What They Say:
Hinata’s excited to be visiting Mt. Tanigawa with Aoi again. Aoi seems gung-ho herself on the way over, but can she remain so when faced with the dreaded ropeway?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The series has done some decent character stuff overall with the last few episodes as we’ve gotten focus on most of them to one degree or another while getting some stories of their past, recent and more, that helps to cement who they are now. But with all of that, we’ve had little in the way of real climbing outside of the pleasant stroll with Aoi and Hinata and their parents. With Mt. Tanigawa now being the center of focus, things shift to actually making that climb since they’ve been doing what’s necessary to get ready for it. Silly homework and jobs getting in the way.
As Hinata’s father says as she heads off to meet with the others early in the morning, Tanigawa should be a cinch after Fuji, though each location has its own challenges and wonders to behold. Part of the fun with this is just in getting to the mountain as they deal with the travel side, showing us some of the trains and underground stations which are their own climb that’s great to see play out. The first half covers this well and it’s an impressive amount of steps that they have to climb from the station itself just to get to above ground. There’s also some interesting bits added to what they have to do with registering their climb outside the station before making their way to the outside area itself, which is like a big breath of fresh air after being underground so much.
But that in itself is just the next challenge, mostly for Aoi, as they have to take the cable car up to their next destination. While Aoi has undergone some practice for this and has believed she could, the reality is very different and she’s pretty much paralyzed with fear. Some fears are definitely intense and seeing her go through all of this, and the way the others help her to move past it, is nicely done, even if you have to feel a little mixed about them basically forcing her into action rather than when she’s ready. Aoi doesn’t get to enjoy the view too much since she’s in such terror, but loosening up some does help and the show moves us smoothly into the next phase of the Tanigawa journey.
In Summary:
Getting back to the actual climbing aspect of the show is welcome and what we get here is good. Part of the appeal of the show for me is seeing various areas of Japan that don’t get shown in animated form, and that includes things like the underground train station here and the cable car system that takes them up. It’s really well done and, while a bit cleaner than you might expect it to be in reality, it’s presented in a really good way for the station in particular. There’s good character stuff here too with what Aoi is going through, though I think Hinata’s moment of action can be a bit divisive among people, especially the younger generation that’s reshaping how we interact with each other these days.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
