It’s Maekawa’s world – everyone else is just using it by permission.
With apologies to Harold Camping, an entire half-episode from Maekawa’s POV was rapture for me. Fuchigami Mai may be an unknown seiyuu but she’s stealing every scene she’s in – and that smile! Stick a fork in me, I’m done. I love the way she plays the grown-up around the other kids, but I sure wish Makoto would figure out she’s the pick of the littler and toss the other girls aside.
I’ll confess that Ryuushi is starting to annoy me, just a bit. I’m generally OK with genki girls (I adore Horie Yui, after all) and moeblobs on a case-by-case basis. But her act has less appeal for me than the other girls this time around. There’s no question she’s a serious contender for Makoto’s affections, and even threw us a yandere moment or two to let us know she’s serious. Meanwhile Maekawa continues to observe all with that sly grin on her gorgeous face, and Erio seems so disconnected from reality even now that I wonder if she even realizes she’s in a competition.
Speaking of Makkie, why is it that he wears the arm in a cast and sling some of the time and not all the time? Is that just a SHAFT visual tic or is there a deeper meaning? I wonder, too, what the significance of Auntie Meme’s uncharacteristically serious attitude when she pulled her bike up outside the confectionery shop at the end was all about. Most of all I wonder what’s up with the bottle-rocket guy. A weirdo, for sure – dressed in a suit and tie and hanging on the beach launching bottle rockets all day – and what’s with the “2” tag in the ear? It crosses my mind that he could be Elliot, but that seems a little too simple.
As always, SHAFT refuses to treat this material seriously enough to make me take it seriously. My curiosity on these matters is more idle than intent – while the potential for greater emotional investment is certainly there, is just doesn’t look like the series is interested in playing that game. I remain entranced by the eye and ear-candy, and as long as I get my Maekawa-san – preferably in cosplay – and my ED I’ll be perfectly happy. But it would interesting, in a different universe, to see the self-indulgence dialed back to “medium” for a while and the characters given a chance to really interact seriously.
