Nagi no Asukara – Episode 6: Beyond Tomoebi

Impression:

I’m still unsure about Hikari. Is he progressing or is he regressing? Every episode he seems to make some progress, and then seconds later he ruins it all with an angry outburst or an overzealous ramble. I get it, he’s a child, but come on Hikari! We’re going back and forth and it’s just plain annoying. I like you as a character – you have at least some depth – but if you’d just get over your issues we’d finally be able to move on and delve into the story. Also, did you just unlock the lolicon route? Because I’m not sure how I feel about Miuna blushing in every- nah, I’m just kidding, my rant finished two minutes ago. Blush Miuna, blush! You cute little monster! I just wanna squeeze those cheeks and scrunch her all up… wait, did I just unlock the lolicon route?!

Episode 6 is all about Chisaki forgiving Manaka who, let’s be honest here, didn’t really do anything wrong. I mean, I get it, they’re children, but that doesn’t excuse how much of a bitch Chisaki was in this episode. I mean, what is she? Is she a bitch or is she just your average [insert unbelievably young age here] girl? How do young girls act these day (oh no… I’m getting old…)? I like Chisaki! She’s my favorite girl, after all. However, I can’t help but wonder if this episode was meant to be a critical insight into the conflicts afflicting the pre-16 mindset or a simple cliche that we’ve seen before? I’m sure that everyone has seen this sort of conflict at least once in their life, I mean, it happens outside of anime all the time, but I couldn’t help but want more. The humans and the sea humans are getting along well now and for the longest time that’s what I thought this anime was about, but episode 6 seemingly glossed over that fact, leaving one boob squeeze scene in and a swimming race to address that issue. That said, I’m sure we’ll get more human/sea human ‘fun’ next episode, and so I look forward to it eagerly.

But let’s leave Chisaki alone and talk about the Kaname… Kaname you ladies-man you… Did anyone else think that Kaname would be a creepy murderous bastard who kills Hikari just to get to Chisaki? Yes? No? Regardless, he’s not at all what I thought he would be… that said, a lot of psychopaths and murderers are actually quite charismatic, so as to lure women into their homes where they stab them repeatedly… with their penis… Wait… what the f**k am I even talking about? Oh, Kaname, right.

Tomoebi! If there’s something that P.A. Works can do well it’s animation and art. I mean, seriously, this episode was beautiful… so lovely. The eyes, the sky, the suns and the cuteness… yum. There’s really not much else to say about it because, well, it’s actually quite obvious, but still, I thought I’d just mention it… so yeah.

Let’s wrap this up, yeah? Episode 6 of Nagi no Asukara was good, don’t get me wrong, but the flaws within it are being highlighted further and further with each episode and all it needs is one solid episode to get it back on track. Am I asking for too much? I don’t think so, I mean, there’s still a lot of potential needing to be unlocked here and P.A. Works just needs to bring it to the forefront.