Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai Season 2 – Ep 5

Screens:

Summary:

At home, Elcea is helping out with the café while Keima is calculating the amount of game time he’s lost because of chasing runaway spirits. This leads Keima to ask Elcea how many sprits are left. Elcea tells him that there are 60,000 left, and Keima collapses from the shock. Monday at school Elcea is depressed that the end of the week is so far away. Chihiro tells her that it’s all in her perspective and advises her to think of Wednesday as the end of the week. Elcea tries it and gets excited as the “end of the week” is almost here. Next to her Keima is in utter despair after the news that there are 60,000 spirits left. Noticing him Elcea tells him it’s all in how he perceives things and advises him to think of Wednesday as the end of the week, but Keima yells at her that he’s not worried about that but is depressed that he won’t have a chance to get back the time to play games. Elcea tries reassuring him that the Runaway Spirit Squad is being deployed to handle it. But Keima isn’t reassured and mentions that Haqua, who is suppose to be a District Chief, let one escape. Elcea tries asking Chihiro for advise on how to cheer up Keima, but she’s reluctant to do so, and even comments she’s afraid she’ll get infected by him if she gets too close. Keima gets up with his head down and leaves the room.

Elcea chases Keima and tells him that Chihiro was just joking, but Keima tells her that he didn’t pay any attention to what she said and tells her that “There are no flags for girls without personality”. He even goes as far as to say that there’s nothing to differentiate girls in the real world; while in the game world you have girls with different color hair, aliens, etc. He declares himself a hard-core Galge gamer and refuses any connection to the real world. As the girls around Keima comment on how creepy he is, he is reminded of what Chihiro said and gets depressed again; at that moment the runaway spirit detector goes off and Chihiro passes by with a  gift in her hands.

Keima and Elcea head up to the roof and Elcea goes over Chihiro’s data; Keima notes that she’s average among average and comments it’s going to be difficult. Elcea is confused since the girls they’ve captured before seemed more troublesome, but Keima tells her that it’s those troublesome traits that make them unique and stand out. For someone like Chihiro they would normally be a background character. At this point Keima just considers giving up since he doesn’t want to go after Chihiro. Elcea tries to persuade him by reminding him their lives are on the line, but Keima feels it’ll be ok since Haqua let a spirit escape and she’s fine. While they’re talking, they notice that Chihior is also on the roof, and confessing her love to someone. This gets Keima even more frustrated as he comments that any company that made a game with an average heroine who’s in love with some other boy would get burnt to the ground. It starts raining and while Elcea is dragging Keima inside, Chihiro runs by with a sad expression on her face.

The next day it appears as if Chihiro won’t show up for school, and Elcea wonders if the gap in Chihiro’s heart has widened because of the rejection of her confession. Keima remarks that it doesn’t matter since he still refuses to “capture” her. Chihiro suddenly comes in and greets Elcea. Eclea apologizes for watching her confession yesterday and tells her that she convinced herself to confess and got flat out rejected. Keima, while playing his games, is obviously affected by what happened to Chihiro. Keima finally decides to capture the spirit, but convinces himself that it’s not a capture. He goes over to Chihiro while planning his move, but before he can say anything Chihiro announces her plan for her next confession. After Chihiro talks about her repeated confessions, Keima gets frustrated and declares that Chihiro’s love isn’t real and tells her that if you can quickly get over the rejection then it isn’t love. This pisses Chihiro off and the two get into an argument. The two exchange insults with Keima enging up utterly destroyed. Afterwards Keima begins to completely close himself off from the world and puts his entire efforts into the game world. He’s stopped talking to anyone and has even stopped eating. One day at school, Keima collapses from malnutrition. As Keima is lying on the floor, he notes the irony that ignoring reality by escaping to the game world requires energy from the real world. At this point Keima starts to give up and lose consciousness, but he suddenly hears someone tell him to get up. As Keima opens his eyes and looks up, he sees Ayumi standing over him telling him she’ll run him over if he lays on the floor.

Opinions:

This episode covers chapters 28 and 29 of the manga. I have nothing against Chihiro, it’s just like Keima said her character’s a little weak in terms of personality. It’s probably because the only real trait they showed of hers so far is that she’s constantly confessing to boys; which makes her appear shallow. But that in itself is part of her story arc I suppose. The episode changed some parts such as having Elcea tell Keima that there’s 60,000 spirits left instead of Haqua tell him. That aside, seeing this part of the manga animated kinda give me new perspective, such as Keima being a lot more sensitive than he lets off. Chihiro really didn’t say much to him in terms of insults and he completely breaks down from it. Keima had his points too, though. If you can easily get over being rejected, it wasn’t love. There were better arguments to make on this aspect, but I suppose Keima isn’t the type to really say them though. The most interesting part of the episode for me though, is the return of Takahara Ayumi! She plays a key part in the storyline (though it is still a supporting role). The way she looks at Keima and tells him “If you don’t move out of the way, I’ll run you over”, it’s so seductive somehow! In any case I’m looking forward to next episode and seeing more Ayumi!