Category: Porfy no Nagai Tabi

Today, an interesting look at a different angle at the usual anime-love triangle. All the ingredients are present: three childhood friends, two of them fall in love, the third one (who was in love as well) in turn breaks down and comes to hate the other two. This episode obviously had this predictability working against it, but the execution remains flawless.

The episode starts with Porfy waking up, enjoying the most luxury he’s ever witnessed in his life. He’s already very friendly with the dogs. Maximilian is away at the moment, as he’s visiting his mother. Porfy then hears the sound of goats, and is immediately interested in them, as it was his job of taking care of the goats when he was still in Simitra. Porfy shows off his skills to Iralia’s father, but this does make him think of Mina again.

During breakfast, Maximilian suggest Porfy to stay at their place a little longer, since he and the others know a ot of people who might have seen Mina. Porfy decides to stay a little longer, and he’ll work on the farm as a means of thanks. That afternoon, Iralia goes to the city to shop, and Porfy goes along with her. They stop by the castle of the previous episode to look at the great view from there, and Iralia notes that her parents proposed at that place. Porfy then asks whether she’s going to propose to Maximilian as well, though she bluntly says that she’ll never marry him.

Then, near the mansion of the previous episode, the car breaks down. Porfy can fix it, but he doesn’t have his tools. He suggests to check at the mansion to see whether they’ve got a driver, but Iralia yet again bluntly refuses, and runs back home to get help. Porfy then realizes that he also needs a spanner, so he does go inside the mansion. The woman who lives there has apparently been spying on the two of them, because she locks Porfy up inside an old room because she suspect that he may have been planning against her with Iralia.

Porfy escaps through a well-hidden window, and then finds out that this woman used to be really close to Iralia. He tries to tell her to become friends again, though she yells at him to leave, and take the tools he needs. When Iralia gets back, she indeed reveals how the woman hated her for taking away the one she loved, and ever since they’ve both been avoiding each other. It’s because of this that Iralia refuses to marry Maximilian.

Maxmilian had no idea of this, and the episode ends as Porfy forces him and Iralia to go back and make up. I’m interested, because after the abandoned city, I know that not everything in this series is as it looks, especially if it needs a cliff-hanger.

God, this series is such a breath of fresh air in the genre of travelling anime. Never have I seen a series that puts more emphasis on the people that you can randomly meet during a journey. This series isn’t gut-wrenchingly sad anymore, but it’s still awesome to watch, simply because it’s such a joy to see the different people that Porfy runs into.

The episode starts with Porfy, boarding the next train, along with a couple of other passengers, among with is a spunky rude girl. Porfy ends up finding a seat close to her, next to an old couple. He starts talking with the couple, and the girl overhears him saying how he’s come from Simitra, and it turns out that the news of the earthquake that happened there even hit the shores of Italy. The old woman gives Porfy one of her sandwiches, as the train enters a tunnel. As this is the first time Porfy’s been in one, he’s startled by it.

At the next station the old couple leaves and they say goodbye to Porfy. Porfy then falls asleep and has a nightmare about Mina, when he’s woken up by the girl from before, noting that the train has reached its final destination, and that they need to change trains. She and Porfy spend some time together as they both wait for the train to arrive, and they get to know each other a bit better. The girl’s 13 years old and her name is Daisy. She’s been living with her grandmother, and is now travelling to her father.

They also ask around a bit, and Porfy one of the people in a pub seems to have heard of Roma, and tells how she and her companions have been travelling from town to town. Porfy is yet again scared when a train comes but doesn’t stop. Daisy makes fun of him because he doesn’t even know that that was a supply-train. As the real train is about to arrive, they notice a local musician who’s singing a bit.

They go and sit together in the train, and he turns out to be a student of the music academy. Ever since he was small, he’s loved singing, and now he’s trying to become a professional. He’s travelling in order to meet his girlfriend, whom he hasn’t seen for a long while due to his studies. He plays some card games with Daisy and Porfy, until Daisy meets her father and has to leave. Porfy then suddenly realizes how awful it is to say goodbye, since it happened too with his parents.

When it’s time for the musician (whose name is Maximilian, by the way) to leave the train, he offers to take Porfy with him, and help him search for Mina in his hometown. Porfy accepts. Maximilian’s girlfriend Iralia greets them at the station, and drives them to their home. Obviously, Porfy can’t help but say how he loves cars. Maximilian obviously finds it a bit strange for a station called “Patagos Grand Station” to only have two people working on it. 😛

Along the way, they drive past a large mansion; through one of the windows Porfy recognizes a girl who looks a lot like Mina (this’ll probably be important in the next episode). They then arrive at Maximilian’s home, and they’re greeted by Iralia’s parents and three dogs. The dogs can hardly leave Porfy alone, and for the first time since losing his parents, Porfy has the feeling of being in a family again, and the episode ends.

I must say, that even though the regular animation was a bit dodgy at times, the backgrounds looked better than ever! It’s so apparent that the creators spent so much time on them to make them as diverse and life-like as possible, and the result is absolutely gorgeous.

Wow…

This episode really screamed “Mushishi”, and I mean that in the most positive way. Here I thought that Porfy ran into an old hag who was after a quick buck. Heh, how I was wrong.

The episode starts with Porfy waking up, and Dora cooking breakfast, smiling very gently. Porfy starts his breakfast. As he didn’t eat anything the previous day, he eats as quickly as he can. Dora continues to treat him kindly in a way that’s almost too perfectly acted. Porfy then sneezes, and she changes completely, getting overly worried and wondering whether he caught a cold. Porfy tries to lighten the mood, but she quickly tells him to be quiet, and that he should tell her as soon as possible once he catches a cold.

She then turns off scary-mode and gives Porfy some more candy, saying how Porfy “loved them since he was small”. Before Porfy has the time to think what she meant, he suddenly realizes that his backpack is gone. Dora suggests that one of the homeless dogs ran off with it (but then again, what would a bunch of dogs want with a bag full of tools). Porfy runs away in order to search for them. When he’s gone, Dora says that he’ll return, since it’s his home.

Porfy looks around, and after a while he runs into the kid from the previous episode again. He wants to run away, but Porfy stops him. When the kid realizes that Porfy isn’t scary, he offers him to help search for it. After a few hours, they still haven’t found anything, so the kid takes him to his father. Soon, the entire neighbourhood is searching, and as it turns out, one of them saw Dora that night and followed her, so the backpack is safe. Surprisingly, nothing was removed from it.

In the meantime, we learn that the kid’s name is Chiro (or however that bastardization of Italian is spelled), and he indeed lived inside the town for his entire life, and hates the idea that he’s going to leave some day. But as his father gets older, he’s going to have to leave some day. Porfy can understand him, as he loved his own home as well. And Dora once had a child, who died. Chiro father also tells how the city they lived in was once a Greek colony, in the time of the ancient Greeks.

In any case, when the guy who found it reveals that he’s seen Dora carry the backpack, Porfy starts yelling at him, calling him a liar. He doesn’t believe that the nice Dora would do such a thing. Obviously, the guy gets angry, but his partner stops him, saying how everyone in town knows that Dora is rather eccentric. Porfy still won’t listen, but before they can continue their argument, Chiro’s father steps in between them.

Chiro’s father takes Porfy to the local church, if I understood things correctly, and he explains how Dora didn’t hide the backpack in order to harm Porfy, but instead she wanted him to stay, since Porfy is about the same age as her dead child. Porfy then returns to Dora, who is more delighted than ever to see him, though she then notices that Porfy has his backpack back. She then tells him that she hid the backpack because of what Porfy said that evening, how he was planning to leave the next day.

The then starts calling Porfy Antonino (her dead son’s name), and starts yelling that he’ll remember soon if he stays here. Porfy says that he needs to go away, in order to search for his sister. Dora then throws a wine-glass at him, screaming at him that he should leave. Porfy leaves, but after a minute, he finds that he can’t just leave things as they are and returns again.

He talks to Dora, through a closed door, and he reckons how Dora and he are possibly the same, and how he lost his family as well. Dora says how it’s painful to remember Antonio. Porfy reckons that if it hurts so much, it would be better for her to forget about Antonino, but he himself will never forget his family and the time they spent together. They then say goodbye, after Porfy tells Dora to stop drinking so much, and obliges to Dora’s request of calling her “mother” one final time.

We then cue to a shot of Dora, emptying all her wine-bottles, Chiro and his father happily doing their jobs, collecting firewood and Porfy and Apollo have left the city, while Porfy complains to Apollo how he keeps sitting on his shoulder and should instead fly for himself, and the episode ends.

I must say, that the scene where Dora suddenly started yelling at Porfy was really powerful. It was wonderfully animated, and I never suspected that she’d end getting so angry as she did, after all her nice acts against Porfy. But then again, when she saw Porfy as her own son, and her son suddenly rejects her and starts yelling, I can imagine how her mother-instinct would break down.

And indeed, Dora was a perfect person for Porfy to run into. I originally thought that this would be just a lesson to Porfy to stop trusting everyone, but as it turns out, it was meant to show him how there are people, suffering even worse than he does. Dora has been living all along, thinking about her lost son, so much that it becomes painful when she remembers him. He instead has the knowledge of Mina, being still alive that helps him.

Still, in any way, Porfy really grew up in this episode. You can see how he’s learned to accept his parents’ death a bit more, compared to his scared looks at the beginning of the previous episode, and he also learned to watch what he says to others, considering how Dora reacted to his words.

And really, such gorgeous background art! I was already getting used to the look of Simitra in the first quarter of this series to really notice, but the art in this series really looks beautiful, and to think that this is a travelling-anime we’re dealing with, so the creators are going to have to come up with many more interesting city-designs. I can’t wait!

The summary is going to be rather short this time, as I’m a bit busy with other things right now. Still, this episode was everything a travelling-anime should be: exploration, anxiousness, openness, making mistakes, meeting different people and places, trust and betrayal. It’s amazing how much the creators can stuff into one single episodes, especially considering how slow the pacing is in this series, and how there still are plenty of episodes left for this series to explore.

Porfy is ready to eave Leon, who gives him a bit of advice for the train journey he’s about to make. “First take care of yourself, then God will take care of you”. When Leon says how Porfy can return anytime, the train arrives and Porfy needs to rush to be able to get it. Apollo needs to spend the journey inside Porfy’s backpack, and of course he has a bit of trouble remaining quiet in there. ^^;

Porfy’s obviously fascinated by the huge train, and is surprised at how smooth it rides. He talks a bit to himself while doing so. A bit later, a pregnant woman enters the cabin, and Porfy offers her a seat opposed to him. Very soon a middle-aged man joins in too, and the three easily have a nice conversation. It then turns out, however, that the train is going west, instead of the North where Porfy was planning to head to. In his haste, Porfy gets off at the nearest stop, but this turns out to be right in the middle of nowhere.

Porfy looks around, and sees a nearby city. The dogs in the area are ferocious and will do anything for a meal, which already suggests that the area Porfy’s in is really suffering from poverty. When he reaches the city, however, it turns out to be nearly abandoned, and he only runs into one kid, who immediately runs away. As the evening falls, Porfy tries to leave, though he gets lost and can’t find the exit. He ends up falling asleep at one of the houses, which turns out to be occupied by a middle-aged woman.

She’s first angry at Porfy, though she becomes nicer when she finds out that Porfy has been travelling to Greece. She gives him a bit of candy to eat, and she tells him why the city ended up abandoned. It was basically during the war, the Italian government offered the residents a better place to live, probably so that they could be drafted more easily. Only a few people remained in the city, and that’s why the children aren’t used to seeing outsiders.

Porfy then falls asleep, the woman runs off with his backpack, laughs like an evil witch and the episode ends.

After the previous episode, I considered Porfy to be very lucky when compared to Perrine (from Perrine Monogatari, another World Masterpiece series): he didn’t have to take care of his mother, and whenever he tells how he lost his parents in an earthquake, people all try to be nice to him. This episode shows how much of a double-edged sword this is. The nice people will be really nice to the guy, but this also makes him really vulnerable and easily deceived. These are all lessons that Porfy needs to learn the hard way. Oh, how I’d love to see his character in twenty episodes.

And really, that random chatter in the train with random people: more anime should do this. It’s really fun. ^^;

Travelling-anime with random stories usually come in two categories: the saviour and the observer. The first one is by far the most common one: the protagonist arrives at a place where there’s some kind of problem, and at the end of the episode he or she has solved it. Examples of this are El Cazador, Mushishi, Mermaid’s Forest, Otogi Juushi Akazukin, et cetera. The second category is much rarer, and in there, the protagonist basically arrives, but his or her actions have no major influence on the places he/she visits. The only examples I can think of right now are Kaiba, Kino no Tabi and Perrine Monogatari.

And here Porfy comes and creates a totally different category: in this show, Porfy doesn’t save the people he meets: the people he meets save him. Such a young boy all alone on a journey obviously has a lot to learn, and thank goodness that Porfy manages to run into kind people who wish to help him further.

Porfy exits the ship on one of the trucks, and he gets dropped off at a local square as the truck driver mentions how hot the females are, although Porfy’s probably too young for that. He looks around a but, sees a bunch of punks and suddenly realizes that he hasn’t eaten anything since that morning. He runs towards a local fried-potato stand, after which a guy named Leon arrives as well. The stand owner comments on how he’s slacking off again, but as it turns out, Leon’s boss ordered him to get a bag of fried potatoes.

The woman at the stand then hands Porfy his potatoes, though she asks to be paid in Lire (Italy’s money before the Euro). Porfy gets all worked up when all he has is Greek money. A middle-aged man who happened to be passing by offers him to exchange Porfy’s money at the local bank, and Porfy does so, gullibly. While the man is away, exchanging the money and putting half of it in his own pocket, Porfy asks around for Mina.

The man returns and hands Porfy half of his money, though Leon quickly notices that the money he received is far too little and gets the remaining money out of the guy. The stand woman then tries to beat up the man, saying how he should be ashamed of himself to deceive such a young boy, as Leon walks away. Porfy quickly notices and runs after him, asking to return his money.

As it turns out, the punks were still there, and they had their eyes on Porfy’s large amount of money. Leon helps Porfy escape and the two exchange money and potatoes (which Porfy was holding when Leon confronted the old man). Leon warns Porfy, and asks if he has any plans of where to go next Porfy obviously hasn’t any, so he takes him along to his shop for now.

The shop turns out to be a car repair shop. The owner is a bit pissed off since he can’t seem to figure out what’s wrong with the car of one of his clients (and his potatoes that Leon was supposed to get were delayed), though this changes when he hears Porfy’s story. Unfortunately, neither he nor his wife has seen Mina. Porfy then prepares to leave, saying how he needs to find Mina. Leon however, says that he’ll get into big trouble if he just continues to search for Mina, his money will run out very quickly. Porfy says that he’ll manage somehow.

The store owner then offers him to work for money for a bit, since Porfy told how his father was teaching him to be a car mechanic. Leon mentions all of the dangers involved in travelling alone (he says this very bluntly, otherwise it just wouldn’t get through Porfy’s head). When Porfy has eaten a bit, the store manager gets a bit angry at how Porfy’s confidence in car mechanics. That’s why he brings Porfy to the car he himself was having trouble with.

Obviously, Porfy has a lot of trouble figuring out what’s wrong, with Leon watching from the side-lines. After a long while, Leon decides to subtly help him by suggesting that something might be up with the transmission. This is where Porfy breaks down, however, saying how his father didn’t teach him yet about that. What follows is a very touching scene, where Porfy gives up the strong impression eh tried to set up and starts crying, saying how he needs to find Mina. Leon assures him then that Mina is alive. The town they’re in is a small one, and a girl without anyone to take care of her will quickly be noticed.

Now that Porfy is cheered up a bit, Leon decides to help him some more by directing the problem to the battery, which turns out to be the culprit. When the owner of the car then comes to pick it up, he’s really glad for the work Porfy did, and gives him a little tip. Porfy then cleans up, and that night Leon takes a look at Porfy’s toolkit and gives him some pointers: it misses a few essential tools, while others will hardly be used at all.

Porfy then mentions the past World War. If I remember correctly, Greece never played a big role in it, though Italy was a major party there. As it turns out: Leon lost his family in that war. He hopes for Porfy to quickly find Mina. If she isn’t in this city, then he suggests Porfy where she might have gone to. He then gives Porfy a compass, in case he gets lost, and says that he ever gets lost, that he should use his brains, and the episode ends.

This was a really interesting episode, because for the first time Porfy came into contact with guys who were out to harm him. Porfy has never really been deceived by any stranger, so he had no reason to doubt the old man’s actions. This was really an episode, meant to make Porfy see the reality of his decision to start travelling. Sure, it sounds nice, but you have to take many things into account.

This is also why the store manager and Leon were so harsh to him at times. Porfy said full of confidence that he could fix any car, and so the store manager puts him on a problem which he knows he can’t fix, in order to teach Porfy to just say what he can do and what he can’t do. Porfy has been trying so much to be strong for his own and Mina’s sake that he started to ask the impossible from himself.

I must say that, when comparing the first nineteen episodes of Porfy to the first nineteen episodes of Les Miserables, then Porfy no Nagai Tabi so far has been better. But that’s only logical: Les Miserables only really started shining once it hit its second half, while Porfy’s height seems to have been the arc around episodes 13 to 17. Still, I’m interested in what the creators have in store for the rest of this series. Will it stay away from tragedy and instead focus on Porfy as he tries to find Mina, or do they still have some trumps left on their sleeve? Either way, it’s going to be awesome.

This was the most light-hearted episode of Porfy no Nagai Tabi in what felt like ages. The tragedy has finally settled down a bit, and it’s time for Porfy to move on and search for Mina, as he travels to Italy.

Porfy walks around the harbour, searching for the place that sells tickets to the boat that travels to Italy. When he finds the ticket booth, he’s confused by all the complicated talk, and ends up ordering the cheapest ticket. The woman behind the counter then wonders where his family is, and gets a worried look on her face when she finds out that Porfy’s alone, and especially when she finds out that Porfy has no relatives whatsoever in Italy. She also warns Porfy that it’ll still take a long while until the ship departs, so that he doesn’t need to worry and take things easy, and also to buy some food in the harbour, since the stuff they sell on the ship is expensive.

Porfy buys a sandwich and waits a bit, and talks to Apollo. A girl then arrives, a few years younger than Porfy is, and she gets interested by Apollo. She wants to give him a few candies, though Porfy notes how owls don’t eat sweets. The girl is disappointed, and then her parents come and pick her up. She gives two sweets to Porfy, of which he saves one. Mina loved candy, and he wants to save that one for when he meets her again.

Porfy then falls asleep and nearly misses the boat, though Apollo wakes him in time for him to barely catch it. The ship departs, and Porfy looks at the ever-shrinking shore of Greece (if you ever believed that this series didn’t have quality-graphics, then this scene will prove you wrong). The small girl then arrives again, and introduces herself as Marika. She too wonders where Porfy’s parents are, and Porfy says that they’re not there. In response to that, Marika drags Porfy to her parents. Porfy then explains what happened to him. All three become worried about him, but Porfy says that he’ll be fine. He leaves them after tasting some of their cheese-pie that reminds him of the cheese-pie that his mother made.

Porfy then looks at the ocean, and reveals to Apollo how today is supposed to be his thirteenth birthday, and he gets a bit nostalgic again. When it’s evening Porfy looks for the cabin he’s supposed to sleep in. To his luck, it’s also occupied by a bunch of scary truck-drivers. These guys mean no harm, but of course they seem scary in Porfy’s eyes, so he runs away when one of them tries to touch his backpack with his father’s tools. Out of all places, he ends up falling asleep at the same spot that Mina slept at, two episodes ago. So sweet.

The next morning, Porfy is woken up by Marika an her parents, who are of course wondering why Porfy didn’t sleep in his room. They offer him breakfast, and then Marika grabs a piece of bread, and manages to feed it to Apollo. Marika’s father then suggests Porfy that some of the people boarding this ship might have been on it when Mina boarded it, like truck-drivers who went to Greece to stock up. In the end, one of Porfy’s “roommates” (they’ve all been wondering how he spent the night, by the way) remembered having seen Mina, along with a gypsy-woman. They then tell Porfy that the two of them left with a car, and had no idea where they went afterwards.

Porfy is a bit sad to still be far away from Mina, but at least he now knows that she’s with another woman. The ship arrives at the port of a certain city in Italy, and the episode ends.

One thing that’s really caught my attention in this and the previous episode is the emphasis on the kindness of humans. I’ve seen so many series now with a lot of focus on hate and other dark themes, which it’s quite refreshing to finally see how humans also have a side that helps out others. One series that especially looks like the complete opposite of Porfy no Nagai Tabi is Kaiba, where people and human lives are considered as trash at times. Incidentally, those are two of my favourite shows at the moment. ^^;

One thing that I really miss in nearly every anime is the ability for characters to just walk up to random people and make a small talk, without that character suddenly turning out to be really important for some sort of side-plot. I can understand how you’d usually ignore random by-passers, but when a character is alone on a ship like in this episode, and needs a bit of time to kill, it would make much more sense to find a random person and have a small chat with than just sit around and do nothing. It’s a shame you don’t often see that, because it’s exactly those things that make the world that the story tries to create come to live. Not every character needs to spawn his entire live-story if he’s introduced, and Marika and her parents did very well as serving as random people you just run into, without ever putting the focus on themselves, and instead they just try to help Porfy. I hope this rambling made sense.

There’s also one long-term thing I’m really curious about: what age will Porfy be at the end of the series? I’m intrigued at how the creators are planning to end this series. Will he just be like Damon, and remain a traveller for his entire live, or will he settle down? Will this series just like Les Miserables feature a major time-skip? Will Porfy remain a kid forever? Or will he grow up? Will he ever see Zaimis again?

I also wonder: how are the creators going to handle the language-barrier. Porfy obviously doesn’t know Italian, though I’m fine if the creators just ignore this. For as far as I know, NO series (or movie or whatever for that matter), whether anime or not anime, has ever managed to handle the language-barrier perfectly. Black Lagoon’s attempt, for example, failed horribly. Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula gets points for trying, but that series too got hammered down by horrible Engrish.

This series continues to be absolutely stunning! Seriously, there hasn’t been a weak moment, ever since the earthquake. This episode finally finishes the introduction of this series, and shows Porfy starting his “Long Journey”. It really does seem like it’s going to take a long while until we see Mina again…

The episode starts with Porfy, not sure what to do. In the end, the one who’s able to remember Mina and tell him where she went was the old blind lady. She tells how the two of Porfy and Mina had the same scent, and how Mina boarded a ship that goes to Italy. Now that he finally knows what happened to his sister, Porfy runs to a quiet alley to cry his lungs out.

When Porfy comes back to the harbour to check up on the fees for the boat, they turn out to be too high for the small amount of money he carries with him. He heads into the city, to check whether people are looking for a job. The first person he asks comes with the sad news that nearly nobody in the city has a car, and they work mostly with horses and donkeys. The guy then nicely offers Porfy a part of his lunch, saying how children shouldn’t suffer. Porfy says how he’s looking for money to board a ship, and then the guy comes with the idea to bring Porfy to an old man whose house needs painting. At this point, Porfy is indeed willing to do anything.

When he arrives at the old man’s home, the old man thanks him. He’s apparently been living alone for a long time now. When he asks where Porfy came from, Porfy says he’s from Simitra. The old man remembers how that place was hit by a huge earthquake, and Porfy tells him about what happened to his parents; he starts crying when he talks about it. The old man then comforts him, and says how Porfy’d better start working. When Porfy’s halfway done, the old man asks him to buy some food for dinner.

When they’re having dinner, the old man offers a surprisingly large amount of his food to Porfy. When Porfy says how he shouldn’t bother, the man retorts that it’s nothing, and how it’s a delight to be young. Porfy works for two days, and on the second evening the old man asks Porfy whether he knows what Mina’s thinking. I turns out that Porfy didn’t even think of that yet. The old man then says how Mina should be feeling the same thing he is, being separated from her parents and all.

Porfy finishes on the third day. The old man then gives him a really big amount of money for the job, even more than that’s needed for the boat fee. Added to that, he also offers a backpack for Porfy to use. The old man says how once you get older, there are enough things that you won’t need anymore, and he feels that Porfy would make better use of it. Porfy then leaves and the episode ends, as the old man wishes him good luck.

Apologies for the rather rubbish summary this time. The dialogue in this episode was particularly difficult for a Porfy-episode, and it featured more monologues than usual, so I wasn’t able to understand everything perfectly, like I usually do with this series. That aside, this episode was yet again amazing. When I started watching this series, I originally thought that it would go down about the same path as Perrine Monogatari (which is currently being subbed by C1), but it turns out I was wrong. Perrine puts much more emphasis on the bad sides of money, while Porfy no Nagai Tabi just solves Porfy’s money issues in one half of an episode.

Old people also have a really interesting role in this series. They really serve as mental guides for the children. First Damon, and now we have the old blind woman and the old man who offer Porfy support, and they encourage him to go into the right direction, hardly knowing anything about him. It’s different from usual anime, who mostly have the mindset of “the old ones need to step aside for the young ones”. In this case, they really try to help Porfy get over the horrible things that happened to him, without ever trying to look important for the storyline.

Words can’t describe the awesomeness of this episode. Before I started to watch this episode, I had NO idea that this series would turn out the way it did here. I’m sure now with this episode: Porfy no Nagai Tabi will be one of the best series of 2008, joining Shion no Ou on this list. Before I delve more into the awesomeness of this episode, first a summary:

Porfy is frantically searching for Mina. Mina, meanwhile, reached a flower stand, with flowers that resemble her own tree. With the bit of money she has left, she buys one of them and walks away again. Zaimis is meanwhile extremely worried, and he blames himself for Porfy’s disappearance. He notifies his mother, Helena and Barnes and Barnes hurries to his car to check the surrounding area while Zaimis and Helena search more around the coast.

Helena really needs to calm down Zaimis. Porfy may have meant well with that final message of his (“we’ll stay friends forever”), but like always, that wasn’t the most tactful move. After all, how would you react if someone would say to remain friends forever, only to disappear afterwards? In any case, Porfy too reaches the flower stand, but Mina’s already away. The seller points Porfy in the direction she went, but Mina has already gotten herself into the car of a local woman, mistaking and offering her a ride to a totally different part of the city. She drops her flower, and THAT’S THE LAST THING PORFY SEES OF HER!!!

Mina gets dropped off near a cafe, where a band of travelling entertainers is working: a woman, and two men. The woman dances, while the two men try to win money by playing card-games (not sure whether or not they’re the cheating-kind). The woman then notices Mina, but Mina walks off again, and she gets called back to her job.

Mina then ends up on a boat (if I recall correctly, the movie she watched took place on a boat). She then mistakes a random woman for her mother, but loses sight of her. It then turns out that Isabella (the above-mentioned woman) and her companions will be boarding the boat as well. It seems to be a boat to ITALY. Mina continues to get scared by the crowd, until she sees the woman who looks like her mother again. She then follows her into the boat, only to find out that she was mistaken.

The boat the takes off, with MINA ON BOARD!

Isabella meanwhile, can also use tarot-cards (Gypsy?), though Mina is still on her mind. Her two companions meanwhile continue with their card-trick. It’s an interesting method they use: they just start playing together, and very soon others will get interested and want to play along as well. Porfy, meanwhile, arrives at the harbour, but of course nobody remembers such a tiny little girl. Apollo meanwhile is very angry at him.

Mina has meanwhile hidden in a corner on the boat, watching a couple. They inspire her to recite a part of the movie, and Isabella manages to overhear her. She then tries to talk to Mina, how she liked the movie as well. The two then introduce themselves to each other. She tells Mina that her partner is called Carlos, and the other guy is Carlos’s father and that they’re playing card games. Isabella then asks Mina her age, and when she finds out that it’s 12, she says that it’s the same age as her daughter, who died from an illness. She then tells mina to return to her mother, and then leaves again when Carlos calls her, though she does return for a bit to give Mina an apple.

Mina spends the night on the ship, trying to sleep against random crates and eventually ends up under some stairs. Isabella’s still worried, but Mina has hidden herself well, so she can’t find her. The next day, Mina wakes up and is amazed at the sunrise. She then starts singing her favourite song, while Isabella her companions are watching. Carlos’ father notes how Lily (Isabella’s daughter) was good at singing as well.

Then the boat arrives in Italy, and Isabella wonders where Mina’s parents are. Mina then finally tells her how her parents have died during the earthquake. Isabella then offers Mina to come along with them. The four of them leave the boat together, while Porfy’s still wondering where Mina went and the episode ends.

Let me first say: holy jumping clamfish on a stick! I knew that the creators were clever at building-up, but I never imagined that they were THIS clever. I remember making so many predictions after the previous episode, and they all turned out not to come true, simply because I didn’t consider the option that Porfy wouldn’t be able to find Mina back! Only now I see what the scene in episode three, where Porfy and Mina lost sight of each other, really meant to say: Mina was just joking to Porfy back then, and she easily found her way back to Porfy. This gave both Porfy as the viewer the illusion that she’d return to Porfy no matter what. Instead, her image of Porfy now is something completely different of what I expected.

It’s indeed true that Porfy turned much more protective of Mina after the earthquake, so you’d think that Mina would be the same: two siblings who lost everything apart from each other. Instead, Mina has been so affected by the shock of losing her parents, that I believe that she can’t make sure who of her loved ones is still alive and who isn’t. I remember noting how she never went against Porfy when he was with her, but it felt like she unconsciously thought he wasn’t going to return to her when he left her.

And then there’s Porfy: will he or will he not return to the refugee camp, after being unable to find his sister? What will Zaimis, Barnes and Helena say if he does? And to think that this is a 52-episode series. It might take till October or November before Porfy and Mina see each other again!!

So now we know why Porfy started his travels. Finally, everything makes perfect sense. But the real highlight of this episode was without a doubt Mina. Never have I seen a character act so genuine as she did in this episode. The loss of her parents blocked out everything, apart from her deepest feelings. I’ve said it before, but the refugee-camp arc was just gut-wrenchingly sad. And to think that the real meat of this series has only just started.

Inside the refugee-camp, Mina is sitting with Apollo on her shoulder, smiling at the creature, while nearby Porfy and Zaimis are washing dishes. Zaimis wonders when he can go back to Simitra, though Porfy doesn’t want to go back to that place anymore (with his house being destroyed and all). Helena then takes over from them, so that Porfy and Zaimis can take care of their sisters. It turns out that Mina does have a few physical scars as well, but these will probably disappear completely when she becomes an adult. The same can’t be said from her mental scars, though.

A guy from the village named Lucas, delivering supplies for the refugee-camp then arrives. As he starts up his car to go back, it malfunctions. Porfy then runs to his and Mina’s bed (ignoring Mina’s greetings and leaving her behind, looking disappointed), and grabs his father’s toolkit, and fixes the car. Lucas then gives him his very first self-earned fee. When Porfy goes back to Mina to show this fee, she’s gone.

Porfy looks for her, but he can’t find her. He then runs into Zaimis and he also helps searching, and soon a lot of the people who take care of the refugee-camp are searching for her. Eventually, Porfy finds her behind a rock near the sea, singing the song that she used to like when her parents were still alive. Mina may have lost a lot, but it looks like she’s desperately holding onto her love for theatre. Porfy scolds her, and she suddenly looks much gloomier again, so Porfy tries to cheer her up a bit more.

It actually works, especially when Porfy tries to act out other parts from that play. Mina even joins him with the acting, looking very happy. Then, however, Porfy shows her the money he earned from Lucas’s car, and immediately Mina feels down again. I suspected this before, but it’s really true: Mina doesn’t like Porfy’s obsession with cars. I always had the feeling that she felt left out whenever Porfy started rambling about cars, and this scene indeed confirms this.

In any case, Mina is brought back to the camp, and falls asleep. A little while later, Helena passes out different letters to the refugees. Zaimis’s mother (finally I know her name! It’s Dori) also gets one, and it comes from her aunt (either that, or Zaimis’s aunt). It turns out that the two can live with her. Zaimis is shocked when he finds out that he isn’t going back to Simitra, but after all there’s no way in which they can go and fix their house just like that. Porfy tries to cheer Zaimis up when he finds out, but it’s clear that Porfy himself is also very unhappy with this turn of events.

It’s then when Barnes arrives, and he immediately goes to Helena, so that Porfy doesn’t have the time to greet him. Porfy then goes to eavesdrop on the conversation between these two. He hears how Helena finds that things aren’t going well with Mina, and how she doesn’t speak at all. Barnes then says that he’s find a very nice family for Porfy and Mina, though there’s one thing: this family only wants to take care of a girl. In other words: Porfy and Mina will separate, and Mina will go all the way to America!

This news devastates Porfy. He runs to Mina to tell her the bad news, and he suggests to run away from the camp. His plan is for her to run away when she’s taking care of the dishes away. Porfy will then leave the camp with his own excuse, and they’ll meet up later at a certain landmark. During dinner, they eat more than usual, to strengthen them for the trip, while Zaimis still laments the fact that they’re not going to see each other anymore. Porfy obviously couldn’t care less, because he has more urgent things to worry about.

Then, it’s time to carry out Porfy’s plan. Porfy, unfortunately, runs into Zaimis, and barely manages to come up with a good excuse, and is also helped by the fact that Zaimis is holding his little sister. Porfy then says goodbye to Zaimis in a cryptic way, and heads off.

The plan, however, turns out to be a disaster. Mina sees a nearby bicycle and gets fascinated by it (because there was a bicycle in the movie that they watched as well). The angry owner of that bike then turns up, however, and Mina runs away, terrified at what to do against such an angry strange man. Unfortunately for her, she runs towards a village, where all sorts of scary people walk around. Porfy meanwhile realizes that something’s wrong, and starts searching for her, guided by Apollo and the episode ends.

The amount of building-up that this series did in its first quarter is just overwhelming. More and more scenes that once just seemed to just fill time now turn out to have an incredible meaning. I don’t just mean Mina’s visit to the movie, and the scene at the theatre, but also in episode three, where Mina got separated from Porfy. That too lays a parallel to the events that happened in this episode: back then, Mina just played a prank, but in this episode, her fears are everything but a joke.

I’ve also began to wonder: where will Porfy and Mina sleep? How will they get food? I originally thought that Mina and Porfy would be separated from each other, but now it really looks like the two of them will travel together, which makes things only sadder. Not only is Mina without a doubt the best-developed character in this entire series, but it also means that Porfy is going to not only take care of himself, but Mina as well. I can see how he’ll end up trying to repair cars to get some money, but will people really trust their car with a small boy? And what will Mina be doing when Porfy is out there, trying to make money, even though she hates his obsession for cars.

Seriously, the more I think about it, the more I realize what an amazing amount of potential this series has. Spring may have come with a very good collection of interesting series, but even the BEST of them are going to have to try really hard if they want to be able to top this series.

Amazing, simply amazing. At first sight, this series looks so simple, and yet this episode was so incredibly sad. That’s really the difference between a World Masterpiece Theatre series and a regular anime. They just go into so much more detail than your usual anime. In addition to that, everything feels so natural. Porfy, Mina and Zaimis just feel like real children, and that’s exactly why this series has turned into my favourite series of the winter-season.

The episode starts in the refugee camp, where Zaimis’ mother is showing Zaimis, Porfy, Helena and Mina her newborn baby. Porfy finds it cute, and Helena compares it to an angel. Zaimis says how she looks like him, though Porfy doubts it. Zaimis’ mother says how her eyes resemble her father’s, after which Zaimis starts crying. Porfy tries to cheer up Zaimis by reminding him that he’s become a brother. Helena asks what kind of name they’ve come up for her, and Porfy answers that it would have been Erupii (god knows how you spell that). Helena fins it a very good name, and her father will definitely look over her from heaven. Zaimis’ mother says that she’s going to have to try her best for Erupii’s sake as well. Porfy then gives Zaimis the angel he carved.

Zaimis recognizes it, and is delighted that Porfy managed to fix it, and he sows it to his new sister, saying how it’s the first present her brother made for her. Next up, it’s time for lunch, though Mina refuses to eat. Porfy asks whether she’s had enough, and tells her that she really needs to eat, after which she takes a small piece of her bread. Near them is Damon, who’s having trouble eating his own soup because of his hand, so Porfy stands up and feeds him. Damon thanks him, and Porfy apologizes about the things he said to him about God and all. Damon finds it no problem, and it’s perfectly understandable for someone who just lost his parents to say such things out of rage.

Porfy says that Damon has also lost his family during the war (WWII, probably). Damon answers that a lot of his parents and siblings died back then. Porfy asks how he should get over this, and what should he do? Damon answers that even though you can’t meet them, his friends are still in his heart. He often speaks to them, like how he tells his mother how beautiful the ocean is, and how delicious the soup is. Porfy, however, says that they’re not going to answer, so what’s the point? Damon says that this isn’t necessarily the case, and he says that Porfy will never be alone, and that he can always meet his parents. He then stands up, saying that he’ll be leaving now, and how there’s a bus waiting for him. He’ll be going to Athens.

Porfy asks whether he’ll be all right during the journey, after which Damon draws a map of the main land of Greece, placing two circles: one for Simitra and the other one for Athens.
It’ll be a long journey, but he’s glad to have met Porfy, and he tells him to take good care of his sister. Next up, Louise also leaves. She’s got a sister in a nearby village with whom she can live. She notes how it must be tough for Porfy, and wishes both him and Mina good luck. Then, an expensive-looking car arrives, and a man and a woman step out. Helena then comes walking out of the church, along with a young girl who seems to have lost her entire family.

Porfy asks whether those people are the girl’s parents, though Zaimis says he’s wrong. The children who lost all their parents are going to be adopted into new families. Zaimis also heard the girl the day before, and it seems she did have a sibling, though he (or she?) found it too troublesome to take care of her. Porfy then gets very angry, and Zaimis apologizes. He says that Porfy and Mina will definitely be fine. He then leaves, to go back to his sister. Helena then talks to Porfy, who asks whether the girl had lost her parents, and Helena says that she did. He desperately asks her what’ll happen to the two of them. Helena says that she has of course been thinking about the two of Porfy and Mina, and Porfy says that he’ll refuse to separate from Mina. Helena says she understands.

Porfy then brings Mina to the sea. We then switch to Helena as she’s in her “office”, as Barnes arrives. He asks where Porfy and Mina are, and Helena says that they went to the sea. He asks how the two of them are doing, Helena says that Mina has been heavily emotionally hurt, and Porfy too has had to endure an enormous shock. Ever since he heard that his parents died, he hasn’t cried even once. We then switch to a bit later, when Barnes meets Porfy. He asks whetehr he’s been doing fine, and gives him another chocolate bar. Porfy then shares it with Mina. Porfy then says to Barnes that he’s been thinking, and he things that he’s going to start working for real, and asks whether he knows a good place.

Barnes says that Porfy is twelve years old, and has to have something more important to do than just that. Porfy then says that he’s about to get separated from Mina, though Barnes assures him that they’ll be fine. Porfy should now be thinking of nothing but Mina. She’s suffered a heavy loss, and needs a lot of attention to recover. Porfy says that Mina hasn’t become sick, and Barnes acknowledges this, though she needs to sort out a lot in her head.

The summary of the next half is going to be a bit shorter. Still detailed, but I feel like I’ve been getting too carried away with this entry. ^^; Porfy’s next plan is to go back to Simitra, to say a final goodbye to their house. And of course, to check up on whether Apollo has survived the earthquake. Zaimis is very worried about Porfy’s trip (who wouldn’t, after suddenly losing so many dear ones?) On the way, Porfy restores one of the poles with a picture of a priest on it. Porfy tells Mina how these were used when a person died, so that the deceased can visit another country.

When they arrive on Patagos Grand Station, Porfy tries to keep himself strong in front of Mina, and looks among the rubble for his father’s toolkit, and puts the contents in a bag. Meanwhile, Mina walks over to what once was the house, and sees how her tree finally blossomed. She then finally speaks again (she hasn’t talked AT ALL since she found out about her parents). Porfy then builds the same pole-house as shown before, and puts the picture of Christ that he received from Damon inside it, so that Christopher and Aneke can have a safe journey through the world. Mina then puts a branch of her tree on it.

Then, a squeak sounds, and Apollo turns out to be fine. Mina then finally laughs again, after which Porfy and Mina leave again. Tony then passes them, and finds out about the fate of Porfy’s parents. He offers to let them stay at his own house, though Porfy declines, as he wants to go back to Zaimis. Tony then offers the two of them a trip to the refugee station.

When they get back, Helena scolds Porfy about how he shouldn’t just run off as Zaimis takes Tony along to show him his new sister. Porfy then introduces Helena to Apollo. We then switch to dinner, as Porfy tells Zaimis’ mother how he went back to get his father’s tools. She then asks how things were in the village, and Porfy says that things were very quiet, and wonders where everyone went. Zaimis is really worried about whether they can return to Simitra, though his mother believes that they can.

Porfy plans to start Patagos Grand Station one day. He doesn’t know when, but he’ll come back one day to fulfil his father’s dream. He then mentions the tale of Orpheus, and both he and Zaimis agree that they wouldn’t look behind. If there was a chance that would bring their parents back, they’d never look back. Mina then falls asleep, Porfy promises to watch over her and the episode ends.

My favourite character of this episode was without a doubt Mina. Never have I seen a girl who just found out that her parents suddenly died as well portrayed as in her case. Notice how she never, ever goes against Porfy, and goes with him, even though she doesn’t feel to. She does exactly what he tells her to do. Remember back when Porfy had his “genius plan” of putting nails on the road, and Mina tried to stop him, though Porfy retorted that it was because she kept romanticizing over the movie that she just saw? Without a doubt, this must have made a bigger impression on her than Porfy could have imagined. When the two of them argued again after she just woke up after the earthquake, and how she yelled at Porfy only to find out that Christopher and Aneke were dead, of course she’d be way too scared to ever go against her brother, because only bad things come from it.

Another thing that’s portrayed in this series, better than any I’ve ever seen is the refugee camp. Because Porfy and Mina spend so much time on it, and they’re not the only ones who have lost someone dear to them, it’s strangely enjoyable to watch how all the adults try to take care of the children a bit, and try to comfort them about their losses. Especially Helena and Zaimis’ mother have really helped in distracting Porfy from all the things that happened, and I’m especially liking Zaimis’ mother more and more.