かんなぎ Episode 07
Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens 07

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Jin is in his room but can’t do his homework. Turns out, Nagi has locked herself in his closet and won’t come out or accept Jin’s apology for the horrible thing he did to her yesterday. She won’t come out, apparently having stocked up on snacks and somehow having snagged Jin’s bottle of water when he wasn’t looking. Tsugumi stops by to drop off some food and decides to try her hand at getting Nagi out of the closet. She refuses, so Tsugumi decides to have a girl-to-girl talk with Nagi and sends Jin away. A little later, an angry Tsugumi comes out with an empty bottle of water, not happy with Jin for what he did to Nagi.

Jin calls Akiba for a favor and Zange arrives with a large bento for Jin. Hearing that Nagi has closed herself off in a closet, Zange decides to have some fun to get Nagi out. As such, she starts doing things with Jin loudly (and off camera), so much so that Tsugumi doesn’t like the things she’s hearing. Nagi refuses to be taken in by such an obvious trick though she does peek out. When the noises stop, she peeks again and Tsugumi storms in to find out what’s going on, only to discover Jin basically out, his nose having poured a ton of blood out.

Jin tries calling Akiba to see what the hold up is, but Akiba isn’t home. Tsugumi isn’t happy with Zange’s actions with Jin but before things can go much further, Takako and Shino arrive, having been informed of the situation by Akiba. After showing Tsugumi that the maid costume she wore is from an ero-game, Takako and Shino decide to pay the closet a visit to convince “Nagi-sama” to come out and they are joined by Tsugumi and Zange. Takako makes an impassioned plea for Nagi to come out, if for no other reason than so Takako can see her in regular clothing. Failure!

Daitetsu arrives with the wrong idea of what’s going on but he soon joins the crowd outside her closet. Takako is worried about her, but Nagi says she’s OK, leading Jin to discover that another of his water bottles have disappeared. Nagi talks of making the closet her new shrine, but then shrieks about an impurity. After what sounds like a struggle, there’s silence and the closet door slides open a crack, allowing a cockroach to scurry out. Naturally, this causes great panic (Daitetsu even passing out) before the roach makes it to the room’s sliding glass door, where Shino lets it out.

Akiba finally arrives and Jin is very happy, maybe even too happy because Akiba has the item Jin asked for. Daitetsu is still confused about what’s happening, so Jin explains. The night before, he saw a cute show on TV about kittens that Nagi likes, so he put a tape in to record it for her while she was in the bath. Unfortunately, the tape he used had that day’s unwatched episode of Nagi’s favorite anime, Lolikko Cutie. Akiba understands Nagi’s feelings since he watches it and has copy of the episode. However, he has a Blu-ray disc and Jin doesn’t even own a DVD player, much less a Blu-ray player. “Its a Sony,” is Akiba’s response. He then produces a video tape, which Jin passes through to Nagi in the closet. She rejects it a few minutes later. The problem? It is a Beta tape, not VHS. Akiba’s response? “Its a Sony!”

After everyone goes home, Jin returns to the closet to talk with Nagi. He tells a tale of how he couldn’t watch his favorite show because his dad was watching baseball so he understands how Nagi would be angry at not getting to see her important show. He had recorded the other show because he honestly thought she’d like it, and then he apologizes. Nagi enters the room from outside, eating a snack, and after a lengthy pause, she forgives him. He tells her to never leave the closet and Nagi gets to watch her anime.

Thoughts/Review:

Another nutty episode, which while it didn’t provoke quite as many big laughs as others, it is still funny all the same. Highlights of the wackiness were the bottles of water that kept disappearing (mysteriously), the growing crowd of people trying to get Nagi out of the closet, Nagi reminding us of her baton’s new power, Nagi checking out Jin’s collection (though I could have done without the fanning scene), Akiba’s arrival, “it’s a Sony,” the cockroach attack on the group, and the best laugh, the very last scene. Another great “wait for it” moment. *lol*

I’m fairly sure this episode is also a parody of the Amaterasu tale. Amaterasu is a kami (a “sun goddess” to be more precise) who shuts herself into a cave in anger after her brother Susa-no-O destroyed one of her rice fields and killed some of her attendants. Clearly, Nagi is Amaterasu and Jin is Susa-no-O (though without the blood or violence). Zange would then be Ame-no-Uzume, because Ame-no-Uzume did a sensual dance with the other kami cheering (and of course, the other art club members would represent the other kami) to get Amaterasu out of her cave. It sorta worked because Nagi did peek out like Amaterasu in the legends, but they didn’t get Nagi out.

I loved how the episode is played as a mystery for the audience. The characters in the story know what happened, but it is a lot of fun trying to figure out just what horrible crime Jin had committed to cause Nagi to seal herself in a closet.

So, another good episode here. This is one I’d love for FUNimation to pick up.