[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Dennou Coil 10-12
Dennou Coil continues to be my favourite show of the season as we’re introduced to more details surrounding Kanna’s death when the kids find her diary and Yasako cracks the password code. The awkwardness between her and Haraken is portrayed with the restraint and eloquence that I’ve come to expect from this show - I felt really, really, sorry for Haraken after he finally read Kanna’s diary. No kid should have to shoulder that sort of pain at his age.
Poor Haraken!
Sadly the second of the two outings that follow is a filler episode that doesn’t do much to progress the story. With any other series I’d look upon filler episodes with distain but in Dennou Coil’s case I can forgive them because the ep in question was such fun. Seeing every character growing an Illegal ‘beard’ which becomes self-aware and forms its own civilisation had me in stitches - so much so that I didn’t mind the fact that the series was obviously stalling for time. Since it was planned so meticulously, I’m guessing that Daichi’s First Hair was a ’standby episode’ intended to be aired in the event of unforseen scheduling and/or production hiccups so I’m not expecting a Wolf’s Rain-esque derailment of the plot that causes too many problems.
The absurdity of Illegal virtual hair
The episode that involved Daichi adopting an Illegal that ends up growing out of control and creating cubes of water-filled space left, right and centre was brilliant though. It’s an entertaining effort and introduces the strained relationship between Mega-ba and Haraken’s aunt; it adds a bit to the background too, highlighting for the first time the idea of an Illegal that feeds off the virtual material of walls, street furniture and so on. The dynamic between Daichi and Fumie was fantastic as well, reminding us once again at how masterfully the show does its characterisation.
All your fish are belong to us
It was also one of the most imaginative episodes so far. The sight of the Sattchis floating around helplessly, the giant fish, the cubes of water and the Coil Agency’s attempt to sort it all out are prime examples of why I enjoy this show so much. Hopefully we’ll see more of the same and some further development in Haraken’s investigations from here on.
Posted on September 11th, 2007 @ 3:52 am
I agree…you just can’t be mad about a filler episode that involves one half of your face trying to nuke the other half. xD
And after all the heavy stuff recently, the unabashedly lighthearted eps recently have been a nice change of pace.
Posted on September 11th, 2007 @ 6:14 pm
@Orion: Good point about the change of pace. I keep needing to remind myself that this is a kids’ show, so episode after episode of angst without a bit of light relief isn’t really appropriate! The TV shedules were mixed up a bit by baseball or something too, which may have affected things.
Posted on February 28th, 2008 @ 8:25 am
I personally didn’t care for the fillers, but I see what you mean. They are quality fillers.
In response to ConcreteBadger, I have to disagree with the notion that Dennou Coil is a kid’s show. Just look at the socio-political commentary they pack into the hair episode, and that’s just a filler. I really think this is a show aimed at adults, which uses the cyberworld to draw post-adolescent viewers back into a sixth-grader’s perspective of reality.
After seeing the rest of the series, it becomes even clearer why I feel that way.