English Dub Review: Kaiju Girl Caramelise “The Unopened Door”
Overview:
Following her outburst, Kuroe deals with the consequences of her growing mutual attraction.
Our Take(Spoilers):
I might have been wrong about a few things, but I’m not sure yet. I thought that Minami might already know that Kuroe was the kaiju rampaging around Tokyo. If he does know, then he’s doing a pretty decent job of hiding it.
We’re introduced to a new character called Manatsu, who at first we are led to believe is Minami’s girlfriend. It turns out she’s a huge kaiju nerd and wants to get close to Kuroe even though she doesn’t know that Kuroe is the kaiju… yet. She calls Kuroe’s kaiju form Harugon, and she seems to be in love with Harugon and wants to be close to “him”.
Manatsu wants to help Kuroe since she’s helping her and decides to help her with Minami. She boldly asks Minami if he has a girlfriend, and he responds by saying no, but there is someone he has his eye on while staring at Kuroe. This, of course, upsets the other girls in class, and they rudely lock Kuroe in the gym storage closet. Manatsu and Minami overhear this, and Minami goes to let Kuroe out and learns his lesson that he shouldn’t be nice to everyone.
Kuroe and Minami have a heart-to-heart between the doors of the storage closet, and this was refreshing for me. They both know how they feel about each other, but there is a kaiju-sized problem they’ll need to overcome if their romance is to work. Kuroe attempts to tell Minami about her tail and things, but the relief from being honest made the tail go away, and she thinks that he won’t believe her. This, of course, leads to her having another transformation, and this time at school.
All of this to say that I’m surprised that a show about a girl who turns into a kaiju based on her emotional state is somehow one of the most realistic depictions of romance. It can be messy and scary, but if two people are honest with how they feel, then it can be considerably simpler than what most shows give us.
This show has beautiful animation, fun and realistic characters, and a romance that seems to have real progress every episode. I hope it keeps this up because this show is already the front-runner for my favorite show of the season.
