Ah, I knew it. It was all too good to be true. Despite that though, this episode still surprised me with the direction it took. The whole movie subplot was wrapped up really subtle. In fact, we don’t even fully know the repercussions yet. For this episode, life continued as usual for nearly the entire cast, except for Ohana’s uncle and grandmother.
That uncle who received a ton of depth, by the way. In a way, it’s a shame that the promotional material just contains the cute girls of the series. He shows that the males have just as much right to be there. What this episode did to Ohana’s uncle was excellent: it completed establishing what kind of character he is, and developed him further by introducing romance. This is the kind of change that I was talking about during the last episode.
Now, I also want to see those repercussions. Again, that could very well be the change that I was hoping for. This episode gave away enough hints that something big is going to happen. The most logical thing would be for people to be laid off in order to compensate for the losses that were made, and you can really get some good drama out of that when played right.
Now that Ohana’s uncle received such good development, I can’t help but wonder: what about Nako and Tomoe? These two feel a bit out of it, compared to the rest of the cast. Nako at the moment is just “the best friend”. She always stands in Ohana’s shadow and never really gets to do something herself. Tomoe suffers the same fate: she’s been absent from pretty much all of the parts where this series really hit its stride and showed off how good it was. At the moment there’s not much more to her character than “Ohana’s boss”.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
The good news is that the next episode is gonna be about Nako considering the preview, so maybe we’ll get to know her better next episode!
I think the series is steering itself back on track, they certainly aren’t done with character development it seems (which has been a series strength for the most part), so i’m wondering where the ending arc will be going toward.
I personally see the overall plot consists of the progression of the inn’s tragic ending, especially since (for once) the OPs and EDs did not do any spoilers (seeing how the OPs dictating how the inn typically operates, ED showing the 4 teens in a single scene).
…hope I’m (just as tragically) wrong.
fyi: the character studies so far are looking good with the carry-overs
I find it hard to explain what it is about this show that makes it so good to me, but that won’t stop me from sharing 8).
The relationships between the main characters are very well thought out. They really manage to bring the individual characters to life; they feel like real people with real personalities instead of stereotypes in a melodrama.
I also really like how the show looks.. Sure the artstyle is not that original or realistic, but there’s something consistent in the faces of individual characters that makes them distinct. Also the animation is just functional and pleasant to look in general.
It could be that I’m overthinking or seeing things that aren’t there, but there’s just something about this show that seperates it from the masses of other slice of life for me.