Sketchbook ~full color’S~ – 04

It’s the day of the art club field trip to the hillside park – but the weather forecast shows overcast skies with a high chance of rain! Cancel the trip? Stay indoors? Stay dry?

Not if there’s sketching involved! Sora straps up her rain gear and dons her straw hat. Ikimashou!

Seems like nobody else really cares as much as Sora, as the only other person to show up was Kurihara-senpai, who’s always down to get out and get dirty searching for those elusive bugs. She’s definitely a weird one, as she lets a bug crawl all over her face (eeww), but it’s clear she just loves bugs. Kinda like how Sora loves cats. Keep this in mind, as it’s one of the main themes of the episode!

Sensei shows up in her red 4-banger Mazda to pick up the girls. Oddly… well, not really oddly, her car is filled with chicken plushies, highlighted by the plushy yakitori stick (grilled chicken kebob). Anyways, we’ve seen in previous shows (Azumanga, Lucky Star) that the genki teacher always seems to be a cowabunga driver, and our sensei here seems to have the exact same personality… but she’s extremely careful despite her enthused “KORRYYAAAA” foot on the pedal. Seems strangely appropriate for this show.

Elsewhere at home, Asou’s dog is suffering from heat paralysis or humidity exhaustion or something… maybe they just didn’t feed him. As we find out throughout the episode, this dog is a rather weird one, with short bouts of energy followed by extreme fatigue. Once again, it works strangely well for this quirky show about quirks.

Hazuki is off with her cute self in the grocery store (where she formerly had some issues regarding the price of the miso), picking out everything that looks like she could whip up… later deciding whether or not to buy them or not later. Her final purchase? A 98 yen package of bouillon cubes. Oh Hazuki, you’re so thrifty.

Back with our intrepid adventurers, where they have arrived at the park. I’m not sure how to describe this, but you know that clean, brisk smell in the air after a spring shower in the mountains? Somehow, through some magic of animation, this particular scene was able to convey that feeling so perfectly, showing Sora and Kurihara frolicking around the park. There’s a Makino Yui insert song accompanying it, and it’s every bit as good as one of those Round Table feat Nino songs that made Aria so great.

The rest of the episode proceeds pretty much the same way, cutting between Sora and Kurihara’s romp through the park, and Hazuki and Asou’s walk through the shopping district.

A great part about this episode was Sora’s account of how many of the things Kurihara-senpai saw were things that Sora witnessed on a daily basis, but never really paid attention to. By hanging out with this unique girl, Sora was able to see some of the world through Kurihara’s eyes, altogether giving her an even greater appreciation of the beauty of the world around her. It’s a wonderful approach to take in this show, as previous episodes have always seemed to have a different take on Sora’s inner dialogue and perception.