Sayonara Lara – 03

It’s not a season that’s heavy with bubble series for me, but these two definitely feel like they’re in that zone. I haven’t really figured out Sayonara Lara yet to be honest, but it’s interesting, though whether in spite or because of that I’m not sure. There are all kinds of Christian undercurrents here, but it’s not yet clear how they fit with the story. In the original (Hans Christian Andersen was an extremely religious man) mermaids were soulless creatures who turned into sea foam after an admittedly long lifespan (about 300 years). Becoming human was about gaining a soul and going to Heaven.

Does that mean the “true love” aspect we keep hearing about is a spiritual rather than romantic thing? If it’s the latter that’s not so clear either, because Andersen was biromantic (the romance angle in The Little Mermaid is thought to be based on his love for a man) but resolutely celibate for his entire life. Lara is really a bit of a marionette at this point and while Mari is more interesting, she’s angry and acerbic and not exactly easy to like. Also, it seems like all the girls at her school are named after places in Shiga.

I don’t know how Lara can tell Mari is angry as she’s angry even when she’s not angry, but Lara decides it’s best if she make like a banana and leave. Auntie Fish discourages this, and it’s not as though Lara has anywhere to go. She packs up her essentials (the tanuki is indispensable) but Mari’s brother follows her out of concern, and winds up taking to to the local high school where the boxing club is practicing. That’s where Mari is in a sparring match with the latest person she’s pissed off, a sempai named Nagahama (about 100 KM north of Otsu)-san. Lara is horrified at the idea of boxing (which is certainly understandable) but her arrival pops the bubble of tension in the room.

Again, at this point all this adds up to a bemusing mess more than a coherent narrative. But it looks pretty nice and I am curious to see where it’s headed, so I’ll stick around at least till Patron Pick time (and I’ll be surprised if this isn’t one of the shows in the ballot).

Nijusseiki Denki Mokuroku: Eureka Evrika (Sparks of Tomorrow) – 03

It’s rather funny that we have two series featuring Lake Biwa airing on the same day this season, when you consider that I can’t remember another off the top of my head. I suppose I would estimate my overall engagement level with Nijusseiki Denki Mokuroku: Eureka Evrika is about the same as Sayonara Lara. But even more of it here is due to the visuals. My goodness this show is gorgeous. The time-lapse scene outside the Buddhist altar shop was exquisite, and then that psychedelic sequence at the end – wow.  Even by KyoAni standards this show is a stunner.

As is so often the case with Kyoto Animation though, especially when they adapt their own LNs, it’s a test of just how far production values can carry a series. That said I do rather enjoy the over-the-top goofiness of Sparks of Tomorrow. It’s not that funny when it tries to be but when it’s just being itself it makes you smile like a gangly puppy tripping over itself would. Yousuke is the big weak point for me – he’s annoying as hell, though I do confess I’m curious just what his relationship with Seiroku was that makes him feel closer to him than his brother. Were they lovers, best friends, what?

As it turns out the catalog is both “real” and “fake”. Yeah the one we saw is childish doodles – because the child Kihachi wrote them. But Big Bro had the real electrical designs hidden in a false binding. We know this thanks to Inago’s Inako’s two classmates, plot mover 1 & plot mover 2. Also, Inako says the catalog smells like her late mother Naeko – or rather, the sake she used to brew. So in addition to being Kihachi’s brother and Yousuke’s whatever, Seiroku’s whatever, and classmates in Inako’s sister and Kengo (who proves very helpful here), he had some connection to Inako’s mom too. This guy really got around.

As with Lara I’m pretty sure this one is going to wind up on the Patron Pick ballot. But we’ll give them one more week to move the needle in one direction or the other before making a decision on that. The eye candy here is so delicious that watching seems a given, but the issue is whether there’s enough else there to keep writing about it.