かんなぎ Episode 11
Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens 11

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Nagi watches her favorite mahou shoujo anime while Jin reads a manga. She decides her baton needs a power-up based on what she saw in the anime. Jin reminds her that she’s been wasting a lot of time and hasn’t been clearing impurities. Nagi isn’t happy with the reminders, so she “casts” a spell based on what she saw on TV, then immediately begins to scarf down all the chicken from both her and Jin’s heated, convenience store dinner. Jin is shaking Nagi and she accidentally turns on the TV where they learn that Zange-chan is trying to get a debut CD going. The phone rings, the first caller is a man upset with Jin over Zange-chan and the next call is a man upset with Jin over Daitetsu.

After dinner, Jin makes some new Shinto streamers for Nagi’s baton and even tapes the center for better grip and stronger support. Nagi is happy with this and wants Jin’s help to get rid of impurities at school the following day. That time comes and Nagi chases a butterfly-looking impurity into the men’s bathroom but can’t nail it. She has Jin catch it, which he does but he ends up falling out of the window. Now bandaged up, Jin walks through the halls where people are talking about him being bi-sexual, and when Daitetsu warns Jin about Nagi, that talk increases.

In the art club room, Shino announces that Jin’s “popular time” has come, in which all males for one moment in their lives become popular with the opposite sex. The club wonders what is wrong with Jin as he seems to get injured a lot lately. Takako asks if he’s possessed as Nagi cheerfully comes in, offering to remove that possession. Jin is not happy and drags Nagi off as Takako can’t believe Jin isn’t making full use of his dating-sim time with Zange-chan, Nagi-sama, and Tsugumi all being attractive girls who have dealings with Jin. Shino thinks that it is because he’s not in love with any of them.

Jin confronts Nagi about a whole host of topics, including why a kami is needed, why are there impurities, why do they look like bugs, etc. However, the topic that gets Nagi angry again is him questioning her as a kami and she won’t stand for it. Jin presses and Nagi tears up before running off. Suzushiro-sensei has a talk with Jin after hearing the rumor that Jin is two-timing his daughter. They then talk about Nagi and Zange (to a lesser extent) and whether or not Nagi is indeed a kami has she claims. Suzushiro-sensei isn’t sure what Nagi and Zange are, though he thinks they aren’t evil. However, there might be another answer than simply labeling them as deities, so Jin goes to do some research.

Elsewhere, Nagi has gone up to the school roof with her baton and is thinking about Jin’s words as she looks out over the city. She thinks about how that the people in the city, her “followers,” are her children and she loves them very much, wishing them only the best. Nagi thinks back to a conversation she had with Tsugumi on why Jin joined the art club, which is to find himself, though all he’s doing is copying Daitetsu in Tsugumi’s estimation. Nagi thinks of how things she doesn’t understand, she doesn’t worry about. However, as she continues to think, a storm comes up and she realizes that she doesn’t know anything about herself. She then abandons the roof, leaving her baton behind while Jin discovers that Nagi had checked out a book he was using for research on kami legends.

Thoughts/Review: This episode hits both ends of the spectrum, containing some very funny moments, but also some serious stuff too, and a lot more of that than one would expect. First, the funny — Nagi scarfing the chicken (2nd funniest bit), Jin taking the call from a guy upset that Jin is being attended to by Zange-chan, Jin taking the call from a guy (Honda?) upset that Jin is “with” Daitetsu (and to me, the funniest bit), Nagi running into the men’s restroom, the talk in the halls about Jin and Daitetsu, Takako’s dating-sim imagination about Jin, & Nagi’s “Kero!kero!kero!” laugh (from Keroro Gunsou).

The serious stuff takes over about 9.5 minutes into the episode and there are issues to be raised. Jin wants answers and that’s certainly understandable. That Nagi has no clue to the answers herself goes along with what we’ve been seeing in that Nagi seems to forget moments when she is being a goddess (the dead kittens, Daitetsu’s plea for forgiveness). I was a bit surprised that Jin talked with Suzushiro-sensei about this, but then considering Zange is actually possessing his daughter, I guess he would be the one to go to. But if Suzushiro-sensei didn’t see Zange or Nagi as kami, then what does he see them as?

Personally, I think Suzushiro-sensei’s ideas regarding Nagi are a way for the writers to take us down these more somber, darker paths. Certainly, Jin has to know that Nagi isn’t just some human seeing as how she burst forth from his carving. Also, he’s seen her purify impurities AND he did see her absorb the kittens into her body. So he has to know she’s something special and unique. I do believe that Nagi is a kami and this will be born out over time. I do wonder though if the anime and the manga are breaking apart here in terms of plot. I’ve scanned through the first two volumes and those stories have all shown up (funnier in the anime). I’ll have to take a deeper look to see if Jin challenges Nagi in the manga about the kittens.

Sadly, there are only two more episodes in this series.