Opening up the Summer 2013 anime season is the comic fantasy “Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou”, aka “Dog and Scissors”. A bookworm dies when he tries to save a girl in a restaurant during an armed robbery. As the bookworm fades off into the afterlife he regrets not being able to read the final book in a series by his favourite author. The bookworm then finds himself reincarnated as a small dog who is soon bought by a sadistic young woman.
It turns out that the young woman can hear the thoughts of the bookworm-turned-dog, and it was that young woman who the bookworm tried to save. It also happens that the young woman is the immensely successful author whose yet-unpublished book the bookworm so badly wants to read. So the author takes in the bookworm-dog, feeds him, and lets him use her library, but she also sadistically mistreats him with a pair of scissors.
This was an odd opening episode. The set up was reasonably well done and the animation is fairly good, but the main characters aren't very likeable at this stage and the jokes are predictable and somewhat tired. The preview suggests that this will be a comic mystery so it appears to be worthwhile to stick around for another episode or two, but I'm not sure what can be done with the story line or the characters beyond variations on the gags we have already seen. Initial rating: B-.
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