What They Say:
Aoi wants to climb Mt. Tanigawa next, but is worried about whether she can handle the ropeway with her fear of heights. She and the other girls gather at Kaede’s house for advice, and a few other things.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The series has done the decent mix of the cast overall, though its main focus is on Aoi, and we’ve got a number of episodes recently focusing on her and Hinata a lot. Which is why the focus on Kaede the last time around was nice since it brought out more of why she’s just a bit different from everyone else and how she’s had more of a difficult time in really connecting with others. That reinforces the friendships she has now, but also some of her lone wolf time in going off on adventures by herself because she’s done that for so long. But thankfully, the show knows when to circle around and bring everyone back in the fold.
Having dealt with her issues a bit, Aoi is ready to get back to climbing and wants to do Mt. Tanigawa, but we see early on she’s got a fear with it because of the high rope bridges. With a natural fear of heights, it’s definitely a challenge for her. To prepare for the trip, they all get together at Kaede’s house, which has Konoka having amusing visions of it. It is definitely unlike other houses to a degree, but the real fun is in seeing her climbing gear display and just how she handles her room. You can tell she’s got a very mountain lodge kind of approach to things and also very well kept, which makes a lot of sense for her personality. The girls are fun to watch in checking out their friends room for the first time and talking about her recent solo climb.
The girls are definitely fun to watch like this with what they do and just in seeing them all finally really bonding again after the Fuji adventure. While they did “repair” things after all of that, they haven’t hung out as a group in a big way. What’s also nice to see is that the flashback story in the previous episode with Kaede and her friend comes back to the forefront as in talking with Aoi, Kaede realizes that Aoi should be able to wear the jacket that she outgrew, which is very useful for their climbs. It’s a simple thing but it works really well to bring them all closer together in a way and to give Aoi something more to think about and reflect on as time goes on.
In Summary:
While we don’t get any climbing here, we get a good bit of fun time with the four main girls as they hang out at Kaede’s house. This lets us get to know her a bit better, which is a nice follow-up to the flashback story in the previous episode. Coupling that with Aoi’s desire to get climbing again in a big way and challenge herself adds to it in a very positive way, especially since the two were made close during the Fuji adventure as Kaede didn’t make her way to the top but stayed with Aoi. They’re not going to be the kind of friends that Aoi and Hinata are, but they’re developing a closer bond here in a great way.
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.
