Better late than never – sorry, Dagashi Kashi.  The Sisyphean nature of this season’s endgame is exerting its full weight on me, but I’m going to try to keep up as best I can. and that means prioritizing.  And this series is a little bit higher on that pecking order than I might have expected a few weeks ago.  Much to my relief Dagashi Kashi has turned out to still be Dagashi Kashi – shorter, more generic-looking, and less Hotaru-centric – but still the same show at heart.  And I certainly wasn’t sure of that for a while.

It says something about just how little Hotaru has been a factor this season (and that was certainly a surprise to me)  that even an indirect reference or two to her this week seems like a big deal.  The first half of the episode focuses on an email that provides Shikada Dagashi with their first delivery order – a letter from a girl ordering for her sick friend in the hospital that seems too good to be true (and is, but then kinda isn’t).

Turns out that the order was for You-san (and it’s the first timer we’ve seen him in an age, too) – a can of dried squid on skewers that seems to be all the rage with beer drinkers in Japan).  But it wasn’t You who placed the order – it was (obviously) Hotaru, both as a gesture towards the shop and a kindness for You.  Out of this delivery comes a telling exchange where You notes that Coconuts seems to have given up on being a mangaka – and it’s only then that Coconuts realizes he actually hasn’t been doing any work on his manga (Abe Atsushi should know a thing or two about this subject), so interested in the shop has he been.

For my money it’s Hajime’s who’s sparked this newfound interest for Kokonotsu, and she’s actually proved herself to be a modestly clever entrepreneur.  Kokonotsu does, however resolve to finish his manga in time for a judging contest in two days – a task which proves too much for him, though Hajime does get on his case enough to keep him working at it.  She also (while drunk) elicits an interesting rejoinder to her romantic teasing – “I have Hotaru!”.  Well, Coconuts doesn’t, of course, but this is the first time I’ve heard him openly admit his feelings in such a manner.  I can’t help but believe she’ll factor into the final two episodes (and with the manga announced to end in three chapters, they’ll likely be the final ones).