Kamiina Botan #9 – Seasonal Specials

Hironori Tanaka‘s(TNK) Kamiina Botan #9 is the most important episode of the series, the emotional climax of the entire journey this far, and also unfortunately the first episode that struggled to bring it all together. The plan was simple, let TNK one man army this as its sole ED/SB/AD/KA and bask in the fruits of a powerhouse animator all on his lonesome. It makes sense they trusted his vision too because this man is one of the most prolific animators around, wherever you look be it Nippon Sangoku to Scenes of Awajima he’ll somehow find his way into the credits as a talent whose animation prowess is only matched by his efficiency, he is a guy who could hypothetically one man army a show.

His directorial works in recent memory also serve to make the prospect of him appearing appealing, from the spiritually close team of Shingo Fuji on Ruri Rocks and Onimai to the more action oriented Dandadan and Clevatess he finds his way around. Of course those works are the entree to his real masterpiece, Chainsaw Man #3 which might just be the most dense and detailed action episode I’ve ever seen, his monster corrections and ambitious scope marrying the chaos of Tatsuki Fujimoto to the grit and gore of Ryu Nakayama‘s approach in a way the series would never top. He is quite plainly a very very talented and versatile man but he is also a busy one and that might’ve been this episode’s undoing.

Whatever the schedule this episode had(presumably a good one) fell to the wayside through the one man bottleneck and when it became clear he couldn’t finish the work an emergency influx of 2nd KA’s and basically every AD attached to the series(hello again Gin-san) came in to clean things up but it was too little too late. This is a rough episode at times, the drawing quality and general movement being awkward, ugly, and very much not appearing as intended. It looks troubled in a way this series no matter how wild its stylistic swerves are never does, but it was also the episode that cemented this as my favourite anime of the year thus far.

Beyond the obvious catharsis of “hey they be girlfriends now” this episode is a triumph of direction, it is a sensual, emotionally uneasy, and oftentimes impossible to grasp depiction of burning desire that just gets it. TNK very well may have the only rough episode of the season on his hands but he also has his best output since CSM too, it is by his hands this episode faltered but it was by his hands that it soared so beautifully into the sea of stars. The first thing you’ll notice about his art is how pointy them noses be(and how big they get, the proportions are all over the place) but you’ll probably also catch some hands. He places a big emphasis on hands this episode in a very thematic way, this is an episode about reaching out and grabbing what one had longed for for a very long time after all. If it was that easy though Ibuki and Botan would’ve settled their simmering feelings a long time ago tho so hands oftentimes retract after reaching out, Ibuki in particular getting a shot cradling her own close to her chest, locking her feelings to herself out of obvious anxiety.

That said, her only drinking after an image of a nude Botan dances across her mind pretty explicitly say’s damn girl you’re a thirsty one eh. TNK further creates this delicate emotional space for his characters by treating the backgrounds as a feeling instead of a setting, oftentimes boiling them down to dashes of color that signify their simmering thoughts or even a void of white, Ibuki in particular lost in this space as she doesn’t have a single clue about what to do with Kamiina Botan. It’s a clever visual choice because it brings a lot of attention to the people over the places, their minute expressions and suggestive hands selling the focus of the soft drama with clarity. He did make the team go all out when backgrounds appear, the forest that Botan and Ibuki take their getaway in being a gorgeous watercolor whose lack of specificity in the details is cohesive with the episodes approach.

The characters are the stars and while sometimes they be ugly this direction makes for a very effective showing. Ibuki and Botan are like guaranteed banging by seasons end so I liked how TNK followed through on Chin-Ian and Kanade. Kanade is a lost, angsty puppy these days whose kinda useless whereas Chin-Ian is going for her like a hungry shark, doing everything in her power to get Kanade out of her Ibuki funk and into her arms. There’s very little talking with this relationship but a whole lotta gesturing, it will be interesting to see what Kanade thinks when she realizes why her junior is being especially attentive towards her.

The stars finally align at last in the back half as Ibuki and Botan make their clean getaway but it’s not the easy pleasure Ibuki always gets with Botan in tow. Something’s on Botan’s mind, she’s thinking ahead instead of being in the moment with Ibuki and it’s decidedly awkward though pretty clear that Botan’s just in her head anxious about how she’s going to pop the question tonight. That rich sense of suspense makes for a very tense episode all things considered, it really puts you in the mood(ok bad way of putting it) and so when Botan hits the hot springs with a “I’ll be waiting” thing’s immediately get heavy.