Okay, before I start talking about this episode, I need to ask: Why haven’t I talked about the opening? I love it a lot. It’s catchy and cute, it sets a good tone for the series and it’s definitely one that look forward to hearing each week. So if you’ve been skipping it, please take the time to listen to it! On that note, the entire sound track has been really good. I haven’t been able to focus on it as much as I would like because I’ve been so focused on the character’s interactions with each other. But! When I am able to focus on it, I can hear that it does a fantastic job of creating the atmosphere for the characters.
Alright, so now on to the episode. Looking back on it, it seemed like a lot of things happened, from diving into Hitoha’s motivations, finding an advisor, and … finding out that Izumi still loves trains. However, it all fit together so well that I honestly felt that I watched more than just a 24 minute episode. Going back, Let’s start out by talking about Hitoha. This is the most we’ve ever seen emotionally out of Hitoha; she is the most expressive she has ever been. At first a thought she was pretty emotionless, but I went back to watch the first two episodes with a friend and there have been a couple times where she’s been pretty darn explosive. In this episode, Hitoha finally acts on her desire for sex in order to understand what she needs to be able to express in her novel. In a fit of frustration she asks a stranger online to meet her for the real thing. After an attempt to steal her sister’s panties she finally realizes the truth of who she had been talking online. For a brief moment I was afraid of what was going to happen, but Milo had the the right idea to get the heck out of there. I thought the whole interaction was very well done. Since no words were spoken between the two, the animation was able to capture Hitoha’s determination to catch him all while he was planning to make a somewhat graceful escape. Of course, he still ends up blackmailed. But the girls are able to find an advisor for the club so it was definitely a win for them. I’m definitely interested in seeing how Milo becomes integrated into the club!
Taking a couple steps back, I like how they were able to paint he outside perspective of the literature club in the school. A lot of times we see certain clubs just not being popular, but not so much down right despised and treated as outcasts. For instance, it usually feels like underdog clubs are just those that no one is interested in, that it just isn’t cool to be in, or that all the misfits find themselves drawn towards. (Of course, there are definitely shows where the main club is almost taboo to be associated with, but not too many are coming to mind – feel free to recommend some in the comments if you want!). In Araburu though, no one wants to interact or even be caught associating with the club and there was a line that translated over to something like “If everyone hates us, then no one will start liking us” which I thought was a really powerful line. It really defines just how ostracized the club is from the rest of the school. It begs the question of, will these girls focus more on gaining the acceptance of their peers, or their own personal struggles as they grow up? Personally, I’d be fine to see either of these play out because I have faith that this anime will do both of them justice.
Finally, I just want to say that I don’t know if more sorry for Kazusa or Izumi…. or even if feeling sorry is the right phrase for it. Kazusa’s emotions are just all over the place and for valid reasons. She’s coming to terms that her childhood best friend does, in fact, think about sex and masturbates to commuter porn. All of which has been prefaced by other scenes that these are normal behaviors, but it is certainly not something that she wants to be thinking about. Which, by the way, when she found out what type of porn he was watching and came to the conclusion that he actually hadn’t changed at all was something that I had to take a minute to process, but it was pretty funny. But then of course, we have poor Izumi, the guy who just can’t seem to get a break. It seems like every time he’s on screen he tries to fix the situation, but some force just doesn’t want to help him to the point where he’s just left mumbling tongue twisters on the floor.
Like last week, I’m very interested to see how everything plays out. I have a feeling they will develop Momoko a lot more because she’s the girl that we know very little about. She’s always been around, but we don’t know what she’s here for yet… As a side note, for those of you who have read the manga, I’m thinking of reading it because I’m just dying to know what happens next – would you recommend giving it a chance? Should I wait until the anime has finished airing to go back and read it all? I’m torn between the two, on the one hand I want to keep it all a surprise, but man!! I just! want! to! know!!
“Bad-bye” for now!
