Short Synopsis: We learn what happened to Atsuko after episode 10.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
Good to finally see a bit of quality airtime devoted to Atsuko. Most of her airtime so far has simply been a few minutes here and there, but this time she has an entire episode for herself, and she uses it quite well. It’s a shame that there wasn’t even a second of Hatchin, but nevertheless I really enjoyed this episode.
What I especially loved is how much Atsuko hates her new job. She never actually mentions it, but her expression says a thousand words. The once proud police woman who climbed her way up from a mere street-punk is now cleaning cans at a local Aztec ruin and chasing runaway pet monkeys. This episode was mostly about her getting her motivation back, and that’s mostly done by her, meeting a child who strangely resembles a younger Michiko. (And her, finding a newspaper article about Hiroshi’s newest movie, of course).
I do hope that Satoshi is also going to get an episode like this one. Like most people in this series, he’s been a very interesting character, but only appeared in one episode for as far as my memory doesn’t deceive me. Imagine the potential when he gets even more time devoted to fleshing out his character. But then again, that’s probably going to come along with Hiroshi’s development, who also is about to get into the spotlights. What is the guy doing on the silver screen, and if he’s that rich, then why did he abandon his daughter to some random evil pastor family?
Ya, those questions regarding Hiroshi are driving me crazy. He hasn’t even contacted anyone and kept pretending to be dead, so why would he pursue acting and become famous? That’s strange.
This episode with Atsuko is great. Except, I don’t get what happened to her in the ruins. ~__~