Barakamon / First Impressions

「うんにおえぎいっ / 海に泳ぎに行く）」 (Un ni Oegii / Umi ni Oyogi ni Iku)
“Going Swimming At The Beach”

Each and every new episode of Barakamon is like a nice little treat that doesn’t last nearly long enough. Continuously building off of the momentum the show created with its amazing first episode, there hasn’t been a bad week yet. While this week’s episode may have been a little lighter compared to what we’ve seen, it did a fantastic job of reminding us about what’s really important in life.

Winning Is a Two-Way Street

Slightly breaking up the typical pattern of a handful of slice-of-life followed by some sort of profound moment where we realize we’ve been overlooking something in life, this week’s episode focused on a single message about remembering all the little but important things that make each day special.

Starting with the obvious “winning isn’t necessarily everything” idea, I appreciate how the show gives us enough credit to comprehend the message it’s trying to tell. Instead of shoving the idea down our throats, I like how it touched on the mindset you should have. But what I thought was awesome, was how the latter half of the episode used a simple beach trip to remind us of how important it is to think about those around you. Somehow tying it all together with the previous notion about being the only winner, something about Handa’s sudden realization that caring for others can bring out something deep within you almost got me to tear up a bit.

Because at the end of the day, it all comes down to the simple idea that people help other people out. While we typically do it under the pretense that what we’re doing will benefit us in someway, sometimes when we really care about someone we’ll end up doing things entirely for their sake. Which eventually starts a cycle that keeps going around and around until a group of strangers becomes close enough to call each other family.

Looking Happily Ahead

After what feels like the perfect amount of episodes to really establish the bonds between Handa, Naru, and the rest of the gang I’m glad to see that the story seems primed and ready to toss Handa a nice curveball. While I’d love to know why Handa’s buddies flew all the way across Japan to visit him, I have this strange feeling some nasty stuff is about to go down between that younger looking guy and him. Hopefully all of his training in this little island community gets some good use!

No matter what does happen though, I’m sure it’ll be fun to watch. Because Barakamon is just that good. Also, that black sea slug.

30 Comments

  2. Winning vs. having fun in whatever activity you’re doing. That dilemma is never easy to resolve. And personally Handa’s fear was justified. I got worried that Naru jumped that high and head first into the water. The kid has guts.

    Zhinvu
    Reply

  10. Another great, heart-warming episode.

    One of the minor things I really enjoy about this series is how
    the backgrounds are almost painting-like. Very soothing on the eyes
    and fits well with the mode of the series. Especially, the sunflowers
    early on in the episode. Very nice.

    Definitely a dreamers’ series. Wonder what’ll happen nect :).

    mac65
    Reply

  11. I think the fact that most of the characters here have an accent gives the series a certain degree of charm. I especially like the fact that the little kids here don’t have the typical super squeaky voice. Also I think we just heard Hina’s first lengthy lines over the series and to me her speech pattern has the same charm that Naru’s does.
    About the new guys I share your worries. The moment I saw the younger dude’s face I just felt that “something heavy/bad is about to go down.”

    gawrshness
    Reply

    1. I think this is the show where the kids are actually voiced by real kids (I read that somewhere… on AnimeSuki maybe?) instead of adults trying to voice kids, hence the non-squeakiness. Maybe.

      Decel
      Reply

      1. Indeed. Most, if not all the kids are actually voiced by kids, which is a bit of deviation from the norm. IIRC, the last time that happened was with Usagi Drop, where Rin was also voiced by a real little girl.

        Firelord
        Reply

  14. The sea cucumber scene was extremely unnecessary and out of place, in my opinion.

    This show is way better without this kind of sexual innuendo.

    My favorite episode so far was ruined :/

    danpmss
    Reply

    2. Slice-of-life and/or comedic manga and anime generally apply the mosaic treatment to anything that’s supposedly disgusting (by Japanese standards in any case), from hell-bound cooking to cockroaches to private parts. It’s a humor thing, like a label for a GEH-what-in-the-world-is-this-@#$^!% something, and in this case has nothing to do with sexual innuendo.

      You’re just thinking too much into it =3

      Random Comment
      Reply

  16. This show reminds me of that thing Miyazaki said about the industry being full of Otaku who don’t watch “actual people”. This is a prime example of a work that defies that, you can tell the author of this manga and the people who worked on the anime genuinely care about what they are working on. A lot of care has been taken into creating these characters and it shows. It achieves an impressive level of comedy while being surprisingly down to earth; creating characters you can’t wait to see again next week.

    As far as slice of life goes I didn’t think this year could do much better than Gin no Saji S2 (talking about non-mo~e slice of life), but I’ve laughed and teared up more watching this show than I have watching an anime in a good long while. Incredibly impressed with this show.

    bloodshotdaze
    Reply

  17. Isn’t it immense fun to write about this show every week? So much to share. I thought the sea cucumber gag was priceless; so tongue in cheek about Japanese censor standards, it reminded me of Taiga’s sink in Toradora.

    skylion
    Reply

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