#because Toi’s trying to help but Does Not Know How To People and Enta is prickly and would lash out

[regallibellbright]

[ID: A black and white drawing of Enta and Toi from Sarazanmai. Both are sitting on a flat surface, with Toi sitting facing forward and Enta sitting facing backward, his knees raised and one arm around them. His other hand is pressed to his face as he cries, tucked below Toi’s chin, as Toi has one hand arounf Enta’s back and looks awkward. There are dialogue bubbles between the two, reading, in order,

Toi: … you can pretend I’m him -

Enta: wha - fuck you NO (no capitalized)

Toi: …

Enta: that’s stupid

Toi: …

Enta: (in a smaller bubble) you’re stupid

End ID]

enta & tooi

[medea10]

My Review of Sarazanmai

How did I get into this anime? I heard “things” about this anime. 2019 was a weird time to be alive apparently. You know, before 2020 happened! As much shit as I give 2020, at least they didn’t give us kappas eating people’s asses.

Yes, I just said “kappas eating people’s asses”.

Be afraid. Be very afraid!

Kazuki Yasaka is a young boy who must carry around a box wherever he goes and follow specific directions day-by-day. Toi Kuji is a delinquent that breaks into cars and commits other crimes throughout the city. And Enta Jinnai is a childhood friend of Kazuki…He’s there too! These three boys have been chosen by the kappa prince, Keppi to help restore the Kappa Kingdom to its former glory. Kazuki, Toi, and Enta can now transform into kappas by being eaten ass first by Keppi and then shit out. Yes, I said eaten ass first and shit out by a kappa! These boys then must eat the inner-most desires of these kappa-zombies that are causing Keppi trouble. And these inner-most desires are located…in the ass. But there are those from the Otter Empire that cause this trouble for the kappas by turning folks into kappa zombies and causing havoc in the real world.

I would not expect any less of a mind-rape anime from the great Kunihiko Ikuhara.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Even playing a kappa, Junichi Suwabe still finds a way to give me an erection.

Okay, let’s try that again and not make it sound disgusting, Medea.

Right! Let’s talk licensing. FUNimation is the licensors of this fine product. Seriously? Eating ass is fine, but you frown upon the likes of Interspecies Reviewers? Yes, there is a dub to this and believe it or not, I pretended it didn’t exist. Not because it was bad or anything! It’s just that this anime had the likes of Mamoru Miyano, Kouki Uchiyama, Rie Kugimiya, and Mr. Sex-in-a-Voice Junichi Suwabe. Let me state that my infatuation with Suwabe is like John Oliver’s infatuation with Adam Driver.

That…totally doesn’t help my case! Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Kazuki is played by Ayumu Murase (known for Minami on Yuri on Ice, Luck on Black Clover, Asuto on Inazuma Eleven: Aries, Madoka on Shounen Maid, and Shinichi on SAO)

*Toi is played by Kouki Uchiyama (known for Yurio on Yuri on Ice, Soul on Soul Eater, Rui on Demon Slayer, Ikuya on Free!, Benedict on Violet Evergarden, Midnight on Fairy Tail, Yuu on Charlotte, and Ichijou on Nisekoi)

*Enta is played by Shun Horie (known for Kazuya on Rent-A-Girlfriend)

ENGLISH CAST: *Kazuki is played by Alejandro Saab (known for Leon on Pokemon Journeys, L’Arc on Shield Hero, Kuga on Food Wars, Yamazaki on Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, and Takezou on Kono Oto Tomare)

*Toi is played by Ricco Fajardo (known for Koutaro on Zombieland Saga, Itona on Assassination Classroom, Karim on Fire Force, Natsuya on Free!, and Kyousuke on Danganronpa 3)

*Enta is played by Justin Briner (known for Deku on My Hero Academia, Yukito on Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Shou on Fire Force, Luck on Black Clover, and Ryouta on Danganronpa 3)

SHIPPING: Well…we got our BL kiss by the third episode. That’s quite early for an Ikuhara anime. Ooh boy, Enta loves him some Kazuki. He REALLY loves Kazuki! There’s a lot to be said of a boy that would sniff and fondle items owned by his lover and kiss his unconscious lover. I can understand why Enta would care for Kazuki. I mean after hearing that he’s truly his first friend after a childhood of traveling around and not making many friends, you want to feel for this kid. Key word here is “want”. But this boy goes too far sometimes and his jealousy does get the best of him to a point where I’m just saying, cut ties with the megane brat. But Enta ends up screwing things up again by taking a bullet for Kazuki and throwing all that anger out the window.

And then we have Reo and Mabu! God damn Reo! We’ve got shark teeth, an arrogant attitude, homosexuality, and the voice of Mamoru Miyano. This is just a Rin Matsuoka of a different color! If Reo and Mabu’s otter dance isn’t a dead giveaway, they totally love each other. To a point where they would sacrifice each other for the one they love.

POLE-DANCE ALERT: I don’t know why I always find random pole-dancing moments in animes so alluring. I guess I can blame the likes of Grell from Black Butler. But this moment was so random that it came right the fuck out of nowhere. Then again, this entire anime is an enigmatic brain-fart that it was only a matter of time before a kappa prince starts randomly dancing on a pole.

There we go, Medea’s love for random crap will never die!

ENDING: Throughout the series, Kazuki, Toi, and Enta were gathering these dishes in order to get a wish granted by Keppi. And each time they’ve gone up against a big bad otter, Reo and Mabu are usually the ones to bring out the kappa zombies. But everyone has a plan for using the dishes of hope for their own wishes. Enta wants to use it to stay with Kazuki so the two can remain the golden duo. Reo and Mabu want the dishes to be with each other and save one another after an incident nearly killed them. And Kazuki originally wanted to use the dishes for his baby brother’s own sake, but changes to wanting to help Toi (who ends up leaving with his older, criminal of a brother). And shit goes crazier than what I’ve just mentioned. Enta fucks up by stealing the collected dishes and really fucking up his relationship with Kazuki! Toi ends up leaving town with his criminal brother.

Reo and Mabu, the otter cops shoot Kazuki, but Enta takes the bullet and is hours away from dying. But then we learn that Reo and Mabu were actually kappas who worked under Keppi. It’s just that the otters have been manipulating these two. Mabu is just a hollow body created by the otters because of some accident that happened prior to the events in the anime. The otter gives Mabu a mechanical heart to keep him alive, but in order to stay alive, he cannot say he loves Reo. Unfortunately for these two, Mabu ends up saying he loves Reo and dies right in front of him and vanishing from his memories. Reo is then shot by Toi who comes in at the last minute.

Toi’s back. We all knew it wasn’t going to last. His older brother got shot dead the episode before. So Toi is going to use the dishes to resurrect his brother from the dead. This leaves Kazuki in shambles as he was going to use it on Enta before his body expires in like 10 seconds. In the last minute, Kazuki used the dishes on Enta and he’s going to live. End of story right? No, we still have a demented otter on the loose. And the otters have a dark Keppi that he’s been storing for just this sort of moment. And now it grabs Toi and Toi accepts. He wants to erase his existence from Enta and Kazuki’s lives. Problem is if he does that, Toi erases giving Kazuki the ankle bracelet that’s been a staple in Kazuki and Enta’s relationship when it comes to soccer. But the boys were able to connect, destroy the otters, bring the memories of Mabu and Reo back, turn Keppi into a kappa prince, and save the town from OTTER-destruction.

Yeah, if you watch this series, you’ll hear a lot of puns involving otters. I mean when you’re not smothered in sexualized otters and kappas.

The ending credits show Toi getting sent to juvie for three years. And it’s quite sad to see his dejected face while the ending song blasts. When the lyrics literally say “stand by me” it gets quite sad. Three years pass and Toi’s out of juvie. He goes to the bridge and jumps off. Keep in mind this is an Ikuhara anime, Toi’s not gonna die. Enta and Kazuki jump in and join Toi and welcome him back to society.

Good lord Ikuhara-san! I didn’t think you could out-gay an anime after the likes of Yuri Kuma Arashi. But good fuck, you found a way! This anime was…INSANITY. Pure insanity! Then again, this is the same director that did Revolutionary Girl Utena, Yuri Kuma Arashi, and Mawaru Penguindrum. Yes, connection and desires are a big take in not only Sarazanmai, but a lot of the other animes Ikuhara does. It’s just that Sarazanmai is the strangest acid-trip of them all. And that’s saying a lot because Yuri Kuma Arashi has sexy bears that say “Shaba-da-doo”. ALSO VOICED BY JUNICHI SUWABE! But people getting turned into kappas by being eaten ass first by another kappa and stealing spirits inner most desires, conveniently stored in their asses is some wonky-ass crack-fest. Recommendation wise, I would say watch some of the other animes Ikuhara has directed to get your feet wet in what you might expect in this kind of anime. After that, pop in a few Bakemonogatari episodes just for good measure. And after you do all that, take some CBD gummies and let-a-rip with Sarazanmai.

If you want to watch Sarazanmai, Crunchyroll and FUNimation have it available for streaming.

Okay, what’s next for my FUNimation list?

Okay, boobs! What are we talking here? Are these boobs flat as an ironing board or crimes against nature like in Eiken?

Oh, this can’t end well.

[villian666]

I just wanna say my two cents on the whole, Enta thing. On one hand people hate him entirely and the other people can sympathize with his character. But for me, I'm kind of in the middle to a degree when it comes to his character.

While he isn't 'necessarily' an "evil" character people are looking at his actions deeming it as evil. Yes he has a crush on kazu that alone is canon- yet he has not acknowledged his feelings nor does he seem interested in him that way. Him kissing kazu without his conset, ruining their spot entirely out of jealousy because he paid more attention to toi than him, etc... I can see why people would be turned away from his character because of his actions. *Also some people do have biases when it comes to certain troupes- I am not a fan of jealous unless it was a yandere but Enta isn't written as one imo.

But I also am a little confused by Enta's actions for one we did have moments when he got along well with toi. And even when they all cleaned up their special spot where they played soccer. Yet, he still made that choice of taking the plates and essentially wanting to boot out toi as well. That whole back and forth thing with his character is something I definitely did not like either. But overall, I can sympathize with his character; that being having an unrequited crush. Dealing with it is very difficult and it can be hard to accept but people do with time and eventually move on. *Not to say he still isn't a gay/queer coded character anymore. It's just that I do not think Kazu will reciprocate his feelings with how he has been towards it. (Kazu even knows about the kiss but didn't really react to it ghehhfhd).

And just from the new PV trailer we can see him trying to help toi (again), which makes me go 🤔🤔🤔 about it. However if they are going down the whole,'reset the whole world's type thing then more than likely all that was done will be undone. Which means none of that every happend and it's possible toi will get his brother and parents back, Haruka will walk again and kazu will play soccer with Enta again.

But I also want to point something out as well, kazu is the only one who has been reaching for toi this whole time. I do wonder if kazu is interested in toi and wanting to be something more there? Of course the whole 'couple' thing chasing nyantaro, Kazu coming to him for help saying,"You're the only one who can do this-", etc.. And even when Kazu was dressed as Sara toi blushed at him while he was eating noodles. 👀 And even in the official artwork toi's hand is on kazu's side- Idk if they are going to be something more later on down the line or not but it has potential.

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Sarazanmai Episode 9: “I Want To Connect, But I Can’t Express It”

We’ve officially reached the point where the tonal ratio of the show has shifted to 10% comedy, 90% “try not to cry. lay on the floor. cry a lot :(”

Thoughts under the cut.

Oh boy this episode sure was a lot all at once. Thankfully it managed to successfully juggle all the different character arcs and plot points it was dealing with.

Starting off with Reo and Mabu, it seems like Mabu has gotten good enough at cooking that Reo’s now finally convinced that he’s ‘back to his old self’, and he even sings Sara and Keppi’s little song about being the ‘ultimate couple’ while bringing home wine and pancakes for Mabu, in case anyone needed it spelled out even more explicitly that they’re in a relationship, lmao. But then things take a turn for the worse when Reo finds out that Mabu’s off being maintained, which leads to Maximum Cucking when he walks in on it happening, and the sexual element of the maintenance gets made as clear as ever. And of course Reo misunderstands the whole situation and Mabu’s feelings and motives, and now he’s back to even more aggressively rejecting Mabu as he is now. The visual of him standing in the circle diagram thing that’s usually used to show kappa zombie victims being ejected from the circle of society is very worrying. Let’s just hope he can realize what’s really going on before it’s all too late.

I’m kinda worrying more and more as this goes on that Reo and Mabu’s relationship and it’s nuances might not be getting across properly to anime-only people, since the anime hasn’t really given them a whole lot of screen-time, and like 99% of their backstory and prior relationship is just shown in external media. Maybe I’m just worrying too much, but I’ve definitely been seeing some people be confused about some of what’s going on with them. Though tbh I do also think that the whole maintenance scene in this episode was a little confusing in general. But still.

Over on Kazuki’s side of things, pretty much all of his scenes were about setting up his decision to go after Reo and Mabu to reclaim the stolen dishes of hope so that he can use the wish to save Enta’s life. Thankfully he’s finally starting to truly realize how important his connections with Enta and Toi are. It also looks like he finally remembered his meeting with Toi after Haruka showed him that poster of the soccer player they’ve been mimicking, so hopefully those two get to reunite before this all ends.

I don’t know if Toi is going to want to try and get the plates for himself, but we’re at least definitely looking at a conflict between Reo and Kazuki, who both in this episode have resolved to steal the other person’s plates so they can make a wish to save someone else. In a lot of ways this episode really hammers in the parallel going on between Reo-Mabu and Kazuki-Enta, but I still do think that, out of the two of them, Kazuki probably deserves the wish more, since Enta’s in a genuinely life or death state, whereas Reo just needs to accept that Mabu is still Mabu. The synopsis for ep10 [which was accidentally leaked in place of ep9′s synopsis last week, lol] spells out that Kazuki is going to infiltrate the otter hide-out to retrieve the plates, so we’re barrelling head-on into endgame territory. In a lot of ways I think this show would have benefited from more than 11 episodes, but at the very least I think they could wrap things up pretty nicely with just two more episodes.

And over on the topic of Toi, he and his brother sure ended up being the tragic MVPs of this episode. It wasn’t exactly the most unexpected thing over, but they really drove home the tragedy of Chikai’s inevitable death. He was just too far gone, with too many enemies to ever be able to live a normal life. And the idea of crossing a line you can’t go back from is something that Chikai seems completely aware of, since throughout this episode he seems to be trying to give Toi every chance to change his mind and go back, while reminding him that if goes through with this, it’ll be irreversible. I think that even the whole scene at the end of him putting a gun to Toi’s head was his way of trying to scare him into going back to his old life once and for all.

Chikai’s a really morally grey character, and I think a lot of people are gonna hate him after this episode, but I think he just serves as a tragic example of what Toi’s life could turn out like if he ‘crosses the river’ that he can never return from. I don’t think he exactly enjoys any of the criminal activities he’s been doing, but he just doesn’t have any options left, especially now that the cops are onto him and the other gang people he knows are turning on him. Even when he killed Masa, I think he only did it because he could tell that he might have leaked out the fact that Toi was the one to shoot that gang leader four years ago, which Chikai’s been taking the blame for to protect him.

And on the whole note of moral ambiguity, Toi also literally kills at least one dude in this episode. I’m pretty sure he at least killed one of the gang members in this episode, if I’m remembering right. And we found out that he’s been holding onto the real gun he used to kill the gang leader dude, after having previously thrown out a copy. Though I guess we knew right from the start of the show that he still had the gun on him.

The whole sequence before and after the credits of Chikai dying on the boat and Toi remembering their childhood together and then angrily throwing away all of his cash was absolutely heartbreaking, and so much more emotionally blunt than I expected. I’m very curious to see if he’s going to want to take the plates for himself to revive his brother, or if he’s going to accept his death and move on with his life, for better or worse. He’s at least at the point where he still has a chance to go back to his old life, especially now that everyone who knew about his more criminal acts are dead [except for Kazuki and Enta]. Considering the whole ‘crossing the river’ theme, it’s pretty fitting that Toi’s on top of a boat sailing through the middle of the river when Chikai dies. He’s in this transitory space where he still has one last chance to step back before he fully crosses over.

I have a feeling that the big showdown will just be between Reo and Kazuki, but I think Toi’s still going to be important to the last two episodes, and he’s probably going to reunite with the trio again before it ends. So I’m curious to see how that all turns out.

I’ve never really cared too much for shipping any of the main trio, but I could honestly see Kazuki and Toi ending up together at this rate, with how the story as a whole is building up.

Before I forget, there’s also the whole thing with how Keppi was able to apparently turn Enta into a kappa so that he can presumably help Kazuki with getting back the plates, even though he’s on a time limit before he dies once and for all. Which sets up some pretty tangible stakes for these final few episodes. I’m at least glad they got to hug, though. That was really cute, in a sad way. I still hope that Enta’s able to properly let Kazuki know how he feels about him before this all ends.

The next episode synopsis also seems to imply that we’ll get more backstory about Reo and Mabu’s connection to Keppi, so that’ll be exciting. There’s still a lot of aspects to their role in the otter-kappa war that’s still confusing and unclear even to people who’ve been keeping up with all the side material for the series, so it’d be good to get that sorted out. And with how surprisingly blunt a lot of the exposition and backstory has been in this show, I wouldn’t be too surprised if it does all get spelled out in the next episode.

Most of all I’m still hoping that the anime delves into Reo and Mabu’s connection to Sara, since that hasn’t really come up at all, aside from the vague references to Sara knowing them and thinking that they’re good people. I’m pretty sure it’s been said multiple times that the manga [and the twitter] aren’t alternate universe stories, but actually part of the timeline of the series, so it’d be a bit weird if the whole aspect of them having raised her doesn’t come up.

I’m still keeping in mind the possibility that the manga might be some sort of an epilogue where the anime [hypothetically] ends with time being looped back, and Sara choosing to insert herself into Reo and Mabu’s lives. So it could still be ‘canon’ to the anime without being a conventional prequel.

Anyway, we’re firmly in the final arc of the series now, and pretty much all of the previous patterns and recycled sequences have been abandoned in favour of more important plot stuff. I wouldn’t be too surprised if we get one last Sarazanmai no Uta and/or Kawausoiya sequence for good measure before it all ends, though.

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Sarazanmai Episode 10: “I Want To Connect, But I Can’t”

There’s still one whole episode left and I already want to sue Ikuhara for emotional damages, lmao.

Somehow this episode managed to be even more intense and tragic and shocking than the last couple, and that’s saying a lot.

I was initially worried about whether he’d be able to pull off an 11-episode series, but if the final episode can stick the landing I think this will be cemented as one of this best series.

Thoughts under the cut.

I only just woke up like an hour ago and I already just wanna go back to bed now so I can process all this lmao.

Where to even start with this one. It was such a non-stop rollercoaster of intensity. I actually got surprised when the mid-episode transition card happened because it honestly felt like only a few minutes had passed.

I can’t remember if I ever actually got around to saying so, but I’ve been thinking for a while now that I really wanted to see Reo get his own Sarazanmai no Uta musical sequence, and that’s exactly what I got, and it was just as tragic in it’s implications as I feared.

Even though I technically saw that part coming, I didn’t expect the reveal of them being kappas. I thought that they’d turn out to be otters. But this makes sense in it’s own way. It does raise even more questions about Reo and Mabu’s history, though, especially when you take into account the manga and twitter account. I guess my main source of confusion is that it’s unclear if they’re ‘native’ kappas, or if they’re like the main trio, and they’re just humans who got roped into Keppi’s business and can now transform. The fact that Reo had to have his shirikodama extracted like the main trio makes me lean toward the latter, but the whole thing with them having served Keppi in the past makes me think they might actually be from the Kappa Kingdom.

I’m also still holding out hope that they’ll actually explain how exactly the prequel manga ties into the anime, since they still have yet to explore Sara’s relationship with Reo and Mabu yet. It seems like it’d be kinda bizarre if it doesn’t get brought up at all. It could still just be a prequel and it just hasn’t really come up yet in the anime that Reo and Mabu raised Sara as a baby, but I’m also still clinging onto the idea that the prequel manga might actually be an epilogue [or maybe the result of time being reversed and history changing]. At the very least, the fact that the Tokyo Skytree didn’t exist in the manga might not actually mean it’s necessarily a prequel. Given that it’s the otter’s HQ in the anime, it’s possible that over the course of the finale it gets destroyed, which could allow for an epilogue where it isn’t there.

No I’m not just clinging onto whatever flimsy hope exists that my wonderful gay cop dads might get a happy ending. How could you possibly suggest that? :v

[Fake edit: before I forget, it’s also worth mentioning that even though there’s been hints of Sara being familiar with Reo and Mabu in the anime, which seems to imply that she remembers them raising her, the fact that this episode makes it clear that the two of them were working for Keppi means it’s entirely possible that she only knows them for that reason, and the events of the manga might not have happened yet in the anime]

One way or another, this was the most singularly ReoMabu-centric episode thus far, and oh boy it sure delivered on the emotions, and laid pretty much everything out on the table. There’s still mysteries about their history and what exactly it even means that they’re kappa, but in terms of the more emotionally relevant aspects of their characters and the role they play in the story, this episode ties everything together and brings it to a tragic conclusion.

As I expected, Mabu has always just been Mabu, and Reo’s just been misunderstanding the situation. I mean, Ikuhara’s literally spelled that out in some recent interviews, but still. The show alone makes that perfectly clear, in my opinion. But I wasn’t expecting the whole detail of how Mabu’s mechanical heart was rigged to explode if he ever vocalized his love for Reo. It makes a lot of sense, but I didn’t see it coming. It really goes to show how the otters are just out to mess with people, and that they seem hellbent on destroying people’s bonds.

I initially thought that Mabu just had his emotions impacted by what happened to him, like what can happen to people when they have such near-fatal accidents, and in a lot of ways I think that’s still exactly what his situation is an allegory for, but there’s now a more in-universe explanation for his stunted emotions and how he seems to be holding himself back. Since he apparently literally hasn’t been allowed to express his emotions.

And as if it wasn’t already spelled out enough already, Mabu explicitly declares his love for Reo, before dying. WELP.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, we then got the even more tragic and shocking scene of Reo losing his goddamn mind as he falls into despair while also starting to forget Mabu, which makes him go even more out of control, and then Toi shows up and shoots him to death.

The very fact that they both died is in itself a bit of a can of worms that a lot can be said about, but to put it simply, I’m not genuinely upset about this, since for one thing Enta got revived at the end so that’s at least one gay character who avoided death, and also, the fact that they leaned so heavily into the tragedy and sadness with Reo and Mabu in the second to last episode makes me think that stuff will happen in the finale to give them a more happy/bittersweet ending. At the very least, as I said, the anime still hasn’t concretely explained Sara’s connection to them, and I find it very interesting that they decided to oh so conveniently show off near the end that Sara’s headpiece is a plate. I’ve been wondering for ages if the finale would involve a twist ending of Sara producing a gold plate of hope to make a wish of her own, and I feel like that scene was a huge nod toward that possibility. And similarly to how all of the tragedy with Reo and Mabu happened in the second to last episode rather than the last one, it seems important that Kazuki used the gold plate of hope to revive Enta at the very end of this episode, which makes me think it’s more likely that the actual climax in the finale will involve another wish being made.

Since this episode was so heavily ReoMabu-centric, I kinda ended up glossing over the scenes involving the main trio, lol. They were good and all, but I was way more invested in everything else going on. Thankfully since most of the ReoMabu content was covered in this episode, the finale should be more singularly focused on the main trio, so they’ll still get their time to shine.

The scene with Enta and the Otter felt a little too stilted in how it existed to provide exposition for what the Otters are and what they want, but it worked, and I liked the aesthetic of it all. And at the very least we really needed to get a clearer idea of what the Otters are.

I said above that they seem to want to destroy people’s emotional connections, but it also seems like they want to be the ones to then swoop in and control people by becoming their new objects of desire. So it’s less that they’re against connections, but more that they want to have people for themselves. And so we get stuff like the main otter dude trying to ‘replace’ Reo when he’s with Mabu, while also intentionally trying to drive a wedge into their relationship. And the whole thing with him transforming into Kazuki and trying to seduce Enta. And the whole thing at the end with the otter taking on the image of Chikai to lure Toi ‘outside of the circle’.

I’ve been a little iffy on the otters thus far as characters [or as a character, since we’ve basically only seen the one, lol], but this episode helped clear up the more obscure and confusing parts of their role in things. I never really expected them to be much more than representations of concepts that are important to the story, since the whole Kappa/Otter war thing has always just existed to serve as a narrative backdrop and not to be an actual thing that the show ever planned to dive into.

And having their motivation of wanting to destroy connections and monopolize people’s desire spelled out like this helps set up the emotional stakes of the finale. I imagine it’s gonna involve them trying to launch some wide-scale attack on humanity to destroy everyone’s connections once and for all.

It’s kinda funny that even this late into the anime I still have no idea how it’s going to end. Obviously I have a clearer idea than when the show started, but still. There’s just a lot of ways it can go, depending on what sort of ending he wants to tell.

I’m still leaning toward the idea that the finale will be a lot happier than people expect. Maybe that’s just me being delusional, but it does feel like they intentionally ramped up the tragedy in this episode so that the finale could be happier. I at least remember that Utena had a really tragic penultimate episode, and then a much more hopeful and fulfilling finale.

Plot-wise, as I said, I’m placing my bets on the idea that Sara will intervene and use her own dish of hope to do something like turn back time or revive Reo and Mabu [and maybe then insert herself into their lives]. She’s the biggest wild card in the whole story, so I think she’ll be important one way or another. I’m also still holding out hope for the idea that she and Kazuki might have a more important connection than we’ve seen thus far, but there’s not a whole lot of show left to do anything like that with. I’ve seen some people raise the possibility of Kazuki ‘replacing’ Sara, though, which I think could actually make a lot of sense, especially if the anime ends with Sara making a wish that leads to the events of the prequel manga happening.

Though tbh one of the things I’m genuinely most excited for is seeing what the final episode title will be. They’ve all been really relevant to the events and themes of each episode, so one way or another it’ll probably encapsulate whatever theme the ending is going to have. So it should be a pretty big deal. I have a feeling it’ll be along the lines of episode 6′s title and be a more hopeful title starting with ‘I Want To Connect, So ____’, but we’ll see. It might even entirely break the naming scheme and be something different.

And on the note of episode titles, this one just being ‘I Want To Connect, But I Can’t’ really just sums up the blunt emotional tragedy at the heart of this episode. And it really lays bare how that’s basically what every single episode title, except for episode 6, has been about. It’s always boiled down to ‘I Want To Connect, But I Can’t’.

Whether or not people end up being truly satisfied with the ending that Reo and Mabu get in particular, I think there’s a very good chance that the final episode will stick the landing and be really satisfying as a whole. It’s kinda hard to believe that Ikuhara’s managed to pull off an 11-episode series so well, after the bad things I’ve heard about Yuri Kuma Arashi’s pacing, but he’s done a really good job with the pacing and structure of this series. I’m really curious to see where people who’ve watched all of this stuff end up placing this one on their personal rankings. I’ve only watched Utena thus far, but I have no idea how I’d even try and compare the two. In spite of all their similarities, they’re so different that it’s hard to say I prefer one or the other. I think I’ve had a much stronger emotional reaction to Sarazanmai, but that has a lot to do with how I’ve been watching it as it’s come out.

One way or another, I don’t think it’d be very hard for me to end up enjoying the ending. Everything about the show’s central message makes me think it’ll only be bittersweet at worst. Though it’d really be icing on the cake if we find out that the ReoMabu manga is actually an epilogue, and ends up serving as their ‘canon ending’, lol.

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Sarazanmai Ep1: “I Want To Be Connected, But I Want To Lie”

Oh boy, are y’all ready for Ikuhara’s newest Wild Ride as we experience the joys of young boys transforming into kappas and stealing magical orbs out of people’s anuses and finding out about their deepest secrets?

Because I’m not.

I’m not ready at all.

But I’m still gonna try and be here every week writing about my thoughts on each episode because I can’t help but respect someone who goes so far and does so much, all for The Gays.

[Thoughts under the cut]

I’m kinda regretting the fact that the only Ikuhara anime I’ve watched before this is Utena, since this seems way more similar to both Penguindrum and Yuri Kuma Arashi, based on what I know about those series. I’ll get to them eventually, lol. It’ll definitely wait until after this is done, since I don’t think my mind can physically handle watching multiple Ikuhara anime at the same time.

I can really see what people who went to the pre-screening meant about how even the very first scenes seem packed with foreshadowing, and about how they were surprised that this was allowed to air on TV at all.

At first I thought that that might have just been a bit of an exaggeration, but nah not really. Ikuhara really be out here making us look at some boys-turned-kappas acting as maybe not so metaphorical anal beads to extract a magical Desire Organ [tm] out of a giant zombie’s anus. And lest we forget about whatever the fuck was going on in the scene with Keppi extracting Kazuki’s shirikodama. LEST WE FORGET.

I’m still kinda worried about whether or not Ikuhara is gonna be able to actually tell a well-paced and coherent story in just 11 episodes, but thus far the actual meat of the story in terms of the character dynamics seems relatively focused enough that it probably won’t be a bit deal. It at least looks like the series will just focus on the main trio [plus our favourite Gay Cop Dads, and also Sara], with the supporting cast being there to support the character arcs of the main trio. So hopefully Ikuhara isn’t trying to juggle too many things at once here.

I’m not even gonna try and seriously speculate at length about most of what happened in the first half of this episode since most of it seemed like stuff designed to make sense on a rewatch, but I did think almost immediately that the whole dramatic monologue about ‘not wanting to lose the connection this time’, mixed with some of the weird cuts and time skips and references to memory erasure and dreams, gave me a bit of a “time loop” vibe. Though knowing Ikuhara I doubt it’d be just as simple as “time got looped after things happened and ended up badly”.

There’s also probably gonna be a whole lot of symbolism based around kappas, and other parts of Japanese folklore/history that’ll probably go over my head, so I’ll probably just leave that to other people to talk about, lol.

Based on the promotional material I kinda pieced it together, but it looks like this is, at least at first, basically gonna play out like a monster of the week magical boy show where the main trio fight a new zombie. Which will probably be a good way to make each episode have it’s own satisfying set-up and conclusion while also setting up all sorts of other plot threads.

And on the note of the whole zombie thing, we don’t really have any idea what’s going on with them or what their goals are beyond the fact that they also have their own desires they’re trying to keep locked up, but it looks like the Gay Cop Dads are intentionally setting them off and turning them into zombies, based on the final bit of the episode. There’s not much to say about these two at the moment, but I feel like their motives and actions are gonna be a core part of whatever this series has to say about the BL genre and societal views/expectations towards gay/bi men, if it has anything to say about that at all. I also wouldn’t be too surprised if there’s some stuff about monogamy vs polyamory, given that their official joint twitter account is called keeponly1luv. And if anyone’s gonna be out there making in-character official anime character twitter accounts plot-relevant, it’s this dude.

Also, these two remind me a lot of Mikage from Utena already, so that’s cool. That whole arc was one of my favourite parts of Utena, so if we can get a whole season of not one, but two mysterious queer anime dudes provoking people’s innermost desires and conflicts for unknown reasons, then that’s even more cool.

I guess I should actually get around to talking about the main trio of the show. I suppose that’s pretty important, lol. There’s really not much to say about any of them at the moment since this episode was more about introducing the setting and style of this whole show rather than really showing off the characters, but I really like this episode’s whole central twist with Kazuki. I didn’t expect it at all, but it was really cool. I certainly wasn’t expecting his big secret to be that he secretly cross-dresses as Sara and basically roleplays as her to send texts to his little brother. I’m guessing that Kazuki for one reason or another feels unable to have a direct connection with his little brother, and so he’s doing this whole complicated daily routine of dressing up as Sara and sending texts to him because it’s the only way he can connect with him. It looks like they live together and even sleep in the same room, so if there’s any sort of distance between them it’s probably an emotional one. 

Also, on the note of Kazuki’s whole thing in this episode, I have a feeling that the subtitles using feminine pronouns for the person he’s connecting with might be inaccurate if he was actually just talking about connecting with his little brother. Who I at least think is a boy. I was actually kinda thrown off at first at the implication that Kazuki had a secret girlfriend, lmao.

There’s also not a whole lot to say about Toi and Enta thus far, but it looks like another part of the whole monster of the week formula is that after each fight, one of their secrets is gonna get telepathically broadcast to the rest of them, like what happened in this episode with Kazuki, so there’s clearly a lot to unravel with both of them as well. Going by the OP theme, it seems like there’s gonna be importance placed on Kazuki’s relationship with his little brother, Toi’s relationship with his older brother, and Enta’s relationship with Kazuki. So I can’t help but wonder if one of the ‘twists’ later on will be about the idea of Enta having a crush on Kazuki. It looks like he was packaging a present for him early in the episode which got stolen by the kappa zombie underling things, so that might come up later.

I’ve also got no real predictions about what kind of role Sara is gonna have in this, especially not after whatever the fuck happened at the end of the Gay Cop Dads spin-off manga. At the very least I think she’ll probably be kinda like the shadow girls in Utena. Ikuhara really likes having characters who exist mostly to provide cryptic running commentary on the events of the show.

Aside from everything about the story, which was the number one memorable part of the episode, I was really pleasantly surprised at how nice the animation was throughout the whole thing, especially in the whole kappa zombie fight sequence. I hope that this quality can keep up the whole way through.

Also the ED theme is fantastic and I’m glad that they were able to use the ‘anime characters in real environments’ aesthetic of the trailers in at least some part of the show itself.

Anyway that’s about it for this episode. Will I end up having too little or far too much to say about the rest of the series after this? Who knows. That’s for me to not initially know and for me to find out one way or another.