Shigofumi is by far my favorite anime to come out of this current season.

....it's also the only anime to come out of this current season that I happen to be watching. (^^;
However, I don't particularly mind -- I have a pretty good feeling that I'm at least following one of the better ones. (To be honest, over the past year the amount of currently airing anime I choose to watch in any given season has really begun to hover from 0-3 for some reason...)

But I didn't want to blog about Shigofumi immediately -- mostly because I don't think I would have done a good job at blogging about episodes 1 and 2, since I'd have to steer clear of the massive spoilers. And besides those two're probably best experienced first hand anyway.
Episodes 3 and 4... I probably was just too lazy to talk about. (it happens..)

However, there's nothing stopping me from blogging about ep 5, which has turned out to probably be my favorite episode of this show since the first two. Granted, it's for completely different reasons. Most of those reasons centered around the fact that this ep was filled with hefty amounts of.. (though I try not to use this word too often) moe~


Like episode 4 before it, ep 5 features our heroine Fumika teaming up with her polar opposite of a coworker, Chiaki, who up until now had been the only reason I'd sit trough that terrible, terrible OP theme by Ali Project -- I knew I'd like her character (she reminds me of Touhou's Marisa...).
Also, this episode deals with quite a large amount of adorable cats (moe count: 1!). Why? Well because this ep's shigofumi just happens to be addressed to a certain little kitty named Schrodinger. Chiaki and Fumika are to deliver letters to him from the old couple who he used to live with. However, delivering a letter to a cat has been proving to be a little difficult..

So Chiaki has the brilliantly cartoonish idea to use catnip in order for lil' Schrodie to come to them instead. After a failed attempt to steal the catnip on Chiaki's part (see!? there's that Marisa thing again..!), the two girls get accosted by two overly friendly gentlemen, which leads us to see a side of Fumika we've never seen before -- that side being the top of her head, when one of the boys knocks off her hat after they're berated by them (moe count: 2! <-- don't ask how).
Fumika thus quite violently returns the favor and in the process of doing so, acquires the money they were carrying with them (you can almost hear the RPG victory music play..).

Also, while this is going on, Kaname (the young man from episode 3 who knew the real Fumika in middleschool) is contacting old friends in hopes of finding her whereabouts. We find out that he actually once confessed to Fumika (but was turned down), and that Fumika is currently in a hospital. Hnnn...

But as Chiaki brings up in one scene where she and Fumika are in the midst of Operation Catnip, deliverers of shigofumi are chosen only from people who have died. Why is it that Fumika, however, seems to be growing older? (I think we can guess..) Unfortunately, this serious conversation is cut short as we soon find out that Fumika has quite the cat phobia (moe count: 3!!). And we really get to see a new side of her this time -- in her squeaks and squeals you can really hear Kana Ueda's voice come out (I sometimes forget that she does the voice of her...)

This scene is perhaps only topped by a few moments later when Fumika wakes up quite flustered in Chiaki's lap (she fainted??) and Chiaki offers her a drink of water. Though she also rather awkwardly brings up the common anime adage of it being an indirect kiss. However if they're both girls, as she goes on to explain, there really should be nothing to worry about right? (yeah right. moe count: 4! ( ´∀`)ノ)

In one final attempt to capture Schrodie, the two girls don their wings and fly to a demolition zone where a building is to be torn down. Chiaki follows Schrodie into the building only for the time limit on her wing use to run out. Fumika thus uses her expert knowledge of machinery operation (and handy ability to turn invisible) and saves Chiaki from going down with the building (can she die....twice..?).
Apparently, Schrodinger had traveled all the way to the building simply in order to go home. And both shigofumi addressed to him included nothing more than the key to the door of the apartment so the little kitty could go inside and sleep in his own bed once again, if at least for a little while... (*sniff* moe count: 5....!)



Impressions:
There are a couple other things I could talk about concerning this ep (such as the perils of the real Fumika, the appearance of her father, and of course, the flat-chested exchange between Fumika and Chiaki), buuuut I think I've said enough already.
This ep does however bring up some great speculation opportunities. Such as what will become of Fumika in the end? Will she return to the world of the living, finally completely die, or perhaps stay in this limbo she's currently in?
Well, I've been quite content with how the show's going so far, so I think I'll just be happy seeing what road the show ultimately takes without trying to spoil myself.

Oh yes. There was one bad thing about this ep -- from the next episode preview there looks like there'll be no Chiaki! RAAAAAGE!! ヽ(｀Д´)ノ

Labels: Shigofumi

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