Nijuu Mensou no Musume Episode 2 - Oriental Sunset

Nijuu Mensou takes Chiko back to his hideout where he introduces her to the crew, whose names I can’t remember beyond a brash boy named Ken who appears to being to grow up to lose an eye (but that’s not for a while yet, methinks); however, the police have tracked them there, and so they make a nifty getaway YET AGAIN, this time by blowing up their hideout.

The thieves travel to China, where Chiko’s attempts to prove useful are rather minimal and the crew is relatively hostile towards her; however, Ken takes it upon himself to let her try to learn to throw knives. Nijuu Mensou’s latest elaborate heist goes wrong, however, and he ends up badly injured; a Chinese woman takes in Nijuu Mensou and Chiko stays to guard him while the others make preparations to leave, but is haunted by nightmares of her step-parents (who are still after her to gain her inheritance). When the Chinese woman tries to sell them out to the authorities, however, Chiko displays remarkably presence of mind by emptying her gun of bullets beforehand (while Nijuu Mensou steals her spare!), thus allowing them to escape and making the others recognise Chiko as being part of the team.

This show continues to surprise me with the imagination behind it. The setpieces where Nijuu Mensou executes his getaways or ridiculous scams are extremely clever, even if the show doesn’t really take off with them as much as I might like; the show is very retro, and I occasionally feel as though it could be executed with a little more flash at times. Chiko herself continues to grow as a character, although I think I speak for everyone in that I’m looking forward to her kicking a bit more butt; obviously her organic growth into the “Heiress of the Phantom Thief” will be effective, but the OP makes her look so awesome that I can’t help but be a little impatient!

Otherwise, Nijuu Mensou no Musume continues to be a fun little show. It’s not going to make the earth move or anything, but then it doesn’t have to - it’s nicely executed and a bit of a breath of fresh air.

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