As I noted a couple of weeks ago, having to adapt to a one-cour format may have been the best thing for Ikuhara-sensei. He got the bugs out with Yuri Kuma Arashi, and as FUBAR as that project was it’s very clear Ikuni learned from the experience. He’s a writer who loves nothing more than tangents and biting off more than he can chew, a guy who cut his teeth on long-format anime. For him, even the two cour Mawaru Penguin Drum was too short at the time – it allowed him to shoot for huge ideas, but not to tie everything together. Again ironically, at 24 episodes MPD was too short, and at 11 Sarazanmai may end up being just right.
Those are the sorts of journeys creators make, I suppose, and our interpretations of them are as unique as snowflakes. But it sure strikes me that Sarazanmai has its ducks (and kappas, and otters) in a row in very un-Ikuni fashion. This series started out very well, has mostly been at least good and occasionally brilliant, but without a doubt it’s finishing with its most impressive run of episodes yet. There’s an elegance to the plot construction and clarity to the messaging that I just wasn’t expecting to get out of this series.
To that point, I think wrapping up (for the most part at least) Reo and Mabu’s arc in the penultimate episode is a wise move. I never really bought into their story as much as the A-plot, true – YMMV but that isn’t really the point. They’re clearly the supporting players here and with three more or less co-equal leads, all with their own well-developed arcs to resolve, trying to weave Reo and Mabu into the finale would have been overload (exactly the sort of move I would have expected from Ikuhara, actually). They’re important to be sure, both as characters and as to how they fit into Kazuki, Toi and Enta’s storylines, but their primary role in the finale has to be the latter.
What Reo and Mabu do offer – in addition to being primary plot drivers – is a handy personification of the main philosophical point Ikuhara is gnawing on with Sarazamai. To wit, love vs. desire. We have plenty of platitudes on the concept in the West (“if you love something set it free, et al) but it’s actually quite central to Buddhist philosophy. In fact, in Buddhism the love for families and lovers can be an anchor preventing us from achieving enlightenment, because that love can have a possessive quality to it (i.e., desire – in broad terms). This is where Otter victimizes – not least Reo and Mabu – playing on their desires as the weak points that they are.
Reo and Mabu’s tale is a tragic one, no question, and it ends like one. That they were kappa all along was pretty much a given at this point, but the details of how their current circumstances came to pass were certainly grim. Mabu is the one who gave up the most, certainly – his very ability to feel (or express, at least) love for Reo – all in the name of a lie. Reo was right of course in declaring for all these decades that this wasn’t “his” Mabu, but his desire was too strong to let go even when his mind told him to. Talking of platitudes “love will set you free” certainly qualifies, but that’s kind of what happened with Mabu – by embracing his feelings of love (not desire) for Reo, he was finally freed of the hell he’d been living in for so long. As for Reo, he’s done too much evil for me to truly feel sorry for him, but to be robbed even of his memories of Mabu is a cruel fate indeed.
All this makes the competition for that eventual gold dish of hope pretty intense (Mabu’s self-sacrifice provides the last silver dish needed to bring it into existence). Enta has four hours to live – and that’s when the episode starts (and four hours is exactly the amount of time that passes on-screen). Kazuki – emotional metronome that he is – has fully embraced his connection to Enta, to the point where we’re past the “all is forgiven” stage and it almost appears as if he’s reciprocating Enta’s feelings. Whether he is or not, he clearly wants to save Enta and there’s only one way to do that – the same way Reo wants to save Mabu.
There are still problems here – Enta’s feelings for Kazuki still seem very much grounded in desire for starters but you know, they’re 14 year-old boys and they deserve the chance to figure shit like that out. But a more immediate problem is Toi, who after starring in last week’s episode was out of sight but never out of mind. He turns up at just the key moment and once again proves that he’s given up on himself, more or less – killing is far too routine for him now. But he wants the gold dish for himself just as Reo did, which leaves us at a standoff. I never doubted Kazuki would do what he did, and I never really thought that in the end Toi would put an end to Kazuki. But as for himself, that’s another matter – I don’t blame him for being tired, and he could hardly be a more vulnerable target for Otter. Not surprisingly, it’s Toi whose soul seems to be in the most peril as Ikuhara moves to wrap up the story.
TheYepMan
June 14, 2019 at 11:35 pmHey man, you swapped Reo and Mabu’s names there. You really weren’t compelled to pay close attention to that part of the show, huh?
Alas, I was half wrong about Toi, even if only because he was *tempted* to take the dish away and try to bring his brother back. I’m glad, however, that Enta was revived right then instead of making us wait more.
Rasu
June 15, 2019 at 5:30 amThey even erased their shared twitter account after posting Mabu’s last words (which by the way were posted at the same time Mabu said them when it aired), not only that, to prove they were out of the conecction circle they even erased them from on the poster of one of the collaborations the show is participating on… it sounds as if it was fun being the one in charge of that account waiting for the moment to syncrhonize with it perfectly and then erase every single trace of all, haha.
Guardian Enzo
June 15, 2019 at 8:47 amYeah, I missed that whole twitter drama but it sounds like they were having a lot of fun with it.
Rasu
June 16, 2019 at 10:44 pmI’ve found these threads about a radio session with Ikuhara:
https://twitter.com/shipperinjapan/status/1139829584612847616
https://twitter.com/shipperinjapan/status/1139882893323337729
According to what it says, it sounds to me as if what he wanted to convey with Yurikuma was finally capable of being protrayed with Leo&Mabu, I couldn’t help but to overthink that then it explains why Lulu and his brother couldn’t arrive to where the main couple arrived since it in anime sales it seems more that her relantionships with her brother is more rentable than a gay one (though, maybe he should have targeted a female audience with male characters since the beggining); and finally it made thought about one of the problems with the main characters of both Yurikuma Arashi and Carole&Tuesday is that they lack a bit of charisma, which shouldn’t have be a problem for both directors since they have offerede before various examples of strong and charismatic female characters.
animealex
June 15, 2019 at 5:47 amYeah, I may be alone with that attitude, but the tragic lovers Reo and Manbu will not be mourned by me. I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t connect (heh!) with their story and they were also much to willing to harm children to elicit much sympathy from me, however tragic their fate may have been. That being said, it was a cruel end and nobody deserves to suffer like this.
On the other hand, I’m very proud of Enta. He betrayed his friends out of jealousy once, but when tempted by darkness itself with the siren song of becoming more than friends with his beloved Kazuki, he snaps out of it and rejects the temptation of desire. Very impressive for a normal hormonal 14 year old boy and it gives me hope, that there may be light at the end of the tunnel.
I’m also finally trusting Keppi. He did everything to protect the children he has involved in his struggle against his dark side (and the otters). On the other hand, if he had been frank with the boys about what was at stake from the beginning, some drama may have been avoided. But alas, another theme of many great stories (and also this one): Tragedies arise from what was left unsaid. This is so banal, yet so important. And if nothing else, a show that (seemingly) started as a LSD fever dream about young boys doing anal things as kappas and in the end teaches the audience about universal themes deserves my respect. Also, the OST is very good!
One last point, it’s very clear to me (and telling) that for all their apparent power, the otter in itself is very helpless and can only work through manipulation and temptation of others. So, if Kazuki (and Enta!) can reconnect to Toi…
Guardian Enzo
June 15, 2019 at 8:46 amYeah, I was still having some Kyuubey vibes with Keppi but he does seem legitimately not pure evil, at least. Manipulative, scheming, but not evil.
TheYepMan
June 15, 2019 at 10:33 amWell Keppi is, after all, an Ikuhara Prince. It’s just that in this case, he was split into defined “light” and “dark” sides.
It’s also interesting that Keppi was the one who hurt Mabu and put Leo in a vulnerable position. Mabu and Leo have always been victims of the system, both the kappa system and the otter system. There was a couple of anime commentators I was checking out that wondered if Mabu and Leo were an analogy of how society made marginalized people hurt each other and themselves, but I think it’s more of an allegory overlapping the very thing being allegorized – a gay couple in Japan, but they’re cops; a kappa couple, hurt by the dark side of the kappa prince; agents of the Otter kingdom, but not willingly, and manipulated and abused to boot.
I also find not only unsubtle, but actually maybe too explicit, how Mabu telling Leo he loves him was his undoing – being honest about same-sex love should be an act of liberation, but it’s also a defiance of the system – and when you defy a system, the system will immediately strike back at you in full force.
Alas, I understand completely why you weren’t engaged in Leo and Mabu’s narrative, and I too felt that it was woefully underdeveloped and rushed (Anyone remember Lulu?). If anything, that plotline is the one thing that could make you think Ikuhara hasn’t yet mastered the art of the 1-cour show.
Guardian Enzo
June 15, 2019 at 11:06 amInteresting point about Mabu’s admission of love and the stigma of gay relationships in Asia. There is some movement on this score in Japan at least – the official opposition party (CDPJ) is vociferously pro-LGBT rights, though they’re miles away from actually getting into government.
While IMHO there’s no question anime has backslid tremendously in creative terms in the last few years, one small area of progress would be the depiction of gay relationships on screen. There’s still a lot of awful stuff, but a few decent ones are starting to slip through.
Simone
June 16, 2019 at 6:18 amHonestly, Reo was the one who did most of the evil shit, Mabu seemed along for the ride. A pity really – I ended up reading the manga and they’re super cute in it, raising Sara as a baby (yes, that happened). But obviously, they have fallen quite low from back then. It’s understandable how it has happened but it doesn’t mean they were salvageable. That’s what makes them tragic, after all. They were too far gone down that rabbit hole.
Pavani
June 18, 2019 at 2:17 amPolitical Ikuhara: The superpowers of BiPolar Keppi have cowed both boys and cops. So… if you can’t beat them, join them. All five are vassals, neutered dogs, oppressed victims who find it in their best interests to serve their oppressors. Kill or be killed, right?