A big round of applause goes to the Japanese police force this episode, proving that even when a man is stalking your child in broad daylight wearing a dark trenchcoat and hat, and stands right outside your house in the rain in that same dark trenchcoat and hat, the brave men and women who strive for justice and who claim to be watching over you will still manage not to figure out where or who the hell this guy is.

As a child, your parents are brutally murdered right in front of your eyes. When the police find you, you are rigid, unmoving, standing in a pool of blood, in a room where not even the corners of the walls are free from spatterings of the red, coppery substance. 

Terrified, you realize that you have lost the ability to speak. The police search the room carefully, but the only thing that links the crime scene to the suspect is a Japanese chess board, and the single wooden piece that lies atop it:  The King.

Such is the life of Yasuoka Shion.
A seemingly typical grade schooler and chess prodigy whose love for shougi reels her in closer and closer to the mystery behind her parents’ death.

________________________________________________________________________________
Impressions:
(AKA Yaoi Fangirls Across Japan Rejoice in Unity After Witnessing This Episode. )

Nice art, intriguing characters, and a plot that seems to have great potential.  This episode really grabbed me, no pun intended, so now I’m afraid I must come out of the closet and commit seppuku announce my unfortunate attraction to all things Studio DEEN.

Heck, I watched Akagi without knowing what the hell mahjong was about, and I doubt my lack of shougi knowledge will stop me from watching SnO either.