「迷子のプランクトン」 (Maigo no Purankuton)
“Lost Plankton”

I’ve never been in a situation where things have gone from bad to worse. And I hope it stays that way.

The cracks began showing and Kukuru was unable to regulate her emotions, given the stresses of everything around her and it culminates in what looks like one huge burnout.

Was it wrong of her to skive off work to check up on the dolphin? Absolutely. It is extremely unprofessional to be handling such an important project, and do that kind of thing. That would absolutely be a misconduct in most workplaces – which could potentially lead to a sacking.

On the other hand, Kukuru was also being stressed and overworked to no end, to the point where the devastating rejection of her proposal led her to taking two days off unannounced. What she did was wrong – some communication isn’t hard and goes a long way. But her situation really could have been avoided if Suwa was a better manager. Who even showed any iota of empathy, in realising just how down she must have been given her whole set of personal circumstances on top of seeing all her hard work turn to dust.

A competent manager never allows the situation to reach this point. If I’m a manager, any proposal needs to be peer-reviewed by 1-2 other people minimum. Especially when this is the first ever proposal at a corporate level for said individual. Also, instead of blaming said employee if the proposal falls through – offer them reassurances and give my one or two cents on how to improve that proposal into a workable one, while retaining the core elements of the employee’s ideas. He knew better. And if he didn’t, Suwa should have known better.

If I’m a manager and my employee shows signs of struggles in their personal life – that’s the time I step up as a manager, tell them to take time and work overtime to take care of their workload, while allowing said employee to sort out their personal life. It’s not hard. For me, a real team is about every player pulling in the extra weight to cover an individual if they have genuine issues or worries going on. Especially with managers and bosses – who are inherently loaded with extra duties and responsibilities. Not once was I seeing Suwa work overtime the way Kukuru was, and for me that’s an indictment on his pride and dedication as a superior.

I think the extremely surprising thing… Kukuru’s grandfather pulled some strings to tear her away from attendant roles, and thrust her into a corporate office position. All for the sake of rounding her out education as an aspirational aquarium manager!

If I was a professionally successfully grandfather, would I actively contravene my grandchild’s wishes if I believed I knew better than them? That’s a really hard one to say. In an aquarium within modern society, at least how it works in the UK, I can’t imagine some random aquarium attendant working their way to the top through purely attendant duties.

If Kukuru’s dream is to one day run her own aquarium, then yes. This has been a ridiculously harsh lesson – a taste of reality – filled with bitterness and pain. But what doesn’t kill Kukuru will make her stronger, once she’s had the chance to fully pontificate on her situation.

「ブルー・タートルの夢」 (Buruu Taatoru no Yume)
“Dreams of Blue Turtles”

Seeing those penguins fight was very sad, but serves a reminder of what natural fundamentally is. These animals might have feelings of fondness or animosity towards each other. But human emotion and morality should not be readily applied to their context. In the animal kingdom, there are little to no unspoken rules governing conduct. Personal interest rises above all else, when it comes to survival.

Animals have been conditioned through hundreds of thousands of years of evolution to be the way they are – being taken into recent human captivity is not enough to erase that fundamental nature. It took an estimated twenty thousand years for humans to domesticate wolves into dogs, so the behaviour of these penguins comes as no surprise.

Kukuru takes a sabbatical from her work. Her experiences were certainly traumatic, and I definitely think this was the right choice. There’s only so much a human can take before they reach the breaking point.

The idea of taking a break is really underrated in modern society, where it feels expected to grind everything out in between parental leave or funerals. In some cases, it’s an unfortunate necessity. There’s bread to win and loved ones to feed.

However, in this case, Kukuru still has a safety net in her grandparents if the worst case scenario unfolded. And having given it some thought, she deserves some serious credit. If I had a boss like Suwa, and if most people had a boss like Suwa, I would quit and wouldn’t be surprised if others did the same. Her pure love for sealife keeps her hanging in there, even when her morale has been reduced to nothing. And that’s actually really admirable – if not sad, because it’s a reflection of industries like gaming and anime where people are hugely exploited for their passion, being worked to the bone on minimal wages.

Misaki-san pops up again. She gives Kukuru a chance to rediscover her bearings and gain fresh perspectives, thanks to the wisdom of time and life on Misaki-san’s side. And the message is loud and clear – don’t litter folks! Beyond that, she reassures Kukuru to give herself time and not worry about the consequences, advice which ends up serving her extremely well.

The small aquarium reminds Kukuru about the magic of aquariums. That they’re a place for learning and to create a life-long passion towards sealife within people, while taking the chance to raise awareness on contemporary environmental issues which might threaten sealife.

Seeing those sea turtles hatching reminds Kukuru about the beauty of life, and how survival is a matter of fighting every living moment. Whereas she doesn’t have to fight so furiously to ensure her existence. What’s more, Fuuka came all this way to make sure that she was okay!

The combined experience heals Kukuru’s soul – restoring her faith. If anyone has determination, it’s her. She has already made her fair share of comeback from dire situations – Gama Gama, the internal politics between Tingarla staff, etc. So I look forwards to seeing who she bounces back this time around.

「覚悟の帰還」 (Kakugo no Kikan)
“Ready to Return”

Aquatope’s endgame is distinctly materialising.

First off, the name drop. Holy shit, now the series name makes sense. I can see it referring to this pinnacle moment when Kukuru’s ideas become realised as an extremely successful wing of the aquarium which will take Tingarla to the next level, for decades to come. The actualisation of her hopes, dreams and legacies. I’m glad that Miura changed her mind – sometimes it takes seeing things with your own eyes to truly appreciate how wonderful they are. For example, a mere photo is unable to fully express the beauty and depth of Iceland’s beautiful landscape. The smell of fresh sea in the air as well as the feeling of cold wind on your skin. From her parting remarks, it’s quite clear Miura came to this realisation too as she developed something of a passion for sealife from visiting Tingarla. I’m glad to see it worked out this time around and that all of Kukuru’s hardwork and tears have amounted to something special.

Honestly, Kukuru’s proposal is a truly fantastic idea that is fairly unique in its conception – simulating a seafloor experience in a way that would be suited for humans. Now that’s the sort of wedding I could get behind for my own personal wedding, especially if my future wife was a huge fan of sealife.

I can already see where Fuuka is going. Her trip to the island has made her cognisant of the crisis coral reefs face, and has impassioned her to the point of studying reading materials during lunch breaks to better her knowledge of the topic. I can see the impetus and drive blazing in her eyes – there’s no doubt in my mind that will be the direction she’ll be walking towards sooner or later.

While Kukuru’s grandfather pulled some strings to make sure she gained experience in a corporate position, while it might be wasted for her to choose going back to attendant work, given the foresight her grandfather would surely have and her recent successes, the choice ultimately comes down to her. Life is simply too short to pass up on doing what you truly want to do. Although if Sakura Quest was anything to go by, I’m under the impression Kukuru will embrace her new calling and realise from a successful project that there’s so much more she can do for an Aquarium from corporate positions, than on the floor as an attendant.

As a side note, it seems poor Kai never really became relevant to the show. Always this unappreciated side character this whole time, it’s sad to see this is how his characterisation has been handled. So much more could have been done about him. Looks like he’s about to become even more irrelevant now that his Dad’s medical issues will be taking him out of the picture for the foreseeable future – very nice of Tingarla to ensure him that he will still have a job when he returns.

Anyway, that’s about everything I wanted to discuss. As always, thanks for reading this post and see you all next week!

7 Comments

  1. I would have have enjoyed the second cour much more if it had been a completely different story from the first cour. Instead, I’ve really struggled with it. The first cour established what kinds of dreams Kukuru and Fuuka had as school kids, and now they’ve both completely had to reinvent themselves in the adult world. It’s a terrible message to send – “The adult world is where your childhood dreams go to die, so suck it up and get used to it.”

    Kukuru is telling herself that she can accomplish more by getting with the corporate program than she could have by living out her original dream. I told myself that very same thing thirty or so years ago. It didn’t work. I can easily imagine a sequel series that’s set about twenty years in the future, where a late-30’s Kukuru has a midlife crisis after realizing the corporate system has stolen her youth.

  2. There are parts I love about the show, but there are parts that make it hard to like. I am glad Kukuru was able to find her way but the way she did it was wrong, especially because she got her role thanks to her family member rather than her own. I am not saying she deserved the way she was treated; however, if you no longer enjoy your work then maybe it’s time to leave to pursue your dreams so quit but don’t just disappear.
    It is sad to see how childhood dreams do not become reality and it is sad also how the corporate world seems to be. I have climb the corporate ladder and while i never thought it would be my career, I have learn to embrace it because it has allowed me to accomplish other dreams. I also know the corporate world is not for everyone and that is ok. I truly think that a person has to follow their heart instead of being unhappy all the time, but there are procedures to follow because when someone just disappear s they do not necessarily affect the company but rather the team and bottom line employees since now they have more work to do without any headsup

    Ize
  3. I’m trying my best to avoid episode 22 spoilers, so my thoughts are only limited to 20 and 21.

    First off, I’m reminded of this quote:

    You can’t sacrifice an entire division like that! Those soldiers love and defend our nation! How can you betray them?

    I was reminded of that scene from Avatar with regards to the wedding proposal, with how Suwa treated the whole thing as a learning experience: using inexperienced cannon-fodder to figure out how what the client wants and tailor to them. I mean, was he expecting Kukuru to hit a home run here (considering how she has no experience with marriage or weddings)? Certainly, Kukuru was distracted from her duties, and she should have let the others handle it as it wasn’t her job, but still… ..

    It sucks seeing her like that. Funny how the blue bird motif pops up again. Confined in a cage, and only Liz/Fuuka can set her free. (…maybe not that dramatic)

    Skipping out on 2 days work unannounced is totally unacceptable and unprofessional, though would she have been given the days off by Suwa given his attitude? The guy reminds me of Jack Barker and Laurie Bream from Silicon Valley, all business in order to make a profit with no empathy whatsoever, I seem to read about this a lot, with managers displaying little to no empathy for an employee’s circumstances, as empathy does not fit in the conjoined triangles of success/does not help the corporation make money. I mean, I hate to say it, but businesses and bosses like Suwa (given what we know of him so far) will push employees to the brink just to make a buck. We’re all conditioned to not bring in our personal lives to work, to keep quiet, don’t make waves, and just do your job regardless of the consequences. No wonder things have gotten this bad.

    Boy, by the looks of things, maybe I’m a bit burnt out as well.

    Anonymous
  4. I was under the impression the title was in reference to how Kukuru and Fuuka met, where the latter was having a breakdown while on the sandy beaches and their fated meeting led to their lives being better for it. I didn’t think they would bring it back.

    starss
  5. Encouraging people to leave because of a Suwa-like boss is to miss the point of the series, and the hatred for him is bordering on the irrational. Episode 22 clearly shows that even he knows when to be grateful for a job well done, and he expresses this to Kukuru after the successful proposal. As the situation with Kai demonstrates, Tingarla isn’t an impersonal corporation concerned about profits above all others. Their staff care about all details, from the customer experience and conservation efforts to employee well-being. This was already shown with Chiyu, whose status as a single mother has not impeded her ability to work. Tingarla appears to have given her accommodations so she can look after her son and do her best, too. At any rate, people are being unnecessarily harsh on things, and really need to ask themselves, “why?”. As others have noted, there’s more at work in Shiroi Suna no Aquatope than just “overwork” or “corporations are soul suckers”.

    ViolinStar
  6. > I’ve never been in a situation where things have
    > gone from bad to worse. And I hope it stays that
    > way.

    They do say “Misery likes company” but your right watching Kukuru struggle to one day become a better adult later on is worth it. So bring on the horribleness and drama, make Kukuru a greater person in the near future.

    > Was it wrong of her to skive off work to check up
    > on the dolphin? Absolutely. It is extremely
    > unprofessional to be handling such an important
    > project, and do that kind of thing. That would
    > absolutely be a misconduct in most workplaces –
    > which could potentially lead to a sacking.

    On the other hand, Kukuru was also being stressed and overworked to no end, to the point where the devastating rejection of her proposal led her to taking two days off unannounced. What she did was wrong – some communication isn’t hard and goes a long way. But her situation really could have been avoided if Suwa was a better manager. Who even showed any iota of empathy, in realising just how down she must have been given her whole set of personal circumstances on top of seeing all her hard work turn to dust.

    For all my boasting about Kukuru’s professionalism, it’s hard to accept how poorly she responded to her new position. Given how Kukuru was an assistant director it was almost as if the experience and memory of her responsibility never existed. It is clear she is having a tough time connecting her working experience with her new role even though Kukuru has transferable skills.

    Part of being in the working class as a citizen in Japan, business is the ideal work ethic regardless of how one suffers. But Suwa as a supervisor has to meet deadlines and goals, while being the coach in his department. The Anime is doing a poor job of showing how Suwa is helping Kukuru grow or even recognizing strengths and weaknesses in Suwa’s team.

    That said, I think this is a great learning experience for both Kukuru and Suwa as a Supervisor.

    Renasayers

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