The Unkindled Flame

There have already been two OVAs of Kimi no Iru Machi after the original anime finished airing back in the summer of 2013. I didn't want to write about the first OVA considering it was just a flashback; however, this one that air recently is one that peaked my interest enough to want to actually talk about a particular character who got a decent amount of spotlight in the episode. The character I'm talking about is Eba Rin.

For those that haven't read the manga, there will be some manga spoilers and most of these were in the arc before the one it's anime used, but they helped get a feel for Rin's personality. Right from the first appearance of Rin she was a true blue antagonist in regards to Yuzuki because she didn't like her to the point of trying to drive her out of the house and live somewhere else. From the point of introduction to Rin, I had an interest in her as a character because she was someone different from the mostly friendly cast, she was someone who liked to push people to a reaction. Unfortunately, we didn't get much attention with her past anything anything outside of her step sister Yuzuki and Haruto -- after we dealt with the problem of Rin hating Yuzuki.

Interestingly enough, the OVA I mention that had some shown a bit more focus on Rin as the flawed person she was compared to the manga. That and having her care for someone, besides Haurto and her brother, are the top things I wanted to see Rin experiencing through time -- considering we only really saw her as either a antagonist or a minor support character. So when we break down the way Rin shows that she is interesting in someone, she usually becomes overly sexual and tries to make advances on them quite often. The only thing is that when something actually might happen, she is the first to bail and try to play it off as a joke. And we see this type of behavior with Haurto often, and subsequently in the OVA with her senior as well.

I know that Rin is a side character, but I kind of wished that there was more focus on her because she had the type of personality that could be interesting to see develop, as she learned to open up to people and be more vulnerable. The OVA clearly expressed that notion pretty nicely as we saw Rin push herself to be a tiny bit more open about her feeling towards her senior, but unfortunately there was no resolution as Rin quickly went back into her familiar shell. And with all honesty, I would find that types of development with Rin more interesting than the super stereotypical ends that Kimi no Iru Machi concluded with -- that I'm not going to spoil because I'm sure anyone can guess without much effort.

When it comes to characters, specifically female ones, I don't like them to be extremely accommodating because it almost feels like that trait is an act of surrendering the character's own personality in favor of being a group. Rin is quite the opposite of accommodating because she bends her own will on others in order to get them to react; of course that type of person has its thorns, but I prefer the darker and non-sweetened up females that tend to be in anime and manga.

In the end, Rin was one of the characters who didn't find love and pretty much all of Haruto's other friends did find someone the cared for. I really would love to see a story that follows Rin, to see how she end up developing as a character; however, since the manga has end it is highly unlikely. Rin is like the sugar and spice that was need in Kimi no Iru Machi, but no one gave her much time to actually blossom and that is too bad.

Orginally posted to the now shutdown sekijitsu.com: Archived Page