What They Say:
A comedy manga, “Shonen Ashibe,” that follows the friendship between baby spotted seal Goma-chan and first-grade student Ashiya Ashibe. First serialized in 1988 and adapted to anime in 1991, the adorable Goma-chan created a massive following and a spotted seal boom. This spring, Goma-chan returns to “Tentere Anime.” A cute, pleasant story of Ashibe and Goma-chan and their unusual school and their neighbors. Sometimes endearing, sometimes bizarre, it’s a fun anime for the whole family!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Part of the problem of any show that goes on for a while is that you end up with some weird situations that shouldn’t happen. We had a lot of that the last time around with Goma-chan being uncertain of shadows, and his at that, while going about town. For a character that’s been here and done as much as he does it just felt out of place and you can run into that with a lot of different characters in an ensemble cast. It’s been rare here thankfully since we do have a good group of characters. The fact that this episode is focused on the gym teacher, Tendou, and his leaving the school is just a delight in itself as the character could be little used or nonexistent in many other series.
With the news making it out to the kids that he’s leaving, something he didn’t want to be brought to light, it’s definitely making an impact on them because he is a beloved teacher. Ashibe’s unable to do some schoolwork, legitimately so, but Tendou’s an inspirational and aspirational character for this kids so wanting to do good for him is pretty motivating. There’s a lot of fun in seeing the playing going on since it goes comically over the top. The show works through some fun stuff within the school as everyone does stuff with Tendou and has a good time, including a little bit of a party, before the tender farewell – even from the teacher that has quite the almost romantic history with him. Of course, it all comes down to the end gimmick but it’s a really enjoyable journey in watching it unfold.
In Summary:
Of course, said gimmick is a really cringeworthy one as it plays out since it’s a huge misunderstanding with a weird twist that doesn’t quite work for me. But I like all the honest emotions that we get out of it and the way the kids realize they should have known better. It’s a simple and fun little bit that really did make for a fun episode overall, though flying alien turtles just doesn’t work for me even in the context of this show.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
