Posted by OP2 Sequence
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OP2: 「Lupinus」 by (K)NoW_NAME
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「国王の断罪」 (Kokuou no Danzai)
“The Queen, Convicted”
We can brush the sweat off of our foreheads. One, because it’s hot as crap outside, and two, because Yoshino was on a bus to her hometown for summer vacation. She hasn’t given up yet, but this vacation offers quite the dilemma for most of our cast. As Yoshino reflects at her fishing village hometown on why she was invested in the work she did in Manoyama, Sanae and Maki are reflecting on the work they’ve been doing, and what it all means in comparison to what their old friends in Tokyo are up to. Naturally, Ririko and Shiori are still hard at work in Manoyama to figure out how to create B&B’s from vacant homes, but have to deal with a random Spanish cult that is said to have trespassed in the property they’re looking to buy.
I enjoyed how this episode explored Yoshino’s family and hometown as they flesh out her own personal story. It feels like a necessary step to see how she feels as she bounces her own experiences off of her old friends who have since moved on to high-profile government jobs or became parents. Speaking of parents, getting into her parents’ history with their hometown was very constructive in teaching Yoshino about how she can have a personal attachment to a town away from home with the memories, fondness, and sentimentality that manifest within that town. While Yoshino’s sister was there to show how long Yoshino’s been away from her family now that she has a boyfriend, she was a nice addition to the show with a funny, carefree personality that contrasts with the worries and stress that come with Yoshino now that she’s graduated.
It’s great how many of her interactions in her hometown play into her development as well with an old friend encouraging her to look into ways to strengthen Manoyama’s tourism by trying to increase the town’s population. This also blends in well with Shiori and Ririko’s plans to establish more B&B’s to gather more incentive to stay overnight at Manoyama, but the cliff-hanger with the Spanish cult members approaching them felt too goofy. It reminded me of the moment in Hanasaku Iroha where the creepy writer ended up kidnapping Ohana to create tension.
What intrigued me the most about this episode, though, was how Sanae and Maki’s trip to Tokyo will affect their futures, and the contrast between their experiences. Sanae showed us how far she came when she rejected her friend’s offer to help head a lucrative start-up in favor of the work she’s doing now. Her resolve to see Manoyama’s growth through to the end starts off the second half of the show with a more confident, less boggled Sanae who feels more at-home doing stress-free work at Manoyama. On the flip-side, I’m extremely curious about what Maki will do next since she’s still as confused as she was before. Moe, who is surprisingly an amazing bro for a breakthrough actress in the competitive entertainment industry, offered her a lucrative audition for an award-winning director’s film. Maki might still be up-in-the-air about whether she wants to continue acting or stick with working in Manoyama, but I’m on the edge of my seat over her decision since I’m also indecisive on how I feel about this. If she takes on acting again, she’d have a chance to get her spirits back up about the passion she used to have for acting. If she did take on acting again, however, what would that mean for all the work she did in Manoyama? Would it have been for nothing, or did she learn something along the way? Whatever the result is, it’s great to see Sakura Quest start out its second half so strong.
ED2 Sequence
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ED2: 「Baby’s Breath」 by (K)NoW_NAME
Preview
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Required butt shot in the second OP.
It was good to see the Yoshino’s family for a while. And this is the second anime this season I have been watching that had a summer festival! It is the season for it.
The new OP and ED are very nice, but every shot is much appreciated.
Good to see the timing on point with the shows this season. Too often do we get Christmas episodes in the middle of the year XD
Slowly it get my attention…
Whoa! Pretty sure that was the first proper Spanish I’ve heard in anime (or Castillian if you wanna be pedantic) spoken by actual Spaniards. It has piqued my curiosity for sure. And since CR didn’t translate, anyone know what the shirts they were wearing say?
They did translate at 4:40. “Safe birth”.
Ah, thank you! Not sure how I missed that.
and hmm, weird thing on a shirt…
They probably got the shirt not even knowing what it said, they probably don’t know a lick of Japanese.
“Manoyama is invaded by Mexico”
Best. Plot twist. Ever.
Something tells me they caught wind of the area’s fascination with the chupacabra. Otherwise, I’d have no idea how a small, vacant town in Japan unknown to people within surrounding prefectures became prolific enough for a cult in a distant Hispanic country to find out about it.
Dunno. Lucky Star had twin sisters who were shrine maidens and it resulted in a pack of fans making annual pilgrimages to the real-life shrine that their home is based on. And now, that kind of expression has become global now that anime has become more global.
Correction: those were Spaniards. 🙂
>>the cliff-hanger with the Spanish cult members approaching them felt too goofy. It reminded me of the moment in Hanasaku Iroha where the creepy writer ended up kidnapping Ohana to create tension.
I thought both of those were comical from the start. There’s no way I could see the friendly T-shirt people as sinister, or take Ririko and Shiori’s comic panic reaction seriously. IIRC the bondage thing from Hanasaku Iroha was immediately resolved with a comic scene where Ohana was cheerfully helping the writer to get the knots right.
https://randomc.net/image/Sakura%20Quest/Sakura%20Quest%20-%2014%20-%20Large%2034.jpg
Nobody expects the Spanish
Inquisitiontourists!Jokes aside, their Spanish is surprisingly good.
Yeah, it’s awesome how they’ve been able to find VAs that speak fluent English and Spanish for the show.
Speaking of which, apparently Sandal’s VA in the original audio is Indian-American. o.O
“Achieving normal happiness is the hardest thing to do.”
This was such a good episode for me. Sometimes you got to get out of the box to see it from a different perspective and appreciate the good things.
That’s one thing I wish I talked more about. I like how that’s one of the messages that Yoshino gets during her vacation, as it is a very relatable feeling to want to find the happiness that comes with stability and normalcy. Where things like raising an average family or having a comfortable job/place to live are something to aspire to because they offers peace of mind. It’d also help her understand why the villagers of Manoyama find the town to be as cozy as it is.
Whenever they say something about repopulating the town, I automatically think of Sanae. She managed to work from home there, meaning that most of the basic facilities are already available. They already have a local cafe which is a good place to socialize. The only thing we haven’t seen are the hospital and entertainment centres. Looking back at what they’ve done so far, it doesn’t seem to have any relation to why Sanae actually chose that place in the first place.
They still haven’t gotten it as comfortable as Yoshino’s home town, but I think that bit at the station was a good start. Sanae, Sandal-san and Yoshino’s mum are a few they should try to get insight from. They also need to filter out a few stuff. A lot of it seem to originate from their boss though.