I never (and I mean it) thought I would have this sort of complaint against an Ikuhara series. But while I’m still enjoying Sarazanmai (largely on the strength of the characters) it’s starting to be a bit predictable. It’s been a long time since Utena, but Ikuni does love his tropes. Albeit through Ikuhara’s warped lens, this is structurally a very traditional mahou shounen series. And as we all know repeated transformation sequences are a part of mahou shounen (and for more commonly, shoujo) shows almost all the time.
While a full 5-6 minutes of these sequences every episode with only minimal changes is starting to be a bit tiresome, probably a bigger issue for me is that the content of the episodes themselves is likewise pretty much on a loop. We’re getting different details every week (with a rotating focus on each of the boys) but in terms of format they’re all pretty much the same. That’s fine I guess, but there’s something sort of “Groundhog Day” to it, even after four episodes. Which really makes me hope we’re not going to see this continue for eleven.
There was some talk from the staff that Episode 4 was going to be the watershed, where all the pieces sort of came together and made it clear what sort of show Sarazanmai was. It didn’t strike me that way to be honest. There was certainly some major development for Toi, but the overall premise didn’t really get shaken up at all. We pretty much already knew what the series was about and to the extent we didn’t, this ep didn’t especially provide any answers. And was the stuff with Toi really all that surprising?
Mind you, that’s not to say that Toi hasn’t had it tough. Parents dying when he was 10, a big brother neck-deep in a life of crime, almost getting tossed out on the street when the family soba shop went under. All of that culminates in the biggest revelation of the episode, which is that Toi shot a man. Maybe it was self-defense, maybe it was to protect his brother – but it happened. And having done that at such a young age seems to have shorted out Toi’s moral compass, which is certainly understandable. Where do you go from manslaughter, really? In Toi’s mind the only way he can compound his sin is by letting it all have been for nothing, which leads to a vicious cycle where anything he – or his brother – does is justifiable because they’re protecting what Toi made possible with that bullet.
Kazuki doesn’t know about this event when he asks Toi for a favor, but he still asks because Toi is clearly someone who exists outside normal societal limitations. The idea of kidnapping Sara so that Kazuki can pretend to be her when Hazuka meets her at a handshake event is harebrained, to say the least. But everything involving Haruka and Kazuki is off, to be honest, and it’s still not really clear to me why Kazuki does the things he does when there would certainly be other ways to try and make his brother happy.
The final revelation of the episode – that Kazuki “hates” Haruka – would certainly explain some of his odd behavior. Of course I don’t really buy it – he’s just being hyperbolic – but maybe in his own mind he’s come to believe that what I’m guessing is fairly normal adolescent resentment against his brother for being such an imposition on his life is actually hate. Of the three boys, Kazuki certainly remains the most opaque – Enta is pretty much an open book, and at this point Toi’s motivations seem pretty straightforward too. Presumably next week is going to see that situation start to change.
animealex
May 4, 2019 at 7:21 amMy biggest surprise this episode was Kazuki’s willingness to stage an abduction, because I thought there had to be a limit in his misguided attempt to connect with his brother. Guess not. I find that part fascinating. With Toi you can see where he’s coming from (like you said, how do you cope with what he did?), but where does Kazuki’s flawed moral compass originate?
Also the cops/otters are thinking to become more proactive? Do they know who opposes them? If so I can see a multitude of angles where they could threaten our main trio without resorting to supernatural means. Oh well, let’s wait and see.
Rita
May 4, 2019 at 2:34 pmI’m waiting for the other shoe to drop in Kazuko’s “missions” and his talk of connecting with ‘those children’ (I originally thought it might have been a case of Crunchyroll mistranslation, but I went back to check and he does use the plural form, making it seem like it’s either not ONLY haruka or maybe even something else entirely?) as well as the deal with Sara and why he chose to imitate her of all people.
I never once though Penguindrum or Utena was predictable, but I do remember how most people’s motivations or situations tended to not be fully explained until much later in, usually recontextualizing a lot of previous points and I get a similar feeling with the overarching motivation for Kazuki in particular. Not to mention seeing where the story with the cops is going (and how much of the prequel manga gets carried over). Now that we’ve knocked out our main trio’s desires, I imagine whatever overarching main plot might make an appearance soon
TheYepMan
May 4, 2019 at 4:17 pmOn the other hand, I do think this is a watershed moment for the show. But not in a “oh now I see what this show is about”, but more in a “oh OK, we’re past the introductory stage and we’re about to hit a denser plot area”.
I do think Kazuki’s problem with his little brother is still pretty vague and weird, but something keeps nagging me about the very first scene of the show: Kazuki getting ㋐’d in a dream sequence that certainly wasn’t – just as Kazuki and Tooi freeing Keppi wasn’t a dream, but they surely thought so until they realized it had actually happened.
Tooi and Enta sort of seem like the two sides of Kazuki’s ordeal, echoing Mabu and Leo’s desire extraction ‘chant’ and the symbology used by the show in alternating the symbol of the object petit a (㋐) and the heart with the otter: “Desire? Or love?”. Tooi is more in line with Kazuki’s desire, as both have hangups about their siblings; Enta is more in line with Kazuki’s love (or lack thereof?), as Enta is not only more deeply connected to Haruka, but Kazuki’s twisted way of expressing his love (or his desire?) is reflected on how Enta’s getting hurt by Kazuki’s actions.
If I’m not mistaken, Kazuki might end up becoming a target for Mabu and Leo, considering that his desire is getting completely out of control.
And the plot to kidnap Azuma Sara is either going to deliver the opportunity for that to happen, or drop much bigger plot answers than that. I can’t help but notice that whenever the two otter cops make their dance and create a kappa zombie, there’s an indication that this is being done with the help of a kappa (eyes similar to Keppi’s appearing behind the zombie animation). And well, there’s the connection between the two cops and Azuma Sara on the prequel, the imagery of Azuma Sara always together with a kappa, the Lucky Items always being related to the kappa zombie of the day… and the plot moving towards her becoming more involved in the actual plot of the show.
I can’t help but feel the same way as I did when in Mawaru Penguindrum, what appeared to be a side-plot involving Ringo and her obsession with Tabuki culminated in the splitting of the diary and the kickstarting of the real main plot of the show.
Earthlingzing
May 4, 2019 at 11:33 pmThis series has only one cour to work with, so for me it kind of makes sense that its less vague than most Ikuhara series are.