“Sightseeing Mystery in Nara”
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)
With a large cast of characters it can be hard at times to remember who is who, such as the last episode with the brothers who largely go unnamed. The advantage of kids entertainment, however, is that you can still enjoy it a whole lot. I liked what we had going on the last time around but wished that it went just a little bit further and more creative. And, yes, I wished there was more Sugao material rather than the endlessly boring hell he’s been consigned to for much of this series after a strong first few episodes.
This episode has some fun from the start with Yuma’s mother as we see a bit of acting going on and the way it gets everyone so into it, which is made complicated with the arrival of Tamao, a member of an idol group that’s not exactly the best actress and that frustrates the established actress. With so many films and TV shows drawing on idol group talent, something we see around the world, the bulk of them are pretty terrible and a hard price to pay for some of the good talent we do get out of it. The acting aspects of this episode are pretty fun as we see different things playing out but we also spend time with Ashibe doing his best to try and cheer up Tamao. Which doesn’t do a thing for me as I’m so beyond tired of idol characters at this point that it really is becoming a detriment due to how regularly they’re used now.
Sugao Watch: Zip. And, sadly, that’s probably for the better.
In Summary:
Shonen Ashibe has a cute episode overall with some fun things related to the acting and just watching Yuma’s mother, but the time with Tamao just left me cool and frustrated with what they do with her. Ashibe’s help naturally makes everything better but that’s what you’d expect. Of course, I don’t think what Tamao did actually did make it better but I’m not much of a fan of Japanese live-action material and style of storytelling so I’m not surprise a good chunk of this episode just didn’t click for me.
Grade: C
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
