One of the nice things about Kujima Utaeba Ie Hororo in terms of anime adaptation is that it’s manageable. A neat five volumes (not including a couple of bonus chapters released as part of mangaka Konno Akira’s Helpful story collection), perfect for one cour. As such, it’s been pretty clear for most of the series where it was going for its final arc. First the matter of Suguru’s exams would get resolved (check). Then, the matter of Kujima and his return to Russia. We’re right on pace, with the latter seemingly set to drive the narrative in the final two eps.
As Setsubun rolls around, there’s the matter of ehomaki – which Kujima is naturally desperate to try. Ehonmaki’s importance on Setsubun I knew about, but that business of not speaking while eating and facing in a certain direction (which changes every year) was news to me. The not speaking is supposed to make your wish come true – I didn’t even know you made a wish. And for two years in a row, Arata has used his wish on Suguru’s success with entrance exams. The first time it didn’t take, but this go-around was different.
All this is a reminder of what a good little brother Arata is. He gives his brother his wishes, he desperately roots for him to succeed, he apologizes for minimal interruptions no 13 year-old should be apologizing for. Indeed, Suguru’s whole family are better than he deserves, frankly. I’m happy he passed – partly because Suguru isn’t actually a bad guy, just sort of a douche. And partly because that hopefully lifts the pall his odyssey has left hanging over the house and inhabitants. I figure once he got the good news he needed to do one or two things for Arata – thank him or apologize to him. But there’s no trace of either.
As celebration, the Kouda parents – who are also pretty saintly – decide to order in sushi. But they don’t stop there – they bring in an at-home kaitenzushi setup, because Kujima has been longing to try it (and it’s obviously impossible). That’s way cool and another thing I didn’t know about. Kujima goes into hard core territorial mode over this, unfortunately. They may have something to do with an instinct to build up their body’s energy reserves for reasons that will soon become clear. Or it could be Kujima is just a glutton.
I knew this was coming, but still – this moulting is a reminder that Kujima is going home soon, and that’s a sad thing. They’re desperate to hide it and manage to for a while, though Arata certainly realizes that something is wrong. Kujima knows the drill here – they moulted back in Russia too at this time of year. Moulting, Arata discovers on the net, is something birds to before they migrate. And no, sticking the feathers on with glue is not really going to change the biological imperative involved.
This was always going to hit hard, because – despite its fantastical premise – the human interaction in this show is amazingly authentic. Arata is such a good kid but he’s fundamentally lonely – effectively an only child with two working parents. Having Kujima around meant everything to him, and you can already see how gutted he is at the idea of losing them. At the very least Suguru is going to have to go back to being a brother again, but sadly I have very little confidence in his inclination to do that.
