English Dub Review: YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of This World “Within Unmoving Time”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

When Arima finds a picture of Kanna in front of three rocks, he realizes something is off about her. She’s stayed the exact same physically speaking for around 50 years. What’s more, she’s been transferred to different schools around Mount Senkaku whenever she’s exposed for being a sex worker. Takuya doesn’t know all of her reasoning or motives, but he knows one thing: she’s the key to finding his father.

Our Take:

Coming off a low-key beach episode, YU-NO does a nice job getting back into the swing of things with an episode that’s jam-packed with plenty of plot. We’re gifted with some big reveals about Kanna and her true nature. She’s always been strangely suspicious when compared with the other characters, but I never really expected this!

A lot of what Takuya discovers in the episode stems from his initial finding in Kanna’s house – an ancient photo depicting her the exact same as she is now. Takuya is understandably baffled by this, although he ends up taking the news surprisingly well. After more research and with some intel delivered by the weird alien teacher, the picture is completed. Kanna has been transferring around different schools for years, over twenty of them, in fact. And all the schools are in the area of Mount Senkaku.

Apart from Kanna’s weird wonders, Takuya learns that his father believed in the same thing he himself suggested – that Mount Senkaku was formed by a ‘collision event’, aka two dimensions that collided at some point in the past. This is pretty far out, but I can definitely believe it. We also learn that the man Hojo is working for is none other than Ryuzoji. I kinda wish this had been better shown, but that scene went in heavy on the exposition.

The dub this week is really well-done, with solid performances by all of the cast. I especially enjoyed Kristen McGuire as Kanna. She delivered a lot of subtle, emotional lines that made the depth of the episode really come through, like her goodbye to Takuya in the park. “Okay, this book looks older than both of us.” Does… Takuya not know how history books work? “Wow, you two look nothing alike.” The cop and his run-ins with Hojo are the best! “I was just having a little argument with my… son?” I burst out laughing at the cops response: “Find a new parenting style, this one isn’t working for ya.” 

Overall, I think this was a pretty respectable return for YU-NO. We got a lot of interesting backstory for Kanna, and I’m starting to really enjoy her as a character. It wasn’t the most action-packed episode or anything, but it was fun to watch. Even Hojo’s scenes were less uncomfortable to watch, thanks to the funny encounters with the police! Here’s hoping he gets his due justice next week.