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「超怖い話ガムと台風と…／けん玉とプチプチ占いチョコと…」 (Chou Kowai Hanashi Gamu to Taifuu to…/ Kendama to Puchipuchi Uranai Choko to…)
“Super Scary Story Gum and Typhoons and… / Kendama and Pop Pop Fortune Chocolates and…”
Scary stories, popularity schemes, and fortune-telling. Whatever the case, Saya (& Hotaru) rock.
The Limits of Logic, For Some
I’m endlessly fascinated by human beings, and that includes how different people handle stress and/or fear. The juxtaposition of Coconutsu and Saya’s reactions to the scary stories shows two real ways that humans manage fear.
For Coconutsu, he manages it through reason and logic … is what I’d like to say, but that’s an oversimplification. He actually just sees the plotholes in the Super Scary Story Gum stories, and that bugs him to such a degree that the fear doesn’t effect him. Which, let me tell you, makes him one of the most obnoxious types of people to tell stories to. People who get hung up on the details can be aggravating, because you need to make your world almost entirely consistent with its own internal logic to get them on board, and that’s hard, y’all. In contrast, others will give the story a little slack, at least originally; that’s the oft spoken of “suspension of disbelief.” I say this because I used to be a reader like Coconutsu, so I recognize the traces. It’s useful when it comes to horror though, as long as your goal is to not get scared, as opposed to enjoying a horror story.
(Side note: It reminded me of a quote I read about the super odd way Elon Musk thinks. Here’s him talking about being afraid of the dark:
Elon: “When I was a little kid, I was really scared of the dark. But then I came to understand, dark just means the absence of photons in the visible wavelength—400 to 700 nanometers. Then I thought, well it’s really silly to be afraid of a lack of photons. Then I wasn’t afraid of the dark anymore after that.”
Dude’s a weird guy.)
The other side of the coin is Saya, and HNG! Saya is, as ever, best girl. But my Saya advocacy aside (best girl!), I appreciated how she pointed out that logic had nothing to do with it; even if she knows that the employees made all the stories up, it doesn’t matter because she’s still scared! It’s her imagination that’s going wild, and that’s not something she can reel in. Readers like Saya are great. They’ll go along for the ride with you. Also, Saya is great in all the other ways #teamsaya
Also, Saya has gotten farther with Hotaru than anyone else. She’s bi-winning.
Becoming Popular the Dumb Way(s)
While Saya reaction faces ruled the first half, Tou-kun reaction faces took the second. The whole kendama part needs no elaboration, save to say that I’m happy for Saya that the boy she likes told her she was cool. No one’s surprised that she’s good at a game now, but couple it with some shipping fuel, and I’m happy.
The other half did begin to make me realize how much less Hotaru we’re getting than we were initially. She still feels flat (well, mostly) compared to the other characters, especially since the focus has shifted so sharply to Saya and Hotaru hasn’t been launching schemes to try to get Coconutsu to succeed the shop.
Not that Tou-kun isn’t filling in brilliantly. Him playing the role of the candy-explainer-of-this-half-episode worked well, and it gave us a more bros-y feel. Whereas Hotaru was in full on manic pixie dream girl mode with her leaping panchira. Seriously, Dagashi Kashi? They get to see and we don’t? What is this shit! (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Scary stories, popularity schemes, and fortune telling. Once again, it’s the Endou twins who shine #dagashikashi 08
Random thoughts:
- Of course Hotaru calms herself down by thinking about candy. She is the uber nerd—every dagashi otaku boy’s dream.
- Finally, an anime sister who, when she says she’s not there to see her aniki, we can believe her.
- I’m surprised the pantsu shot didn’t come from Saya, just so Tou-kun technically saw a panchira, but didn’t get to enjoy it ’cause it was his imouto.
- Hotaru and Saya sleeping in the same bed!? *nosebleed*
- Author’s note: I’ll be out of town next weekend, so Enzo and Samu will be comboing to cover episode nine. Thank you, Enzonon and Samucchi!
My first novel, Wage Slave Rebellion, is available now. (More info—now in paperback!) Sign up for my email list for a FREE sequel novella. Over at stephenwgee.com, the last four posts: Deadpool: Tonal Balance Through Non-Linear Storytelling, Through their own flaws, Look to the one before, and The problem with character development episodes.
Preview
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I used to be afraid of scary stories and prefer to watch horror movies until I watched Dead Silence, ….. Ahhh childhood memories
“I’m endlessly fascinated by human beings”
Stilts is Izaya, confirmed!
Saya was so cute in this episode, constantly hugging Hotaru. I ship them so hard.
I should probably watch Durararara so I know what that means. Also because I’ve been meaning to for ages, but now for this too.
Damn, scared Saya was just too good. Can’t decide which was more adorable, loli Saya trying to get Coconutsu to make a move on her or scared Saya clinging onto Hotaru for dear life! Also, Saya asking Hotaru to sleep with her tonight. My god! Doujin artists, don’t let me down!
Saya-ccccchii! *nosebleeds.
You are so… mou, can I take you home?
To and Coconuts, them lucky boys for seeing my waifu’s undergarment.
Why are you trying to take home a girl who isn’t your wife? You should be ashamed of yourself! :p
They’re just too cute that I cannot choose between kawaii and bishoujo, so I will take them both. Can’t I? (cue some puppy face begging for me to take home the two.) LOL.
I’m not sure I needed to see Tou-kun in a schoolgirl outfit. Need…brain bleach…though Hotaru looked kind of badass in that outfit (and I liked the variation-of-the-day of her normal dress too).
The calendar story was genuinely kinda scary though. Not so much for the other ones though. X-ray grandpa’s? Give me a break!
And man, that preview. I’m totally on board with that ship! Best yuri ship of the season!
OK, while on one hand I wouldn’t mind rooting for Saya to capture Kokonotsu’s heart (and I hope he doesn’t become as dense as a main male lead from a certain harem anime that had a disappointing second season *cough*InfiniteStratos*cough*), on the flipside, I don’t mind sailing on the Saya x Hotaru ship… And speaking of ships…
As a side effect of Manami Numakura (Saya) and Ayana Taketatsu’s (Hotaru) respective seiyuu connections, I’m now also imagining Arpeggio of Blue Steel‘s Takao and KanColle‘s Yamato in the exact same situation… (Never mind that KanColle‘s Yahagi would be extremely jealous if that were to happen…)
Scared chibi-Saya is just…HNNNNGGGG!
Also, “I’ve seen enough hentai to know where this is going…”
Off-topic P.S.:
Show Spoiler ▼
Ya know, you can comment on my other site if ya wanna talk about Deadpool. I put comments on there for a reason. It might encourage others to comment there too, which I’d like.
You know, I realize the setting could have taken Coconouts out of the equation easily. Make Hotaru the daughter of the candy shop’s owner and everything fits!
Including the yuri ship.According to some people who have read the aource material, the anime has cut all the parts from the original where Hotaru’s character is explored in more depth and her development is shown. This has, apparently, been done in favor of giving us more Saya material, since originally Saya was a side character, who appeared relatively rarely. YMMV on whether receiving more Saya is worth having left Hotaru one-dimensional.
“source” material. I no hao too speel, raely. 😉
Maybe they haven’t cut it and they’ll released them together in the last chapters trying to build an ending of the original plot of Kokonotsu taking over the candy store. I doubt we’re getting a second season since there’s only 4 manga volumes.
Still waiting for one with Kokonotsu doing his manga. And more Tamai.
YEah, some are theorizing the director is a Saya fan and that’s why Hotaru got the figurative shaft.
Just a little more… :C
It sadly just felt like went kind of meh after the horror segment. The interesting part of the kendama was just Saya having fun and being great at it, which was really the end of it and the fortune telling one didn’t have much at all.
I will admit though that I don’t really like To, so there’s going to be some bias there. But I think it’s also that this is showing the limits of basing each short story around dagashi.