Young love everywhere.
What They Say:
Episode #4: “Scarlet, Festival Eve, Romance”
Inari and Uka bond over their older brothers, and Inari and her friends have fun at the shrine festival. It’s the perfect opportunity to become even closer to her crush. Can our klutzy heroine pull it off without putting her foot in it?
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Are you ready of an overdose of cute squealing noises? This episode is full of them as Inari and her friends are headed to the festival at the shrine.
Before we can get to the long prep work of dressing in appropriate attire and meeting up with friends, there’s the matter of the wayward brother. Touka had walked in on his sister disguised as his mother and thought nothing of it until he walks downstairs and sees his real mother at the table. Quite seriously, he tells his parents he believes Inari has divine powers and is nearly laughed off stage. I don’t honestly know what he was expecting them to do, but he starts following Inari everywhere, much to her dismay.
There are some surprisingly long scenes of Inari getting ready for the festival. She meets up with Suzizome, also dressed to impress, and the others who are wearing far more casual clothes. (I remained stunned at Marutamachi, I can’t recall the last anime I watched with a full-figured girl in it that wasn’t played for a joke.)
Now, here’s an unexpected development. While the first few episodes of Inari, Konkon tricked us into thinking that Sumizome might be a rival in love, it now turns out that her affections are focused elsewhere. The target ends up being the tomboyish Sanjo, who just happens to remind Sumizome of a character she likes in a manga. It’s always difficult to tell if same-sex relationships in manga and anime are supposed to be genuine or end up falling into that excuse of ‘they aren’t really because reasons.’ I hope it’s genuine, because it would make for an interesting side couple to follow. Of course, there’s no evidence that Sanjo is anything but a tomboy at this point and the whole thing might just be one-sided.
I’m starting to wonder if Tanbabashi realizes how deep Inari’s crush is on him. By the end of their time at the festival I think he might be realizing he’s leading her on a bit. Not that Inari is fooling herself into thinking that she’s in a relationship with him or anything, she’s too shy for that. In fact, she continues to be so caught up in her own thoughts that she can’t even manage to make simple small talk with Tanbabashi during their date-that-isn’t-a-date trip around the festival. Even when he gives her a piggy-back ride when her new festival flip-flops (…geta, whatever), she can’t get the words she wants to say out right. Tanbabashi remains a gentleman through and through, which is hilarious because his mother was clearly all for him going out on a date.
While the kids enjoy the festival Uka is content to just soak up the good vibes along with the sake she’s sipping. Except her bother shows up to ruin her good time. It turns out her barrier to keep him out failed, another sign that her powers have diminished in sharing them with Inari. Touka remains mostly unsympathetic and demands to know what she did to his sister. Uka doesn’t tell him the truth, and Touka remains suspicious. It looks like Uka has the steepest climb toward love out of all of them.
In Summary:
This episode is an overdose of cute. Everyone seems to be cheering everyone else on in the love department, except maybe Marutamachi who is still uneasy about Sumizome joining the group. Although I might have to side with Kon about the shrillness of teenagers, the poor little familiar was getting squeed to death in the crossfire. Tanbabashi really does seem to good to be true, and maybe that’s part of why Inari can’t get up the courage to go for it. Uka still remains troubled by her goddess power issues, but now I’m most interested in Sumizome’s interest in Sanjo. Now things are getting interesting!
Episode Grade: B
Streamed by: Funimation
Review Equipment: 27” iMac running OS 10.8.4, via Safari 6.0.5, FIOS 15/5 Mbps connection. Your milage may vary.
