Despite the staff mentioned in early weeks that episode was gonna be a game-changer, nothing happens out of ordinary this week (except maybe for the after-credits reveal, which has become Sarazanmai tradition now). Prior to what Kazuki said (which kinda negate what I’m about to say), I’d single out the similarities in these main characters’ relationships. It’s true that the main theme regarding the trio is their “connections” to the ones they love, but this episode makes it quite clear that they’re in for destructive relationships themselves. A good analogy is that they’re charging their heads into the thick wall. “I’ve decided I’d live by nii-san’s side for his sake, I don’t care what anyone says about me”, Toi said so in the episode. The issue with all that is, the other person doesn’t ask for it. Whether it’s Toi’s brother Chikai, Kazuki’s bedridden brother Haruka, or Haruki himself don’t really want to receive that connection, not that way anyway. For Toi, Ikuhara has planted many symbolic objects that inform his relationship to others, and they are udon, gun, lollipop. For example, the motif of this week, udon, tells us about his relationship to his family. Gun represents his leap to this dark, violent upbringing and serves as the loss of innocence for him. Finally, lollipop represents what maybe his devotion to his brother. But on that last point I’m not going into details because the imagery of Lolita messed me up.
I’d regard this episode a success, if not for the fact that it brings up the conflict of Kazuki asked Toi to help him kidnapping the idol girl Sara Azuma, and then completely abandons that plot thread. So did Haruka be able to meet the real Sara Azuma? The way Kazuki seems to be oblivious of a lot of things (last week’s Enta’s crush and this week Toi’s problem) start to get on my nerve. His character is very inconsistent for me so far and I don’t think I am fond of it. Not because of the cliffhanger by all mean. Actually I believe the reveal that he doesn’t cosplay for his brother’s sake make their relationship more intriguing. As for now I suppose it’s a mixture between love/hate relationship, like he might be jealous with all the attention his brother has, but we won’t know for sure until we see more of his motive. That reveal makes me wonder, then, that maybe Haruka knows about Kazuki impersonating after all?
The flashback of Toi, on the other hand, is quite solid overall. One important detail from his backstory is that he was the one who pulled the trigger, and that his brother shot the poor man down so that Toi doesn’t carry the guilt. On the visual side the flashback goes for more simple, soft art-styles, which works wonderfully for me. Sarazanmai also ties up his past with the case of this week, soba Man and his crime of stealing a freaking bathwater because he wanted it as a soba broth. Now that the trio all have their turns in the spotlight, and now that the Cops promise to be more active, it’s time for Sarazanmai to shake off this current formula and take a new direction. Well, it better be given more than one third of its length is already gone.
Sarazanmai weekly lottery: what crazy object is going to float around next week? 4 episodes and Ikuhara hasn’t disappointed once. My random 3-take for next week: lollipop (Toiiii), dress (since Kazuki crossdresses), and elephant (I don’t fucking know why but now that idea won’t leave my head)
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The idol meet-up was scheduled for the next day, so we’ll probably get to that next week. I don’t think it was abandoned, just postponed.
By the way, in what way do you think Kazuki’s character is inconsistent exactly? I agree that he can be rather frustrating to watch, of course, with how apathetic he is towards other people’s problems and all, but I think he’s been pretty consistent in his single-minded devotion to protecting his connection with Haruka (although this week’s after-credits scene complicates things). Besides, based on my limited experience with Ikuhara, characters sacrificing their moral compass and interest in whatever problems other characters are struggling with for some obsession or other seems a pretty common theme in his work.
As a side note,I wonder if we’re going to get a love triangle. Toi gave Kazuki a very, ehm, admiring look this week, and the two seem to connect very easily. Besides, they were literally running hand in hand in a theme park two weeks ago, so it certainly seems like the show wants us to think in that direction.
The items of the week so far have all been two-syllable words so that they fit with the song the kappa boys sing, fyi. Box/hako, cat/neko, kiss/kissu, and soba.
I don’t think Kazuki is being *written* inconsistently. He seems totally shut down in general except when he’s around Toi, for some reason. He doesn’t care about his best friend, soccer, his brother, or his family anymore. I’m certain we’ll learn that something horrible happened to Kazuki in the recent past that made him lose his personality. I feel there’s a strong likelihood that it involves Sara.