Sankarea - Ep01

Characters

Furuya Chihiro – He is a strange young man who is obsessed with zombies, he himself can't explain his love for them. However when his pet cat Babu get run-over, he tries to resurrect him with the potion that is written in this old book he found in his temple. Although he couldn't anticipate the effects that his actions would have on those around him.

Sanka Rea – She is from a wealthy family, and goes to an all-girls school across the river from Chihiro's all-boys school. Ultimately, she ends up meeting Chihiro by him over-hearing her screaming into a dry-well at the abandon building that Chihiro is working to resurrecting Babu. This leads them into entering into some sort of friendship.

Furuya Doun – He is Chihiro's Father, and also the head-priest at the temple that Furuya family manage. He doesn't play a particular big part in the manga so it likely that he is even less important in the anime.

Furuya Jogoro – He is Chihiro's Grandfather, and he is not all there. In truth there is a deeper reason for that, but the reality of that will be revealed in time.

Furuya Mero – She is Chihiro's little sister. Also for some reason she feels that she can't show any weakness.

Babu – He is a stray cat that chihiro has taken in and see as his own. Also when the cat dies, it fills Chihiro with the desire to bring it back to life because he can't accept the injustice that has been brought upon his cat.

Saouji Ranko – She is Chihiro's cousin, and they are fairly close to one another. In the manga there is a bit of a romantic relationship between her and Chihiro. The series even goes as far as mention some law about it is legal for cousins to marry one another. Whether they choose to go that direction in the anime is another question entirely.

Summary

In the begging they focus on Chihiro's life before Babu died, while in the manga he was already trying to bring Babu back to life. They use the beginning to focus on Chihiro obsession with zombies. Also if he had a girlfriend she would have to be a zombie, that nothing else would do. In psychology we would call this condition necrophilia, it is one of the sicker mental disorders. Anyway putting all strangeness aside, he has a fairly happy family life with his father, little sister, grandfather, and cat. Although his mother is dead and his grandfather can't remember anything past five second. He still fairly happy, although with all stories there must be some form of conflict.

This conflict is created by Babu's death, with him getting run-over. This leads to them holding an impromptu ceremony because some of the more old-fashion people that visit the temple would find it offensive to hold a formal ceremony for the death of someones pet. Even after the funeral for Babu, Chihiro just can't accept the injustice that he suffered. This cause him to remember about a note-book at a relatives place that he picked-up because they deemed it worthless. It turns out in this old book there are notes on how to make a resurrection potion. This leads to Chihiro digging up Babu, and trying to resurrected him in secret. Where he decides that the best place to do this is at this abandon building that no-one goes.

Although that is what he believed until Sanka Rea start showing up while he was working. The reason she was coming was to get her problem off her chest by shouting into the dry-well at this abandon building. However she finds out that Chihiro has been watching her, when he drops his drink from the shock that her father has been taking nude pictures on her birthday. I think most anyone would be shock from hearing about that. This leads to her coming up to talk to Chihiro about keeping quiet about what he heard tonight, that she will do anything he asks if he just remains silent.

However, he response by saying that it is alright if he tells them what he heard Rea say last night. He tells her that it is alright, that it must be very hard on her where every moment of her life is monitored. That it is understandable that you would need to do something to let all the stress go. This leads Rea to believe that Chihiro might be here for the same reason as her. Although he corrects her by stating that the reason he is here is to have privacy while he tries to resurrect Babu. This amazes Rea, and it she believes it would make Babu happy to be reunited with Chihiro.

This leads to Chihiro going on about how innocent and vulnerable that she is, that she isn't aware of how evil men are. That she would go out with the first person that asked her, this cause her to question Chihiro if he has a girlfriend. He answers no, this makes her feel that he has no right to judge her if he doesn't have one. The reason he gives for not having one is that he isn't interested in living woman, that he is only interested in dead ones. He partly does this to scare her away but things end with Rea turning the tables on him by saying, that if she died he would bring her back to life.

In this series, I think the people that would be most interested in it are people that have already read the manga. The reason being is that the series moves at very slow pace for an anime, and is not able to create the same high level of tension that the manga creates. Where you are left waiting for things to make a turn for the worst. Although it is interesting to see Chihiro's life before Babu died, and the build-up to his decision to resurrect his cat. However it is hard to say if they are going for an original ending or a faithful recreation of the manga. It could at this point go either way, it will be an interesting ride none the less.