境界のRINNE ep 51
Kyoukai no RINNE 51
RIN-NE Season 3 Episode 01

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Rinne returns with Rokumon to the Spirit World to get his Silver License renewed. While there, he learns that there are a large number of fraudulent Gold Licenses going about. Kain, working at the Moral Census Bureau (Lifespan Census Bureau), is keen for Rinne not to find out. Kain discovers Ageha at a Gold License vending machine. After she buys one, she destroys the machine. A Damashigami flees, but before Ageha can pursue, Kain knocks her down. An angry Rinne stops Kain after Rinne discovered the truth.

The trio and Rokumon make their way to the Damashigami Company, where Rinne’s father, Sabato, is caught with fake licenses. In Sabato’s attempt to flee, Rinne discovers Sabato has a real Gold License. The group then heads to Sabato’s mother’s house. Tamako confirms the license is real. Sabato reveals that after failing his high school makeup task of purifying 100 spirits, his teacher challenged him to a fight. Sabato won and received the license. As such, Tamako encourages Rinne to battle Sabato and win the right to the license.

Sabato pulls his old Shinigami Scythe out of storage to battle his son, but it quickly breaks due to lack of maintenance. Sabato pays Sakura a visit, borrowing duct tape to repair the scythe. Tamako and company pick up Sakura to watch the fight where Sakura is briefed on the situation. Kain helps Rinne by drawing in spirits to slow down Sabato. Sabato uses his special technique to stop the spirits, leaving them as bait for Rinne to finish and score some money. Rinne doesn’t take the bait and appears to have defeated Sabato, but Sabato’s broken scythe ends up knocking Rinne on the head, allowing Sabato to escape.

Thoughts/Review:

It has been a while since I last watch Kyoukai no RINNE. The anime production team understands this as well, which is why Kyoukai no RINNE 51 spends a good deal of time explaining all of the main characters and situation. And that’s not a bad thing.

The Gang’s All Here

The writers do a decent job of working in quite a number of characters and giving them meaningful parts in terms of the plot. Kain fills the role of rival for Rinne. Ageha fills her normal comedic roll, though there’s none of her attraction to Rinne here (though it is mentioned). Sakura has a more limited role, but she aides the plot by being kind to Sabato. We also saw Sabato’s mom and Rinne’s grandmother Tamako and her cat servant Kuroboshi. They too contributed to the story.

Tsubasa just got an introductory cameo, but it seems he’ll have a larger roll next episode. However, the anime does a good job saying who Tsubasa is and what kind of person he is. There were a few other small cameos such as “Bijin” (Ageha’s older sister who works for Sabato) and Shouma (the brat Rinne had to train for a time).

Sabato Still Sucks

I’ve never liked the Sabato character. Manga-ka Takahashi-sensei loves having antagonist characters who are worthless bums who become major pains in the side of the main character. Sabato may take damage, but at the end of the day, he always wins. It would have been really nice for Rinne to have scored the legit Gold License from his dad, but naturally we can’t allow that.

Still, not all was bad with Sabato. His past gets explored in this episode. I don’t know if any of this is from the manga or not. That said, I found it amusing that in high school, Sabato developed a purifying technique to score with other high school girls. I believe the number 200 was mentioned in the episode. Maybe that’s how Sabato got Rinne’s mother.

Moving to Anime Network

I don’t know if Crunchyroll will be allowed to stream this third RINNE series or not. However, since CR proved that money can be made streaming anime legally online, everyone wants to get in on the action and fracture the market even further. I swear, it is eventually going to become where you have to spend $100 or more a month just to have access to the anime you want, to say nothing of manga. 🙄

That aside, with the move to Anime Network, we see a change in the adaptation. Fortunately, the Japanese honorifics remain in the subtitles. However, the Mortal Census Bureau becomes the Lifespan Census Bureau. Rinne no Wa becomes Wheel of Reincarnation. Terms like Shinigami, Damashigami, and the like all remained. I’m glad for that. I was worried Anime Network might try to force-translate the terms.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

I’ll wrap this up with a couple of cute images, the first being from the ED credits.

The second and an End Card image, which I love ’cause not only is Sakura cutely drawn, but she’s holding the stuffed dolphin Rinne won for her.

Not really a whole lot else to say about Kyoukai no RINNE 51, which starts the third season of the anime. The episode provides a nice means for new viewers to jump into the series and provides a mostly fun, if meaningless romp.