Arata Kangatari - 02
raccoons
Guest Author
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Arata Kangatari 02
Despite his new-found power, Hinohara is captured by Kannagi. He is then put on trial and sentenced to serve the rest of his life in a hell on earth. However, Kotoha manages to sneak onboard the ship transporting Hinohara with his sword hidden beneath her skirt. At least now Hinohara won’t be alone.
We got a lot of terminology and a solid explanation of the Kamui and Hayagami this episode. It made good use of Hinohara’s cluelessness this episode to explain things. It was info-dumping, but it doesn’t feel like it when you have a protagonist who doesn’t know how the world works and needs it to be explained to him for the sake of...well, his survival.
Although, in terms of survival, things aren’t looking up for poor Hinohara. Someone should point out to that angry jury that if it was power he was after there was no need to kill the princess since she was stepping down and giving her position to Arata in the first place. I guess there’s no reasoning with the angry mob. Hinohara is then sentenced to Gatoya, a hellish place called a “living hell.”
In general, this was a pretty solid episode. In my previous episode post, I did voice my concerns about this adaption being able to juggles the stories of the two Aratas. We haven’t seen much of the other Arata yet, although judging from the OP and ED, Kadowaki (the guy who was bullying Hinohara) will be playing an important role, so I hope that we get more Tokyo screen time soon.
The other thing I would like to talk about is Kotoha. Like Hinohara, I admire such fidelity in a person, especially in someone who’s willing to go to hell with their friend. I’m really liking her character so far, although with the mix up of Aratas I wonder if her loyalty to Arata and her affection for the current Hinohara will ever be at odds. It would be an interesting thing to see, I think.
As for Princess Kikuri, she's still alive, although just barely. She also seems bent on helping Hinohara, which can only be a good thing. When she meets Hinohara, she refers to him as her new Shinsho. Well, seeing as the old Shinsho betrayed her and literally stabbed her in the back it's about time she fired those ingrates and got a new set.