Sankarea Episode 9

In all shows of this genre, where drama, romance and a little bit of everything is involved, there's always an episode or two of toned-down development needed. This can be in the form of filler episodes, which can either work very well or hideously wrong. This episode of Sankarea served its purpose as a filler episode, albeit strangely placed. How exactly did things turn out?



If you can recall, we've already had a filler episode, which gave us an insight on the relationship and past between Ranko and Furuya. Not only did it clear up some uncertainties, it also served to strengthen the general character interaction between the two. This episode was very much the same, but it was basically the world from Mero's point of view. I must say, it was brilliantly executed, fun, a light-hearted escape from the previous episode's kidnapping of Furuya by Rea's ludicrous father.



I personally feel that Mero is a very well-written character. She really doesn't fit any cliche as one might think. Not only is she good at housework, taking care of the majority of the chores around the house, she has a very mysterious personality, with a very quiet and composed presentation. However, this episode allowed us to see a drastically different side of her as details of her deceased mother are revealed.



It's shown to us that Mero's only memory of her mother is from back when she was sick in bed, and her mother touched her forehead, with her cold hand. Déjà vu occurred in this episode, as Rea bumped into Mero in the graveyard while she was worshipping her mother. Rea happened to do the same thing Mero's mother did, touching her forehead with a cold hand. Now this is very interesting in two ways. Mero's cute (weak?) side is shown to us as she blushes and calls Rea "mama" with a surprisingly cute voice, completely different from the usual Mero. It makes me believe that Mero has put up a barrier around herself in order to make her appear strong and mature, while she has many insecurities inside of her. Secondly, Mero's mother had a cold hand and so did Rea when she touched her forehead. It definitely hints towards Furuya and Mero's mother being a zombie of sorts. Also, reading through the manga, it certainly makes sense given that gramps is also related to the whole zombie deal.






This was certainly an amusing episode, and we were given a chance to see the story through Mero's eye and get to know Mero's friends. It's just slightly puzzling how the previous episode has no connection to this filler episode whatsoever. Perhaps this occurred in a different time frame? Regardless, I love this show.




Good day.