RIN-NE 3-14
I've been spamming my twitter about this, but I finally got around to watching more
RIN-NE (see: Everything that's available), and I have to say I'm wholly surprised that I enjoy it as much as I do. My initial impression (even back when the Manga was first released state side) was that this was a sort of reskinning of Inuyasha and all the little idiosyncrasies that come with it. Glad to discover that this definitely isn't the case.
It's primarily a comedy, even when it's pretending like it isn't. In-fact, RIN-NE is more like a parody of the sort of stories Rumiko's been close to in the past. When a very typical shonen/
Inuyasha-esq fight is happening, it devolves into Rinne's dilemma of being pathetically poor and the painful, boring minutiae of trying to figure out how to deal with spirits on a shoestring budget. When a romantic situation of misunderstanding that you might see in
Maison Ikkoku pops up, it's played off for jokes and
literally just
references Maison Ikkoku. There's a whole lot of ridiculous circumstances played with a straight face by all parties, but in a very humorous, self-aware way. The clarity in the script can almost assuredly be credited to Michiko Yokote's involvement.
The technical production of the show is weak. Animation for more frenetic moments is reduced to stills. Compositions and backgrounds of a lot of scenes range from unexceptional to just ugly. The show skates by with reasonable character art and charm, but if you can look under the unremarkable veneer, there's a lot of fun to be had in this show. And if you're a hopeless Rumic addict like myself, you'll probably feel right at home with these characters. Very excited to follow this one.