Recap: Everyone blames Harutora for being forcibly kissed. Hokuto summarily dies and Harutora becomes Natsume’s familiar.

Iro’s Thoughts:
Well, this was certainly rushed. Half the things that went on in this episode seem like the type of things that would happen near the end of an arc, and considering this was adapted from a light novel, that might well actually be the case if they occurred at the end of a volume.

In any case, much of it was quite silly and the characters’ actions are baffling to me. Why does everyone blame Harutora for being forcibly kissed by a girl who could murder him at any time? It’s not his fault, but both Hokuto and Natsume get pissed off by the very concept of another girl being in close proximity to him. This is the type of stuff that makes me instantly hate characters, Tokyo Ravens. Stop it.

Things only get sillier when it turns out that Hokuto wasn’t actually a person, but a familiar/shikigami/talisman thing that was tailing Harutora for whatever reason. While this maybe would have been a decent reveal 10 episodes in, it falls completely flat this early on, coming across as utterly laughable and draining all tension out of the previous fight scene. I assume it was created by Natsume to keep an eye on Haru, but it really doesn’t matter other than to smash the love triangle flat in the lamest way possible and kick off the plot by pushing Harutora to become Natsume’s familiar. Bleh.

I’ll give this maybe one more episode, but don’t necessarily count on me blogging it if said episode sucks.

Lifesong’s Thoughts:
Just as I was starting to wonder what Hokuto’s role in all of this would be she got removed from the picture. I think that scene was supposed to be tragic, but instead I found myself laughing at how sudden the reveal was. I don’t know these people yet and the hints at their relationships are not enough enough for to care about the “death” of one of them.

The protagonists reaction to weeks events seemed silly and unnatural. My girlfriend was actually a piece of paper sent to spy on me by some magic bastards, guess I’ll go help those bastards out and take revenge on the cute girl who plans to sacrifice herself to bring her bro back! Illusion of fiction = shattered, sorry Tokyo Raven, I would probably find that heart wrenching if I were 15 and didn’t spend a ton of time on anime, but I’m not and I do.

All this I belong to you, you belong to your family with a focus on duty is a very Japanese concept that makes this story a bit harder for me to appreciate I think. Am I really supposed to sympathize with this setup? I know that I am, but I feel like it is asking a lot. At best it’s rushed, at worst these characters are just awful.

I’ve been enjoying this show to some degree so far and I would be lying if I said otherwise, but can’t help feeling like Tokyo Raven has devolved into -we must save the day because we are shonen heroes! They had some cool world building going for too, it will be a shame if they can’t pull something off next week that will make me want to stay on board.