Sayonara Lara – 02
I’m still not sold, but I would say that was a solid improvement on the premiere in most respects. Getting out from under the Disney shadow definitely helped a bit. They made their The Little Mermaid right the first time – it didn’t need an anime re-telling. This second episode might have been a bit more “conventional” in anime terms but the writing seemed a lot more sure-footed because of it.
We have plenty of developments to chew on here. The evil witch auntie has come back as a fish in a tank (and sometimes a bowl) and seems somehow less evil in that form. Lara has landed in the life of a human teen named Otsu Mari (Otsu is the name of the area on Lake Biwa where the series is set, by the way), a teen who loves boxing and apparently hates everything (and everyone) else. Lara has lost her family ring, and is seriously freaking out about it. Which Mari is distinctly not about having a mermaid and a talking fish in her life – she’s blase’ about it to say the least. And we may or may not be moving in a yuri direction (there are two distinct hints, anyway).
Selfishly I’m sure I’m enjoying this (and Sparks of Tomorrow – two Shiga references in one post, wow) a little more because it’s set basically in my backyard. The story itself is fine – I’m not exactly hooked, but curious enough to see where it goes. Is Auntie really trying to help Lara save the family? Which direction will the “true love” thread pull? And why is one of Lara’s older sisters (I think) seemingly human, and hanging out in a secret undersealake base with a boy in a mask?
Tetsunabe no Jan! (Iron Wok Jan) – 02
I have no idea how much Tetsunabe no Jan! is or isn’t updating the material. But the vibe is very much that it’s being faithful to the source – hell, it’s even including whole manga pages. More to the point this sort of tone and attitude just screams 1990’s shounen. All the posturing and cackling and chest-thumping is as typical as it gets. It’s not like some shounen don’t have that stuff now but it just presents itself a little differently. You can always tell the difference between an old-school shounen and a series trying to be like an old-school shounen.
Does that mean I actually like it? Well, sort of. It is fun, though the level of silliness isn’t in my usual sweet spot for shounen. The cooking stuff is interesting – I fancy myself a decent cook and I’d never even heard of silkie eggs to be honest. But then I don’t like eggs on their own in most applications, and as such I’m not a fan of chawanmushi. So that angle was interesting to me mostly in academic terms.
I will say Amada Masuo was having way too much fun as Ootani Nichidou, the blowhard food critic with the golden palate. I would wager that if any acting instruction is given during the recording sessions for this show, it’s probably just “More!”. I don’d find myself actually wanting to eat most of the dishes the two wunderkinds prepare, and I don’t especially like either one. Jan especially is quite an arrogant DB, though that flashback with his psychopath mentor at least explains why. I’ll watch this one as long as I’m enjoying it but coverage seems like a longshot at this stage.
Nijusseiki Denki Mokuroku: Eureka Evrika (Sparks of Tomorrow) – 02
KyoAni really is a marvel. I just wish they’d use their powers for good – the potential there is basically unlimited. But the hard truth if they didn’t devote the bulk of their production schedule to in-house material with no licensing costs they wouldn’t be able to deliver this sort of quality. That’s the Catch-22 of the modern, production committee-driven anime industry. And at least Kyoto Animation does occasionally devote some of their largesse to projects of a little more interest.
None of that is to say Eureka Evirka is bad. On the contrary, it comfortably clears the relatively low narrative threshold required to make a show this beautiful worth watching. It’s goofy and dumb in an un-self conscious sort of way. I can’t stand Yousuke and his Engrish – if I wanted Christmas pantomime (I don’t) I’d watch it. And Inako couldn’t possibly be a more generic plucky KyoAni heroine. But on balance the plot is perfectly serviceable. And Kihachi is likable enough. Most important the big action sequences are top shelf and the series is peppered with clever visual flourishes.
On balance this is definitely preferable to the faux-poignant emo fantasy melodrama that inhabits a lot of Kyoto Animation’s light novel catalog. I also like that it diverges form KyoAni orthodoxy visually from time to time. In fact the overall vibe here is kind of Ghibli – like one of the movies from its B-tier directors in the 2010’s. It’s a testament to the studio’s genius that this Kyoto, covered in massive ductwork and smothered in steam and smoke, is both ugly and beautiful. That’s steampunk in essence, but it’s not a motif you often see KyoAni go for.
Sparks of Tomorrow has bubble written all over it, that’s for sure. But as with Sayonara Lara I did see more to like here than in the premiere, and I think both series have at least a chance to find another gear in storytelling and character terms. And being the best-looking series of the season (or at least neck-and-neck with World is Dancing) certainly doesn’t hurt.
Panino Manino
July 13, 2026 at 11:08 pmI’m intrigued but the possible catholic references in Sayonara Lara.
I mean, Lara is search for “true love” and now a ring? She ends in a house with a church, and the “love interest” is called Mari? A “good samaritan” that rescued a questionable individual from the gutter?
There must be something there…