Posted by  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「氷の町のピクシー」 (Koori no Machi no Pixie)
“The Pixie in the Town of Ice”
After all of this time glancing slightly in Erika’s direction, she finally gets her own arc, and boy, does she hate this town. Her rage has been a slow burner throughout the series with Maki’s brother being the sole reason she hasn’t burned down her mother Angelica’s cafe. The straw that broke the camel’s back was Angelica giving her problems about not wanting to be stuck in Manoyama forever, evoking the cardinal sin that most fictional parents do by shouting “if you hate it so much, why don’t you go somewhere else?” in frustration. Angelica’s biggest mistake was underestimating how far Erika would go to walk to the station in the snow to take the train to Tokyo. As the episode moves forward, it becomes evident that she would do best with Maki’s family, considering that Maki is the only one of the Agency women that tried to engage her with a scary Tokyo story she got too interested in by the time she had to be dropped off at school.
The other girls had difficulty trying to get on Erika’s level, but Shiori is having the hardest time confronting opposition on Erika’s end. She kept giving Erika more softball questions about why the country is so bad that she hit out of the park every time. I groaned when Shiori asked where Erika would like to be in the future because it was obvious that her answer would be “Nowhere around you!” Shiori’s largest character flaw was that her comfort and passion for the rural life she’s always known blinded her from opening up to an outsiders point-of-view in why being anywhere else but Manoyama is an improvement. She gets upset by Yoshino paraphrasing Noge’s idea that the townspeople are comfortable with the town’s stagnation since they still love the town how it is while the younger generation is destined to move away.
This, however, leads into Shiori being more upfront about her insecurities that because she was never interested in a life outside of Manoyama that she doesn’t want to own up to the prevalent issue with the shopkeepers and elderly people in the town finding change or evolution to be unnecessary. It was fine enough when the other girls only shared their experiences with her and Ririko was sharing her own interest in leaving without aiming to create conflict, but Erika’s scorched earth campaign seems to have taken a toll on Shiori’s world view. It’ll be interesting to see what Shiori takes from reflecting on how Erika or the shopkeepers could possibly say that everyone in the town is so comfortable with stagnation that the youth would want to be anywhere except for Manoyama.
The next episode is looking to expand further on Erika’s troubles as well as follow the women on their journey to find the buried dragon statue. Noge, Takamizawa, and a close friend of his seem to have gotten together as kids to bury the treasure, but a scrap of the paper they tore together bound them to a sudden interest to unearth it. I’m looking forward to how they find it and examining their past friendship, though I wonder how they’ll tie the dragon together with Erika’s story and Shiori’s developing conflict with how she feels about Manoyama.
Sakura Quest
Preview
 |
 |
 |
I am really going to hate when this series ends. All of the characters, even the background ones, are so very interesting. The story and the world they live in is a place I could see myself moving to and being happy.
True, I’ve gotten so comfortable and invested in the characters and setting that it’ll be hard not to keep following what happens once the season ends.
I’m from a little dying village on the West coast of Ireland. This anime feels so real to me in their desire to save their town. I wish we could save ours but time ran out generations ago. I know this is just make-believe but I do hope they find a way to save their village. It would put a huge smile on my face to see the story have a happy ending.
https://randomc.net/image/Sakura%20Quest/Sakura%20Quest%20-%2021%20-%2036.jpg
What does this paper say?
It’s all in katagana and some numerals. I don’t recognize the words as I read it. My skill level should be okay for this since they’re just kids when they wrote it. I think it’s really in a some sort of substitution code. We’ll know next week!
(Top-to-bottom, Right-to-left)
Mi ki he kii i ruu te (thumb) zo yu ku fu naa 4 3 chi 9 no he ku ya se ga ba ra me mo 2 u u 4 yo so se ka shi 8 te ku ku 5 mo n ga ta ru 7 ga mu mo wo de ta ku shi ji se mi no ku kuu ka wo no me ke wo ku ma no ta n so i no wo mi ba n mi i sa su ka tsu shi u sa gi ka ra 2 4 2 7 ho
Not sure if I flubbed up on some of the Hiragana or how to read it, but I have a feeling it is code too.
https://randomc.net/image/Sakura%20Quest/Sakura%20Quest%20-%2021%20-%20Large%2015.jpg
“Do you even know what pillow talk even mean?”
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) oh Sanae.
Sanae’s used to it. 😀
I wanted to hear the ending of Maki’s scary Tokyo story too
It took so long to get to here where the chairman would agree to help with the girls after the first time asking xD I know I say this after every episode but it’s crazy how everything in this show is so realistic. Watching a new episode every week feels like I’m coming back to see my friends lol
Shiori is, like, the kindest human being. Also most suave voice in recent memory. Can’t wait to see her letting her hair down next week.
And goddammit count me among the people who are going to hate it when this show ends. It heals me (check out 2nd Look’s YouTube video). Anime of the year contender for me.