Sankarea - Episode 6

おかえり,礼弥 <3

It looks like my concerns about the lack of Rea in the last episode were addressed as this week's episode showed once again how moe she is. We learn the substance that has been sustaining her and Babu is actually the poison from the hydrangea leaves. On one hand, this sounds a bit strange as poison is generally known to be harmful and deadly. But I guess when you're dead (and in an anime, no less), the laws of the human world don't apply. On the other hand, I think the hydrangea plants were intended to be used as symbols since they're on the Sanka family's crest and are what Rea proposed Chihiro to use for the elixir. Either way, the good news is that Rea's herself again.

Because of this, Ranko's starting to fall behind now in the race for Chihiro. Although she isn't fully aware of this particular reason, I'd say that her chances are close to non-existent, solely because she isn't a zombie. However, when Chihiro insisted that he and Rea aren't in any kind of special relationship, it made me think that there may be a chance that he does have feelings for his cousin, even if just slightly. So although I wouldn't prefer it, a Chihiro x Ranko ending is still possible. And despite the fact that Chihiro is your typical, dense male protagonist, he manages to stand out from the rest due to his quirky personality and unique interest so it's not hard to still like his character, even at times like this.

In terms of the story, its primary focus now seems to be on Rea's slowly but surely decaying body. I'm almost certain that Chihiro's grandfather knows of how to permanently keep Rea as a zombie. But for the sake of making things interesting, he ends up leaving it to Chihiro to figure it out. My guess is that whether he does so successfully or not will lead into the final parts of the story.

Judging by the preview the next episode may end up being mainly Chihiro x Ranko. The title of the episode is "Childhood Friend" so there may be a new character being introduced, assuming the "friend" is not referring to Ranko. Unfortunately, I feel like there's going to be a lack of Rea because of this.