境界のRINNE ep 28
Kyoukai no RINNE 28

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

A young, female black (humanoid) cat named Suzu arrives with a bill stating that Rinne hasn’t paid this month’s ¥500 shinigami union membership fee. Since he’d sent the payment with Rokumon, and Rokumon swears to have delivered it, the two head to the Mortal Census Bureau, where Kain informs them that they now owe ¥505. Rinne refuses to double pay and vows to find his missing money. He and Rokumon, along with Sakura, head to the spirit world to investigate. Rokumon retraces his steps, revealing that he’d often been distracted by bargains and such, which Rinne understands.  By the time they reach the Bureau, it is closed.

Returning the next day with the further clue that the person who took the money had to be a child wearing a cat mask, which Rokumon also has, Rokumon starts checking the Bureau for further clues. Suzu, who’s Kain’s black cat, cleans up the dust that Rinne left, destroying evidence. She gives Kain a notebook, which Kain discovers has the payment envelope inside. He pretends to not see it, attempting to get the payment on Rinne’s side of the counter and claim Rinne never paid. Rinne catches on, and the two use Suzu to get the payment to either side. Rokumon gets Suzu to remember taking the payment, so Kain accepts it without fee. Rinne bluffs that he’s recorded the incident, spending ¥5000 to do so, so Kain sends Rinne a ¥5000 coupon book.

Thoughts/Review:

I just love how fun the RINNE series is, and this episode was no exception.

While the jokes of how poor Rinne is are not new, they don’t come off as old or tired. Indeed, I rather enjoyed seeing Rinne’s determination to fine his missing payment, including spending ¥500 on a used detective kit, rather than pay ¥505 for the missing payment plus late fee.

I kept expecting the story to show that Rokumon had accidentally lost the money, or had accidentally spent it at one of the different shops that distracted him. After all, it seemed obvious when Rokumon took Rinne and Sakura to the rice store, where giant bags of rice were being sold for ¥500 (and apparently, Rokumon did buy one).

As things turned out, the story was funnier with Kain discovering that Suzu had taken the payment and stuck it in Kain’s notebook, whereupon Kain tries to set it up that they never received payment, leading to his unusual battle with Rinne.

Sabato gets a cameo in this episode on top of a flashback to explain who he is. Thankfully, that’s all we got and he took a beating as well. 😀

As to Suzu, she’s a cliched character in that she’s clumsy, cheerful, honest, and works hard for Kain. She’s clearly a retcon character (unless this episode was saying that Kain only recently picked her up off the street), but since I liked Suzu, I don’t mind.

In the end, Kyoukai no RINNE 28 was another fun episode with Sakura along for the fun.