Souls Rhapsody’s Weblog

I rarely ever do posts on individual episodes of anime (for people who have read my blog in the past), however, I really liked this episode of Kyouran Kazoku Nikki. Hyouka has been my favourite character in KKN since the beginning, so it was nice seeing an episode dedicated to him.

Quick Summary (For people who don’t want to know about the actual ep itself, please skip this section)
The episode started off with a bunch of melon-headed green men (literally) chasing after Ouka and Hyouka. Apparently, they were sent by Dr.Gebok to collect data from “Black Thirteen” aka Hyouka. Ultimately, the encounter ends with the explosion of the nasty green men in speedos and Hyouka crashing into a bakery and landing on top of the girl.

Hyouka and Ouka are chased by these... speedo-wearing melon men

After an insane explosion, Hyouka accidentally ends up trashing a bakery and landing on this poor, unfortunate girl

The girl ends up being ok, and instead of reprimanding Hyouka for trashing her store, she thanks him for calling the ambulance for her. Hyouka develops a weird feeling for her, claiming it hurts in the back of his brain whenever he thinks about her, but he wants to protect her smile. Eventually Hyouka starts going out everyday to meet this girl, and the girl tells him about her sad life.

The girl is highly amused by Hyouka's eating habits, where he literally vacuums food via a creepy hole in his black face

Hyouka kindly trying to help the girl fix up her shop... awwww... don't you see the VIBES going on between the two? <3

She doesn’t get along well with her parents, and it was through her sister, Yuiko, that she found strength to live. However, one day Yuiko disappeared, and the girl vowed to protected her sister’s bakery until her return. When Hyouka listens to the girl talk about her sister, the pain in the back of his head acted up again.

Hyouka vows to protect the girl, but the pain in his head keeps popping up whenever he's with her.

Kyouka, being as mental as she is, believes that Hyouka is in love and does a series of insane things to try to “help” him (I won’t go into much detail, Kyouka-sama’s insanity is beyond my comprehension). However, one of these events is interrupted by Dr.Gebok’s unwelcomed entrance, where he reminds Hyouka of the time when Hyouka killed Gebok for the first time. It was after Dr. Gebok stuffed a girl (whom Hyouka considered his friend) into a coffee and painted a target on it. Without thinking, Hyouka thought it was just another target and shot it, only to find out that he accidentally killed his beloved friend. And… guess what? As fate would have it, it turns out that the friend that Hyouka killed was… Takanashi Yuiko.

Kyouka-sama and her insane rabu-rabu game... a game which accidentally caused Yuuka to be swallowed whole by Hyouka.

Hyouka remembers the dark cell where he met his first friend, a friend whose smile he loved.

The target that Hyouka shot without hesitation explodes in blood... which causes Hyouka to go insane.

The subtitles speak for themselves.

Of course, after this, Hyouka flips again and beats the non-living shit outta Dr.Gebok, but the girl runs away. Hyouka tries to apologize through a letter, stating that he really likes the girl and that he’s devastated by the sin he committed in the past. He also says its ok for the girl to kill him in order to have him atone for taking away the one person that the girl has been living for. However, he’s so overwhelmed by guilt that he tears the letter apart. And thus enters the mighty Kyouka-sama to fix things up.

SUPER SAIYAN HYOUKA-SAMA!!!

After the girl ran away while Hyouka was busy slaughtering Gebok, Hyouka tries to write a letter of apology.

In the end, Hyouka tapes the ripped up letter back together and delivers it to the girl. The girl actually didn’t blame Hyouka at all, feeling that he’s suffering just as much as she is. In the end, she tells Hyouka that she will move away, leaving the store behind, since there was no longer a reason to stay here anymore. Hyouka calls the girl by her name, Kiriko (which she sees as a sign of intimacy, since her parents never called her by name), and promises to fly by her side whenever she needs him.

Kyouka-sama taking matters into her own hands... she takes the ripped up letter, tapes it back together, and delivers it to the girl's windowsill.

All is forgiven, and Hyouka bids his farewell to the girl with these beautiful parting words.

Just as the girl turns to leave, Hyouka wishes Kiriko all the best.

Ok, that’s it for the summary. Now onto my insignificant opinion on this episode. I’ve always loved Kyouran Kazoku Nikki. At first glance, it seems totally retarded and mindless, with Kyouka doing crazy things and everyone having to clean up after her. However, it does occasionally give off the nice, warm, family vibe, where they talk about love and caring for each other and all. Sometimes it even has some darker aspects, e.g. Kyouka’s past, Ouka’s past, Yuuka’s past… and now Hyouka’s past. If you think about it… I don’t think the killing of a friend is something suitable for children to watch. It’s quite a devastating emotional blow. So why is this episode so special? We’ve touched on Hyouka’s past before (in the episodes about the flying monkeys), but this episode really brings out the tragedy of his past. To have killed the sister of your new (and probably only) friend is really heart-wrenching.

Anyway… enough about that. I don’t know how else to explain the awesomeness of this episode. Kyouka-sama’s insanity is always nice comic relief (and I’m still shocked by the speed in which she speaks), so it kind of balanced out the darker and heavier component of the show.

One last thing… I simply adore Hirohashi Ryo’s voice as Hyouka. I think she does a fantastic job, both when she’s supposed to sound emotionless and clueless, and when she’s supposed to snap and go insane. I especially love it when the family’s in a dire situation and she goes, “OUKA CAN I SHOOT CAN I SHOOT I CAN SHOOT THEM AND KILL THEM?” XD XD XD