Katanagatari 04
Another month, another installment of Katanagatari. The series glazed over Nanami in the first episode, but this week she gets her turn in the limelight. We get to see three thrilling fights against the Maniwani Corps! Oh whom am I kidding, this series is about the dialogue, not the action. Moreover, the cute sister is nowhere near as harmless as she appears. The total fight time is about 2 minutes out of 50. Well, let’s get this underway!
We are... the Three Amigos!
Holy cow, Shichika’s sister Nanami is downright mean! Thus far, the writers have painted the villains in a sympathetic light, and the account from this episode says the same for Sabi. So what do you do when you have straightforward villains with whom no one can sympathize? Obviously, you make the hero sound worse than them. Sure, they attacked her first so she can claim self-defense. You can see she enjoys it though, especially with that creepy smile of hers. She sets every one of them up to show her their techniques, and then kills them with the same. Nanami even rips the fingernails out of the first Maniwani since she hasn’t seen his skill yet.
You can see where she got the negative personality. I doubt she feels too good about her father passing over her as head of the Kyotouryuu style. In addition, the inability to feel lasting pain of her own probably makes her a bit oblivious to the pain of others. Perhaps the root problem here is the dissonance between her innocent look and sadistic tendencies. At least she has the decency to give her victims a proper burial.
Please recieve the spirits of these pwned noobs.
You might think Nanami’s ability is awesome, but she highlights an aspect that makes it feel more like a curse. While it seems counter-intuitive, much of the pleasure we derive from a task relates to the effort we exerted. We feel accomplished when we complete a difficult task. Conversely, if we expend no effort, we become disgruntled. I might be crazy, but near the end of summer vacation, I wanted school to start. You also see retired folk who quickly pick up a part-time job or several hobbies. We need something to work on because if we don’t, boredom takes hold, which slips into depression.
Nanami hasn’t expended an ounce of real effort in her life outside of observing her father and brother. It sounds great but it actually sucks. Now she has the means to escape from her island prison and go seek out new experiences in the vast world around her. She has waited for this opportunity all her life. Of course, with a personality addicted to acquiring knowledge, you have to wonder what she will learn in her travels. Will she approach Shichika as an ally, or perhaps as his enemy?
How could you be scared by this? Oh the stories I could tell...
Now, we come to the major point of contention in this episode. I have to tip my hat to the author and White Fox for having the massive stones to troll us so thoroughly. You might have expected this amazing fight between Shichika and Sabi, and instead you get an episode about Nanami. Then they drive the stake into you further by having the protagonists talk, at length, about the amazing fighting techniques and how they came so close to losing. For some, this didn’t just make or break the episode, it broke the whole series.
Well, as one person pointed out on MAL, given the length of the battles in this series, what we saw in the episode preview was probably the entirety of the fight. You can compound this because if they had focused on Shichika and Togame, you’d all just complain about their dialogues instead. I can’t find it in me to be really mad at them. I would have loved to see the Sabi/Shichika fight, but I enjoyed what they gave me anyway. All I can do is stand back, flip them the bird, and smile as I await the next episode. Speaking of which, it will contain pirates and ninjas. Did I mention I enjoy this series?
Seriously, who needs a fight when you can watch people eat!?
