Sankarea 12 – The ending and the beginning

Sankarea has been a fascinating series, one that has had excellent episodes and story arcs, while also unfortunately having a few places where the plot as meandered and not gone very far. As a series it has largely focussed on the private family life that Rea has tried to escape from, and how her father has attempted to control everything about her life from the moment she was born. As a story it is as much about loss as it is about discovering new things and living through new and exciting experiences. The central irony of the story is that Rea must become the most unnatural girl possible in order to live the life of a normal girl. Her family life and the constant presence of her father have shut her off from the outside world, isolating her from everything that could be considered to be normal. While the boys at Chihiro’s school may talk about her as being the perfect ‘oujo-sama’, that is little more than an a mask, something that was in part created by her everyday existence as a Sanka.

Sankarea 11 – Misunderstandings and Reinterpretations

One of the central premises of Sankarea has been the ever-controlling presence of Danichirou, a person who cannot, and will not let Rea live a normal life. At first there is the implication, albeit a small one of incestuous feelings for his daughter, however, over the course of this series we have gradually learnt that this is not the case. To Danichirou, his love for Rea is not incestuous, and yet it is not entirely natural, as if he is mixing up his feelings and desires. Many may consider him to be a sick and twisted individual, and in some respects he is, but at the same time, Danichirou is a tragic character, a product of a deeply damaging family. His love for Rea is a product of his deep love for her mother, the first, and perhaps only person who ever showed real emotions around him, ignoring his family background and treating him like a human.

Sankarea 10 and the demons of the past

There is a central tragedy to the story of Sankarea; it is not about Rea’s death, but about her family and the tragic and emotionally destructive elements that helped to create her current way of life. While the majority of the series is about the relationship between Rea and Chihiro, there is a lot more surrounding their meeting and of course Rea’s death. In this episode we see the tragic, and emotional nature of her family life, along with the elements that are central to the destructive nature of Danichirou’s love and Rea’s emotionally starved character.

Sankarea – Dislocation and flashbacks

Sankarea is a fascinating series that explores ideas surrounding what it means to be happy, along with notions of family life and living a ‘normal’ life. The characters all have their own problems and ways that they cope with changing surroundings. However, there is still a central problem with this series, and that is the dislocation of the story, with numerous changes of pace, tone and mood. Having a series that changes its pace and tone is not a bad thing as such, and used correctly it can help to produce a fascinating story that uses such change to its advantage. Of course the opposite can also happen, with a series feeling rushed and choppy, where there is no central flow to the plot and particular elements come across as forced or used incorrectly.

Sankarea 08 – Living the life of a normal girl?

One of the desires that Rea has made abundantly clear over the course of this series is her wish to be capable of living life as a normal girl, being able to go shopping with friends and enjoying those little things in life that her father had denied her. Her first meeting with Chihiro happened when she was trying escape from her father, her screaming down the abandoned well can be viewed as a way of releasing stress, getting her feelings, her fears and her anxieties out in the open. It is in a sense a way with which she can push her feelings into something else, an empty void that will swallow up all the problems in her life. But at the same time, there was an empty quality in this since she returned night after night; there was no end to her torment, her fears and her anxieties.

Sankarea 07 – The other side

Ranko is a character that has been underused for the majority of the first half of this series, or at least has not featured quite as prominently as Rea. For the most part the reasons for this are obvious, the series itself is centred on Rea and her relationship with Chihiro as a zombie, however, and Ranko has been there to provide some much needed drama and a change of direction when necessary. She is a fascinating character, strong willed, but also very shy and almost incapable of telling Chihiro how she feels about him. She is the character who understands Chihiro the best, having met him and been with him for many years, and this episode provided some interesting flashbacks into their lives together.

Sankarea 06 – The bare necessities of life is all you need

One of the intriguing things about Sankarea is Chihiro’s zombie fetish, or more accurately, how his zombie fetish isn’t as bad as some people may think. At first we are shown quite explicitly that Chihiro wants a zombie girlfriend, and that he doesn’t seem to view normal humans as worth him time. But over the past six episodes it has become clear that while Chihiro may have an obsession with zombies, that isn’t all there is to his life. He has a family that he cares about greatly, and of course there is Rea, someone who he has grown attached to over the course of the series so far. Chihiro cares for Rea and for her health and safety not necessarily because she is now a zombie, but because he has seen a girl who is deeply hurt and scarred by her family life. She had nowhere else to go, and perhaps Chihiro feels responsible for her turning into a zombie, as demonstrated by his narration during the beginning of the series.

Sankarea 05 – Taking responsibility for ones actions

The first four episodes of Sankarea largely focussed on Rea, exploring how her family and the household that she grew up in have affected her life, and in part warped her senses. This episode, however, focussed more on Chihiro, looking at his family and the life that he lives – a caring family that is shown in stark contrast to the self destructive Sanka household. It is a strange household full of eccentric people with odd hobbies and one of two little quirks that makes the entire family fascinating and entertaining to watch.

Sankarea 04 – That which does not kill us makes us stronger

This week further demonstrated how fractured the Sanka house truly is, one that, while large, is bereft of life or warmth. We further saw the complicated relationship that Rea and Chihiro have, along with the curious notion that Rea had to die in order to live the life of a ’normal’ girl. This further demonstrates the irony of Rea’s life, that she comes from a wealthy family, and yet has to die and move into a temple house in order to experience love, friendship, and a family life that has until now, been missing from her everyday life. Her freedom from the Sanka house came at a high cost, and while she may have come back to life as a zombie, Rea now has to contend with new problems.

Sankarea 03 – Death becomes her

There is a surreal irony in Sanka Rea’s life; that she comes from a wealthy family, has had a privileged childhood in many ways, and due to her looks, status and abilities is viewed as a true ‘ojou-sama’. And yet, she is miserable, cursing her life, cursing her family and viewing death as her only escape; it is this juxtaposition between the realities of her life and what her social status is mean to portray that make her such a fascinating character. Especially with regards to Chihiro, and to a lesser extent Ranko, neither of whom are from privileged backgrounds, and yet, both of them to enjoy themselves while living life to its fullest.