did when he failed to kill Nemuru’s uncle before he spilled all the beans on Mr. Hawk’s big nefarious plan. The cycle of stupidity continues as Mr. Hawk tells his lackey to warn the town that pharma dude’s just a revenge crazed nut and wants to sink the down by breaking the dam.

Notice how I didn’t mention Hiro’s name once in the last few paragraphs? Yeah, it’s because Mr. Big Shot didn’t do jack shit the whole episode. Alas, it was probably better that way.

Huh, whattya know. I guess it’s pretty easy to write a post when you’re being completely sarcastic and cynical the whole time.

Damn it! This episode was excellent for about 5 minutes while the double-crossing and chase scenes were going on, and obnoxious for the rest of the time. Although Nemuru-chan displayed some surprisingly nice curves. Must be the dietary properties of those hassaku oranges.

Pharma dude was a very convincing Lelouch for the first few seconds of the episode. Jun Fukuyama’s should get some royalties for it. So pharma dude locks Nemuru in with Hiro. Then the timing gets weird. It should be late evening when Nemuru and Hiro get locked in together. The next scene we see Kana notice that both of them are missing in school the next day. Then the next scene we see her go tell Hiro’s dad that he’s missing. We then see Hiro nodding off having nightmares. Then he wakes up. Then we see Mr. Hawk getting all politico with Nemuru’s dad (I thought he was her grandfather!?) and its the afternoon. Ok, so you’re telling me that Hiro spent the whole night sleeping? Originally, I thought the scenes were just spliced out of place, but I don’t think that’s the case.

It’s a shame Hiro’s nightmare wasn’t reality. That was by far the best part of the first half of the episode. But before I move on, let me step back and say how terrible Hiro’s father is. No wonder Hiro’s such a passive kid as Blindability points out. Some older dude you don’t know calls you at night, tells you that your kid is sleeping over his place, and then the next day your kid’s friend tells you that he never came to school, and you say that you’ll send a search party if he doesn’t go to school the next day? Really? Your kid has to be kidnapped for at least 48 hours for you to care? Wow. It explains so much. On the flip side, I give semi-kudos to pharma dude for covering his tracks – although anybody with a right mind would’ve thought of a better excuse than "your kid is sleeping over my place, Mr. Father who I don’t know".

As Kana recollects the counting rhyme, Nemuru spills the beans on the jouga. I actually thought this scene was nicely directed. Good pace, nice juxtaposition, interesting way to tell us the info. Basically, the confusion with the use of the "fallen" comes from the fact that the Jouga are referring to two "Gods." While the Jouga refer to themselves as "Gods", Nemuru admits that it’s actually the regular people who are the real Gods, and the Jouga are the ones drawn to them. So people like Mr. Hawk refer to regular people as the "fallen", because he considers the Jougas "Gods," but Nemuru clearly states that the "fallen" are those Jougas who’ve succumbed to the temptation and attacked the real Gods – the regular people. So the meaning of "God" and "fallen" seems to change based on the perspective of who’s referring to it. The one thing I wished was that Nemuru would explain what exactly happens to regular people who get sexed up by the Jouga. Do they become Jouga? (it would seem so based on next week’s preview)

And as we pretty much suspected, Hiro’s Calvin Klein Obsession drives all the kawaii chicks wild. Nemuru-chan is so adorable when she’s trying so hard not to kill Hiro. Personally, I would’ve told her to go for it.

During Kana’s walk home, she happens to overhear Mr. Hawk’s devious plans and frantically heads back to Hiro’s deadbeat dad and convinces him to start searching for Hiro and Nemuru. Meanwhile, Hiro cuts Nemuru’s ropes loose, because… I don’t know why. I guess he trusts her now. Or secretly he wants to get sexed up by curvy Nemuru.

Damn, I’ll miss Nemuru’s uncle. He was one of the side characters that I liked. But unfortunately he gets the double cross from Mr. Hawk, who’s just not a big fan of pharma companies, and in turn slips Nemuru’s uncle some exploding coffee. Unfortunately for Mr. Hawk – he’s all warfare, no brains – and instead of planning like a proper killer and knowing how long it’d take for the exploding coffee to kill someone, he just dallies out of the room, and Nemuru’s uncle uses that long moment to call Nemuru’s dad and warn him about Mr. Hawk, and to convince him to search for Nemuru and Hiro. Mr. Hawk, you sir, are a damn fool.

While Hiro’s dad hits the streets with Kana, Nemuru’s dad sends out the search parties. Like I mentioned, the above double-cross scene and the search scenes were excellent. Fast paced, frantic, it really sucked me in. Quite possibly the best 5 minutes of the show so far. But then Hiro and Nemuru’s dad arrive at the scene, and they find the two of them safe and sound. How did that happen? Well, after all that struggle, Nemuru relied on the power of promises, and chose not to get randy with Hiro. Sheesh, if it was that easy to begin with, they could’ve at least done some cuddling to raise the difficulty level. We also see Isuzu recovering safe and sound… And with that, the 5 minutes of excellence came to a crashing end, along with my hopes for a bad ending.

This week’s subtitle is brought to by Hiro, who’s vocabulary has become so elementary, all he can do now is make one syllable grunts signaling confusion, fear or cowardliness.

This episode wasn’t bad. Again, it moved the plot forwards and we’re hurdling towards some sort of resolution. But it made me kind of sad, because I’m starting to believe that this mystery is actually pretty straightforward, and we’re not going to get any Higurashi or Umineko-esque brain-melting twists. If the show continues at its current pace, I’m looking at it as a 5/6 rating anime. Very disappointing by Ryukishi07 standards. But I shouldn’t eulogize it yet, there’s still time.

The episode starts off with Kaname being realized from the jail cell by Nemuru, who’s straying from the "law" by taking her friends’ fates into her own hands. But before letting Kana-chan go, Nemuru confirms Kana’s research and admits that she and her people aren’t humans, but "monsters who carry a cursed fate." For Kana’s safety, Nemuru suggests forgetting about this whole incident and not digging any further into it (pfft, when has that warning ever worked?). Meanwhile, there’s some sort of odd politicking going on in the Jouga Wolves’ camp, as Mr. Hawk, as I will dub him, questions Nemuru’s decisions concerning Isuzu and Kana and accuses her of putting her personal interests above the village law. He also admits to getting some hired help to deal with the mitsu (or temptation, a.k.a. Hiro). Whether he plans to kill him or just capture him to give the ladies and gents from getting hot and bothered under the collar is uncertain.

Apparently the village rules say the Jouga wolves can’t snuff the fallen people, but that doesn’t stop Mr. Hawk from leading a lynch mob to ostensibly partake in a good ole’ pitchforkin’ (sans the fork). Honestly I don’t know why they went after Hiro, when they’re clearly not allowed to, and when they hired an "expert" for the job, but perhaps they’re a little hot and bothered under the collar as well. Hiro owes Nemuru a debt of gratitude, as she intercedes to stop the attack not only on Hiro, but perhaps a possible attack on Mana imouto-chan as well. Even going so far as gifting Mana an ugly rabbit.

Meanwhile, Pharma dude appears to be playing both sides of the field. On one hand, he’s been hired by Mr. Hawk to deal with the Hiro problem. On the other hand, he’s learning the biological secrets about the Jouga wolves. And on the third hand, all he seems to care about is killing the Jouga wolves to avenge his fiancée’s murder.

I’m not sure what in the world is going on with Kaori. In accepting the wolf mask, I assume it means she’s accepted a cursed fate. Is she a fallen human, who’s now joining Nemuru’s roaming wolf gang? Would the girl that Issei infected follow a similar path? Or is this ceremony for a different purpose. That Nemuru’s uncle seems to be leading this procession and not Mr. Hawk or Nemuru’s grandfather makes me think that they could be after a different goal.

Nemuru is punished with house arrest after the latest incident in which she stopped the Mr. Hawk and the gang from going after Hiro. I believe this is because she continues to put her personal interests ahead of the village’s interests – but I’m not sure how Mr. Hawk’s actions were copacetic either. Anyway, Nemuru overhears a phone conversation in which pharma dude claims to have captured Hiro, and she defies her grounding and heads out to find him.

There’s a pretty good action and chase scene in which Nemuru handily beats down pharma dude, but he relies on some late trickery to end the fight the victor. I’d been skeptical about all the supernatural scenes I’d seen before, mostly because they had a lack of witnesses, and Hiro’s hazy memory, but based on Nemuru’s and Nemuru’s uncle’s conversations, and then the fight scene between Nemuru and pharma dude, I guess I have no other option to believe that she and the Jouga wolves are indeed not human and have special powers.

With Nemuru knocked out cold, pharma dude invites Hiro out to the dark, abandoned construction area to learn the truth… and then throws Hiro into a locked room with Nemuru under a bright full moon. There sure have been a lot of full moons lately. What in the world is going on with Jouga’s lunar cycle? It seems obvious that Nemuru’s going to get real tempted to do this and that with Hiro next week, but I’m a little curious to see what happens when the Jouga wolves get all the time in the world to get wild. How far would Issei have gone with the girl if he hadn’t been hunted down? How far would Isuzu have gone with Hiro.

So the Jouga wolves are a class of humans that are susceptible to losing control of their inhibitions and gaining physical benefits under certain conditions. That includes:

• The fruitfulness of the hassaku harvest (the more, the better they can control their passions)
• The lunar cycle (full moons make them wild)
• Pheromone-rich humans like Hiro

In actuality, they may not be a subclass of humans, but rather humans that are suffering some type of mental illness similar to manic depression. Furthermore, I’m thinking that they discourage their own from moving out of the old village, and that they kill their fallen, not because they’re concerned about the welfare of the people in the new village, but because they don’t want evidence of their secret slipping out. I’m also still pushing the theory that Kaori is some type of "Queen Bee" as far as immunity goes. I bet if you cut her open, you’d find hassaku juice running through her veins.

Even when the episode is pretty Hiroshi-light, he still does at least two things that makes me want to smack him upside the head.

After getting brutally beaten in the last episode, Hiro finds himself surprised to be waking up in his own bed. Predictably, he wonders if it was all a dream. Baka Hiro doesn’t realize that you only get to pull out the "get out of dream jail" card once, and that occurred way back when he witnessed the murder. However, his efforts to hide from reality are shattered when his father tells him that he collapsed right outside the door.

Meanwhile, apparently Nemuru’s group is hiring pharma dude to do something about that damn girly boy baka-Roshi. Interestingly, Hiro is number 6 on the list that pharma dude receives. But he seems to be making a beeline directly for Hiro. What’s special about Hiro? And what makes him even more special than the other 5 on that list. And what exactly is he getting hired for? Questions. Questions. Questions.

There was something a bit weird about Kaname’s hypotheses. It’s quite possible she’s figured the whole mystery out. There was so much information spewage, I’m not sure I caught it all. But I understand she’s been doing some research, but then taking the jump to proposing ideas like "maybe the wolves have human intellect" and "werewolves" seem far too big a jump for me. I’m not asking to see the research, but she comes so uncannily close to hitting the mystery on the nail, that I couldn’t help but feel this scene was forced just to make sure we were down with all the basic info about the jouga wolves.

On the other hand, it looks like the Jouga rhyme we hear at the end of each episode could be a key to the mystery (maybe Kana’s been traveling to the future to read Blindability’s posts). Let’s just hope Blindability doesn’t end up getting kidnapped by a strange man wearing a utility uniform in a poorly lit public library. Actually, this kind of bugs me. Does this town have electricity? Why are most of their rooms so poorly lit? Did I say this takes place in 1983? Maybe I meant 1883.

Over on the other side of the town, pharma dude stops by Kaori’s place to admire the scenery. We also get a little flashback of how he met Kaori. After seeing the flashback again, a body is definitely in the puddle of blood that pharma dude stumbles upon. Definitely a distinction from the other "murder" cases we’ve seen with Issei and some of the other freak wolves. Another interesting side note is that, apparently pharma dude’s fiancée Mieko came to his town as part of her graduate studies. Couple that with Kaori’s admission to Mana that she can’t leave the town and it makes me think that she’s the anti-Hiro. Perhaps there’s something about her that helps calm the jouga wolves, sort of like a living breathing hassaku orange.

Kana, meanwhile, wakes up in a pretty posh jail cell. Furnished basement. Pretty swanky. Gotta be a rich man’s home. And so far the richest person we’ve seen (I’d guess) has to be Nemuru’s uncle, being the head doctor at The Center and all. Kana finds that she’s not alone though, as just across the door is the girl that was seduced and infected by Issei. Apparently, she’s gotten the download on the going’s on. She also confirms that Issei was killed as part of the Cleansing of the Gods ceremony. However, whether because of her infection or perhaps just too much time in solitary confinement, Issei’s girl sanity is definitely in question. She refers to the Gods being inhuman. She hints at having abilities that she didn’t have before. Particularly a keener sense of smell. And apparently can tell between the smells of "Gods" and the smells of "the fallen." Or those not infected by the disease. Is it really that straightforward? Or could she have been drugged perhaps? Paranoia. Schizophrenia. This is what I see from her. Not signs of being another species.

Poor kawaii Mana-chan. While her violin skills seemed to be progressing quite well, Mana-chan is torn up because Kaori asked to stop teaching her for the time being, because of her flagging health. Admittedly, we do get a nice gesture from Hiro, as he suggests that the two visit Kaori the next day. Not for lessons, but just to see how she’s doing, which perks Mana up. Then of course Hiro gets stupid again.

Ok, who didn’t see that coming? I liked this scene, mostly because of the homage aspects, but also because I thought the build-up was good, and Nemuru looked really intense. But then… Hiroshi just closes the curtains. And just like that kills the scene. Why is she standing out there in the rain? What does she want? Gomen nasai? Gomen nasai? Wouldn’t you be a little curious? Ugh, I don’t know what to say. I can only facepalm.

Ookami Kakushi just got an episode cap, at least according to MAL. 12 episodes. Doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the gospel, but I’m just going to assume it’s true for now. This is a problem. Because overall, this episode was ok. It moved the plot forward, so it did its job – if there were 17 episodes left. If there are only 5 episodes left, this episode needed to advance the story a lot more. With 5 episodes to go (supposedly) the atmosphere doesn’t feel like we’re angling in for a big climax anytime soon. I’ve been forgiving of the slower pace, because I assumed the show would go 24 episodes, and we’d see at least 3 reset arcs for the story to build upon. Arc one – set up the mystery. Arc two – build upon the characters. Arc three – resolution. But if that’s not happening and all we’re getting is one linear arc, then it’s going to be real tough for this show to end on a memorable note, because it’s dug itself a hole as far as character likeability goes. Plus, it also decreases the likelihood of a major twist. Rather, the supernatural wolf angle may actually be what it is. In which case, I’d be sorely disappointed that the mystery was so straightforward. But we’ll see, maybe I’m fretting for nothing, but my spidey ookami senses are tingling.

Hiro-baka may have no interest in doing this and that with icky girls, but he certainly has no problem being knocked out cold by them.

When Hiro-baka isn’t getting pussed out, this episode provided some pretty significant info. The episode starts off with faceless village members demanding action from the old village elder. They’re pissed because it’s hot and they don’t have enough juicy delicious hassaku oranges to feast on. So their solution to this problem is to demand that they take out all of the fallen "wolves" (these guys must’ve eventually moved to the US and joined Congress, but I digress). But the lead wolf secretary (or administrative assistant) convinces them that mass genocide is no solution to the problem and it’s better to deal with "that one person" even if it goes against the "rules." Much hush hush and usage of ambiguous pronouns.

Meanwhile, in a "twist" we figured a while ago, Nemuru’s uncle has shed his dark tendencies and seems to be taking the path of the light side, in trying to get pharma-dude to mass-produce some pills that could help the villagers. I hope these aren’t the same pills that failed Issei. Ah well, I guess it’s the thought that counts. But pharma-dude instead has plans of his own, as he lets Nemuru’s uncle know that he knows the secret of the "Gods" and asks to see his true form.

Hiro catches Isuzu on the roof of the school again and although Isuzu puts up a good front, he sees that she’s still very bothered by the loss of her brother. When they head back to class, Isuzu gets a strange warning from her homeroom teacher for ditching a previous class. Was skinship around in 1983? This teacher is much too energetic and I’ve become very suspicious of his unyielding optimism. Is that warranted or am I just a cynical bastard?

Skip to the next scene where we see Kaori’s violin lesson cut short due to a sudden bout of heavy coughing. As Hiro and Mana leave, they notice the crowd of old people heading up to Kaori’s place. The same one’s that had been praying when Kaori last played her violin. Meanwhile, things are looking dour for Kaori’s health, as she reveals some symptoms that are new to us.

The next day, when Isuzu doesn’t show up to school again, Hiro stops by her house to check up on her, but Isuzu’s mom lays down the cock-block and prevents him from seeing her. Once back inside, she breaks down over the loss of Issei, blaming Hiro for tempting Issei. Isuzu becomes upset, because she’s realized her feelings for Hiro and wants to see him, but is rendered momentarily speechless when her mom hysterically tries to keep her from leaving. However, Isuzu eventually heads out to find Hiro, claiming that she’s different from Issei.

I thought it was interesting that Isuzu’s mom was so forthcoming in blaming Hiro. Mostly because I wouldn’t have guessed that she’d be so forthcoming in acknowledging Issei’s gay tendencies. Especially in this small town, back in the year of 1983, in conservative Japan. I thought she would’ve been stuck in denial. But maybe she was too overcome by grief to rationalize it away. Or maybe this was a particularly progressive town. Or maybe there’s something amiss with Hiro (trappish as he may be, he’s a pale comparison to Hideyoshi).

Interesting. So Nemuru’s people. These people of the old village. Apparently they consider themselves as a different "species." Truth? Or misdirection? We’ll see. Meanwhile Nemuru (she is wolf-chan! Glad I got that right ), leaves the house to take care of some personal business.

Isuzu tracks down Hiro and gets aggressive with him. Hiro or Mr. Tough Guy, has trouble fending off Isuzu even before her wolf powers kick in. Now does Isuzu place his hand on the left side of her chest, because a.) that’s her favorite boob? b.) she doesn’t know where her heart is? or c.) she really is part of a different species and her heart is on the right side of her body? or d.) animators’ mistake? I wonder. Kana. Kana?

However, before she can get her infecting kiss in, Nemuru shows up to spoil the fun. Nemuru suggests that there’s a way to save Isuzu-chan, without having to go to the extreme measures that was necessary with Issei. Nemuru doesn’t explicitly deny Isuzu’s accusation of killing Issei, but I still wonder if he’s really dead. We then get a fight scene where the two girls do crazy physical feats.

But Nemuru eventually gets the upper hand, and Isuzu retreats taking flight with Hiro to some tall abandoned building or construction site in the area. Right about now I’m questioning everything I’m seeing. Not just because Nemuru and Isuzu were taking flight like an old kung-fu flick, but also because I’m pretty sure when Isuzu was moving in on Hiro, she was digging into Hiro’s arm – with bloody results. But then when you see the two together, no blood. Continuity error or clue? Hard to say.

When Isuzu gets a moment alone with Hiro, she bares her heart out to him, talking about first love and saying that she would be willing to give up the future just to share this one moment with him. It’s actually a really touching confession. Then she asks Hiro if he feels the same for her… and his answer was so tactless that it caused her to immediately jump off the building in tears, until the wolf pack snatched her (ostensibly saving her). Oh Hiro-baka. There’s a time for brutal honesty and there’s a time for smooveness. This was a time for the latter.

Nemuru then arrives at the scene and Hiro’s yelling at her, demanding answers. She tells him that Isuzu’s safer without him chasing her down. But Hiro continues to hound at her, at which point she gently taps him on the stomach with her scythe. Hiro proceeds to fall to the ground – knocked out cold, in perhaps the most embarrassing knockout that I’ve ever seen. The whole "rag doll effect" was probably birthed by Hiro.

It’s amazing. Even Hiro’s tough guy acts backfire on him spectacularly. Just when I thought he couldn’t be any more of a wuss, he becomes the first character ever to get clobbered by a love tap.

Otherwise, I thought this episode was a solid step forward. I’m surprised that we’re not getting an arc reset and the next episode seems to pick up where this leaves off. I’m interested to see where pharma-guy’s request goes. I wonder, is the "one guy" that the shadow old village clan keeps referring to Hiro, or pharma-dude? I’m going to miss Isuzu-chan, because I thought she was a character that was easy to empathize with. Whereas I could give a crap about Hiro.

On one hand, I’d be willing to say that a lot of the mystery is beginning to unfold. On the other hand, this is a Ryukishi joint, so there’s no reason to believe that the mystery’s solvable at face value.

I got a kick out of seeing Issei’s Higurashi-esque paranoid reptile eyes. We got the angry toad eyes in Umineko, but it was the reptile eyes in Higurashi that really brought the heebie-jeebies. The episode starts off with some goons from the old town’s vigilance committee stopping by Issei’s place to give his parents a warning. But Issei’s parents ask for a chance to work out it together as a family and the goons leave with no knuckles cracked or legs broken.

Meanwhile, Hiro and Kana-chan are surprised to see Isuzu taking a day off from school, but not before Hiroshi catches Nemuru staring at him and confronts her (in the most squirrelly manner possible). Hiroshi asks why Nemuru’s beefing with him, telling her uncle that he’s an otaku a strange kid, but Nemuru dismisses him, telling him that she has nothing to say to him.

Meanwhile, things are coming to a head in the Tsumuhana household, with Issei’s parents wondering if he’s a lost cause, and instead turning their efforts at making sure they don’t lose Isuzu too. The family meeting gives a little more context to Isuzu’s mom’s comment last week ("after all you are our children"). It seems there was nothing sinister meant by it, but rather was a somewhat awkward way to express that they would stick together as a family. When Isuzu goes up to see Issei, we do see Issei in a moment of clarity as he apologies for worrying her. But once you’ve got the reptilian eyes, you know it’s over.

Meanwhile, back at school, Hiro inquires further with Kana-chan about the Jouga’s urban legends. Specifically, he asks whether she had heard of an urban legend featuring a killer loli with a scythe. When she says no, Hiro then tells her about the incident from the night before. Unfortunately for him, Kaname takes it all as a big joke.

Later, Isuzu realizes that Issei’s escaped the house through the window and frantically begins searching around town for him. She should have just gone the next door over though. Because we get our first unmistakably supernatural moment! As Issei goes Spiderman and catches Hiro in his web of delicious yaoi killer kisses.

Luckily for Hiro, a car happens upon the scene and Hiro uses the moment to break away from Issei and run away… leaving his helpless, teenage moe girl rescuer helpless to the clutches of Spider-Issei’s deadly kiss. Maybe Hiro figured that Issei was only interested in shotas, and wouldn’t go for the girl, but… way to ditch your rescuer ya jackass. This was about 10 times as cowardly as Hiro’s pants-crapping hightail from the last episode. At least he had a good reason then. But this time? Way to totally get someone else killed without even a warning. If I ever get stuck with Hiro during a werewolf attack, I’m tossing him out to the hungry crowd before he finds a way to screw me over. Fortunately for the girl, she receives a much more normal kiss from Issei. Apparently he only pants like a dog when he’s trying to kiss guys.

The bad news is, she’s been bitten by the werewolf bug and has to go into quarantine. It’s starting to make sense now why Nemuru and her wolf clan are such prudes. If you knew about a group of people going around purposely giving people mono, wouldn’t you do everything you can to stop them from doing so? Oh sure, it can cause a crimp in your love life, but left uncheck, the whole town could be affected by the disease!

Unlike the previous "killing", Nemuru sheds tears after doing away with Issei. This role, whatever exactly it is, is obviously weighing on her as well. Meanwhile, it’s striking how helpless Isuzu’s parents seemed to be. It was as if they’d accepted that they were going to lose Issei. Admittedly, I don’t know if there was anything they could’ve done with him once he got the reptile eyes. But if they really wanted to try to save him, I wonder why they wouldn’t have heeded the vigilance committee’s warning and moved back to the old town. What is so bad about the old town that they would be willing to risk losing their son by not going back?

The next day, Isuzu returns to school, but is unable to bring herself to look at Hiro’s cowardice. Oh, you say she wasn’t even aware of his cowardice? I say animals can smell fear. And since Isuzu is practically half-werewolf, I’m sure she could smell his anti-GAR-ness a mile away. Hiro does catch up with her after school to ask if she recovered from her cold, but she tells him that she wasn’t sick. Just when it seemed like she would duck his question by saying Issei moved away, she goes wide-eyed as Nemuru turns the corner and walks by the two, at which point her grief and anger boil enough for her to admit that Issei was murdered.

Couple other notes. It seems the wolf statue and the orange is placed in front of houses where someone has been lost. It’s starting to make a little sense why pharma dude seems to be so interested in gather more test subjects. If we’re to believe that Kaori (or former-Kaori) was killed because she was infected by this disease, then she would have passed it onto pharma dude as well. So to cure himself, he needs more research material, as the current pills are just not effective enough.

Now when I mentioned the first supernatural moment above, I was obviously discounting the Nemuru and her wolf clans as a supernatural element. From the beginning I believed that was logically explainable. But Issei climbing walls? Well, that’s a whole different story. Which makes me wonder, just who’s eyes are we seeing this story unfold from? If Higurashi and Umineko have taught me anything, it’s to not take what I see at face value. Do we really believe that Issei has crazy supernatural powers, or was that perhaps a reflection of Hiro’s paranoia?

Finally, I’m not convinced that Issei is "dead." Again we see a big splash of blood, but we saw that along with Hiro in the last episode. If someone were to inspect the spot, I’d guess that no body or evidence of a crime would be found. So what happens to these people? Do they get "spirited away?" Did Issei leave a piece behind?

But now, former-Kaori’s murder doesn’t seem to fit the pattern. Because pharma dude found some evidence of her death, if not her body, then the large pool of blood. Are there two different groups at work here?

Seems like we’re coming to a head. I wonder if they’ll continue the story, or if we’re set up for a reset soon. Kana? Kana?

I think anyone who dropped Ookami Kakushi because it had a few seconds of yaoi in the last episode will come to regret it. Obviously, it was just a plot device and this show has designs well beyond that.

There’s something about stimulation that seems to be unsettling in this town. As the episode is bookended by a couple we don’t know who apparently kiss when they "shouldn’t" and maybe do a little this and that perhaps which results in some punishment.

We seem to be inching further into the story. Kaname even throws out a couple juicy tidbits as she continues her research into Jougamachi’s urban legends, from the red fireflies that no one’s ever seen, to the theory that Hassaku flourished in Jouga until it split into 8 parts, which is symbolic of being torn into pieces and why hassakus are also associated with grotesque murders (really? hassaku fruits are associated with murders?). Neither of these urban legends are particularly interesting to Hiro or Isuzu. Which surprised me a little bit, maybe because I was expecting Isuzu to abruptly quash them as hogwash, similar to the Dam incident in Higurashi. But it doesn’t seem to phase her in the slightest, and I didn’t pick up on any apprehension from her.

When Isuzu and Hiro leave the library, Hiro finds himself alone… for a moment. Then the next thing you know Issei’s smelling Hiro’s sweet scent and dismissing any talk of a double team with Isuzu. Thankfully for Hiro, he gets rescued by a very distressed Isuzu who makes a poor excuse for Issei’s behavior and quickly him away. This was the first time we got to see this serious side of Isuzu, besides maybe that flash forward in the first episode, and it makes me wonder what else she’s hiding in her life. I feel like she’s going to be a very sympathetic character.

The next day Hiro takes Mana out for a walk at his dad’s behest and notices what seems like cold and suspicious glares from some of the townsfolk. The two then are taken by a sweet but somber violin melody and follow the sound to see a group of old people who appear to be worshipping at what looks like an outdoor wedding chapel. Here, they meet the violinist, Kaori who promptly invites them into her home. Apparently she’s the friendly type, and Mana quickly takes a shine to her, particularly impressed by Kaori’s violin skills and her willingness to teach it to Mana. We learn almost nothing about Kaori, but since this is a Ryukishi joint, she no doubt has a sad backstory.

Later we see Isuzu who’s frantically trying to track down her brother, only to be told by her mother that he’s gone to the Center to get more medicine (they do have parents!). There’s something a little bit off about the last line Isuzu’s mom leaves her with "you don’t have to worry, you are our children." Something about "you are our children" that doesn’t sit right with me. I’m not exactly sure why it bothers me, but either she’s minimizing Issei’s sickness, doesn’t know the true extent of it, or is batshit insane herself. All three may apply. Meanwhile, over at The Center, Issei isn’t able to refill his full prescription due to a shortage in the medicine. This causes him no shortage of angst, which is only exacerbated after he runs into one of the girls he’s gone "driving" with and is confessed to as he drives her home. Maybe if she had that extra y-chromosome, Issei would’ve jumped her bones, but instead he stops the car and asks her to get out, promising to give her an answer later. Interestingly, every bit of stimulation seemed to drive him more and more insane. Honestly, I’m not sure this guy should be allowed to drive in his current state.

Meanwhile, after leaving Kaori’s place, Hiro and Mana pass by the shady pharmaceutical salesman. Hiro shoots a suspicious glance, as he seems to struggle with whether or not he recognizes him. Meanwhile, when pharma dude reaches the top of the hill, he meets Kaori who apparently is or shares a striking resemblance to someone he once knew.

Hiro heads back to Kaori’s after Mana realizes she left her hat there and is surprised to see pharma dude sharing pleasantries with Kaori. As Hiro heads back home, he’s overcome by a strange sensation and then see a girl running down the street with red fireflies chasing after her. Remembering Kaname’s urban legends he chases after them.

Remember the girl from the beginning of the episode? Well, she’s apparently being persecuted by the wolf army for crossing some sort of line. I don’t think it’s the kissing, but apparently somewhere something went wrong. She then asks an interesting question to the chibi wolf leader, "why were you born?" and instead of brushing it aside chibi wolf responds "to enforce the rules." It’s a curious exchange between the two. Other questions that I would’ve thought taken precedence would be "why are you chasing me?" "what are you going to do to me?" But it seemed like the girl knew the answers to those questions already. Instead, she seemed to be chafing against the enforcer. One thing to note is that the girl screams, after the scythe comes down and blood is spilled.

Hiro freaks out after seeing this and runs away screaming for help. He reaches a police station, but finds it empty. It’s then he meets the pharma dude and tells him the story and takes him back to the murder area. Not exactly the brightest decision, considering there were like 15 wolfmen, but whatever. Not surprisingly though, once they get there, there’s no body and no evidence of blood being spilt. Still, pharma dude tells Hiro he believes his story, because apparently he’s in town investigating a series of mysterious murders. He doesn’t mention whether he’s taken any good pictures though.

This episode didn’t get us closer to the truth, but I think it was pretty good at laying the cards on the table. Now it’s not just hints of things gone awry, but we know that there’s something definitely up. Next episode should be good.

It’s late January so you know what season it is… yaoi season! (No that didn’t make any sense. I got nothing. That’s what happens when you get Leno’s writers writing for you.)

Issei’s CGI car was the ugliest damn thing I’ve ever seen since that CGI waterski scene from the first episode of Armed Librarians. Issei picks up chicks with that thing? It looks more like the child molester mobile: sedan version. Getting beyond that there were a few details during this episode which annoyed me, although overall I thought the episode was ok.

So basically, the episode picks off where the last one ended, with Hiro and his cute imouto, Mana, accepting Issei’s invitation to go on a drive with Isuzu and Kaname in tow as well. It’s all fun and games in the beginning. You can tell by the blaringly cheesy background music. In fact, the only thing more forward than Isuzu’s advances (and later Issei’s advances) was the background music. Really, cheery, cheesy music for the lighthearted scenes, and lots of dissonant chords anytime something unusual occurs. Normally, I’d be fine with that, except it was way over the top. I get it. I get it. Don’t trust bad men. Or your girlfriend’s gay brother.

I wonder if Kaname’s giving off some hints here and there. Although she plays off her comment to Hiro about feeling like they’re trapped by nature as sort of a joke, I don’t think I believe her 100%. Especially since Issei set a strong precedent for not accepting anyone’s "jokes" in this show.

Hooray for random fanservice! Hey! I’m talking about the suzumikus, not the half naked trap! For someone who plays the prude, Hiro’s eyes were pretty much glued to Isuzu’s first measurement area. Eyes up, Hiro. Eyes up. Unfortunately, too bad Issei missed this scene, otherwise he might not have gotten a mixed message later.

Issei’s first come-on to Hiro happens when Hiro borrows Issei’s sweater to cover up, after having been pulled into the drink by Isuzu. Hiro thanks Issei for the sweater and tells him that he’ll return it after washing it, at which point Issei tells him to not bother washing it, because he wouldn’t want to get rid of Hiro’s scent. Isuzu chides her brother for his sick sense of humor, and explains that he tells the weirdest joke. Judging by Isuzu’s quick low-key response, I got the impression that she believes what she’s saying and that she’s not covering up for him. On the other hand, judging by that flashback of Issei sniffing that sweater, either he’s got some sort of breathing problem, or that sweater is laced with some wack shit. Things only get weirder during the drive home, when Issei thanks Hiro for a good time and tenderly places his hand on top of Hiro’s. I can’t help but think that a better lead like Keiichi or Battler wouldn’t have stood for that sort of perverseness.

The next day Hiro heads to "the Center" (short for the Jouga Medical Treatment Center) to get a check-up, having caught a cold from Isuzu’s water mischief… or possibly cooties from Issei’s sweater. Gee… "the Center" that doesn’t sound evil, ya think? And well, whattya know. Here, Hiro meets Nemuru’s uncle, who’s a doctor at the hospital and not exactly Mr. Credibility. Drawing blood from Hiro seemed like overkill for a minor cold, but he later engages in some big-Pharma shenanigans that seems to solidify his shadiness.

I always wondered why people on TV (and this applies outside of anime) were such pansies when it comes to things like colds. I have never, once, gone to a hospital or even a doctor to get a checkup due to some sniffles and sneezes. Anyway, there were a couple details about this scene that really bugged me. One was again, the background music. Specifically, the strange country-western guitar lick that plays when we see that Issei is also at the hospital and noticed Hiro, from behind a corner. As if the setting and his previous actions didn’t make his creepiness clear enough, we apparently needed a ridiculously over-the-top BGM loop. The other is, why is Nemuru’s uncle meeting with the head of the pharmaceutical company in a dark room, without turning the lights on? Is that what evil people do? Read experimental product lists via the light of dusk? This sort of stuff smacks of poor direction. Apparently these people are really evil, or it’s just an obvious misdirection ploy.

As Hiro  leaves the Center, he finds Issei outside waiting for him. During the drive, Issei questions why Hiro refuses his sister’s advances, and decides that Hiro’s just actually gay for him. At which point we get the near-raep scene with Issei feeling up Hiro and getting in close for a sloppy kiss. That is until Hiro kicks the dashboard, and knocks over the magical Hassaku air freshener, which smashes when it hits the ground. This seems to snap Issei out of his yaoi-RAGE funk. And Issei "recovers" by claiming that it was all a joke.

Definitely a compelling scene, but the one thing that bothered me was that the whole time Hiro was screaming, I kept thinking… "this is Yuu Kobayashi… this is Yuu Kobayashi." I typically like her. But I’m learning that I don’t like her as a boy (Satoshi notwithstanding), and it’s really tough for me to separate Hiro the character, from Yuu the seiyuu. I’m either going to have de-program my brain to stop thinking that, or it’s going to be a tough run.

After dropping Hiro off at home, Issei pops some pills. Perhaps it’s for his psychotic behavior, but it’s probably actually causing it. Apparently, it does nothing for his sweater huffing habit. Based on the short conversation between Nemuru and her uncle, it seems safe to conclude that the people in the new village need Hassaku oranges to keep them from going crazy.

I had a lot of complaints, but like I mentioned at the beginning, I didn’t think the episode was bad. The story is interesting, but the direction needs improving. I have some thoughts as to what’s going on, but I’m going to withhold that speculation for now.