If I have one word that could describe Irozuku so far, it’s “slow-burn”. Indeed we have something burned this week (Hitomi’s failed attempts of making star sand), and “slow” is definitely on the table here. Even to my taste where I much prefer deliberate pacing than bombastic climax in every episode or cheap cliffhanging that anime today is guilty of, usually after finishing an episode of Izoruku I have a hard time recapping what happened in the episode. There are two main themes this week 5 of Irozuku develops, one of them regarding the tangled love interest of several players in the cast, and the other is about the cast’s struggling with their own creative sides. I’ll address both themes later, but first let’s talk about Hitomi. Hitomi has been a mixed bag as far as central protagonist concerns. She has clear struggles, but she remains unclear towards her goals to the point the supporting cast has to take charge, and in most cases, it’s her (young) granny Kohaku. It’s good, then, to see her become more active this week as she’s trying to fit in with this current world: practicing magic again, spend more times with her clubmates and be useful when helping out with her relative’s shop. When it comes to Aio’s pictures she’s no subtle about it, as in many cases she says to him his drawings mean a lot to her. Their scenes together are amongst Hirozuku’s best. It’s intimate, it’s understated but it’s also grounded and magical at the same time. The moments she gives him her star sand this week, it comes so natural and beautiful that it remains a highlight of the episode.
Which bring me to the second point that I’m not quite as enthusiastic, which is the romantic conflicts between the cast, chief among them between Shou, Hitomi and Asagi. It starts with Kohaku’s fortune teller, which (predictably) students line-up to ask about their romances. She tells Asagi that she has bad luck when it comes to romance. Shou has been close to Hitomi to help her out as she’s the new member of the Photography club. I’m not so sure whether he has a feeling for Hitomi (the majority says it’s obvious but part of me thinks he’s just too dense to realize all that. Another cliche trait), but it’s clear that Hitomi doesn’t aware of it and Asagi doesn’t take it very well. She’s angry about him being too considerate as to display all the foods in single brown color (but in truth that effort makes no sense since Hitomi can only see every food in black and white). I must say the part where she confesses to Hitomi that they’re childhood friend and he means a lot to her disappoints me a little, given it’s a very predictable backstory. At the end, she works her courage to ask him to help her on the rabbit postcard, but I suppose we will see more of this plot thread in next few episodes.
The second theme of Irozuku this week fares so much better to me. It’s the cast’s struggle at their arts, be it Aoi who can’t draw the drawings he’s satisfied, to Asagi who is too shy to show her works, to Hitomi tries and fails multiple time making magic star sand. These struggles, just like their teenage struggles of growing up, speak well to Irozuku’s little drama. And it’s a process of hardwork (in Hitomi’s case), and having more confident (in all cases) that they can overcome their own slump. To be fair, for a show with such tender approach, Irozuku doesn’t have its chop for developing special connection between its cast. Apart from Aoi – Hitomi pair and Hitomi – Kohaku pair, they function more as group’s chemistry. If you, for example, pair Kohaku to Aoi or to Shou, you’ll see that they don’t have any chemistry whatsoever. It’s frankly quite a bit of a shame, because I feel the cast doesn’t reach the full potential it could have, and worse some of the developments like this triangle love feels forced. I might ask for a little too much, but it’s only because Irozuku promises quite a lot.
