Meiji Tokyo Renka Episode 4

Hmmmm, I am really surprised by how nothing seemed to have happened this week, beyond Mei actually thinking back about what had happened not to long before she was taken into the past. Her dreams shows us her fear of leaving this time period, where she can comfortably fit in, and her reservations in her origin time. The voice calling out to her stuck out this time though, and it’s something she started wondering a bit more about. The fox strap is either the one behind is either the magician’s, (though I haven’t heard him enough to distinguish his voice) or is someone else’s’ entirely. Regardless, she is realizing the voice she has been hearing is the same as that time.

That isn’t to say the episode was bad, in fact, even if I weren’t covering this, I would have enjoyed it all the same. It was a funny and cute episode, (especially with the way they are using the value of sukiyaki to help Mei understand how costly things are in this period), but this show is turning out to be a lot slower than anticipated. It is also why I have yet to grasp which direction they are planning to take this show, aside from suspecting they are most likely following Ougai’s route. If there’s one thing that has been standing out to me since the first episode, was how Ougai currently has the largest presence, even when he is not involved with certain events, such as last week’s episode until the very end. Additionally, (although it’s still early on) there has been a lot of focus on Ougai making her his fiance, even if it’s merely as a means to protect her, and spare him the nuisance of his aunt’s candidates for marriage.

But perhaps what surprises me the most is how much Mei is actually enjoying this attention and treatment. It is hard to say whether this is all part of her making the most of her time spent in this era, since at the end of the day, she is expected to return to her time at some point or another. Lacking confidence in her own appearance, Mei wants to be up to par to the standards of the high society Ougai is a part of so she doesn’t embarrass him, so she sought out help to become more like a ‘woman’. Hilariously the one she asked for assistance from was Otojiro who is dressed as a Geisha and currently calls himself Otoyakko. It actually took me a minute to figure out, but I knew he was familiar when ‘Otoyakko’  first appeared.

Ougai’s intentions to me also raises questions if it’s merely just for protecting her. He is certainly invested in her to say the least, she arouses his curiosity, and is impressed by the unexpected knowledge and knack she has that most commoners lack. We certainly saw how much he enjoyed their conversation about foreign plays, namely Shakespeare, but also her clumsy self he finds endearing. He also has the tendency to get into other people’s bubble (like dude, don’t stare at her so close when she’s eating!). But it has not gone unnoticed to him that Mei is keeping her troubles from him. The outing they went on today was also Ougai’s attempt to help simulate her memories, after-all they believe she has suffered from an amnesia (which honestly, I actually completely forgot about until now).

In all, this episode was okay as it was cute to watch, but goodness was it slow. Hopefully next week will be a bit more lively.