With exams hanging over my head, I felt like I couldn’t enjoy anything, not even my favorite anime…
But now that they’re done and I’ve proclaimed my joy to the world, let’s get to my long-overdue review of the fifth episode of Kanokon!
For what it is, episode 5 is actually pretty simple. Ezomori Saku comes to town to check up on his little sister Nozomu, and ends up running into Chizuru and Kouta. In short order, small talk ensues. We learn that Chizuru and Saku are actually old acquaintances, as Saku remembers a time when Chizuru’s breasts were only a handful…
Saku also needs no introduction from Kouta, as he’s already heard the whole story from Nozomu. But when the conversation turns to relationships and Chizuru begins to get territorial, Kouta seems to let on that he’s getting a little worn out from Chizuru’s aggressive loving. As “a present to the pitiful Kouta-kun,” Saku gives him a mysterious bracelet.
Chizuru doesn’t like it, and later tries to take it off of Kouta by force – more specifically, by knocking him over and more or less trying to pull his wrist out of its socket. But while he’s staring up Chizuru’s skirt as she continues her efforts, Kouta starts to complain that his head hurts, and he faints.
Chizuru becomes suspicious and confronts Saku, demanding to know about the bracelet. He tells her that it’s an anti-seduction charm that harms its wearer whenever he or she becomes aroused – even to the point of killing that person! Essentially, it’s an anti-rape bracelet, which means that Chizuru’s totally stuck! Chizuru, of course, demands that Saku take it off, but he says he won’t do that unless Chizuru becomes “his woman.” She’s not willing to do that, but since she doesn’t want to hurt Kouta, either, she tells herself that she’ll stay away from him until she can find a different way to remove the bracelet.
Unfortunately, neither she nor Tayura can come up with anything, and for most of the rest of the episode Chizuru stalks Kouta everywhere he goes, trying desperately to NOT rape him. When Kouta starts wondering where she is and comes looking for her, Chizuru realizes that this is more than she can bear, and tells her brother that she’s going to risk her life and fight Saku to make him take off the bracelet! After hearing this resolution, Tayura ties her up and goes in her stead – bringing the pointy-eared kid and the toad girl from previous episodes with him for good measure.
The three of them set up a meeting with Saku at a nearby shrine and battle ensues, but Saku reveals his wolf form and makes short work of them. Chizuru manages to free herself in time to catch the end of the fight, and after telling Saku yet again that she’ll never be “his woman,” she transforms into her fox form and enters the fray herself.
Cutting back to school, Kouta gets a sudden bad feeling about something, which gets worse when Nozomu says that she can hear her brother howling about something. Kouta grabs Nozomu and runs out of the classroom, and Nozomu leads him to the shrine, where he discovers Saku gloating over a beaten and very naked Chizuru. That bastard – you don’t rape Chizuru! Chizuru is supposed to be the one raping you!
Kouta is similarly outraged, and when Chizuru tells him weakly to run away, he asks her to help him fight instead. They kiss, and gattai! into Kouta’s fox form – giving Kouta the ability to hurl a giant ball of foxfire that wipes out Saku in one hit.
The bracelet disappears, and Saku is forced to admit defeat and leave town. Before he leaves, he acknowledges Chizuru and Kouta as a couple, but tells Kouta that it’s his job to take care of Nozomu now, too. This can only mean more wild ecchi in the future!
Finally, we see Saku talking with a pair of mysterious figures about something.
I’m getting a JUST AS PLANNED vibe here – which is fine as long as Kanokon remembers to keep handing out Chizuru fanservice.
So, this was the episode where Kanokon tried to prove that it could stand on its own even without gratuitous amounts of ecchi, and, in my opinion, did well in that. The fight scene wasn’t great, but it was good for a change, and the anti-rape bracelet was comedic gold when used against a character like Chizuru. Again, we have some hints towards something more serious to look forward to near the end of the series, and we see the spirit-animal transformations that have been missing since episode one. These are good elements to include at this point, and hopefully they stick around when the ecchi inevitably returns next episode.
*Honya: I’m in ur draft, reading ur posts.*
btw, Guess who I found
