Cop Craft Episode 8

Smells Like Toon Spirits

Aside from the obvious Nirvana reference, this week’s episode title doesn’t really make sense. I mean, it does make sense, but you really have to stretch it. Latena, the “stuff” that makes magic is some sort of spiritual energy, and Tilarna can smell it. I have no idea where the word “toon” comes into play though.

But anyway, this episode sets up what I assume is going to be a two or three episode arc. It starts off with Tilarna (and Kei) bringing down an airplane which was smuggling something — probably hentai. However, after the plane crashes in a marsh, there’s no sign of the pilot or any illegal goods.

Instead, all they find are scattered pieces of junk which are collected and cataloged. However, while these pieces of junk seem innocent enough at first glance, Tilarna smells the scent of latena on them. And later on, she get pierced by a miniature crossbow which was among the items.

Unfortunately, Tilarna doesn’t awaken her stand after getting pierced by this arrow (bolt). But, that doesn’t mean everything is fine. After all, this was the source of the latena she smelled earlier. And since I don’t think I’ve discussed latena yet, now seems like a good time to do so.

What is Latena?

So now comes the part where I argue that this entire scene is actually a JoJo’s reference. Okay, it’s not really (probably), but there are similarities between this scene and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

First of all, the arrow piercing Tilarna and causing something strange to happen to her is obviously a similarity. But what you may not think of is how this happened. In JoJo’s the stand arrows have a will of their own and will seek out certain people to pierce. The same is kind of true in Cop Craft.

As I previously alluded to, latena seems to be some sort of spiritual energy in the world of Cop Craft. It’s implied that it’s always been in “our” world, but that humans simply aren’t able to sense it.

We learned earlier on in the series from Tilarna that Kei’s handgun has the scent of latena, and that this is probably due to Kei’s close connection with it — after all, his life depends on it working. I don’t think we’ll see Kei’s pistol working like The Emperor or Sex Pistols from JoJo’s, but due to the latena it may have some slight auto-aim.

So, coming back to the crossbow that shot Tilarna, if it’s giving off the scent of latena, does that mean Tilarna getting pierced by the bolt was its will? Was this incident actually similar to the will of the stand arrows? I think so, though that doesn’t mean this is supposed to be a JoJo’s reference.

A Request from the CBP

Shortly after Kei and Tilarna round up all the various pieces of junk which fell into the swamp from the aircraft, a member of the CBP shows up to claim them. I’m not sure if the CBP has been fully explained yet, but it’s an investigative branch of the police, kind of like the FBI.

However, my assumption is that this man actually wasn’t a member of the CBP, but was instead the missing pilot from the aircraft. We never saw what the pilot looked like, and I don’t think Kei or Tilarna did either.

The pilot probably posed as a CBP officer in an attempt to get the crossbow back from the police. The one problem with my theory is that he wasn’t exactly insistent enough about the handing over of the junk pile when he first approaches Kei. You’d think that he wouldn’t wait until after the items were cataloged to try to get the crossbow back.

However, it’s possible that he simply wasn’t trying to push his luck. If he was too insistent, Kei may have gotten suspicious. Kei does eventually get suspicious, but only after the police chief tells him the CBP officer he talked to on the phone made no mention of the interaction.

This “officer” instead calls Kei personally in a panic when the crossbow is found to be missing. And at this point it seems like Kei understands something isn’t quite right about this supposed CBP officer.

Tilarna is Officially a Catgirl

This is the kind of Tilarna content I’ve been waiting for all season — catgirl Tilarna. Apparently her stand ability allows her to swap minds with cats, in this case Kuroi. But actually this seems to be the work of an enemy stand the latena-coated crossbow bolt and the fact that Kuroi was nearby.

If it had been Tilarna and Kei in the same room, we can assume the two of them would have had their minds swapped. Tilarna also assumes that in order to swap back, she’ll need the crossbow once more. The only issue is that it’s gone.

Kuroi knocked it into the trash, Kei took out the trash, and the trash collectors did what they do best, collected the trash.

But somehow, even though she’s now in the body of a cat, Tilarna is able to use her smartphone just fine. That’s right, out of everything in this episode, the one thing that ruins my immersion is the fact that Tilarna can use a cat’s bean toes to type flawless paragraphs on a smartphone.

Also she can apparently hold the smartphone in one hand because we see her doing this while waiting for Cecil in the car.

But let’s be honest, nobody actually cares about Tilarna in Kuroi’s body. The content we’re all here for is Kuroi in Tilarna’s body. I really appreciate how Kuroi had the courtesy to take her pants off before climbing into Kei’s bed.

Conclusion

What did you think about this episode? Do you think the crossbow scene actually was meant to be a JoJo’s reference? What are your thoughts on catgirl Tilarna? And, do you think this episode was a waste of time? Because I do. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.