First Impressions / So-Ra-No-Wo-To

Summary:

Having just been paid recently, Kanata heads into town on her day off to do some shopping, unaware of where the money came from. It turns out that the other girls have been illegally distilling and selling Calvados on the side through the shopkeeper Naomi, and on this particular day, some shady guys have shown up. Because of this, Filicia, Rio, Kureha, and Noel put on an act and pretend to gun down some buyers who wouldn’t agree to their terms, and this, along with a sudden rockslide that crushes their car, scares off the shady guys. The rockslide, however, was not part of the girls’ plan, and it instead had to do with what Kanata was up to.

Mishio, one of the orphaned girls being taken care of by the church, had been searching for a certain box in the market when Kanata found her, but she had run off after Kanata mentioned that she was shopping for presents for her family. Kanata learned from Yumina afterward that Mishio was searching for a memento of her dead mother, and Yumina blames herself for not being a good enough substitute family for the girl. Mishio had actually run to the roof of a building overlooking the area where Filicia and company were putting on their act, and when the first shot was fired, Mishio had lost her footing. Fortunately, Kanata was there and had pulled her to safety, but in the process of doing so, they had caused the rockslide. Mishio cries for Yumina, and after finding her box by chance among the things in the crushed car, the two return to the church where Mishio lets Yumina tie her hair with the hair ties in the box. Later that night, Rio and Kanata talk about fate and how a coincidence caused by one person can greatly affect another’s life.

Preview

Despite being predisposed against the Mishio half of this episode (as I’ve said in the past, I generally dislike bratty kids stories), I actually felt this episode as a whole was pretty good. We finally found out what Filicia and company have been up to in secret – though I suspect this isn’t the only thing they’re keeping from Kanata – and the entire mobster scene was a lot of fun to watch. I love hearing Endou Aya voice a character in a role like that; it was Sheryl-esque even. What was also great was seeing how the two parallel stories that came together by the end, emphasizing the themes of coincidence and fate, kind of like what Durarara has been doing lately. The question though of course is still what all this is leading up to, and we might gotten another clue in what the priest said about the invisible Shinigami since it could be referring to a weapon of mass destruction or a plague or something. We’re now halfway through the series, and I look forward to seeing if and when this all becomes relevant to the main plot.

25 Comments

  1. Wow, the girls are classic ‘moonshiners’ in their own right. Sweet and totally unexpected. Real surprise their. Love it.

    They gave a bottle to Major Claus the last episode and considering his response, he gets one at least every year. Possibly a payoff perhaps? They make it, he runs it? XD

    Great episode. I actually found the dual story and parallel a little boring. The second half revolving around Mishio was touching but I would have liked to see more of the girls knocking out booze.

    Horus
    Reply

  6. The mobster ruse and secret winery was stupid, though the later did make the previous conversation with the shop owner seem like a red herring in retrospect. The breadcrumbs about the environment they inhabit and its history are small and spread out among a lot of vapidity, and they’re obviously prepared to screw with the viewer when leaving them behind.

    Also the owl is definitely my favorite character. I hope it’s been crapping in their wine barrels for years.

    m
    Reply

  10. its embarrassing, but i almost believed the part when they fired their guns, it couldnt have been a blank bullet…It was obvious that it was an act, but the shooting, to me seemed real ..i really thought that the anime would turn dark….. though this doesnt usually happen in anime, but it does happen to some… The reason why i thought it would turn dark is probably because I wanted it to become one of those Jolly animes that suddenly turns dark, like Narutaru (but its a given considering its Mohiro Kitoh’s work)

    anyways, Despite what THEY look, I totally didnt expect that our main characters were doin something Illegal…AND I liked it…seems like theyre not like any other simpletons after all xD

    Alec
    Reply

  16. The girls work with the yakuza!!!! Illegal booze? no way ask hawk eye in mash. they have setup very subtly some of the aftermath of that war that destroyed everything. They are doing whatever needs to be done to survive. It’s a sad true but somehow they manage to make us laugh at it and kind of accept those facts.

    Island Esper
    Reply

  17. Another time honored tradition among fortress maidens is bootlegging… What?!

    Apparently sooner or later girls would wise up and uncover the secret and it is passed down throughout the rotation of fortress maidens.

    Kanata is too pure hearted to be inducted to the conspiracy.

    ReddyRedWolf
    Reply

  19. It’s actually quite interesting how they went with real guns in this episode. Example Rio is holding the broomstick AKA Mauser C96 (Or Red9). Being how much of a fan I am with that pistol it was nice to see it. Other than that the whole episode was great, lots of emotion! 🙂

    Jason Isenberg
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *