Cinnamon Ass - Reborn Like a Zombie

Speed Grapher Episode 9 - At the Baths

Kagura and Saiga continue to head away from Tokyo, with Tsujidou following behind using his amazing sense of smell to track them. They make a stop to buy new clothes (because let's face it, Kagura's main role in the series is to look cute in a succession of different outfits) and then head off to an onsen which Kagura remembers from a photo her mother gave her (obviously she wasn't always the psycho bisexual she is now!). Whilst there, they hear a story about the man in the photo, Kazuki Odawara, whom Shinsen was in love with but was later found murdered with his left arm missing. Meanwhile, Shinsen visits the real chairwoman of the Tennouzu Group who is convinced Shinsen is a fake, Ginza continues to investigate where Saiga has gone, and Suitengu decides to take matters into his own hands...

Although I do "complain" that Speed Grapher is a shounen fight show with fetishes, I think this episode proved me slightly wrong - we managed to get by with no fights whatsoever, not even a freak of the week, and it was all pretty enjoyable, especially the hints as to Shinsen's past. I was also worried we were going to go down some kind of Saiga/Kagura route but that didn't really happen, surprisingly (I'm not totally against it despite the age gap, I just think it's a little too hackneyed and overdone). Plus, with the relatively sedate pace of the episode, the animation wasn't a problem at all - I think it was actually slightly better than usual. The key animation is always fine, it's just that Gonzo appear to have used all their inbetweeners for their other shows...