Sankarea: Undying Love (Episode 11) – Nothing… Really… Special

Rea returns to her old home in search of Chihiro. She knows her father took him, but what is he planning on doing to him? At least, he’s going to let Chihiro choose a weapon with which to defend himself…
Sankarea: Undying Love (Episode 11) – Nothing… Really… Special
What happened?
Rea arrives home and is greeted by two maids. They tell her that the master is busy and shall not be disturbed. They ask her to stay and play with them until he’s ready. Before she can react, a couple of weighted nets drop on her and she’s forced into some restraints. The maids see their chance to have a bit of fun with Rea and dress her up as a maid too.
Meanwhile, Danichiro has taken Chihiro to the fencing arena and plans on deciding Rea’s future with a duel. He’ll even let Chihiro pick his weapon and use whatever fighting style he’s accustomed to. Chihiro laughs as he realised that Danichiro still thinks that Rea wants to be with him. He then tells Danichiro that he knows about the nude pictures.
Rea finds herself dressed as a bunny girl, but she can’t take much more and she’s worried about Chihiro. She breaks free of the restraints and runs to find him. Luckily, she has an idea where he’ll be and heads straight there.
Chihiro continued to laugh and taunt Danichiro, but that ends when he feels the foil pierce his skin. Danichiro stabbed him in the gut just as Rea opened the doors. Bizarrely, Chihiro seems to be able to keep going and headbutts Danichiro. He theories that Rea may have infected him when she licked his wound.
They talk some more where Rea confirms that she wants to live with Chihiro, who then tells Danichiro that he wants to be able to work together to save Rea, aware that his means are far less. Danichiro agrees to a temporary truce while he’s searching for a cure. Chihiro passes out soon after, having lost a lot of blood.

What did you think?
Chihiro is an infuriating character. He can make fairly shrewd observations about Rea and Danichiro, pointing out that Danichiro hasn’t ever let Rea do what she wanted, but then he has to ham it up and taunt the guy that kidnapped him and is standing there with a sword. How did he really expect that to end? He was lucky to have had some of the zombie poison in his system or it would have been the end, all because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut and act with some civility.
This episode played out exactly as it did in the manga which was the final chapter of book two. I’m still amazed that there were a further nine volumes that followed. I was originally reading the manga and rewatching the anime simultaneously, but when I finished volume two and realised that it was pretty much the end of the anime, I decided to push on with the anime and come back to the manga. I’ve got a couple more episodes, but I am excited to see what happens in those remaining books.

Episode highlights
Rea’s Home!



Dress-Up Rea!





The Duel!










Recovery!







Other posts in the series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – Once I… Become a… Zombie
- Episode 2 – It was… Successful
- Episode 3 – Sanka… Rea
- Episode 4 – A Normal… Girl
- Episode 5 – If She’s a Zombie… That Means…
- Episode 6 – It’s Because I… Ran Into You
- Episode 7 – Childhood… Friends…
- Episode 8 – Counterfeit… Freedom…
- Episode 9 – A Mother’s… Hand…
- Episode 10 – Strong… Feelings…
- Episode 11 – Nothing… Really… Special
- Episode 12 – At That Moment… I…
- Episode 13 – I, Too, Am… A Zombie…
- Discussions
- Manga
- Volume 1 – I Only Like Zombie Girls
- Volume 2 – My Decomposing Girlfriend
- Volume 3 – Fear the Foreigner
- Volume 4 – We Always Eat the Ones We Love
- Volume 5 – Boy, Medium Rare
- Volume 6 – Cat Scratch Fever
- Volume 7 – The Zombie Holy Land
- Volume 8 – Daddy Dearest
- Volume 9 – Lights, Camera, Resurrection!
- Volume 10 – Cold Truths
- Volume 11 – A Hearty Meal
- Character Analysis
Maybe Chihiro wanted to die, thinking that me might become a zombie too?
It’s possible, although the shock on his face when Danichiro stabs him makes me think he wasn’t expecting it.