Starting with a proper introduction for Araragi’s sisters, Tsukihi and Karen dubbing them as Tsuganoki Middle School’s Fire Sisters, and describing how they uphold justice as being a game of theirs. After which the episode picks up where the last one left off as Araragi finally arrives at Sengoku’s house.
I guess this is going to be one of those shows where I always pointlessly go even more overboard with screencaps.
Opening Theme:
“marshmallow justice” by Karen Araragi (Eri Kitamura).
Meeting her at the door to find her with a new hairstyle, in a somewhat revealing outfit, and that her parents aren’t home. And not that long after coming inside, she quickly sets about getting him to remove his jacket and tries to get him to play a King’s Game before settling on the Game of Life, and later twister. During which he thinks to himself about how she should be glad that he’s a gentleman, and when they start talking she mentions a weird charm that’s been circulating lately and that the Fire Sisters are searching for who’s behind it.
However during the latter Araragi has to make a quick exit when Sengoku’s mother unexpectedly returns, so having left he decides to call his underclassman Kanbaru Suruga. Who without a moment to waste starts stripping as soon as she answers him, being sure to let him know exactly when she’s completely naked and how it’s fine since she’s at home, implying that she gets naked elsewhere as well. Making the joke that he might be more perverted than she is, however her lively disposition disappears when her grandmother passes by with a look of disappointment. Aside from that he also decides to help her clean her room today, and on his way over he bumps into his other sister Karen. Greeting her idea of volunteer work with a bit of scepticism, and somehow things lead to her giving cool lines in a ridiculous pose before she gets a call. Something that’s left purposely muted before she makes her exit by backflipping away.
And after this Araragi arrives at Kanbaru’s house to find that she’s still feeling sort of down after the recent incident and that she’s still naked, seeming to invite him to look upon her when she’s completely unconcealed. But after he gives her some time to get dressed he finds one of her old basketball uniforms, one where the inside is signed by everyone who was on her team as a way of keeping them close to her heart. Other than that he brings up how her hair has strangely grown out fast, and things somehow lead to the perverted misconceptions she once had before they start tidying her room. During which he finds that her taste in BL novels is strangely plain, giving him the idea that he might indeed be more perverted than she is as the things she’s done recently are fairly normal. So in an effort to prove him wrong she panics and restrains him as she sets about taking his pants off. Giving Araragi some karmic justice as he’s turned into Hachikuji.
Ending Theme:
“Naisho no Hanashi” by ClariS.
Thoughts:
In the same sort of sense as the last one this was another good episode for a starting point. Once more the character reintroductions were continued through Sengoku and Kanbaru and her arguably perverted naked glory, as well as being better introduced to the other half of the Fire Sisters, Karen.
And as with Tsukihi I must admit that I kind of like their characters so far, before this season I’d really only known them as Araragi’s hyperactive sisters who drag him out of bed and do the episode previews, and while the last episode better acquainted us with Tsukihi, Karen was still something of a mystery. Though from her design she was obviously going to be tomboyish and more physical in nature while her sister was her more feminine counterpart in their duo, but we still didn’t exactly have much to draw from. However this episode changed that a bit, so far Karen seems pretty quirky and a little eccentric, as well as how both she and her sister see themselves as embodiments of justice to cement their characters. Overall I like both her and Tsukihi a lot so far.
Before that however seeing Sengoku attempting to seduce Araragi was kind of painful, all her attempts to win him over were blatantly obvious, she invited him over while her parents weren’t home, took care in locking the doors, directing him to her bed, and wearing incredibly skimpy clothes while getting him to play specific games. But the painful thing about it was how she kept at them, oblivious to the fact that she had been sister-zoned by him and that he refused to see her as anything else than such, it wasn’t just Araragi being dense in regards to her affections. That aside though it looks as if Sengoku could be heading in the direction of being the true yandere of the series and it’s interesting to see/hear Kana Hanazawa voice such. Other than that the matter of the cursed charm was also fairly interesting, it seems like something that could come up again later.
It was odd to see this part censored as well considering it was in the PV.
After that though came Kanbaru’s segment(s) which were probably my favourite parts of the episode, as a fan of Miyuki Sawashiro, Kanbaru’s voice actress who happens to have amazing range, there was just something fun for me about listening to it all. Let alone hearing her voice an arguably perverted sporty girl. Let alone Kanbaru’s antics were great as well, ranging from her stripping over the simplest thing just to mess with him and later getting depressed about it and how she appeared to panic when Araragi faced her with the idea that she may not be all that perverted, managing to enact some karmic justice on him for how he greeted Hachikuji in the last episode by having him as the upperclassman who was being harassed by her underclassman. That aside Kanbaru’s new design also looks great as well, as simple as it is long hair suits her and her new outfit went well with it.
