Time for another show review! This time we’ve got Inari Kon Kon, which was… a show, I guess? It was watchable, but not much more – this one felt very overtly and almost awkwardly like a direct advertisement for the original manga, given its adaptation made zero use of anime as a medium and basically all the conflicts resolved in “go read the manga, available at a location near you.” That said, it was pretty much a harmless experience all around, and there were some cute moments between the central characters. It flopped as a romance or drama, but did reasonably well in depicting some friendships.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!
Episode 1
Lovely backgrounds. Good color palettes
Very low-key OP
Not much animation
“There go the sparkles again”
Inari Fushimi’s the MC
Tanbabashi is her crush
The humor isn’t particularly funny, it’s just harmless
“Maybe I should try upping our romance quotient in some flag event first” that’s two self-aware otaku jokes
Just lots of cutesy shoujo gags
This MC is likable though
This show’s pacing seems kinda frantic, and the gags are a bit louder than they need to be
Uh oh, her crush has a crush
Another pretty background
This is a show about very tiny problems. They’re not even treated that seriously by the narrative
Yeah, this forest around the shrine is lovely
The articulation of the fox gods is also nice
The god Inari
“I want to be Sumizome!” oh boy
Keiko’s the blue-haired friend
Being Sumizome doesn’t change things, of course
The wolves whispering about Inari not appreciating her stupid wish
Mistress Uka is playing a dating sim, lol
And it’s her transformed wolves
So now she can transform into anyone
“Now palm-sized for your convenience!” I’m liking the irreverent way this show is treating its own variables
Touka’s her brother
“Is he sick? But what about the big game tomorrow?” Lol, these tiny little problems
Episode 2
Uka derping out with more dating sims
Inari transforms into Tanbabashi’s friend to visit him, chaos ensues
The show’s got solid expression work across Inari’s various characters. It’s nice seeing how the show expresses her across different people
Sparkly shoujo flashbacks
Inari’s headed to the Celestial Plain
The Celestial Plain’s a weird, kinda intentionally flat array of buildings. It’s got its own style, but it’s not particularly impressive-looking
Mistress Amaterasu
Inari can’t transform for a day, and Uka’s going to be married off
This feels a little early for this kind of challenge
Sumizome and Inari head to the game together
“Where’s all the love-triangle drama, for heaven’s sake!”
So they send a bunch of absurd test interference
Another pretty ridiculous dilemma
Learning your crush’s crush is a really nice person. It’s awkward!
This CG train sure doesn’t look great
They pass the test, of course
Tanbabashi was actually just asking Sumizome to be the basketball manager
Episode 3
Touka doesn’t like Uka!
“He’s going through that dramatic teenager phase”
“I can transform into someone else, but it doesn’t change who I am.” Learning to like yourself. A pleasant, easygoing message for a pleasant, easygoing show
Touka’s been able to see Uka for a long time
Inari gets confronted by some boy who can also transform
This silly stock transformation footage
Oh my god, her assistant principal expressions
Silly shoujo gags
Oh my god, this net gag with Touka and Uka
Ah, it’s Uka’s big brother
It’s friggin’ Dio
And he’s a siscon. Great
Uka getting distracted by the Wii games
This show has some weird, kinda stilted pacing. There’s rarely much sense of momentum
A lot of the jokes aren’t that good
Another god, Miya
Jeez, this absurd shoujo setup with Touka and Uka
A dreamy flashback about Uka getting hooked on dating sims. Lol
Yeah, the pacing’s pretty stilted
“Where’s the logic in pairing me with this nut?” More self-aware jokes
Figuring out how to give back Uka’s powers
Episode 4
Touka trying to be taken seriously by his parents, failing
Now he’s keeping an eye on Inari since he suspects she has powers
This show’s most base-level conflict, the powers thing, isn’t even a real problem
Some good Inari faces
Inari and Sumizome geeking out about manga
Toshi, Uka’s brother, being a perv
Sumizome falling for Inari’s friend
Sanjou’s the friend
Sumizome figures out Inari likes Tanbabashi pretty much immediately
A lot of this feels like direct translations of manga panels. Very little is done to visually elevate the material. There’s also very little music, mostly just wacky sound effects
Shoujo sparkles moment
There’s also no real chemistry between these two, or well, any of the couples. There’s just awkward shoujo moments – it’s the non-romance romance
Uka’s running out of divine power
Uka lying to Touka about Inari’s powers
“We want to look in on their happiness, if only for a moment”
Episode 5
Some nice “serious dude-manga” faces
Beach episode time
Wow, bad train tunnel CG
Some really slow scenes here
Man, this show’s animation is such garbage
Trying to hook up Sumizome and Keiko
Woop, Touka and Uka again
Inari hanging out with her other friend, Maru
“I don’t think I like Sumizome very much”
This is nice! Grounded friendship issues
Sumizome envious of Inari for a talent Inari can’t see
Shoujo sparkles for Inari-Keiko saving Shimozome
Maru’s worries are understandable. Fine little conflict
Uh oh, Inari fucks up the relationship between Shimozome and Keiko
Yep, this all makes Shimozome feel super insecure
Uh oh, Shimozome wishes she were Inari, and Inari’s powers activate
Episode 6
Inari’s learned, and realizes changing Shimozome won’t solve anything
“I never noticed from far away, but she’s a totally normal girl”
Oh my god these dramatic strings for their friendship moment
Just light flutes and strings now
Friendship
Oh wow, friggin’ great how they transition from “let’s take a bath together” to panning up the dad’s body
Touka and Uka are kinda cute, but I don’t know why anyone would be into Touka
I guess he’s the standoffish shoujo archetype
Shimozome admits her feelings!
Asking Inari for help in getting close to her. Good friendship stuff!
Vacation montage
Yeah, Touka’s just not likable
Touka blush
“We were just thinking how big your hands are” lol
I mean, he’s understandable. He’s a sullen teenager
Inari declines to tell Uka about the divine power episode
Episode 7
Inari got the part of Tanbabashi’s lover in the cultural festival play
Silly Uka faces as she contemplates dating
A kissing scene!!1
Uka runs into Touka! Oh no!
Uka telling Touka about the situation. This might be their first good conversation!
I also like how much honesty this show features
And just as I say that, this conversation ends in dumb bravado from both of them
Uh oh. Turns out it was Inari’s power that got her the role she wanted
Inari getting all kinds of insecure. Tanbabashi misunderstands, and then she misunderstands in turn
Oh thank god, Keiko shows up
She decides to quit the play ono drama
Sumizome on the warpath for Inari! Great stuff
Ooh, pretty background on the rooftop
Ono, wind takes away the other girl’s letter!
I like Inari’s special powers being an unconscious expression of her uncharitable feelings
So she confesses as the other girl
This actually turns out to be a pretty cute scene!
Nice piano version of the OP here
Tanbabashi admits he likes Inari to himself
Inari and Uka each avoiding their problems with the other
“Your hands are sooo big, Touka” omg this comic
Touka learns the truth about Inari!
And then Uka leaves unintentionally. Woops
Episode 8
Man, a bunch of the backgrounds in this show are not great. The indoor scenes, a bunch of the architecture… it’s all really bland
Touka and Inari coming to visit Uka
Uka’s caught up in some political rivalry of her mother’s
Man, some of these gags are lame
And so is this Touka drama
Good Uka faces
Inari changes into Uka, which I’m sure is a good idea
Some more solid expressions with Inari-Uka
Uka runs into Touka, of course
“Chuunibyou” is translated as “teenage drama,” which is a pretty awkward translation
Aw, cute Touka-Uka moment
Touka’s doing good work in this scene
Inari runs into Uka’s father, who is ridiculous
This show is actually equally strong in the small normal stuff and the god stuff, which is unusual
Oh my god, this asshole charming dad
Aw, Uka and Inari are such good friends
“Uka has gotten too close to humans”
Episode 9
What even is the issue with Uka growing close to humans?
Wow, they are pulling out some BS drama with the girl with the love letter
This show often can’t resist going for the easy drama bait
Touka’s test results apparently suck
He takes it out on Inari, cuz he’s a shithead
Maru and Inari bantering. Kinda nice
Inari’s classmates ignoring her and Maru. Apparently the rumor of her messing with the other girl’s love letter is getting around
Maru defends Inari!
ono, Inari’s god-pissed
Uka somehow breaks through to Inari
wuh oh, Uka’s disappearing
This group of four end up being a really strong group of friends
The foxes start howling, and the various shrine statues form a gateway to Uka
Episode 10
This show repeats a decent amount of footage
Ugh, this CG…
Random insert song
Bunch of awkward fox images heading up the shrine gates
This is such an arbitrary conflict. Why is anyone stopping Inari from helping Uka? Why are the gods locking her up? What is the point of any of this?
They all push the door open
“Why didn’t you tell me you were fading away? That’s pretty important!”
And it just kinda ends
OVA
Flashbacks, I guess
Kon wants to learn how to become a better familiar
Tanbabashi’s brother ran away
Kon and Inari fighting is pretty good. I like having Kon be big enough to actually challenge Inari on her crap decisions
This episode kinda sucks. Tanbabashi’s brother is just a brat, there’s no drama here