Kannagi Episode 9 – Great Misunderstandings

After the events of the previous episode, things escalate even further when Tsugumi accidentally starts a rumor within the school about Jin and Daitetsu’s “relationship”.

Summary

Takako, Shino, Akiba and Tsugumi get together to discuss the recent events between Jin, Daitetsu and Nagi. Takako lays down the facts right before Akiba makes a bold conclusion which Takako gladly follows. After the conversation, Tsugumi leaves to ask Jin directly about the situation. Takako tries to stop Tsugumi from doing something so bold, but instead makes things worse when Tsugumi accidentally shouts out, in the middle of a crowded hallway, that Jin and Daitetsu might be in a homosexual relationship. This, of course, starts a rumor that quickly spreads throughout the school.

One of Tsugumi’s classmates comes up with the idea to take her to see Zange since she felt bad for what she’s done to Jin’s reputation. Zange comes up with the idea to date Jin to show everyone that Jin, in fact, likes girls and not guys. Tsugumi quickly disapproves of the idea and decides to go visit Jin instead. It just so happens that when she goes to see him, it’s right after Jin exiting the shower.

Shortly after the embarrassing incident, Nagi returns and learns of the recent events. This leads to more embarrassing stories and a picture album about Jin’s childhood as Zange arrives as well. As soon as the stories get to the point of Jin’s junior high school days, Jin immediately interrupts the girls and confiscates the picture album. Jin comes back into the room saying that he has something to talk to Tsugumi about. At the same time Zange mentions the rumor about Jin being homosexual which pushes Tsugumi to try and apologize for starting it.

Jin apologizes to Tsugumi for an event that happened during their junior high school days. From the looks of it, it seems that Jin got angry at Tsugumi for something that happened to a book (possibly belonging to his father). Tsugumi didn’t think much of the incident, but it has bothered Jin ever since. Tsugumi goes on to tell Jin that he doesn’t have to apologize since she understands him whenever he cries or gets angry.

The conversation continues with Jin asking Tsugumi what she has to apologize for. This, of course, is when Tsugumi is forced to tell Jin the truth about all the rumors going around school. Nagi agrees that Tsugumi should be the one to be Jin’s pseudo-girlfriend since she is responsible for everything that has happened. Zange adds on that Jin also has her as a “special candidate” as well. Jin is eventually forced to choose between Zange and Tsugumi and right when he was about the choose, Nagi gets impatient and says that Jin only has to be seen flirting with girls for people to see that he has interests in them. Therefore, he doesn’t really have to choose between the two and can be seen flirting with both. However, while this plan seemed to work at first, it only caused the rumors to get worse, saying that Jin doesn’t prefer either gender and just wants everything for himself.

Impressions

This episode was mainly a Tsugumi episode that focused on the relationship between Jin and herself. Their relationship wasn’t anything surprising to say the least. We already know that they’ve been friends since childhood and because Tsugumi cares so much for Jin, it’s natural that she would know so much about him. What I thought was kind of interesting was how Tsugumi obviously has feelings for Jin, but at the same time she has these conflicting emotions which holds her back a bit. It’s nothing new by far, but it’s a bit refreshing to see (maybe it’s just me).

It’s kind of funny how the “fried eggs and vegetables” joke is constantly a running gag for Tsugumi’s character. Is she even trying to learn how to cook different things?

The part where Takako and Shino were discussing Jin and Daitetsu’s relationship as well as raiding Akiba’s personal doujin collection was pretty funny to watch. It was especially amusing to see Tsugumi’s reaction as well.

It was interesting to see that Jin was about to pick Tsugumi to be his pseudo-girlfriend to clear up the confusion at school. This doesn’t really prove anything in regards to Jin having feelings for her since there’s a number of things it could have meant. Things such as Tsugumi being responsible for the rumor or simply because Jin would feel more comfortable with someone he’s known all his life rather than someone he barely knows. What would have happened if Nagi didn’t interrupt Jin would be interesting to speculate as well.

Hmm. So it’s okay for them to place Sony, Blu-ray and Betamax into the show but not a proper VAIO? Looks like they don’t have as much freedom as we thought they would with Sony products.