Death by Moe

Nabari no Ou is an anime I started watching for the sake of satisfying my guilty pleasure. I never thought it’d get this good and its doing nothing but getting better. Nabari isn’t like any other ninja anime I know. It’s serious and fairly realistic … and it’s heart-wrenching. We’re more than halfway through the anime and a lot of elements are being thrown around here and there without anyone really noticing it. I said it before: Nabari no Ou is the definition of the gray areas between what’s right and wrong. There’s no one in this anime who’s right or wrong. Everyone has their own agenda and everyone is willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish their own goals. There’s no enemy and thus there’s no hero either. And really, that’s the best thing about Nabari no Ou: the fact that you’re not really sure what’s going to happen. When there’s a hero, you know he’s going to beat the bad guy but in Nabari’s case … there’s no real bad guy. The further we get into the series, the less clear the ending becomes. In the beginning, the bad guy was Kairoushuu and the goal was getting Shinranbanshou out of Miharu. Clear enough. Simple enough. But things didn’t stay that way. By episode … what? Six. The gray areas were emphasized but we still had a goal: Miharu wants to save Yoite. Then now, Miharu hesitated. He doesn’t really want to erase Yoite’s existence but he wants to save him still. Then there’s Kumohira-sensei thinking he’s being righteous. He’s just as gray as the rest of the characters.

I’ve said it before, right? That out of everyone, it’s Kouichi I’m the most curious about. The Kouga arc managed to enlighten me a lot about his character. For one thing he’s immortal and quite … vampire-like. That’s when I realized something about Shijima and Kouichi. The headmaster mentioned it right? “You’re her …” -cut off- Then there’s Shijima being completely unfazed by Kouichi’s arrival as if she knew he’d come. Shijima did mention it in the end as well … that she’s just a spectator. Everything considered, Kouichi is probably the same: a spectator. I also think that both Kouichi and Shijima have some kind of relationship with Shinrabansho … aside them all having white hair … (I’m against the vampire idea even though Kouichi and Shijima have sharp teeth anything but vampires … please!)

Amazing how much drama there is Nabari now, it honestly surprises me when I bother to stop and think about it. At this point, Yukimi is the only the character we know virtually nothing about. I’m really hoping he doesn’t stay comic relief with Raikou (who’s sort of lost his purpose after his and Raimei’s arc) because I’m quite curious about him now. Well, he did a pretty nice observation in this episode … to bad it’s just made him into comic relief again. Lastly there’s Fuuma who seems to be just as mysteriously fucked as Kouichi. It’s like he’s at the bottom of all the crap and drama that’s been happening. Oof.

Anyways, the Kouga Arc is now then and all is left the Banten scroll. From the preview, looks like Yoite is still out of it and Miharu’s wearing the scarf he gave him. It’s not really helping me know what’s going to happen though.

(And damn is it weird to watch Nabari after an episode of Zero no Tsukaima …)