Sankarea 7-12 End of Sanka House

The final 5 episodes finished off the Dan'ichiro conflict with a few uninteresting filler episodes to keep us waiting. Dan'ichiro was a well developed character who ends up showing signs of "normality" in regards to his affection towards his daughter. It was an entertaining end to his high and mighty overprotective self-esteem, with Chihiro unexpectedly winning the duel with words alone. I was a bit impressed with how he prioritizes everything, he immediately changes clothes and boards a plane to america in search of a cure for Rea, leaving his wife and mansion without a word it seems. I loved the flashbacks of how Dan'ichiro raised Rea to be who he wanted her to be, instead of letting Rea decide for herself what she wanted.

When Rea returns home to collect her clothes, I can't help but think her stepmother might care a bit for Rea. The sudden pause and hesitation from Rea's mother showed a brief unexpected moment between the two.

I felt that throughout the season there was this daunting conflict creeping up on Chihiro and Rea, firstly the issues with Dan'ichiro dominated the show, but recently the bigger concern seems to be preserving Rea. The continuous "I might not have long to live" from Rea really forced me to consider how sad it is to live the life of a zombie. To be continuously worried about the sun and how the Hydrogena leaves don't seem to be enough to uphold her physical state assures my hopes for a second season.  

While Rea's father has been dealt with, there is still so much left for the show to deal with. Chihiro still hasn't decided on the girl, and there is still numerous unanswered question in regards to the whole zombie thing.

Rea shows us more of her wounds but I can't help but worry how much time she has left, and whether or not we will ever find out how to preserve her body and learn the truth behind the relations of Chihiro's family secrets of reviving the dead.

~Djr7

Sankarea 5-7 Preservation and The Crush

I think it's been a month, but you can blame Tera for keeping me preoccupied.

I will admit, she is a cute zombie

The creators of this show have made an awesome effort to the details behind Rea as a zombie. Being a zombie doesn't mean everything is fine and dandy, a ton of problems arise about maintaining a living dead corpse. Rea was heavily introduced to the show as a trapped soul within her father's domain. Since Rea was turned into a zombie, she is completely reborn, not only in her own mind, but as a new character that requires even more exploring now that she is dead.

I find Rea has an ominous aura surrounding her as she continues to present her self as a normal girl. When lacking her dose of poison, she becomes something that I have no idea how to describe. The zombification of Rea has transformed her into the mystery of the show, she is a very hot topic for Chihiro as he has dropped his interest for a zombie romance and has woken up to the reality that a zombie is among the living despite acting like a regular person.

It was very interesting to find that grandpa was the one who wrote the zombie book and knows how to preserve the living dead, it will be surprising to find out about this Otoki person that Chihiro's grandpa keeps referring to. Otoki isn't the dead grandma's name so I can only imagine it being some other woman the grandpa tried to resurrect.

Bold move Ranko, should have gone through with it

Following the Rea transformation, the show takes a turn down "other character lane" where some other character gets the spotlight for an episode. Ranko had probably the best "other character episode" that I have seen. The development of Ranko's past and how she developed her affection for Chihiro was well presented through the various jumps in time. Usually I see a rushed history and a quick conclusion as to why a character likes the protagonist for no real reason, however Ranko proves to actually show how she developed feelings over time for Chihiro and even ends the episode by making a move on him.

I have more respect for Ranko now as she suddenly pronounces she wont let Rea win, although I don't see that happening since the show is mainly about the dead Hime (princess). I can't believe how many times I almost burst out laughing during this episode, especially when Chihiro and Ranko meet with Yasutaka. This small segment had Chihiro and Yasutaka describing each other in one sentence.

Did the dad not see how messed up his son was?

Did anyone else think Chihiro is one messed up kid? The guys started watching mature horror shows since he was little and actually wanted to dig up a buried corpse based off a rumor.

Overall this is still my favorite episode and I really should try to keep on top of it. Now that I'm almost level 60 in Tera I will have some more time to get caught up with all the shows I am attempting to keep up with.

~Djr7

Sankarea 4 - Reborn

Last week's ending to Sankarea was very impressive. Rea was able to break free from her father and Chihiro gets his zombie he always wanted.

Sankarea episode 4 starts off with a creative sequence through her father's perspective. This scene was amazing, using a contrast of shadow and light for life and death, signifying a new beginning for Rea as she walks away from the shadow her father once cast over her existence. The falling photos of Rea over the awestruck father was a nice way to show his emotions. I was half expecting Rea's father to wake up from his obsession with his daughter and show some love to his wife, but surprisingly Rea's mother had a use for Rea, which explains why she never really confronted the father about his obsession.

After speculating about Rea becoming a zombie, I pondered where the show would go, thinking it would turn into a slice of life type between Chihiro and Rea. Instead, Sankarea has a few tricks up its sleeve, the Mother's determination to get her daughter back, as well as how Chihiro will deal with a rotting corpse will provide some internal and external conflict.

It's pretty obvious that in order to "cure" Rea's rotting corpse Chihiro will simply have to feed her hydrangea, since it was blatantly obvious when Babu starting eating them as soon as he became a zombie and had his eyes return to normal.

Chihiro gets his zombie that he has always wanted, and it seems he was confused to the actual turn out of Rea's condition. Rea is no different from when she was alive, the only difference is that she feels no pain, and is rotting away, her personality is all there. I'm sure Chihiro's promise to Rea will bring the two closer together, creating something I have not seen in any other anime. I will end this post with another question. If Chihiro and Rea were to marry, what would the priest at the ceremony say? Surely he wouldn't say "until death do you part" seeing how death brought them together.

~Djr7

Sankarea 3 - Life

It seems Sankarea's main story has just begun. After learning about Rea's conflicts with her weird family we spend the bulk of episode 3 with Rea, confronting her father in an attempt to be set free from his ownership of her body and soul. After being put under house arrest by her father, we get a peek into Rea's mother as a character. It seems Rea's mother holds grudges of jealousy towards her daughter, but on the other hand it seems she secretly wants Rea to be free. If Rea was set free, it would mean the father might pay some attention to his drunken jealous hot wife.

The guy must have some real issues if he is to turn down his wife, dressed in nothing but a shirt, roaming the hallway with a bottle of wine offering him a drink.

Baabu lives! It was funny seeing how silly Chihiro was in his excitement over Baabu's resurrection, much to the surprise of his cousin Ranko. The main change to a zombie seems to be a hunger for hydrangea, which is better than eating human flesh. You'd think that the first thing to be worried about is if your zombie would turn out to be of the flesh eating kind, and yet Chihiro never considered it.

This particular scene with Rea and Chihiro's school friends was quite the laugh. Yasutaka gets all worked up about Rea, the hottest girl at school asking if he knows where Chihiro is. Yasutaka can't believe a zombie freak such as Chihiro has the hottest girl asking about him. All of the sudden Rea mentions castration, and the mood suddenly does a  polar shift from Yasutaka's point of view. Despite being under house arrest, Rea manages to sneak of easily, through the same path she escaped before, you'd think the father would have blocked off her escape route, but I guess Rea's acting was enough to convince him to trust her loyalty to him.

The climax at the end of the show was perfect, I won't spoil it for you but I will leave you with a question. Is it considered murder if they turn into a zombie? The conclusion to this episode marks the end of the father issues with Rea, and looks to focus on the relationship between Rea and Chihiro.

~Djr7

Sankarea 2 - Death

Secrets hidden behind smiles; this was the theme surrounding Sankarea this week, and I have a feeling this will continue throughout it's season.

We had a very heavy Rea episode, which is surprising since were only 2 episodes in. We learned a lot about Rea's issues at home with her abnormal family and saw the skeletons in her closet. Rea is like a caged bird, her father wants no one touching her, and her mother is as cold as ice towards her. Rea isn't allowed any friends and ends up being locked away after being found out by her father for sneaking off to meet with Chihiro. 

Rea has already developed  a solid reasoning for wanting to meet with Chihiro, she claims she wants to be "reborn" as a zombie and live a normal life away from her messed up family. Rea is definitely reaching her limit, and i'm sure well see Chihiro reach out and save her at some point, whether it be through a knight in shining armor approach, or turning her into a zombie. 

It will be very interesting to see what the next episode holds, judging by the preview, it might be an end to Rea's father in some way after seeing that cliff scene. I am also highly interested to see the effects of the potion and whether or not we will see our first zombie next week.

~Djr7

Sankarea: Great First Impression

Wow, I did not see this coming. I have been trying to watch all the first episodes of the shows that appeal to me this season, but Sankarea really stood out. Not only does the show have an amazing art quality, but it has a lot of serious situations and makes a very interesting watch. It doesn't appear to be a super light show to watch, it has some sad moments that seem real, meaning they are serious issues that plague some of the cast. The show also has some quality humor behind these dark scenarios without making the show seem silly.

It's hard to explain this dark tone the show has, but when you watch it I'm sure you'll understand. If I was to give an example, kore wa zombie desu ka? is funny, light, and silly, yet it deals with death and being turned into a zombie. This show is much more realistic without the light hearted atmosphere or crazy events. I really hope I'm making sense here but again, watch it, i'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Our protagonist (Chihiro) is a normal high school student, who happens to be attracted to zombies. It's funny, but also interesting because he takes this zombie love seriously and even states he isn't attracted to living girls. His cousin is a typical energetic character that likes to teas Chihiro. His sister appears to hold in her emotions because she works for her father at their shrine, she even asks her brother if it's O.K.to show emotion following a death. The female lead character, Rea Sanka, also has a dark secret that plagues her mind. I really enjoy how most of the characters have already displayed some humor as well as giving us a glimpse at their hidden burdens they carry.

Sankarea shows promise and I really hope it continues this realistic trend where dealing with zombies, death, and other character issues are not taken with some over the top silly humor. I will admit, however that I thought Symphogear would be good after watching its first episode which was super serious as well. I am really tired of these silly shows that make no sense or just want to troll me in some way.

~Djr7