Episode 4
This episode centres around the quartet making “pops” for some of their favourite books in the library. It starts with Shiwaku asking Sumika about the Sherlock Holmes pop she’s working on, which leads to everyone trying to make a pop for a book of their choice.
Shiori gets mad at Shiwaku for trying to make pops for books she hasn’t actually read, while Shiwaku comes up with some crazy pops that everyone else shoots down. Endou tries making a pop but Shiwaku tells him his is boring, and all the while Sumika daydreams about making pops with Endou.
Shiwaku notices that Shiori is having a hard time with making a pop for her chosen book, so she offers to help, and though Shiori is initially angry she lets Shiwaku try her hand. The result is some… interesting pops.
The next day, Shiwaku enters the library to find Sumika and Endou having a discussion about the places they’d most like to read. Shiwaku tells them that she’d like to try reading in prison one day, because she’d definitely get a lot of reading done there.
Episode 5
A discussion about Japan’s three greatest mystery novels starts this episode off. Shiwaku again pisses off Shiori by mentioning that she pays attention to the opinions of others while she reads, causing Shiori to go off the deep end. Shiwaku is so impressed by Shiori’s deep devotion to reading that she decides to try to read In Search of Lost Time by an author named Proust.
However this proves to be more difficult that she initially anticipated, due to the book’s long sentences and paragraphs, which are further compounded by the way Japanese books are written (the text is very block-y).
The end of the episode is taken up by Shiwaku telling Shiori about her passion for short-yet-funny novels. Shiori initially seems like she’s trying to repress her anger yet again, but really she’s just moved by Shiwaku’s intense love for reading these simplistic novels. Shiori ends up, for once, not yelling at Shiwaku and instead tells her she’d like to read Shiwaku’s funny book too.
My thoughts: This continues to be a cute little series. I’ve noticed that the continuous conflict between Shiori and Shiwaku gets a little repetitive at times (in my personal opinion), which is why the ending to episode five was nice, as Shiori learned to get over Shiwaku’s quirkyness long enough to appreciate her peer’s love of humourous literature.
Shiwaku also had a point in the second episode, which is that books which are shorter and a faster read still have value too, even if their value is different than that of traditional literature’s. They may be a niche genre, but they serve a purpose too so readers shouldn’t discount them as being “stupid” or “trash.”
The first episode about the book pops was cute. Leave it to Shiwaku to come up with some really “unique” pop concepts. ^^;;