Auld lang syne.
What They Say:
Episode #10: “The Story of a New Beginning and New Feelings”
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
It’s New Year’s Eve and Hikari is hosting her friends at Amanchu-ya to ring in the new year with good food, good games, and good friends. Futaba is thrilled to bundle-up and rides down to the beach, where she quickly learns that she wasn’t the only one invited and her dreams for monopolizing Pikari’s attention swiftly evaporates.
Not only are the diving club regulars present, but so is Hikari’s sister Kodama and Kokoro. With Kokoro present competition forms between Teko and her, vying for Pikari’s affection once again. Kodama reflects that she’ll be entering high school next year and the others want her to join the diving club. Kodama doesn’t want to be seen as just following in her sister’s footsteps though
Hikari’s grandmother has been running Amanchu-ya for who knows how long, but I never really gave her role there much thought. We don’t exactly know how old Kino is, the anime never states her age, although a fan wiki gives her age as 66. When she starts to tell the others about when she started diving that would have put her at their age in the 60s. The style of her gear confirms she was getting into the hobby during the ground floor period.
That’s very early for a recreational scuba diver in Japan. Kino says she started free diving for pearls, which is a long tradition in Japan and often practiced by women. It’s also an activity bound in tradition. There’s a nice bit of show, don’t tell, and friction on display in the passive-aggressive reception Kino received when she began to scuba dive instead of free dive. The fishermen give her cold looks (that skin-tight wetsuit would certainly make a splash) and the other women tell her people are talking behind her back. This is not a series about hostility, but it’s not hard to imagine the level of pushback she would encounter. In fact, Kino almost gave up, until one day she came across a beautiful spot which the dive club frequents.
The pep talk ends and so does the night, with everyone falling asleep before midnight only to awaken at dawn to watch the sunrise. Teko gets a phone call from her friends back in the city (the stand-ins for the Aria girls) and the group shares a phone call and a promise to come and visit this year as well.
In Summary:
New Years brings new hopes, new dreams, resolutions and a moment of reflection. Hikari’s grandmother really is a tough lady. Being a pioneer of a rather risky hobby in a society like Japan takes some real guts. My respect for her has grown ten-fold. Although the season will end in a couple more episodes I hope that Kodama does decide to join the diving club. If we ever get a third season it would be fun to see her with the rest of the club.
Episode Grade: B +
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
