Amaama to Inazuma / First Impressions

「豚汁とみせあかり」 (Tonjiru to Miseakari)
“Pork Soup and Restaurant Lights”

Riding off of last week’s momentum, this week’s episode of Amaama kept on pushing forward at full speed.

A Father’s Love

After reading through the comments from last week’s episode, I started to understand where a lot of the Kotori love comes from. And this week’s episode definitely did a better job at highlighting her as a character (something which I’ll dive into in a little). But before then, can we talk about Kouhei and just how amazing he is as a single father? I know I raved last week about just how much he loves Tsumugi and what he would do for her, but I can’t help but reiterate it one more time. Specifically, I loved how much he struggled trying to deal with Kotori’s offer of cooking together. While he obviously wanted to do it, I can appreciate his respect for the teacher-student boundary. Besides protecting himself in a legal sense, it’s nice to know he won’t rush into things haphazardly even if it’s for Tsumugi. Because I’m willing to bet a lot of people were concerned about something scandalous happening with the way the first episode went!

Anyways, if the show keeps hitting us with moments like Kouhei completely going into dad-mode when he sees Tsumugi in a cute apron, I think I might have to get some insulin because it’s just too damn sweet!

Kotori’s Struggles

While last week’s episode hinted at it, I’m glad we finally got some insight into Kotori’s home life. Growing up without a father (or at least without a father at home) at a young age, things must have been tough around the house. Add in the fact that her mom was probably busy running the restaurant when she was little and is now busy being a food expert on television (which probably is sucking even more time out of her than the restaurant did), and it’s tough not to feel bad for her.

But as we saw, it looks like Kouhei and Tsumugi managed to show up just in time to provide an outlet for her and all her pent up feelings. From getting to let out some of her fears to having some genuinely happy moments cooking all together, I can’t wait to see how Kotori grows as a character as the series rolls along. That and it’d be nice to see her mother.

Looking Ahead

Staying strong through its second episode, I see great things in Amaama’s future. While things are still pretty open in terms of specifics, I know that I’ll enjoy tuning in to watch our trio cook some good food while filling in the holes that realities of life have left them with.

Catch you guys next week!

P.S. I really hope I’m not the only one who felt like Kouhei when he was at the grocery story. Seeing how I’m slowly integrating into real life, moments like these all feel too real and actually hurt a little when I see them. Why is adult-ing so difficult ;_;

19 Comments

    1. Agree totally. I would hope that that is where they are going to go as well as Kouhei being a father figure/mentor for Kotori. That combination would be so cool.

      chmakoto
      Reply

  6. I completely forgot when this show’s episode would come out until I saw this on the main page. I am enjoying this a lot. I hope someone chooses to cover it for the rest of the season.

    goukaryuu
    Reply

  8. There is just something about Kotori that makes me want to hug her or do something to make her happy. Kouhei has Tsugumi and vice versa no matter what their struggles are after losing their wife and mother. Kotori may love her mother but she is in desperate need of human companionship and the animators and seiyuu have done a great job of conveying how she feels. It’s understated but all her emotions show through in her face. Her smiles just make the room light up and when she thought that Kouhei was going to say they wouldn’t come again the look on her face just broke my heart.

    Bear
    Reply

    1. Kotori is feeling lonely and need someone around her?, why not make friends? Why must it be the Sensei? and why must it be the Restaurant? No. It would be to easy just for Kotori feeling lonely. there are more to it then we can see right now (at last me)

      Worldwidedepp
      Reply

      1. or this is very simple, a good wife needs to cook, and perhaps with the help of the sensei as the motivation, she want to learn it, to marry in the future “out” of this misery

        Worldwidedepp
        Reply

      2. What?! Why not make friends? The girl is shy and just hasn’t. That’s part of the story and the motivation for what happens. Why? Maybe there’s a reason but she hasn’t so that’s the story the author wants to tell. It’s not that we haven’t seen this multiple times: Sawako from Kimi ni Todoke, Hachiman from OreGairu for two examples. Why Sensei? She knows him from school even if he didn’t remember her and he shows up at an opportune time and place. The rest is a spur of the moment decision on her part since she see’s that they both need something: she companionship so she doesn’t eat alone and he someone to help him learn how to cook for his daughter. And it turns out someone to do the cutting for her. 🙂

        Bear
        Reply

      3. The restaurant is her emotional crutch. You can see her drawings under the table. Having hem visit her will confidence up sooner or later. It’s great growth for her. She’s not our ideal strong character where she trudges on at impossible odds – but with what little she could muster, she presses on with the help of her good memories of the restaurant.

        launcelot
        Reply

  10. I am hoping that Kohei-Kotori do not have a romantic relationship, because there are many ways their friendship could evolve, and it does not always have to mean romance. Friendship, mentor-mentee, brother-sister, etc. etc. anything would be more interesting to me than a romantic relationship. I know others may disagree, but I would love to see something different.

    Other than that, this anime is sweet and wonderful and I look forward to more episodes.

    dcho
    Reply

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