Impression:
So it turns out that the Goldfish was some even more precious to Makoto than I had anticipated. It wasn’t foreshadowing, or symbolism, but was connected to Makoto’s fear to the ocean. There was an old fisherman that Makoto was good friends with and he had given him that goldfish. However the fisherman and many others died after their boat had sunk during a typhoon.
I am surprised to say that this wasn’t nearly as emotional as I was anticipating this episode to be. Instead while it did have the sad bits, I found it for most part hilarious to watch. It was mainly because Nagisa kept on picking on Rei while they were taking temporary shelter inside the abandoned resting center. However hands down, the highlight of the episode was the seeing how protective Haru was towards Makoto. He wasn’t cutting Rei any slack when Makoto had, and he also strictly told Rei to drop the subject about how Makoto had acted a bit strange in the ocean. He knew that this was a very sensitive topic for him, and it was already horrible enough that Makoto had to relive that moment due to Rei’s stupid actions. And that’s another thing, this episode gave us even more depth about Haru’s and Makoto’s bond. Honestly speaking, Makoto’s confession to Haru that he wanted to swim – and it’s clear that writer knew that’s how most of the fan base was going to interpret it and even had Nagisa remark how the two sound like a couple when they were about to enter the resting center.
Speaking of Nagisa, I was genuinely surprised he wasn’t aware of Makoto’s fear for the ocean until Makoto had told them about it. It really starts to make me even more curious about Nagisa’s character. I have that feeling that there’s another side of him that we yet to see. This is because I found it interesting that Rin knew about Makoto’s fear, so it makes me wonder about Nagisa’s relationship with the other three. For some reason, I am getting the vibes that person he is kind of the fourth-wheel in a sense, the only one who seems to be left out on things everyone else seems to know. Of course Rei is partially on the same boat as he hardly knows about these guys, but considering that the four of them were friends since childhood, I do wonder how Nagisa feels about his presence within the group. But at the same time, Nagisa could also be that natural carefree character that isn’t bounded down by the past or negativity and takes things head on with as much enthusiasm and be optimistic as he can, not just for his own sake but for those around him.
Finally last but not least, like I said like week; you have to give major props to Makoto for having the courage to face his biggest fear head on like a boss, especially just after that incident. Even better yet, he was the one to suggest that they swim back to their camp when the others were thinking about maybe waiting for a boat out of consideration for him.
Yeah, this was a great episode. I feel that people may hate the fact that Makoto’s fear was so relatively simple, but I see it like a fear of nature. I mean, the fisherman was his friend, and he was cruelly taken away by the ocean. The ocean may seem pretty and nice, but in life, it’s still a deadly force to be reckoned with. And Makoto sees that no matter how experienced he is, it really doesn’t match up to mother nature.
On another note, the first 8 minutes…just what is KyoAni thinking? I know it’s to highlight the bond between Makoto and Haruka, but still…I can only imagine the fanfiction and fanart that will come from those lines. We seen this before, in Hyouka, but this just makes me wonder about KyoAni’s thinking. Sorry if this sounds really odd, but this was my first impression of the scene. I like your analysis of the situation.
LOLZ During that SO-CLOSE-TO-PERFORMING-CPR scene, while I knew it was realistic (especially seeing how absolutely TERRIFIED Haru was for Makoto’s life) I just knew that a thousand fangirls would be dying from blood loss if they had actually went along with it. XD
yeah. thinking about it, it’s really not cool to make fun of a potential CPR situation. I’d like to think that all the swimmers on the show are forced to take CPR lessons for emergencies like this.
This episode seemed a lot weaker than the usual comedic episodes, mostly because I didn’t care much about Mako’s trauma, though it wasn’t overplayed Mari Okada-style so I’m grateful 😀
Though some parts were REALLY poorly written IMO (maybe it’s just the CR translation) but when Rei told Nagisa Mako looked different from his usual self WHILE HE WAS DROWNING… like wtf bro how can he be smiling while drowning?! Also, I ship Makoharu moments in this episode, especially the one when Mako said that he wanted to swim with everyone, that just didn’t come off right…?
Sorry for the opinions hahaha. I guess I just don’t enjoy this brand of drama very much :-/ love the comedy though but this week wasn’t that good.
//Though some parts were REALLY poorly written IMO (maybe it’s just the CR translation) but when Rei told Nagisa Mako looked different from his usual self WHILE HE WAS DROWNING… like wtf bro how can he be smiling while drowning?! //
Yeah I get what you mean by that and agree. It definitely could have been the subs since CR isn’t exactly always the best, but at the same time we could interpret it as Rei having always believed Makoto was a courageous guy who wasn’t afraid of anything, so seeing him freeze up threw him off.
And yes, I too felt that despite the drama this episode was definitely a lot weaker than the others we’ve seen.
*PATPAT* It’s fine to have different opinions, I’m not going to bite you for that hahaha!