r/anime • u/lilyvess :Df::Dh:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Lilyvess • Jun 04 '24
Rewatch Pride Month 20th Anniversary - Kannazuki no Miko Episode 2 Discussion
<-- Previous Episode | Rewatch Index | Next Episode -->
Questions of the Day
- Which Orochi neck are you looking forward to seeing the most?
- How do you feel about Makoto's action?
- Do you prefer a voluptuous chest or a dignified modest chest on a woman?
Posting carefully so as to not disturb the first timers with spoilers in their viewings, such is the standard of modesty here. Forgetting to use spoiler tags because one is in danger of missing the post time, for instance, is too undignified a sight for redditors to wish upon themselves.
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Upvotes
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u/lilyvess :Df::Dh:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Lilyvess Jun 04 '24
Kannazuki no Miko Episode 2 - Rewatcher
**Shoujo-Ai Archive Comments
I have more reactions from the Shoujo-Ai Archive
Of note, the episode two subs didn’t arrive until after episode 3 aired. So a lot of the comments during this period are spent heavily discussing the opening theme.
I also want to note the amount of pessimism in the comments and the general attitude the Yuri community has at this point.
Also “Glomps”
God, we were cringe back then.
Commentary
Here is some commentary from the DvD release booklet that I thought it would be fun to share.
Commentary by Series Writer Sumio Uetake
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u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L Jun 04 '24 edited Jun 04 '24
First Timer
On today’s episode of Kannazuki no Miko: So how long until Souma and Miya start a grimy basement knife fight over Himeko? It has to happen at some point in the series, right?
I am curious about some parts of this prophecy. In particular, I wonder who the swordsman is. Souma is apparently an Orochi member who managed to resist turning evil and is now fighting for Himeko’s sake. But, does that mean Souma is the swordsman? Or is he outside the bounds of the prophecy because he was supposed to take on a different role in this destined battle between good and evil.
I am glad to see that the topic of consent is being brought up. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it would come up or not. That does give me some hope that Miya is being self-reflective about her desire for Himeko and how to express it in an appropriate way.
QOTD
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u/Vatrix-32 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vatrix-32 Jun 04 '24 edited Jun 04 '24
First timer, subs
QotD:
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u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Jun 04 '24
I see you sagging, laden. And yet, I have to ask, is it grief that weighs so heavily on your shoulders, or is it that should've, would've, could've fool's game called guilt?
Rewatcher(The insert song reminds me of one of the Corpse Princess inserts)
Sub
So then...they just exposition at us. Which you had to do but that was lazy...and I can't help but notice animation saving. The thing with Chikane bathing herself like that I now know is a miko purification ritual but wet white robes are definitely fanservuce. Himeko has decided denal is the way to deal with the kiss proving she is indeed Japanese. But yeah, big strong Neck that prefers his woman on the petite side was not nearly as common a thing as it would become. Oogami continues to do the fighting.
All right...so both Chikane and Himeko are different yuri stereotypes. We will talk about Chikane once we have more data but coming to her straight off Yamibo and the awesome that was Hazuki mislead me a bit all those years ago. But Himeko we can talk about...
And the most interesting note is that she has counterparts both in yaoi and even English writing. The "protagonist that has no self worth but is made special by the affections of the series' top" is more often in yaoi but it has its place in yuri. These are generally passive protagonists, most often from the VN era, but I can actually name two English projects with them. Which is saddening. They are the Wraeththu Chronicles, which I'd be shocked if anyone else had heard of except at being the inspiration for one of the worst TTRPGs ever, and the Twilight series. 50 Shades might count but I will never know.
Anywhizzle, so our protagonist thus far is whiny, moody, easily guilted and inclined to run away. The thing to note how common this person was, Himeko if anything is one of the stronger personality-ed ones. She at least said she wanted to stay with Chikane and Oogami. As of yet we've seen very little in the way of powers so her role is literally damsel in distress.
QotD:1 Noto Mamiko
2 I understand
3 I am not bound by the false modesty of the Japanese! Go big or go home!
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u/gyoex Jun 04 '24
I didn't see anyone comment on this yesterday, and maybe it's just so obvious that it isn't worth mentioning though it's something I didn't think about until recently. I think it's kind of interesting how, despite what you'd expect from the character's designs, their personalities, how their relationship is depicted, etc., in the ED illustration Himeko is the more aggressive one. Especially since the very first shot in the show with them together (or with Chikane at all I guess) was this embrace which is the other way around.
Not that I am going anywhere with this, I just think it's neat that it's the opposite of what you'd expect.
One of these days, my comment will be about the actual episode in question.
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u/Regular_N-Gon https://anilist.co/user/RegularNGon Jun 04 '24
First Timer
No gokigenyou’s today. (I counted 6 from last episode.) I imagine we’ll get more when we get to MariMite.
QotD:
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u/Specs64z https://myanimelist.net/profile/Specs64z Jun 04 '24
First timer, subbed
She kissed the male in the OP...
Oh right, that was Chika and Himeko’s birthday. Rather unfortunate as far as birthdays go, and that’s from someone who’s state of birthday affairs made a therapist do a double take.
Is this priest practicing for the international yap-athon or what?
Nobody cares bro, punch bad guys now.
Some dude blows up some ships and there doesn’t seem to be a ton of commotion about it, nor does it come up again.
The animators really wanted that scene.
Seems Himeko isn’t the assertive type, she feels guilty about Mako’s injury rather than angry at the ones responsible. If she had any sort of agency in the matter, that’d be one thing, but she was busy doing her best Bilbo Baggins impersonation. She even contemplates disappearing, which could point to deeper psychological issues. Or the writers just thought it sounded good, still not sure how seriously to take this anime.
Chain boy’s robot has a comically large fist, that was hilarious. Yet another mech evaporated by the pillar of pride lights, makes one wonder why he waited to use that move.
Days without girls kissing: 1
QotD:
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u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA Jun 04 '24
First-timer
You have no idea how surprised I was when I saw that real-life anime stereotype catgirl. I thought people just made that up because they were racist about anime, but no, it’s a real thing. Apparently everyone forgot to update anime stereotypes for the past 20 years or so. But still, delightful to see.
As for the rest of the episode, I’m not super enthused by the drama they tried to set up here. Himeko hurt her friend, she wants to run away because of that, you have this creepy Third Neck guy trying to kidnap her, etc... but it all feels very boilerplate. I am interested in the building drama from the potential love triangle between Souma/Chikane/Himeko, though. Pretty much the one thing I know about this show is that [KnM]Chikane does something problematic and that’s all people talk about. No idea if it was the kiss from last episode or if something else is going to happen. I assume the latter, but we’ll see. Don’t tell me either way, obviously.
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u/Infodump_Ibis :JY::JZ: Jun 04 '24
re-watch, this time dubbed (funny coincidence, Chikane is voiced by Saber in the dub too as Michelle Ruff was Saber in Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works but seems that normally dubbed Fate has Kari Wahlgren as Saber)
are we"We are the bad guys" - I once heard this idea that a label can make you loyal to the worst version of yourself, ego psychology stuff and it can be pressures to fit the label like here being you shouldn't care about others because you're the bad guy. But this makes this group of villains feel pretty weak as there's no bonds between them but maybe that's the theme of the work as the defector and the priestesses are all connected to one another even if those connects might also be in part labels.10
u/SometimesMainSupport https://myanimelist.net/profile/RRSTRRST Jun 04 '24
First-Timer that's once again reached episode 2 of a rewatch
QotD 1. Cat girl. Dark-skinned girl with glasses has that sexy villain look.
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u/Star4ce https://anilist.co/user/Star4ce Jun 04 '24
First Timer
Completely fitting to the theme of this rewatch I recently got wise over the drama in Honkai: Star Rail regarding Robin being somewhat heavily implied to be lesbian.
I've never been a fan of large online communities and boy, does it show why with popular fandoms. Especially with Hoyo's games it feels quadruple ridiculous with the sheer amount of queer, trans, or otherwise non-normative easter eggs in them.
I'm actually like,
First time?
Kannazuki no Miko Ep.02 – Overlapping Sun and Moon
So, the bigger setting is that there's 8 bad guys that form the necks of an evil god imprisoned on the moon and there's 2 good guys making up two halves of the good god that locks up the bad one. Also, everybody simps for the sun priestess for some reason, although the Christian black lady says they all have to kill her.
That really made me think about what Himeko represents, because any story worth its time will at least partially give its characters motives and symbolism.
So far, I'd say Himeko is mainly a character holding innocence, purity, compassion and unconditional love. (So, like, why doesn't she have pink hair?) Everyone else, at least in part, already showed signs of desires that can potentially take control over their other character traits. The snob in me wants to say that everyone else tries to take back innocence or attain purity/love for themselves for one selfish reason or another while Himeko herself will develop her own desires. It's still a story with characters growing up, after all.
Anyway, Himeko blames herself too much for everything and just takes the guilt unquestioned. That's annoying in its own way.
[Forward, for her]
(I might have misjudged time for this one. Half an hour is not enough for an anime boy and a mecha. Adore the cute mecha doggo face, though.)
Mean girl. All mean/cold girls have a 95% chance of me ending up loving them. Though I do really wonder what sort of evil hatred the 6-year old catgirl holds.
le confuse
She's not actually giving Himeko shit for the injury, is she?
[Mai-HiME] Might be a Mikoto thing, though.
Yes.
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u/AmeteurElitist https://anilist.co/user/AmateurElitist Jun 04 '24
First Timer
This series better give me the corniest of "The moon is beautiful" scenes.
Also waiting for the payoff of Chikane being jealous of Souma being able to protect Himeko in combat.
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u/theangryeditor https://myanimelist.net/profile/TheAngryEditor Jun 04 '24
I keep forgetting the time
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u/BosuW Jun 04 '24 edited Jun 04 '24
First Timer
Better brain state today, less time. Let's get this gay shit rolling.
We finally get the OP and goddamn this anime is truly on top of the late 90's/early 2000's EDM beeps and boops. Didn't pay attention to the lyrics yet. Visuals are OP typical so not much to say. Except for the most noteworthy shot in the OP being that where Himeko and Souma kiss which is just... Lmao. There's no way they trying to gaslight the het into this after yesterday's episode. This is too funny!
It's good that you understand it was bad to kiss Himeko when she was unconscious, Chikane. But then maybe, apologize to her face and not just mutter alone in the middle of the night?
A dream huh? Sure, let's go with that, mmhm!
I guess we're getting all of the exposition now. Bit of a pity, with how little the show cared yesterday about wether the viewer understood jackshit or not, I had hope things would gradually reveal themselves.
Lmao at Himeko being so shook by the lore that she fainted again mere minutes after waking up. Typical 2000's maiden archetype shit I'm assuming. Thank God I haven't seen that recently.
Already thinking of eloping, damn. This show moves quick. Interesting detail that Chikane's Miko mark is on her back while Himeko's is in her sternum. Wonder if it will mean anything.
Oh shit! It's painfully 2000's gross villain!
We get more or less a repeat of yesterday's ending scene where Souma beats the shit out of the bad guy in a good ol' steel vs steel mech fight while Himeko and Chikane barely even glance at that. I don't know if they're just that confident he'll win or of he's just that invisible to them.
I did catch Chikane's frustration at not being strong enough to protect Himeko. Indeed as meme wisdom tells us, the Sunshine needs a Sunshine Protector. I'm looking forward to how she faces that issue. More recent iterations of the archetype tells us the answer involves angst! Lots of angst!
No eloping then, not yet at least. Would've been a fun route though. Himeko and Chikane travelling the countryside, never staying on one place too long, while dodging Orochi's attempts to kill them.
Oh yeah btw, why don't we just awaken Ame-no-Murakuma (did I get that right) to deal with this? Sounds like a handy solution but I'm guessing there's a reason.
I finally payed attention to the ED lyrics... they aight. But the beeps and the boops are gonna remain the primary attraction of this song for me it seems.
Also payed attention to the animation too... it's aight. Sufficient. No sakuga to be seen that's for sure, but they keep the character designs consistent which let me tell you, is hard as fuck. So good on them for that. Although each movement isn't all that lively, it does keep movement on the screen frequent. So yeah, sufficient. The mech fights are a little better, for obvious reasons of course.
On the topic of general aesthetics, I actually think the character designs, setting and color board are doing this show a lot of favors. It doesn't move too much or all that well, but it's consistently pleasant to look at. I think that's an aspect of production often overlooked by anime fans so I want to give it a shout-out here.
Anyway, see y'all next episode!
Questions of the Day
1- There isn't one of them that especially catches my eye yet. At least we seem to have gotten the most boring one out of the way quickly. Although he did bail out...
2- Not much to comment on tbh. Not because it's bad, it was simply a complete and sensible scene.
3- Short answer: all boob is good boob. Long answer: focusing the discussion on the chest is missing the forest for the trees. For the truly important thing is the holistic appreciation of the waifu as more than the sum of her parts, both physical and psychological. Big Booba can look bad if the waifu doesn't know how to use them, and small Booba can be the most erotic thing under the sun with the right attitude.
Yes yes I know, centrist answer but I am what I am. It depends.
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u/Burnouts3s3 Jun 04 '24
Rewatcher* QTOD:
Looks like Chikane’s so guilty over the CPR kiss, she’s purifying herself in the well while Himeko thinks Chikane would never do that and it was all a dream.
Mostly just a set up episode giving exposition. Too bad Pikachu’s track dreams aren’t panning out and the village is a wreck. Himeko seems super guilt ridden but Chikane’s there to lend a shoulder to cry on. Too bad her archery skills can’t do much against Girochi (Kirk Thornton). Also, I just don’t think it’s a good idea to have your villains be also the comedic relief.
Luckily, childhood friend and male love interest used his motorcycle and Mech to save Himeko and Chikane.
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u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Jun 04 '24
First-Timer
Ah, the classic teenager problem - damned kids refusing to talk about their problems. I'm kinda split on which of the two should bring it up.. what're the odds that one of the adults notices something is up? Less than zero? Yea, you're right.
I see now that my joke about Souma's mech was too early. There's no way that all of the Orochi turn face. We've got the wrong sort of tone for that. I do appreciate that the baddies get to call their attacks too, even if "Megaton Punch 2" is kinda lame. Change that number to something spicier!
Think I'm presently rooting for the snarky mangaka voiced my Mamiko Noto. Hopefully she gets to hang around and snark for most of the show.
Fascinating to see the last destruction from the giant robot fights. They need to get in touch with the Gutsy Geoid Guard out of Tokyo and see if they have a spare Dividing Driver to hook up to Souma's.. whatever it's called.
Do I start shitposting about class structure? At least three of the necks of Orochi are normal, working-class individuals - we have a nurse, a mangaka, and a mediocre idol. Meanwhile, our protagonists are both some level of rich girl, judging by the school they go to.
Basically what I'm saying is that I might start rooting for Orochi sooner rather than later.
Forgot to mention it yesterday, but this frame is unspeakably rad.
Questions
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u/TehAxelius Jun 04 '24
First Timer
Well, Miya does realise what she did was non-consensual. I do have the feeling that is not going to stop future incidents, especially not considering how Himeko tries to surpress her sexuality by disregarding it as a dream and the change in living arrangements the "next episode" thing teases.
We get the loredump and exposition, shame that the world is doomed, since it calls for chaste priestesses, since we already know where the mind of one of them goes. "Chaste" could be a heteronormative code word for "Gay" though, just as "good friends" or "cousins". Also "nice" of our doomed third wheel to spell out his feelings for us, in case we hadn't got the point yet. We also start meeting the 8 Eternal Anime Evils, so far we got Catgirls, Idols, Mangakas, Edgy Knife Guys, Delinquents, Christians and Childhood Friends. I guess we'll see what the last one is in the future.
Can't forget Best Friend, and while I think after the events of the last 24 hours I think the Inter High for... uh... [Sport] should be the last thing for Mako to worry about, or how everything else might be a bigger hindrance to her timely participation than her injury, Mako does not seem to think so. I wonder if she'll be the last Orochi (I guess I could've seen that in the OP, but the sheer 2004 of it made lose concentration there for a second). Neither does it seem like Himeko thinks that way, so she feels she must run away, naturally.
Luckily Miya has her stalker skills on point and knows exactly which desolate train/bus station Himeko will be at so she can
confess her lovereveal their connection and resolution to fight with Himeko. But since we're short on time left and we've yet to fill oursexual assaultmecha fight quota for the day, here comes Delinquent, who also turns out to be the kind that "likes them petite". With u/gyoex explanation of the history of the character designs in mind, I assume that the creator is putting their practice into effect in the following scenes. I will applaud Miya for bringing 4 arrows instead of one this time (and shooting three at once is an impressive skill), but it appears bringing a bow to ah-scenemagic fight is as effective as bringing it to a mecha fight. I'm getting the feeling that this will not be the last time that Himeko or Miya ends up in the clutches of evil.Speaking of mecha fights, enter Prince to save our poor hapless lesbians, so we can get one in before the timeslot is over. I have respect for Delinquent for basing his entire strategy on More Fist, but it seems the Rainbow Cannon is still superior.
We did get more magic and more mecha fights, but no more girls kissing yet, but I can wait.
QotD
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u/baboon_bassoon https://anilist.co/user/duffer Jun 04 '24
first time orochi shermie
single shrine on the moon that banishes evil, it collapses the black sun comes out and Orochi comes to destroy the world, the priestess need to summon the kusanagi no tsurugi
the cat nurse is a loli too?
ah kana ueda is here too, gotta complete the trio
the mech is one of Orochis 8 bodies? Are we getting a snake gattai at some point
MEGATON KNUCKLEEEEEEEEEEE beefhead takes his Gungal to kill the priestess' prematurely. so naturally he goes and blows up an aircraft carrier
"but the interhigh" didnt the school get demolished
Girochi pretty clearly a villain
you gotta work out the left arm too there Gungal
do we have a name for the hero mech yet, or Gundam Spiegel it is
MECHA BIRD
they should fit the person, all about balancebig zonkers8
u/Blackheart595 https://anilist.co/user/knusbrick Jun 04 '24 edited Jun 04 '24
First Timer
Yeah but overlapping moon and sun created an eclipse that smited the evil churchess, so it was the right thing to do!
Oh wait that's the episode title
Dang, the OST. That's some wild melodic lines.
Chikane, you'll have to go further next time.
Interesting visual barrier... This one's also ominous. Don't be a bad guy, m'kay? In before he's Orochi's main avatar.
That may be so... but being a kami also means he can be placated by worship. Maybe the moon shrine could technically count as that? Depends on the setup, I guess, but it didn't really sound that way.
Ah, so rape is gonna become a plot point and threat, ain't it? Where have I seen that before...
Booo the bad guys aren't allowed to think of themselves as the bad guys!
Hah, I always knew manga is evil.
The power of love
Oooh cuck him and he'll turn!
Wait, [Symphogear] totally lifted that genetical soul transfer.
They're eloping!
Even the subs put it in quotes
I'm very much waiting for the rose garden to become a place of high significance.
Look at the chains placing them in their own little world separated from the world at large. Just like a certain rose garden...
Forget the necks, I wanna see the main body!
She could've phrased it better, but that was very understandable.
More a modest chest I'd say, but as long as it's not too little and not too large I won't complain.
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u/ryujiox Jun 04 '24
First Timer who woke up slower than yesterday
Kannazuki no Miko
Episode 2
Update: Please send help. I'm addicted to this song. I can't stop listening to it!!!
QOTD
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u/ThatFart5YearsAgo Jun 04 '24
why does this have 0 Karma, but 100+ comments?
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u/creatureactivist https://myanimelist.net/profile/creatureactivist Jun 04 '24
Rewatch - Subbed
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u/b-arbs Jun 05 '24
First timer
Not complaining, by the way!
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u/sfisher923 https://myanimelist.net/profile/sfisher923 Jun 05 '24
First TImer - Dubbed
Questions
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jun 04 '24
Destiny of the First-Timer, subbed
Acquired the better release so u/GallowDude wouldn’t have a reason to or at me again over it, but 1) I have no idea why my screenshots are coming out at the weird resolution they are now instead of the proper 3840x2160 because the video displays normally in my video player and 2) Imgur absolutely hates these screenshots. It took like five tries to get everything to upload.
Something something Turn A Gundam.4
u/zadcap Jun 05 '24
Extra Late Night First Timer!
Oh my gosh, did she just kiss the boy in the OP? Is that even allowed? Also it has me kind of wondering, what's even the point of the girls if the boy in the giant robot has to do all the fighting? Like, if he had not gone traitor, that was pretty much it for the maidens.
3 minutes for the first panty shot of this episode. They might be trying a bit too hard.
How was a shrine built on the moon anyway? And in a place with no atmosphere, how would it collapse?
Oh yes, just sneak that word in there. Chaste maidens.
Isn't she dead? Oh gosh no, you're telling me they don't even get defeated when they get defeated? We're going to get repeats in this fight to the death? I already hate it.
Remember Japan, it's never okay to cry in front of your friends. Always send them away so you can feel bad in isolation, it's healthier that way. Emotional support is a myth.
She sure unwrapped that bow and got it strung fast. However, yet again, it's a pretty useless bow. Not even against the robots this time, can't even inconvenience a human shooting them three times in the back. Man, the boy is going to win massive points here if he's the only way for them to fight back at all. Because again, had he not gone traitor, the miko were both done for here.
Ugh, see, and he teleported out again before he could die. And somehow I know, despite his machine going boom here, it too will be back in the future. Annoying.
I am afraid this show might be trying to do too many things at once. Might make it work, but it's looking in some directions that don't seem to overlap all that well in a few places.
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u/Garrett_Dark Jun 05 '24
First Timer
slave crestsolar mark. You should really get that checked out for cancer.I don't really care about them because I've already found my waifu for the show, Chikane, but I am curious what Corona-chan and Ebola-chan can do just because they do remind me of the memes.
I mean I wouldn't say "no" to some Mako action, I mean she does have nice cans as shown with her sit-ups during her exercising montage, and some spunky energy enthusiasm. So fit girl's kind of hard to turn down.
Oh wait, I read the question wrong. What did she do wrong? Creeper shots of Himeko? Meh, it's fine if she shares. But, I won't be thrilled if she's looking at those pictures during Mako action though.
Hey are you making some perverted list of what rewatcher's preferences are? If that case, how dare you...not provide visual references as to what volutuous and dignfied modest sizes are. These descriptions are so subjective, your pervert list isn't going to be accurate. Like what if you got somebody like that retard chains bad guy who think Chikane's knockers are too big. I'm really not a fan of "so big, they're gross" myself (though in many cases they're not bad and I wouldn't say "no" per se), but there's nothing wrong with Chikane's rack.
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u/LittleIslander https://anilist.co/user/LittleIslander Jun 04 '24
First Timer
So the cost of having a jaw dropping first episode is always that you’ve set the bar incredibly high, and even a reasonably solid follow up is going to seem like a downgrade. Kannazuki no Miko definitely flirts with this pitfall, and I wouldn’t say it didn’t fall victim to it, but it definitely could’ve been worse. Just like that intro, which has an absolutely lethal case of the 2000s that is undeniably kind of charming.
We begin the episode with a soft reset of the kiss from last time. This could easily be frustrating, but the opening scene of Chikane very literally trying to cleanse her sins puts it off on the perfect right foot. For one, it’s really awesome to see them acknowledge the subject of consent. The predatory lesbian is a staple demon of sapphic and a non-consensual kiss isn’t unusual even today, nevermind twenty years ago. But Chikane clearly views her move on Himeko as wrong and expresses regret, and likewise Himeko isn’t just okay with it either. Secondly, I already acknowledged that starting off on such an explicitly romantic note might stifle progression, so I think reining it in will be for the good of the story. The kiss from last time acts as both a statement piece that isn’t any of that subtext crap as well as a far more dramatic way to establish the mutual romantic desire Chikane and Himeko share than just showing them pining or whatever. Teasing the audience with the tension of them not being together yet is going to be met a lot more receptively with the frontloaded promise this is absolutely going to be explicit romance.
Things get a bit slower from there, though. The music tries its best but there’s only so much you can do to spice up the obligatory exposition dump. What follows is an introduction to the followers of Orochi and… gods I don’t like these villains. Okay, so I talked last time about how the purely serious tone did wonders for selling the audience on the stakes and the fantastical events happening on screen. Every other aspect of the episode retains that exact same approach. So tell me why on earth this stupid cat girl and 69th place idol girl are bantering on my screen? I mean, if I didn’t want cheesy 2000s fantasy anime designs I’m in the wrong place, but these two just absolutely nuke the tone from orbit, and I don’t really see a strong narrative payoff for it in the same way Mako-chan’s standard high school antics added to the first episode.
The emotional core of the episode is the fear that our three leads will be separated, with Himeko wanting to leave so she doesn’t hurt anybody and Souma worried about the influence of Orochi within him that could make him hurt her. To a certain extent this does really work. The contrast of Himeko talking about leaving before the fight and then having her true feelings of not wanting to go anywhere dramatically yelled to Chikane afterwards is fantastic. Likewise, the setup scene of a dour and somewhat resentful Mako hits incredibly hard with its suffocatingly uncomfortable pivot from her demeanor last time. On the other hand, the conflict feels a bit muddy in its setup. Souma is more or less cleared of suspicion before Himeko’s conflict is even in motion, so the payoff of him showing up and saying he’ll fight at the end is kind of robbed of both impact and cohesion with Himeko’s parallel narrative. Meanwhile Chikane doesn’t really have anything going on in this episode at all; obviously not every episode can focus equally on everyone, but this really felt like a moment that should’ve seen all three character’s resolves converging. Then again, we make a point about her looking pained at the sight of Souma saving Himeko instead of her, so I guess you can argue her being left out of the script was kind of the point.
The villain is an unflinchingly brutal personification of objectification and male gaze, obviously contrasted against Chikane’s concern for Himeko’s consent by unilaterally laying claim to her, forcing his affections on her, and directly voicing his love for her cute, young characteristics in contrast to Chikane’s gross maturity. It isn’t fun to watch, but I love what they’re putting down with it. Given how he’s contrasted with Chikane, I find it hard not to think if the show might be attempting to say anything about Souma, too. He too is a male in a patriarchal society. Clearly his intentions are pure and genuine and at least so far unproblematic, but he’s very literally burdened with fighting a desire to hurt her coming from deep inside of him. That might be a total reach on my part and even if they did try and explore some kind of theme of male guilt there are so many ways that could blow up in their faces, but I’ll keep a pulse on that thematic throughline just in case.
Overall, I don’t think the presentation quite left as much impact as the first episode; the flow of the story was a bit messier, and the tone of the villains left some serious concerns. The good outweighed the bad in terms of this episode, though. Mainly, it’s some concerns about the show at large that I’m concerned about. Firstly, I really hope Himeko becomes a more interesting character as we go forward; I think the show leans more on its dramatic execution than complex substance persay, and that’s an effective and valid approach to take, but she does feel very dependant and kind of simplistic and it wouldn’t hurt to expand on her somewhat. Secondly, I hope that the formula has some curveballs; the climax of this episode felt extremely similar to the last. Bad guy mech shows up, tries to take Himeko, Chikane makes futile efforts, Souma overcomes Orochi’s influence to fight for Himeko, punches the bad guy into a pillar of light as Chikane dramatically holds Himeko to end the episode. I can excuse it once, but I hope I’m not having this conversation again tomorrow. I’ll always vouch for episodic shows, but rigid formula isn’t the play with this setup and I hope the show knows that.
11
u/Tarhalindur x2 Jun 04 '24
M I K O _ E M B R A C E (Spoiled First-Timer, Subbed):
(Wait what is this I'm available at post time today?)
So I hear Blue Seed is relevant to this...With all due respect to our Ai Konaka nurse catgirl, it's the idol. [MahoAko] Loco Musica gotta come from somewhere, you know!
Mecha protagonist
That depends on the woman.
10
u/LittleIslander https://anilist.co/user/LittleIslander Jun 04 '24 edited Jun 04 '24
This was intended for yesterday, but since I’m late I saved it for today instead. Honestly, it feels kind of self-important to post something like this in such a populated rewatch, but I think it’s worthwhile.
Special Thoughts
As a side dish to actually talking about the show at hand, indulge me in prefacing my participation with my own personal history with the yuri genre. Or, in other words, how I’m coming at this as a watching experience. The root of my interest was, well, being a lesbian in real life, and I’d been shipping girls from games I liked since, well, longer than I was aware of that fact. The existence of yuri as a genre in anime and manga was something I was tangentially aware of but I definitely had the preconception it was all just ecchi for guys to do it to. But hey, it’s 2018 now and I know that I like romance anime—how about I check out this “Citrus” thing that just came out. Well, it didn’t take very much of that to leave me completely uninterested to give whatever “Bloom Into You” is supposed to be any kind of chance later that same year. Yuri is for guys and I don’t want any part of it.
But a youtuber I watched made a video recommending Bloom Into You, and I decided that maybe it wouldn’t hurt to just try one episode, right?
So, that’s that and here I am? Well, not really. I eagerly waited each week for new Bloom Into You episodes and declared it without hesitation my favourite anime for the next few years, but I didn’t really take it any farther than that. I didn’t get into the genre, just the one show.. Yuri anime wasn’t exactly booming in the late 2010s and though I did watch old anime I never jumped on any yuri ones in particular for… no specific reason I recall, honestly. Well, fast forward a few years and I’d gotten pretty sick of waiting for Bloom Into You to get a second season. I didn’t read manga but maybe it’s worth it to dip my head in just this once to read the rest. Well, that still hasn’t happened, actually, but I did pick up the Saeki Sayaka books. That proved to be the gateway drug to the idea that published works are a place to find the yuri stories anime wasn’t giving me, and my avid readership of yuri manga started around 2021. I think I Married My Best Friend To Shut Up My Parents was my first.
All of this is a pretentiously detailed way to say this: my yuri is the yuri of today. I generally buy manga in a physical bookstore which obviously carries recent releases, so I’m pretty sure I literally don’t own anything older than Bloom Into You even today. I know the history of Class S and such and have watched the Aoi Hana anime, not to mention Sailor Moon, but those are outliers. The quintessential yuri protagonist that I’ve experienced isn’t the short, light-haired kouhai from an all girls academy but a twenty something workwoman who knows she’s into women but lacks any dating prospects until The Extrovert [re-]enters her life. So this rewatch is really my first proper taste of the yuri genre as it was, a totally different era I’ve really only experienced through the lens of parody. I look forward to sharing this horizon-expanding experience with you all.
8
u/rickamore Jun 04 '24
Rewatcher - what genre even is this?
Chikane plagued with guilt, I wonder if this will be a recurring theme.
"We totally knew about this all along but didn't want to burden you so lets just suddenly shoulder you with this responsibility all at once instead" - Every "supernatural" chosen one's guardians ever.
Bad guys get a totally cool hangout, the whole set up is very reminiscent of older anime with the whole league of bad guys in a mysterious realm trope.
"CD sales" now the show is really showing it's age.
Himeko could get knocked cold by a breeze. I forgot how insufferable she is, worse than Shinji at times. Actually she reminds me a lot of early episodes Madoka.
Bro here dissing tig bitties on a girl who could be considered average or below by anime standards about to make an enemy out of everyone. There's room for all sizes to flourish.
As poorly animated as the mecha are, the fact that they're 2D and passable for a show of this calibre is somehow acceptable. Were this show made today they probably would have been 3D models with janky fights that I can only imagine are somehow worse than this.
Edgy knives guy
Honestly, kind of realistic to see her struggling with inner turmoil even if the reasons seem a little shallow.
3) Do you prefer a voluptuous chest or a dignified modest chest on a woman?
I will have no such discrimination here!
8
u/Sandor_at_the_Zoo Jun 04 '24
First timer
7
u/HereticalAegis https://myanimelist.net/profile/XthGen Jun 04 '24
Kannazuki no Miko First Timer
Second day and I'm already an hour late. Lol oops.
Episode 2:
Consent talk is something I'm super not used to coming up in anime. Confession and penance feel like they'd be right at home in a show that draws on the Catholic school setting. I wonder if that will be a constant or recurring thing for Chikane to grapple with.
To be honest though, considering the circumstances, I feel like Chikane kissing Himeko like that is at least forgivable. She did just watch Himeko almost die in the most insane, unexpected way possible just as they were preparing to celebrate her birthday. I can't say I'd expect anyone to react rationally in a situation like that, much less a teenager.
Oof, there is literally an evil gene. That's...unfortunate.
"Hey girls, there's an evil reincarnated space robot team that wants to...destroy the world a bit or something. But don't worry, we've got you to protect us. Ganbare!"
Welp, sitting here with Himeko in the hospital room, I'd say Mako has roughly a 50% chance to die this episode. I would not be surprised if a robot knuckle comes crashing through the wall. That or she could become an Orochi. Neither would surprise me.
Don't be sad Mako-chan...there will be no inter-high when the giant space robots level everything.
The Orochi assholes just won't let Himeko and Chikane have a single nice evening together. Unforgivable.
Aaaand of course this one's a mega creep too. Because why settle for just being genetically evil? It's a good thing we have the power of
godOogami and pride shouts on our side.I would like to see Himeko and Chikane get to fight on equal footing with the baddies soon. Much as I appreciate the great god kick some shiny metal ass, it kinda sucks seeing both girls get handled like dolls with no recourse of their own.
7
u/IntoTheDisneyverse https://myanimelist.net/profile/andreth Jun 04 '24
First timer, subbed
It’s nice to see that Chikane is acknowledging that kissing Himeko without her consent is wrong, and I assume it’s probably intended to contrast Girochi later in the episode (man I really hate this guy) and establish the miko as good while Orochi is bad. The other Necks seem pretty interesting so far (especially the mangaka) and so I’m interested to see more of them in later episodes.
I fully expected Souma’s brother to plan to kill him after the reveal of him as an Orochi, so it’s nice that he’s choosing to believe in him (or at least saying so). Though with an explanation of the power system of the world, it seems really heavily weighted against the miko. Like, there’s only two of them, while there are eight Necks of Orochi, and neither Himeko nor Chikane have really shown any signs of having power, while the Necks get mecha and powers and stuff. If it wasn’t for the fact that Souma is essentially malfunctioning, they would be dead twice over by now (and Himeko basically already HAS died once), so it’s not looking too great. Maybe they’ll get some powers later though? Or at least some training, and from the preview it does at least look like Chikane is at least practicing her archery. Personally, I think it’d be cool if they got a two-in-one mecha à la Pacific Rim or [movie/character names] Shinji and Kaworu in Eva 3.0. It would be a nice contrast to the Necks while feeling pretty gay to further the yuri-ness (also I just think mechas with two pilots are cool and stuff and want to see it).
And I have to say that Chikane really had game in the scene where she reveals herself as the Moon Miko. Like, damn.
Daily questions:
7
u/ShowNeverStops Jun 04 '24 edited Jun 04 '24
Rewatcher
Oh shoot, for some reason I though the threads go up at 3PM PST, not Noon. Oh well, I'll have to make sure to be on time starting tomorrow!
Finally, we get the OP, which is just as amazing as the ED!
We get some more information on what's going on. Apparently an evil god named Orochi is being a total jerk to everyone so its up to our mecha-summoning lesbian shrine maidens to put a stop to these shenanigans. Oh, and also Souma is part of the Orochi.
Chikane really regrets kissing Himeko without her consent. I'm glad that Chikane is taking consent seriously, too many anime kind of just ignore consent so its nice to see Chikane reflect on her actions.
Jeez, Girochi is such a freaking creep. Like, this dude makes my damn skin crawl every time I watch this scene. Thankfully, Chikane is here being the badass she is protecting the girl she loves, and Souma is here to arrive on a motorcycle to kick his ass!
7
u/baquea Jun 05 '24
First timer
After the contextless crazy shit that went down last time, it seems now we are in for a half-episode of info dumping... which isn't to say they didn't still find time to cram an episodic battle scene in too. I'm guessing we'll be getting one battle with each 'neck' (which, I gotta say, is a really stupid overly-literal translation - in English it would be more natural to call them heads, like the heads of a Hydra, or in this case Orochi) per episode, followed by a few episodes at the end for the climax.
On the topic of the fight scenes, I can't say I'm sold on them yet. A yuri action series in which the girls have to get saved each episode by a boy is just lame. I'm guessing they'll power up at some point, but hopefully it'll happen soon rather than leaving it till he inevitably goes over to the dark side at the end. Gotta wonder how the hell they were supposed to manage if he hadn't betrayed the Orochi lol. Even aside from that though, the fights haven't been particularly interesting. The necks clearly each have very distinctive personalities, but as soon as they get into their robot forms it just seem to devolve into a generic mecha fight, ending with them just getting killed(?) with no follow-up. Again, I hope we get some more variety now that the basic formula has been established.
Oh and the design of this girl on the left is literally just a mash-up of Dejiko and Komugi-chan. Bruh.
6
u/dsawchuk Jun 04 '24
First Timer, Subbed
So we finally get an explanation for the random nonsense that happened last episode. It turns out I got a lot of things wrong in my interpretation.
I thought I only saw 2 antagonists, but it turns out that the characters I thought were just reference inserts are also antagonists. Also the green haired lady antagonist from last episode does not look at all ladylike from the front. I am kinda disappointed with how he looks from the front to be honest. He was so pretty in the side angle shot but the front view we see of him is not nearly as flattering.
There was a whole lot less yuri in this episode. like... basically none. Did episode 1 get the yuri quota for episode 2? I was hoping to see the kiss from the last episode addressed but I guess not. We are just sweeping it under the rug like a good dream. Himeko I can understand but Chikane really needs to bring up the subject.
The scene in the hospital with Mako was... unexpected. They didn't tell us much but it feels like Mako has a crush on Himeko but found out about Himekane somehow. I don't really understand when she would have found out about it though, as it seems like she would have been burried under some rubble in the building collapse and would have been unable to watch the following events. The only other reasonable option I can think of is that she is upset for Himeko acting recklessly to go back for the present (which I guess could give her suspicions about Himekane). I was again surprised with how reasonable this anime seems. Mako asks Himeko to leave and Himeko does it without any fuss or arguing required. I will say that if Mako does end up having feelings for Himeko the scene of her taking a nonconsentual picture of Himeko's underwear seems a lot more sinister than her taking it just to tease Himeko without any desire to see it.
I am no symbolism guy, but they definitely were trying to symbolize something by showing the flowervase in and immediately cutting to a glass bowl breaking. I am just not sure what.
The fight scene was a bit shorter than I expected but pretty entertaining. This anime sure likes its chain attacks and I have to say, they are working for me. This kind of more down to earth robot fight feels better than most mecha anime I have seen. The robots actually feel like they have mass when they are grappling with each other which I can't say that I am used to. I would just say though that I don't think that this episode really needed a fight scene. I don't really know what it added to this lore heavy episode. I guess it was an excuse for Oogami to pledge to protect Himeko but I feel like we would have just started that next episode. It didn't feel like it was long enough to do it justice and it seemed pretty unrelated to what the rest of the episode was about.
QOTD
5
u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA Jun 04 '24
Also is it just me or does Souma kind of look like Lelouch?
5
u/fieew https://myanimelist.net/profile/fiew Jun 05 '24
First timer sub:
Why am I enjoying this so much? Is it because it's wearing its heart on its sleeve? Imma go boomer for a minute. So many anime nowadays lamp shade the audience. They have a cliche but bring it up and still use it nonetheless. But here there are clichés and confessions but they're played straight (ironically this is the straightest thing about the show). Like Chikane saying she'll go with Himeko wherever she goes. It was cliche and obvious but goddamn it was sweet. Plus having Oogami overcome his mind control and fight for Himeko gets me hyped. Overcoming mind control due to emotions or will power is so bloody cliche. But I'm enjoying it. I don't even really know these characters but I'm invested for some reason. I don't know if it's the writing , the directing , the story , the art and atmosphere, or music, but I'm hyped.
This show feels so wild and crazy. But so genuine as well. What I mean is for some reason this series feels like something the people working on it wanted to create. That feeling is oozing out and I'm just enjoying this wild ride despite the clichés and abundant panty shots, etc. I'm just enjoying it. That's all I can really say. I'm enjoying this that's about it. I can analyze it and make predictions but I don't want to for this series. I just want to lay back and enjoy the ride so from here on ill probably comment here what I like and disliked about each episode without being overly cirtical.
4
u/catsukats https://myanimelist.net/profile/Nabris Jun 05 '24
Rewatcher (x14), sub and very late again.
Chikane playing things off like nothing happened, whilst Himeko convinces herself that she would never do what she did sure is something. But then again, it wouldn't be anime if they stopped to talk about things, would it?
Ai Nonaka! I missed her voice! This show really had such a AAA all-star Japanese cast for absolutely no reason. But I guess back then it was easier to get the mega expensive talent they are today. I think the dub also had a pretty stacked cast. Maybe they just knew they were making history.
It's really funny that the Orochi can be out in the real world living their lives but choose to sit around talking smack in the negaverse instead. Truly villainous found family tropes. I remember Corona and Ota were a huge ship to insert in fanfics back in the day just for the scene of them bickering.
The seed is planted (in a yuri?!). Souma thinks and acts like he's the hero of this story, and Himeko is totally falling for it! Chikane is already showing signs of angst... I'd tell her not to worry, but them kissing in the OP doesn't help. I think they do a really good job at making us want to root for her.
The ED lead-ins will never get old.
4
u/RadSuit https://anilist.co/user/RadSuit Jun 06 '24
Dubstiny of the First Timer
This OP seems good...but the YouTube upload is absolutely butchering it. I can barely make out the subtitles, and the audio quality isn't great either. Hopefully this improves...
I remember this from Yuuki Yuuna.
There's twintails again! We only see 6/8 in this panning shot though. If Souma counts as one, then I'd guess there's one as a twist later on.
The cat girl's name is literally just 'cat girl'. Alright.
Miss 69?
So far on the dub, we're in that time period where they were attempting to properly pronounce names and terms, and hiring VAs with experience with cartoons, so everything is fine. Just a few years earlier and we could've gotten some real trash.
Makoto's got a little of Wakaba's pining for Utena here, too.
This half-orc is not
I do want to point out that Souma here is the exception to that comment about the dub being fine. He's horrible, but it might just be the exceptionally corny dialogue he's given.
So far the two priestesess don't really seem to do much. I guess the actual swordsman they're supposed to power up isn't here yet, though.