Kyouran Kyōdai

This episode is the most touching one.. The story is about a guy who has a niece named Fumika ( another person, not the mailman Fumika ).. Anyway, this guy is pretty unlucky in the series..

Firstly, he got into a fight with 2 youths.. When he was ’saved’ by the policemen, they thought that he was a child kidnapper when he was actually bringing his niece for a treat at a ice cream shop..

Their reason, he got no job, was an otaku ( stupid reason ) and 30 yrs old.. He did have a job but decided to quit after he found out that he have a terminal appendix cancer..

So after he quit his job, he still do his normal things like painting and stuff.. Anyway, after his release from the police station, he and Fumika decides to end their day and go home..

However, the car broke down in the middle of nowhere but he decides to walk on to find the nearest civilisation.. But Fumika followed him because she is his niece and she want to go together with him..

While they were chatting, he realize that his life wasn’t a ‘piece of shit’.. Furthermore, he also created the game which his niece his playing.. Then the flashback came and talk about his past in the company he used to work for..

Then came the most heroic part.. A lorry came out of nowhere and honked at them alot of time.. Seeing the trouble approaching, the guy decides to save Fumika by pushing her out the way..

In the next scene, we see that the guy didn’t make it.. Fumika and her mum pays a visit to say their goodbye..

She was saddened to see him gone but was happy to hear that the people think of him as a hero who saved the little girl ( Fumika )..

I find this quite sad to see someone dear to you die just to save you.. Though I find the policemen in this episode dumb.. Call the guy’s company first instead of the mother or the girl’s mother.. Stupid.. Since it reflects the true life in some part of the world, then damn you all..

Anyway, I found a better comment for this series, its from myanimelist.net..

First, I just want to say are the police in Japan insensitive morons or something? First was the police officer who arrested the guy. Yeah, because the first thing that comes to mind when I find a guy being beaten up by punks with a little kid is that this guy is a child molester. Even if there had been a recent report of a child kidnapping shouldn’t the cop have made a positive ID that the child with him matched the description of the missing child and questioned the two of them instead of immediately pouncing on the guy. It’s not like Lil’ Fumika was in any apparent danger or Takehiko was about to grab her and run away from the cop. WTF Japan?

Then there was the cop at the station. Get a job so you don’t do something desperate like kidnap children again? First of all, where is your proof he was kidnapping any kids in the first place, and second you call his former place of employment and not his house, his mother, or, the most obvious choice, the girl’s mother to verify his story. Again, are police in this country morons? Is it just illegal to sue the police for libel or something ’cause otherwise that was a really stupid thing for the cop to say. Way to kick a guy when he’s already down.

Didn’t like this episode all that much. Too much of it felt contrived to make this the worst day of this guy’s life or something. First the cops, and also Takehiko’s decision not to tell anyone about his disease. I’ll grant he was depressed, but so much of the crap he suffered from his mom, his coworker, and the interrogator could’ve been avoided if he’d said look guys I have a terminal illness. Maybe there’s some cultural disconnect I’m not getting but either way all it did was to annoy me.

Well anywany, the series is about to end soon.. So many anime is ending soon.. Well, newer ones will take over them later on..

Ah, such a relaxing episode to watch.. No violence which is a good change once in awhile.. However, following the name of the show, there is still a message to be delivered..

So the episode begins when Mika-san, Kaname and Natsuki visited Fumi-chan in hospital.. Mika-san was very glad to finally talk to her after the shooting incident which is shown in episode 8..

They met up with Chiaki who flew there.. She asked them whether they are free to go on a holiday break.. However Mika had a job to do but is still able to go with them on a condition that they go to the southern islands where her job required her to go to..

Upon reaching there, they booked 2 tatami rooms at a hotel, one for the girls and the other for the boys which inludes, Kaname and Matoma since the staff talks in a male way..

Natsuki then decides to persuade Kaname into confessing to Mika again like he sed to in the past.. However he wasn’t keen to do it..

However, their conversation wasn’t to themselves as Chiaki used Matoma as a microphone to hear their conversations..

While they were talking about visiting the nearby island, Natsuki fell down the stairs and crashed onto a girl..

After that silly incident, the girl didn’t introduce herself but said the reason for coming there was to visit her grandfather’s grave on the nearby island..

After that, Chiaki took out some beer to relax herself and all the girls have a fun night..

Though I pity the guys for just listening to the ruckus from their room..

On the next day, they all set off for the island.. The girl then revealed the grandfather’s name to everyone, much to the shock from Chiaki..

When they reached the island, the girl set off for her grandfather’s grave while the rest head for the beach.. And while Natsuki, Kaname, Matoma and Kanaka were having fun,

Chiaki and Mika decided to go and pay a visit to the grave too..

There, she revealed about her past and that the grandfather of the girl is actually Chiaki’s husband.. He & Chiaki ( when she was still human ) were a couple 50 years ago when they met i a fatal accident..

Mika then told Chiaki that her job was to bring Chiaki to the graveyard so that she would be reunited with her husband. Chiaki felt very grateful to Mika for that..

After that they left the island for home..

I felt happy to know about Chiaki’s past.. Most of the anime don’t show some of their character’s past which makes them quite confused to understand sometimes.. But I think Shigofumi will end up as one of the best anime to watch this year..

This episode proves to be one of the saddest episode I’ve ever watch in the whole Shigofumi series till now..

In the last episode, we saw Fumika got shot by her father with her gun.. She lie on the floor bleeding while Kasai Natsuka came to help her..

Najima Kaname then pushed Mikawa Kirameki down and punched him with sheer anger..

Kaname and Natsuki’s sister, Haruno carried Mikawa to a room filled with stuffed toys and threw him there.. They then locked the room to prevent Mikawa from escaping..

Natsuka on the other hand bring Fumika to another room.. She then got the shocked of her life when she saw Fumika self-regen her gunshot wound, even pushing the bullet out of her body..

Kaname, Natsuki and Haruno ask Fumika about how she came to be.. Fumika then reveals that she’s the formation of a split personality of the original Fumika..

She told everyone that she had a sad past where her father tortured her with an ink pen so that he could write a story.. However, the torture causes her to have a split personality since she wasn’t allowed to go out of the house and doesn’t have anyone to confide with her problems..

The split created 2 persons, the shy, quiet but happy Fumi-chan and the sad and emotional Mika-san.. The tortured continue on and on till one day Mika took over Fumi-chan’s body, took a gun and shot Mikawa..

Because of this, Fumi-chan collapse due to shock while later on Mika-san somehow became a mailman for shigofumi..

After the story was told, everyone heard an explosion.. Knowing that Mikawa had escaped the room using gunpowder, Mika-san then head over to the weapon room where Mikawa is and locked the door behind her..

Mika-san tried to kill Mikawa Kirameki but was stopped by Kanaka when she was used by Kaname to break the locked door open..

Haruno then went over to stop Mika-san and told Mikawa Kirameki to earn some money to pay the hospital bill for Fumi-chan who is warded there.. Knowing that he’s outnumbered and beaten by Mika-san, he comply with Haruno’s term..

In the next scene we can see that Kaname and Natsuki telling Mika-san that they will wait together with her till Fumi-chan recovers from her coma..

I like this episode, especially the part when Mika-san went ‘postal’ on Mikawa Kirameki.. That sure knocked Mikawa Kirameki to his senses..

Then we get to see the shigofumi mailman’s world partly in the big field filled with staves.. This is where they show Chiaki stabs her staff, Matoma into the ground and Matoma somewhat recharges himself..

Speaking of the ‘human’ Fumika, this episode tells about 2 different Fumikas.. The shigofumi mailman Fumika reveals to Kanaka that she is the other half of the ‘human’ Fumika..

‘E-’ on architecture.. Totally ugly..

Najima Kaname, a friend of Kasai Natsuka and also a friend of the ‘human’ Fumika, wanted to pay a visit to Mikawa Kirameki too.. So he asked Natsuka to follow him there..

This is where it gets weird.. Mikawa suddenly acts like a small kid when theres a ’sun showers’.. He ran around playing in the rain and even ask Miss Kasai to join him.. Very very creepy of him..

Anyway while Natsuki & Kaname were on their way to the glass house, the shigofumi mailman Fumika visited Mikawa to send him a shigofumi from an addresser..

It was revealed that Fumika is his daughter.. After Mikawa read the letter, he went out for awhile before returning with a lighter, wanting to burn the letter…

Being angry for having no feelings about the addresser, Fumika took out her gun and pointed it at Mikawa, .. Then Fumika also said that he has daughters he left behind..

So this means that either there’s two Fumikas or there is 1 Fumika whereas her spirit became the shigofumi mailman..

Kaname who just came in, pushed the gun out of Fumika’s hand, thinking that she will shoot at Mikawa.. ( Idiot.. ) While he got pushed back, Mikawa somehow took the gun and shot Fumika..

Kanaka then calls out Fumika’s name and thats it.. The preview for episode 8 shows Fumika’s past.. Hopefully we will have a better understanding about Fumika and her family..

The main character of the series is Fumika.. She is one of the mail carriers sending shigofumi around parts of the world, but in this anime it is focused totally in Japan..

These shigofumi are letters written by those who have recently died, and it is Fumika’s job to deliver the letters to whoever the dead wanted them to go to..

With her is her artificial intelligence staff named Kanaka..

The function of the staff is meant to aid the shigofumi mail carrier by keeping track of senders, receivers, the delivery area, and supplementing other usual tasks.

Anyway, what is so nice about Shigofumi?

The first reason is that Fumika have an awesome gun.. She like to use it to threaten the people who interfere is her duties..

This is no ordinary gun she carries.. It looked more like a souped-up version of the magnum gun with gold-coloured imprints on it..

Most people thought that she was too serious in her job.. Showing no emotions and whatsoever.. But in episode 5, her ’soft side’ is shown as she lost her composure when she’s near cats..

Second reason of liking this anime is that the Kanaka isn’t just an ordinary staff.. Fumika can give a number code to Kanaka to do some useful transformation..

Up till episode 5, Fumika gave 2 type of number codes to Kanaka.. First one being 0609 being able to..

Change Kanaka to an angel wing, providing air capability..

The next code is 0913 which allows Fumika to become invisible..

However, different mail carriers have different code numbers for both functions.. Especially known is Fumika’s friend, Chiaki who used a different number code to transform her staff into angle wing..

Last but not least, what I like about the series is that the opening theme; “Kotodama” (コトダマ, “Kotodama” or “Power of Language”) is performed by Ali Project..

Ali Project is famous for singing for another anime series, .Hack//Roots, more famous in the game trilogy; .Hack GU..

So, I recommend everyone to catch this anime.. Since the show at this date is still at episode 5, i give it 9/10..