D_Cide Traumerei: The Animation – 07

「島と都」 (Shima to Miyako)
“Island and City”

This Island that was prominently featured in this episode, it’s from the video game, I’m guessing, and the fact they waited so long to introduce it, means they were waiting for people to get acquainted with it. They brought back the character. Furukata Rando (Suganuma Hisayoshi) and Eru Amami (Sakura Kaoru) are both from a mysterious island. Where Evil Ones are trying to get reincarnated to do evil things. Rando and Amami came to Tokyo to assess the situation with the Traumerei. Of course, this causes Oda to fill with jealousy as they are much better than him at dealing with the pesky Weird. Because they come from a video game and have to be OP to reflect how players view them. Nevertheless, this episode, I actually quite liked.

There were two times where the cast had to go and fight Weird’s, but those felt quaint to the rest of the episode. This time around I was much more interested in seeing how the cast adapted to these new characters, and how they interacted with them. Of course, it brought out a side of Oda we haven’t seen before. And it was honestly quite charming. I loved his little jealous fits. Probably because he trains so hard every day and then comes this nobody who has a condescending tone, and it infuriates Oda because Rando is much better than him at dispatching the Weird. But turns out it’s much simpler than that. Rando probably has a lot more experience dealing with the Weird. And the ones showing up in Shibuya and probably just fish meat. Rando probably has dealt with them a thousand times already and is able to just fly in, deal with the Weird and leave. Something the cast of the show is not so readily prepared as they just started dealing with the Weird themselves.

It’s honestly really interesting, they bringing characters from the game, even though we as a western audience won’t be able to play said game maybe until further down the line. However, right now, we don’t really have any connection to them, and seeing them on screen can cause a spark of content for those that have been paying attention. Rando and Amami are featured in the opening, and they were in Shibuya during the first couple of episodes. However, that feels like a long time ago, and without a proper memory refresh, some might forget. (Myself included) I wasn’t brought into the loop until they finally introduced each other and Oda points out when they met, or more exactly when they saw each other for the first time. The characters themselves don’t even remember!

The sushi scenes were probably my favorite as they allowed a little bit of time for the character to get to know each other. Even if Oda doesn’t want to let them in just yet, Amami points out that Rando and Oda could be very good friends if one of them opens up. But they are both way too prideful to be the ones who open up first, trying to be vulnerable or attempting to make the other one get to like them. Rando just from the looks of it doesn’t really care how other people perceive him, and just matches the emotions of whoever he’s talking to. Hence his condescending tone with Oda. As he too takes that tone sometimes. As Amami said once more, the things you see in other people, are the things you hate about yourself. And she’s totally right, we are mirrors to each other. And the only way to get someone to like you is to mirror their positive side. They’ll see you as approachable and likable because they see themselves in you. They see the part they like about themselves first. And thus friendship emerges. It’s honestly a lot.

Then the second Traumerei opening was caused by a man who thinks Tokyo people just think country folks are dumb. But hey once more I’ll pull the example of the mirror. As much as it might be a stereotype that city folk think country folks are baka’s. It’s not necessarily true, it’s a very general well generalization. It show’s that this man had very low self-esteem, and allowed this stereotype to get to him. Even though no one was even talking to him, or looking at him with dirty looks. If he thinks Tokyo reasons of country people as dumb. Then he’s going to believe it. But if he would work through his thought process and allowed himself to come to the realization that not all people think like that. Then maybe the Traumerei wouldn’t open. But I guess they were trying to keep with the program.

But hey! We are all humans, and should treat each other with respect!

Overall a great episode, I really liked the mundane part of it, where they went to get sushi and talked about nothing. But maybe it could just be the nostalgia talking.

Hope you enjoyed that, and remember to come back next week for another episode of D_Cide Traumerei: The Animation.

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