Well, this ep was definitely a roller-coaster of contrasting reactions for me. It went from a pretty major low to a pretty major high in a flash (though the latter was more a personal connection than any sort of brilliant storytelling). And in the final analysis I liked the B-part a whole lot better generally speaking. These are the sorts of things bubble series (and Patron Picks) are made of, and I can already see Roshidere’s ticket stamped for that destination.
First the student council thing, which I was roughly indifferent towards. Kenzaki was introduced as if he’s going to be important (and he has a name seiyuu in Ishikawa Kaitou), but he didn’t make all that much of an impression here. Yuki continues to go all-out to try and browbeat Masachika into joining the council, for reasons that will soon become clear. It will also become clear what his eventual path to doing so is going to be, though that obviously won’t be happening for quite a while unless we have a time skip.
Now, the whole sister thing. Yeah, it was a twist – but I groaned loudly enough to wake the neighbors. Why – just, why? And as if a switch had been flipped (which was basically what happened in narrative terms) everything went all light novel and Yuki became unbelievably annoying. It’s so tired, so played, so unnecessary. Roshidere is walking a thin line with me anyway on the trope front, but this development was a disaster as far as I’m concerned. But still, as I said, things did turn on a dime for half an episode at least.
Let’s be clear up front – “Hell’s Cauldron” is actually Kikanbo Ramen, in Kanda (there’s now a second location in Ikebukuro but it’s not as good IMHO). It’s always a powerful experience when anime uses a locale that had a strong impact in your life (as Paripi Koumei did with Jumanji 55, our nomihoudai of choice when I was in language school in Tokyo). Kikanbo serves spicy miso and it’s not just any ramen place – it’s probably my favorite ramen in the world (though that shifts around from time to time). For sure, they have the best chashu of any ramen-ya I’ve ever eaten at.
They changed a bit here (more than Jumanji got changed, anyway). In the first place you never go to Kikanbo and just sit down – there’s always a wait, even at three or four in the afternoon. You order from a ticket machine outside (as is commonly the case). And while the ramen can be incredibly hot, you get a choice – two choices in fact. They call it kara-shibi – the “kara” being chile heat, and the “shibi” being Szechuan ma la peppercorn, which is numbing. You can choose 1-5 in each category, with 5 being “Oni” and costing extra. I usually choose 2-kara and 3-shibi, and I love spicy food. What makes Kikanbo special is that the ingredients are top quality and the flavor complexity off the charts – it’s so much more than the numbing heat.
Watching the kids eat there was pretty funny, because the place is now popular with tourists and you do see tough guys (and girls) order 4s and 5s and really go through the agony. I will say that Yuki seemed to be really mean for the sake of it – adding to her annoying buildup from earlier in the episode. But things got much better after the was jettisoned, and the scenes with Alya and Masachika had some real charm to them. The changing room thing was really funny, like it was from a totally different show than the A-part.
I guess it’s better, as I’ve said before, for a series to illicit strong feelings in both directions that none at all. I’m still a skeptic about whether Alya-san is going to work for me in the long haul, but there’s no denying it has a certain something to it. It can be very sharp when it wants to be, and the central conceit has a lot of romcom potential. I doubt it will avoid tripping over its own feet before realizing most of it, but I’m intrigued enough at this stage to stick around for a little while and find out. And very much craving Kikanbo, and missing Tokyo.
sonicsenryaku
July 12, 2024 at 6:31 amYour reaction to the first half of the episode is about what I expected, Enzo; and I just about described my affliction with it in the same manner as you did: “it went full LN mode!” Now while Yuki didn’t garner the utmost ire out of me as she seemingly did with you, I did groan at the direction they took her character.
Now stop me if you’ve heard this before:……..The manga handles all the adapted material up to this point better than the anime (and quite honestly, the general premise of the show as well). Yes yes, I know; everyone and their grandma who’s been following a story’s original source material prior to its adaptation will swear up and down that the former was better and that it’s not the fault of said source material; but believe me, i think the “the manga handles things better” accusation rings true here. The sister twist is still there, and the general idea of that could still be done without, but we’ll get to that in a bit
Now notice how I specified “MANGA” and not “Light Novel;” this is because according to the grape vine, the anime is being adapted with the LN’s blueprint (original author being SunSunSun), which is seemingly different from the way the manga went about it (mangaka being Sado Tenamachi), as the latter includes things like changed up bits of dialogue, new scenes, nuanced tweaks in characterization, and rearranging of events. The last one is a bit harder to confirm as I haven’t read the light novels (meaning I just have the anime to go off of), so I don’t know how much is actually being rearranged or if the anime itself is choosing to do so through its adaptation choices; but suffice it to say, there’s a more heightened emotional tone in the manga as a result of the Mangaka’s decisions to reconfigure details associated with how events play out, characterize the main couple with nuances that lend their moment-to-moment decisions more importance, and fleshes out their emotional constitutions to provide their dynamic more intimate range. Hell, the manga even makes the whole sister twist (despite me thinking it wasn’t a necessary choice) more palatable, as the build to it is a bit longer. We got the twist by episode 2, but had the adaptation followed the manga, it’s possible we would have got it by episode 4 the latest give or take, which doesn’t seem like much but it kind of matters, especially since the twist seemingly exists to have the reader question why they’re even going through the trouble of maintaining the facade, which honestly would have a stronger effect if the reader was given a bit more time for the nature of Masa and Yuki’s relationship to linger in their heads.
Anyway, the big takeaway is that the characters are just better tuned in the manga and so are the way situations around them play out. There’s a genuine attention to the cause and effect behind how the characters behave. Even Masachika’s reason for not telling Alya why he understands her Russian makes more sense in the manga, which plays into his dynamic with her and allows the viewer to buy into the bit’s premise better, regardless of whether or not you find said bit a tad too thin. The anime kinda just changes Masa’s rationale for keeping quite about his propensity for Russian and I’m not sure why; is it an anime change; was this the reason in the LN but was adjusted in the manga to better serve the story. Basically Enzo, everything you like in the anime is amplified through the manga in ways that feel more enriching. I’m not saying this is prime time storytelling or anything, but the polish in the manga and its noticeable conscientiousness with how it paces the character interactions yields a stronger product; it’s crazy what some tweaking of narrative context and behavioral interactions will do for storytelling quality. I know we only have two eps to go off of with the anime so I’ll see what it has left in store, but it’s interesting to look at how Roshidere’s sources have handled the material in comparison
Oh and Sumire Uesaka is the G.O.A.T. She’s remained one of my favorite seiyuu for a reason. Loving how she you can tell that she’s genuinely attempting to capture a Russian accent whenever she speaks the language rather than just reading off the page awkwardly, or struggling to act with her lines; guess it helps that she’s an otaku of all things Russian, but still.
Guardian Enzo
July 12, 2024 at 6:41 amWell, that’s not super encouraging obviously. But we’ll see. And Kikanbo.
Yeah, someone said in the comments last week that Uesaka has a degree in Russian.
sonicsenryaku
July 12, 2024 at 8:02 am“And Kikanbo!!” Lol
But yes; we shall definitely see. It’s odd because I think what was in the manga really worked; there’s a sense of tenderness with how it handled certain interactions and plot events adapted so far that feel diminished in the anime by comparison. And again, this isn’t a matter of simply fixating on a changed line of dialogue or something innocuous like that; there are genuinely moments where the context for HOW things happen or why/when certain bars of dialogue are dispensed that play out differently and those changes end up meaningfully influencing the character’s interpret and reflect on those moments, which then obviously affects the way the emotional dynamics land. oh well, I guess.
Amiluhur
July 12, 2024 at 7:38 pmI’m not even sure if Yuki is his actual sister (notice they have different family name). Maybe they’re cousins raised as siblings or something like that. I dunno, anime always pulls crap like that
L0ken
July 14, 2024 at 5:05 amAfter delving into Roshidere source material I find is severely disappointing and not worth sticking for long, both lack of interesting plots to carry it through (student council selection and sheningans won’t end anytime soon) and quite slow progression (it closes to long and stretched Heisei-romcoms), that’s why romance drags. There is some character exploration and melodrama but personally it doesn’t made it that much interesting to me, though maybe fans will venomously disagree. I guess everything depends on how much people enjoy interactions and banter between characters
As I native at Russian Sumippe efforts are surely admirable, but I can’t say her pronunciation and level of Russian are pleasant to my ears. Not to mention Russian aspect itself is very surface level, there is no exploration or even anything specific in regards to it, so it basically could be easily replaced by any other language and culture – it doesn’t make any difference in the story anyway.