Kamisama Kiss 2

Episode 5

Instead of moving forward, the plot takes several steps back in episode 5. I thought it was pretty clear that Tomoe and Nanami loved each other and acknowledged it at the end of the first season. Re-watching the end, I realized Tomoe never explicitly told Nanami he loved her when he asks to reseal the contract to become Nanami's familiar with a kiss. He's such a tsundere, I thought he just couldn't bring himself to vocalize his feelings. Perhaps the producers wanted viewers to interpret the ambiguous season one ending as a confession of love because it might have wound up being the last episode of the series. Since the show did end up continuing, their romance is apparently still up in the air.

Still, I spent four episodes before this one convinced that Tomoe and Nanami were a couple, and thinking about the new challenges they could face in their relationship. Nope. Tomoe is still reluctant to let a human into his heart, and Nanami even outright states that she knows Tomoe doesn't reciprocate her feelings. Episode 5 is about Tomoe finally accepting that he does in fact have feelings for Nanami—but he's not about to let her in on that important realization.

For a brief portion of the episode, Tomoe refuses to become a familiar again, preferring captivity in prison. He wonders if being Nanami's familiar has made him think of her so much, yet to understand that it's his love for her that plays the biggest role in his obsession. His stubbornness could have led to some interesting conflict, but Nanami is barely fazed, as she has Divine Assembly work to do, and Tomoe's back to being her familiar by the next morning.

The Divine Assembly itself is disappointing after so many episodes leading up to it. The most we see Nanami do is write on wooden blocks and do some quick sightseeing in town. It all has some supernatural meaning of course, but the episode is almost entirely devoid of conflict. Akura-oh is nowhere to be found and Lord Okuninushi appears for only a moment, giving little hint to the mischievous side of him that sent Nanami to the Netherworld.

Not a lot of note happens in this week's installment, but that doesn't mean the episode isn't worth watching. The characters in this show are always fun to watch, even if they don't have much new going on. Nanami's optimism and humor never grow old. Even Tomoe's teasing is alluring in its own way, although only Nanami would have put up with it for this long. Even so, it's disappointing to learn that their relationship hadn't progressed as much as I thought, and the "will he or won't he" aspect of Tomoe admitting his love is going to get stale soon, especially considering it was such a large part of the first season already.

Rating: C+

Kamisama Kiss 2 is currently streaming on Funimation.

Amy is a YA fantasy author who has loved anime for two decades.