Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「晴レ晴レファンファーレ」 (Harere Harere Fanfeaare) by みみめめMIMI (MimimemeMIMI)
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「制服とどなべごはん」 (Seifuku to Donabe Gohan)
“Uniform and Clay Pot Rice”
One of my most anticipated shows of the season, Amaama to Inazuma did not disappoint. I even made a friend watch alongside and got him to cry!
Family Ties
The premise of Amaama to Inazuma is a simple one, but boy do they execute it perfectly. Revolving around the life of Kouhei and his daughter Tsumugi, the show managed to perfectly bring us up to speed with their crazy life in a matter of minutes. From the subtle shot of Kouhei’s wife who passed away to the cuts of how and what the two eat every day, it paints a clear picture of a slightly dysfunctional family that’s trying their best to be the best they can be. Something that sounds even tougher to do when you discover that Kouhei is a schoolteacher who ends up working late hours.
However, and this is where the true meat of the story comes from, Kouhei is the kind of dad who would do anything for his daughter. Whether that means sitting through a bunch of magical girl anime reruns or dashing through the streets with Tsumugi on his shoulders looking for a real homemade meal, there’s no doubt the amount of love he has for her is immeasurable.
Cooking Together
For its introductory episode, I don’t think there was a better place to start. Jumping into the idea that Kouhei can’t cook very well and relies on convenience store food (which in Japan I hear is pretty good and somewhat nutritious) for Tsumugi’s meals, it’s clear that you can’t rely on something like that for your baby girl. Also, even if it’s not all the time, you have to sit down and eat together with your kids! Two things that probably escaped Kouhei’s mind, but you can’t really blame him for since there’s definitely other things that I’m sure are on his mind (like memories of his wife).
Fast forward a little bit and we get to see this glaring issue in his parenting resolve itself pretty quickly. Realizing that he’s been missing the most basic points of truly being together with his daughter, I thought it was awfully cute how they used a simple meal of clay-pot rice to really drive home the meaning of having a home cooked meal together. That and I couldn’t help but tear up a little when the show decided to integrate some of Kouhei’s memories with his wife in-between the cooking. Because, honestly, if you didn’t get a little emotional seeing all that, I don’t think we can be friends anymore.
And don’t get me started on Kotori. I know what’s going to happen since I read somewhat deep into the source material to preview the show, but even from what we saw this week it’s easy to tell that she has her own share of problems and trials to deal with.
Looking Ahead
Oh BOY I can’t wait for next week’s episode. I want more of all these characters in my lives and I want it now! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this week’s episode as much as I did and I’ll see you around when we get to see more of Tsumugi, Kouhei, and Kotori. See you later!
ED Sequence
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ED: 「Maybe」 by Brian the Sun
Tsugumi and her dad are ok, but what made the show for me was Kotori. Watching her sitting by herself eating the picnic lunch her mother made for them and being both sad and lonely but at the same time happy that she was eating a meal her mother made especially for them showed an amazing ability of both the animators and seiyuu to get across to the viewer those mixed emotions. Her struggle to cook a basic rice for a desperate dad and his daughter also felt real to me as was her relief when it managed to work out. I actually wondered if she was going to succeed or not when she realized called her mom when she realized a clay pot doesn’t have an automatic cut off on it. I don’t know how they’re going to sustain this through a whole cour but I’m glad I got to meet Kotori.
Also helps that she’s voice by Saori Hayami. She’s really one of my favs in the VA industry.
So Teacher and student gonna hook up?
please it’s a heart warming story, they ain’t gonna hookup. i hope…!!!
IF that ain’t shipping…
So fluffy! I had a smile the whole way though!
Fuwafuwa
https://randomc.net/image/Amaama%20to%20Inazuma/Amaama%20to%20Inazuma%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2012.jpg
Sono egao… mamoritai!
Ooh how cute…shinichi have a child now, where’s uncle migi?? And yukino and hachiman open a restaurant eh? Please don’t forget your children have a loner syndrome too.
No wonder Tsumugi reminded me of Hina from Barakamon: same child voice actress. And you weren’t the only one Takaii who got a little bit teary-eyed when Kouhei started getting teary-eyed seeing her daughter so happy with just a simple rice meal. And seeing him sing along with Tsumugi while looking for Kotori’s restaurant really solidified for me how much he loves his kid. I haven’t read the source material so I don’t want jump to conclusion that Kotori might have a thing for Kouhei. If she did, then seeing him with Tsumugi at the sakura viewing would illicit some kind of reaction. I’m just guessing she has some issues at home too, really wants to be a good cook.
I didn’t get too deep into the manga, but I think it addresses your concerns early on and I don’t think any illicit things occur HAHA.
I guess illicit was too extreme a word to use. Actually what I was trying to say is when Kotori met Kouhei and Tsumugi during the Sakura viewing, if she did have a long time crush on Kouhei it would show in Kotori’s reaction. I’m with sonic’s guess that it’s probably parental kind of love that Kotori wants. I guess we’ll just both find out.
Im going to go on a limb and say that kotori’s parents dont associate with each other often and as a result, her future attachment to the teacher may be a sort of familial love, which i think is kinda touching. If the show ever does decide to border into kotori having romantic feelings for the teacher, while id rather have it be familial, i kinda wouldnt care; Ive seen worse and you know what they say, age aint nothing but a number. If im correct, kotori is only 2 years away from being legal and if this series implements time skips then ohhhh boy, we can assume the show may play with the idea of kotori having romantic feelings in the future. For now however, i think it will be a familial love and id like it to stay that way
I’m with you on the parental/familial love angle. Kotori was eating alone during the Sakura viewing and she was alone at their shop. Last checked there was no mention of a father either. So yeah it can go familial or romantic. Both Kouhei and Kotori seem to be missing something in their lives, which they MIGHT find in each other, but right Tsumugi is their immediate priority.
As much as I enjoy this first episode, I’m kinda annoyed that the show sure isn’t subtle when it comes to portraying the sad and cute and heartwarming scenes. Too many “Tell don’t show” moments, such as the girl’s (expository) innocent questions and the girl hugging the TV near the end of the show.
I feel you — but what we got was pretty good amiright?
Yeah, it’s pretty good, although I was hoping for it to be better. That’s why it’s still on my watch list.
Really good first episode, getting lots of Yotsubato and Koufuku Graffiti from this. Kouhei seems to be a good dad who really loves his daughter.
I wonder if Tsumugi will eventually come to see Kotori as a mother figure and bug her dad to marry him when the time is right, maybe 5 years later or so.
Oops, so many typos. :< Fixed.
Really good first episode, getting lots of Yotsubato and Koufuku Graffiti vibes from this. Kouhei seems to be a good dad who really loves his daughter.
I wonder if Tsumugi will eventually come to see Kotori as a mother figure and bug her dad to marry her when the time is right, maybe 5 years later or so.
Naru Returns to Amaazuma! 😀
Loved it, it gave me tons of Barakamon vibes. Loved the relationship between Dad and daughter. I love the theme that family we make is as important as the family we are born to, which looks like this show is going for.
This Show reminds me of an similar one in the past, where the dad even took an lesser pay Job just to have more time with her. the name do fail me now, but he adopted this daughter because the real father died and the family was struggling in how take her in
Usagi Drop is the series you’re thinking of.
yes, this is it, thank you
So, confirmed to be on blogging roster for the season?
Still, I kept thinking about two things afterwards:
Are kids really that focused on food at that age? I was more under the impression that, on the contrary, they wouldn’t mind (unless if the father bought the exact same bento everyday but that would be too far-fetched).
Kotori is really funny (in a good way).
dunno, but perhaps some memories of her mother play here a big role. the smell of cooking rice, meat and so on, can trigger memories
I have mixed feelings…I loved the father-daughter interactions and the characterization of the father who’s obviously still adjusting to life after the death of his wife, but I’m not so sure I like Kotori in the mix. So far, her character feels incredibly unnatural.
in what way?
I have this feeling too. She looks like some random anime-girl who migrate from moe-anime to this. When character shows grandstand play it isn’t attractive at all. In her case she was made to be cute for us without being a person.
That’s how I felt too! You’ve put it in much better words than I could think of.
perhaps she is this cheerful for her dad. So to easy his thoughts. She is doing fine, even if this is just played
We were talking about Kotori, not Tsugumi.
ups my bad, but this still counts for her
Whelp, better prepare my funeral for my death by diabetes after this is over, lol.
I love every time the little girl speak, she is so cute
the way she said “ottosan” sounds very cute
So sad I cannot enjoy the rice with them, it looked so tasty D:
This was incredibly touching and endearing. Best thing I’ve watched this season, so far at least. 🙂
Its my first time to find review about anime. I’m glad found this anime. Tsumugi Cutenest is overload. Her voices reminds me about Barakamon. Im feeling good to watching this, cant wait for next episode. This is so touching anime “honestly, if you didn’t get a little emotional seeing all that, I don’t think we can be friends anymore.” I feel touching can we be friends?
As far as i know, both child characters have the same VA, so no wonder she reminded you of Barakmon.
Ah… that feel. It felt perfectly real that they were so happy to eat a bowl of well cooked rice alone, even with no side dish. As a Korean who lives on rice, I can assure that that scene is never manga/anime-ish exaggeration.
By the way, the ending scene of the episode makes me suspect that Innazuma(稲妻) is probably a pun by the author.
Its dictionary definition of the world (稲妻) is lightning (so the title is translated into ‘Sweetness and Lightning’ in its Wikipedia entry) but the lexical meaning of the Chinese character for inna(稲) is rice, and zuma(妻) means ‘a wife’. Thus If you take each lexical meaning of each of the Chinese character at face value, Innazuma(稲妻) means ‘a rice wife’. I have no idea how Innazuma(稲妻) came to mean ‘Lighting’ in Japanese in its etymological history.
We have an jackpot winner
the first episode hit my weak spot and triggered emotions.. I hook on this anime. Thanky you for this “silent emotion” anime out there
Damn… this show suddenly urged me to follow my baby boy with a girl.
Hey! Let’s give our boy a sister.
Tsugumi is SOOO cute!!!
Somehow it reminded me of tomoya & ushio considering the VA of Kouhei is the same with Tomoya