Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia – 08

「集まり星」 (Atsumari Hoshi)
“The Congregation Star”

Noto is certainly getting some love this season. Even more so than with Skip and Loafer from Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia, since this show stays there pretty much all the time. It’s a part of Japan I’ve never visited, though I’d certainly love to go and check out some of the RL locations in this series. Lidenfilms is doing it justice, too. This is a studio that’s really leveled up their game in the last couple of years, both in terms of material and what they do with it. The anime doesn’t do a whole lot to enhance the manga experience with Insomnia, but as a faithful adaptation this one is doing a very fine job.

Of course there’s a downside to that, and we’re getting to the point of the series where I start to bemoan that it’s going to end while barely having given a taste of the story. For me probably the four best shows of the season are one-cour adaptations of ongoing manga (three of them romances), and while it’s possible one or more could get sequels, Insomnia isn’t the most likely to see one I don’t think. The material after the anime will end is damn good, too – there’s some really elite romance (and otherwise) development. If we’re going to get a read the manga ending, at least it’s a manga everyone should damn well read.

At this point in the story I think it would be fair to say we know more about Isaki than Ganta. And that’s despite his being the protagonist. We know why she can’t sleep – we know why her childhood was so hard. With Ganta it’s only been bits and pieces. No sign of a mother, a father who may have a drinking problem, an uneaten plate of food on the table. Ganta has at least been getting some sleep thanks to Isaki’s radio broadcasts (she’s insulted but she should be proud), but finds little respite in dreams. Clearly something bad happened with bis mother – and who was the third person in that dream?

Everyone else seems to be having a much better time of it. There’s a lot of idyllic summer time-wasting – comparing useless talents, sneaking into the student council room for an air conditioned lunch, flirting with senpai. Tai even gives the others a little look at the Ganta he knew as a kid – “the same, but different”. Isaki is right, it is hard to imagine an energetic Ganta, but he does still show flashes. Kanikawa has no discretion at all and finds the story about Ganta’s shoes being too small hilarious, but Nao’s reaction (and anecdotal evidence) suggests there was a darker reason behind that.

I would imagine most of us have had the experience of being a kid totally worked up over an event, only to have it be cancelled. That feeling of disappointment is quite unlike any other, I think. But when rain comes and wipes out the meteor viewing party it’s even worse for Ganta, because he blames himself for what happened. One thing about star gazing, ultimately it’s out of our control – if it rains, it rains. So clearly there’s something bigger going on with Ganta when he flees the school and runs off into the rain without an umbrella.

Shiromaru heads off to look for him while Kurashiki-sensei (what a MVT she is) takes the others to a hamburg restaurant for an afterparty. All but Isaki, who naturally comes along too. And finds him, wandering by the river and headed away from school. Inside the bus shelter Ganta finally breaks down, bemoaning that every time he really dedicates himself to something it ends in disaster. Again, there’s a lot more here than we yet know, but for Isaki that’s more than enough. She busts out her radio show to send Ganta a message, and it comes through loud and clear – “you’re someone special to me”. And that’s how Yui finds them – leaving us to wonder what she’d have found if she arrived five minutes later.

Pretty much no one can top Kyoutarou and Anna for me as a couple – every aspect of their relationship touches me to the soul. But I tell you what, these two shrimps are pretty damn special. It’s a relationship that has elements both universal and very unique. It’s been that way pretty much since the first chapter of the manga, which hits the ground running and never slows down. At least we’re getting 13 episodes, if nothing else. It’s still not enough, but it will give us that little taste of why they – and Insomniacs After School – are such a treasure.