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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Rent | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:2855#1552] |
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(Rent-/ Watch+) Inari Kon Kon attempts to explore developments with friendship and romance focused around the unique situation faced by Inari as she gains the powers of a god after a local shrine goddess named Uka-no-Mitami bestows Inari with some of her power, allowing Inari to shapeshift into any human form she desires. The friendship aspect of the plot is decently explored as Inari often makes use of the divine power she gains to aid or hinder the efforts of her classmates depending on the situation at hand, serving to strengthen or strain any bonds she has or makes with others. Using this power leads Inari to learn that it is something that should not abused carelessly for personal gain, especially with her romantic situation. Uka-no-Mitami's situation also gets focused on as her bonds with the human world lead to hostilities between her and other gods as they try to either distance her from human relationships or force her into arranged marriages with other gods. It also leads to some serious implications for Uka-no-Mitami's life later in the show as Inari draws upon more of her divine power for use. The major aspect to the anime's plot that Inari Kon Kon doesn't do well with is its handling with romance. Whereas the friendship angle was well developed, the romantic element of the plot relies heavily on cliches typical of the genre within anime and manga that suffer in that the series doesn't do anything to further develop them. In spite of the tensions that develop with Inari's crush on Koji, nothing develops out of the relationship. Plus the show teases some possible implications between Uka-no-Mitami and Inari's older brother Toka, that suffer with the two not having good chemistry with one another and their personalities feeling like something conjured up from typical anime rom-com titles. Overall, I suppose my thoughts of Inari Kon Kon are rather mixed. While it offers some solid exploration of its main duo of Inari and Uka-no-Mitami's characters and the friendship focus it develops, the majority of the cast are not as well developed and the romance angle that the series attempts to play up is not as well developed compared to the friendship angle. Still considering the show's rather short length at 10 TV episodes, I suppose it's a title worth a rental at least to see if the themes Inari Kon Kon offers up seem better explored to someone other than myself. Last updated Saturday, November 07 2015. Created Saturday, November 07 2015. | ||||||||
| Unevaluated |
 Stretch
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[series:2855#628] | ||||||
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(Six episodes watched): I wasn't eager to watch a show which seemed to be set largely in shrines and with friendly fox spirits, since those often involve Japanese folklore which I'm not aware of and/or doesn't make much sense. But I sat up and took notice when this show introduced an intriguing twist: as thanks for a good deed, Inari is granted a wish. She is transformed into looking exactly like the girl who her would-be boyfriend, Tanbashi, likes. I enjoy shows in which something happens which could never possibly happen in real life, because I'm obliged to consider all sorts of novel possibilities. I have no problem suspending disbelief once, if a tantalizing new situation is created as a result. Part of the fun is when a new problem, which the protagonist(s) have no choice but to solve (and it won't be easy) is introduced. That's why I was actually a little disappointed when Inari realizes that her spur-of-the-moment wish wasn't such a good idea, asks for a correction, and is granted a wide ranging ability to shapeshift instead. Despite all my hopes, it turned out that IKKI had already reached it's highest point in episode one and would only meander slowly downhill afterwards. I was hoping that the show would focus on Inari's crush and her efforts to use her special powers to further it, and stay focused there, but instead it kind of wanders around the business of being a Goddess, Inari's relations with her brother, and so on, which isn't all that interesting. It seemed to me that there was a golden opportunity here to use a supernatural ability to set up a unique and intriguing situation--perhaps two girls essentially switching bodies and taking over each other's lives. But very little was done with it. In fact, the show seemed determined to minimize the extent to which fantastic powers are utilized and instead try to be a simple story of teenage friendship with a little divinity tossed in as an afterthought. But this teenage friendship business isn't particularly entertaining. I mean, who cares about whether Maru can accept Akemi into the circle of friends? We haven't gotten to know her, or anybody else, anywhere near well enough to care. There were a few good jokes in episode one (like what a Goddess does in her free time), but there aren't enough laughs to make the show worth watching. IKKI just seems to drift around, without giving us a hint of what the real conflict will be. For me, the mark of a good show with a skillfully told story is that at the start of an episode I still remember everything important which happened in the last one. If a plot is interesting me, my brain automatically perks up and pays extra attention, and allocates memory space to keeping track of what's going on. Unfortunately, after six episodes I couldn't say that about IKKI. That leaves me with little to watch for, and a growing frustration with a mediocre show which seems to consider itself to be good enough that it didn't need to use the supernatural angle at all. That was especially annoying because this show clearly had potential which went unused. When it came time for episode seven of IKKI, I decided to skip it and move on. I appreciate the effort that was made to give personalities to Inari and Uka, but those alone aren't enough to carry the show forward. IKKI just seemed like a show that couldn't decide what the main plotline would be--either that, or it was somehow amused to keep that plotline hidden from the viewer. But our patience has limits. Last updated Tuesday, April 01 2014. Created Tuesday, January 21 2014. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
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| Official Japanese Series Web Site | http://inarikonkon.jp/ |
