Sunday 18 October 2009

Natsu no Arashi - Episode 16

After focusing on Jun's gender dilemma for the past couple of episodes, we finally move away from that particular facet of Natsu no Arashi, in favour of what is to all intents and purposes two mini-episodes as part of the show's sixteenth instalment.

The first half of the episode deals with poor old Hideo Murata, who is starting to feel the strain of giving up his "life force" for both Kanako and Yayoi, leaving him feeling tired and lethargic - I know how he feels, but then again I'm not feeding my energy to any ghosts so I'm not too sure what my excuse with. Anyhow, the obvious decision that comes from this is that Yayoi needs to find someone to connect with, and so the crew set out to try and find a suitable customer. It soon appears that they've managed to find what they're looking for, but it seems that Yayoi's idea of a suitable "partner" is rather different to anyone elses...


The second half of this instalment sees Hajime dropping a bombshell about something that he got up to with Arashi not long after they met - But what's he referring to? Even Arashi can't figure it out, and so (using a sleeping Hajime to power her trip), she jumps back to that particular moment in time to find out, and of course messing with history in the process anyhow (although it didn't seem that she'd thought of that).

While neither half of this episode particularly screamed out quality, there were enough good moments to justify its existence thankfully, from the hilarious twisting of the Kanako/Yayoi dialogue that closed episodes of the first season of this series at the start of the episode through to the nod to E.T. at the end, and with a few amusing or generally random moments in the middle. While the first season of Natsu no Arashi never really seemed to be at its best when it was trying to be funny, it does seem to have upped the ante for the autumn - Okay, it may not be the most hilarious anime on the block, but it's just about getting by on its comedy as it stands, bolstered by a bunle of lovable characters in the process. I'm left wondering whether we'll be seeing any more of the serious stuff and returning to World War II, which thrilled me so earlier this year, this time around however.

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