Centaur no Nayami / First Impressions

「真剣勝負ってメンタルの強さが一番の勝因なのかもしれない. / 信じるものの不確定さって… なんて不条理に呟いたりして.」 (Shinkenshoubutte Mental no Tsuyosa ga Ichiban no Shouin na no Kamoshirenai. / Shinjiru Mono no Fukakutei Satte… Nante Fujouri ni Tsubuyaitarishite.)
“Mental Strength Might Be the Biggest Reason One Wins a Serious Competition. / The Uncertainty of What One Believes In… Or So I Absurdly Mumble.”

The first half of the episode introduced us to Ayaka, Himeno’s fellow centaur/rival in yabisusame. Ayaka’s segment was enjoyable because of how cute the rivalry dynamic is between Ayaka and Himeno, where she secretly looks up to Himeno as her senpai despite being harsh and critical towards her. I would’ve liked to see more of the date that her and Himeno were going to go on since she did get blushy and flustered by Himeno’s proposal, but I would just look forward to any future episodes with Ayaka showing up.

This segment also explains how social gatherings and clubs are pivotal in centaur courtship, specifically with how many centaur couples meet through yabisusame. Himeno’s approach is compelling because she wanted to join only because she enjoys archery, but it is historically a way for centaur to find each other and find out their compatibility based on their skill level. It reflects on Himeno as a character since she often finds herself gravitating towards attention-seeking mediums for centaur like modeling and yabisusame, but for different reasons than what is normally expected of centaur involved in those fields.

By the halfway point, the tone shifts right away with topless mermaids everywhere. It appears that they only show up in tops around other species, but I find it interesting that mermen still resort to looking at erotic magazines and gawking at women in swim suits because the clothes arouses them. Where merman culture has spent so much time around topless women that mermen have to find a way to eroticize women covering their breasts up instead to get their imaginations jogging. They are showing it on TV, so most of that particular scene looked like it was directed by J.J. Abrams, but whether the Bluray reveals everything or cleverly censors them without the lens flare gore is up in the air.

Our exposure to mermaid culture goes beyond just their breast preferences though as mermaid singer Eri has to perform for her school festival’s ceremony to appease their god, Tagon. It shines a light on the faith practices of merperople, but also throws in a twist at the end with Antarctican snake people transplanting a fake fish person in place of Tagon who may or may not work for a government. I’m not sure where the show is headed with that, but I’d imagine those up to date with the manga have a clearer understanding of why the snake people brought in a fake fish person into a mermaid ceremony.

One funny moment was when Manami had an internal conflict between her disbelief in gods and her stint as a maiden when her friends asked about the existence of the universe’s gods. She wants to be honest, but then her mischievous side kicks in when she realizes that it’d be more beneficial to her image as a part-time maiden if she lead everyone to believe that she is on a deeper spiritual level with deities. It helps flesh her out by giving her a more humorous side to work with than solely being intelligent and practical. The episode did a good job at balancing out the show’s themes with the two segments, but it did leave me with some unresolved questions I’d hope are answered regarding the role that other species and goverments play in how each of the races practice organized religion.

30 Comments

  1. That was not her mischievous side it was her money grubbing housewife side. She does not believe in the supernatural but has to take advantage of other people’s belief in it for money for her family. That is why she answered the god question with a sales pitch for her shrine’s blessings.

    Of course the funny thing so far is that the irrational belief in the supernatural and the snake-people Illuminati both seem to be true.

    Magewolf
    Reply

    1. I was saying mischievous more in a sense of “oh yeah, I gotta make sure that these girls think I’m a devout maiden so my cover’s not blown”, but clever or self-preserving would probably be a better word to use.

      Choya
      Reply

    2. I would say traditional side (abacus and all), however the final scene proved that side correct. However I don’t think this “God” is as powerful as Maname makes her out to be seeing Sue is whipping her at Go.

      sailor80
      Reply

  2. I thought at first this was a bit of an odd pairing of chapters as, and I had to check back on this, the yabusame tournament seemed to be set in autumn in the manga. But Google to the rescue, and apparently yabusame is just as much a Shinto ritual as a competition – each time a target is shattered it brings good fortune. So this episode actually pairs two rituals, one for the land and one for the sea, and shifting the first section to spring (as yabusame is generally performed in spring and autumn) joins them even better.

    Eri was really cute with those small curled horns adding a touch of capricorn to her generally mermaid-like appearance, but that crossing also presumably reduced her breast size as the full-blood mermaids seemed to have a large bust. Or at least as far as could be told behind all the blinding light rays. So it’s BUY THE BLU-RAYS time, I guess.

    Angelus
    Reply

    1. It appears to jump in time to be able to contrast the social traditions of centaur and mermaids, or rather emphasize what makes customs on land and sea differ from one another.

      Eri was very cute. The other mermaids might have more to them based on what can be seen from the side profile/cleavage they were allowed to show. The glare is one of the more obvious examples of the show telling people to get the Bluray copy

      Choya
      Reply

      1. It appears to jump in time

        No it doesn’t jump. In the manga, Suu is wearing a knitted “something” around her neck to emphasis how cold it is in the yabusame chapter, but in the anime, the same birds are singing in both sections to show it really is the same time of year.

        Angelus
        Reply

  3. https://randomc.net/image/Centaur%20no%20Nayami/Centaur%20no%20Nayami%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2018.jpg

    “While I can understand the existence of Mr Steam(cloud) in (censoring anime boobs),…his relative is absolutely unacceptable…the one who appears without any artistic quality.

    He cuts in places he absolutely shouldn’t be in… yes, I mean him.
     
    Mysterious lightbeam——you’re so damn far-fetched it’s impossible for me to ever forgive you!”

    – Yanagimi Touki, author of the Antimagic Academy LNs

    zztop
    Reply

    1. Thank you, Yanagimi-sensei. The steam cloud is understandable cause it’s often in the hot springs where there would be a lot of steam around, but this bright glare over everything is like if the sun noticed someone’s unmentionables are out in plain view, and thought they needed to take matters into their own hands to make sure it was too bright to see this particular angle. Or it’s being shot on a camera that only blocks out sunlight for the moments it doesn’t capture nudity.

      Choya
      Reply

      2. @Tepenga: We are not entirely sure what causes Sue’s illness, but we don’t think so. The most likely explanation for it is a genetic defect, since the fact that she manifests traits of both of her parents (having both Catgirl and Angel traits) is itself an indicator of some of her genes not working properly.

        Wanderer
        Reply

    2. It was a very short bit of the episode, but it seems to be the same spirit that played House with Sue. At this point, they only hint at she has a clairvoyant gift despite her illness, but I can only speculate since I didn’t get as far with the manga.

      Choya
      Reply

    1. …Technically yes, it is the same individual, but that’s not what she is (by which I mean she is not a Zashiki Warashi). The father guessed wrong in applying that label to her.

      Wanderer
      Reply

  6. I’m not sure where the show is headed with that, but I’d imagine those up to date with the manga have a clearer understanding of why the snake people brought in a fake fish person into a mermaid ceremony.

    I’ll throw a spoiler tag on this anyway, since I have read the manga, but I’m fairly confident that most viewers have already come to the conclusions I’ve written in here on their own just from watching the episodes up until now. Show Spoiler ▼

    Wanderer
    Reply

  8. https://randomc.net/image/Centaur%20no%20Nayami/Centaur%20no%20Nayami%20-%2008%20-%2033.jpg
    I think it pretty obvious that the snake-people (“Antarcticians”) did the false-god robot/bio-creature as an experiment about gods: would the mer-people obey the “god” that appeared before them? What could the mer-people be ordered to do? It was an atheistic experiment.

    https://randomc.net/image/Centaur%20no%20Nayami/Centaur%20no%20Nayami%20-%2008%20-%2036.jpg
    Meanwhile, Manami’s youngest sister has a game of “Go” with a spirit from the temple…

    jhpace1
    Reply

    1. Did Suu not mentioned that in their past they where worshiped like Gods? Perhaps they want to find a way to revive these times. But seems like they reject Gods in blood and flesh and just accept them as spiritual ones, or communicate with them in the indirect way. They saw this white Delhine as a messenger of their God..

      So these Snake like Creatures, want to find out if the current population can be ruled again from an God in flesh and blood

      perhaps there are some factions inside the Snake ones. Like some want to do it on the sideway (like Suu) and the others direct contact (these fake Gods)

      Ask yourself, would you trust your eyes if you suddenly see an God in blood and flesh in front of you?

      Worldwidedepp
      Reply

    2. She is playing Othello, not Go. Go uses a much bigger board, and you do not fill up the board. The game is over when there is no more space to secure, which usually leaves significant amounts of the board unfilled.

      Incest Emblem
      Reply

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