Nagi no Asukara – 22
Manaka shows everyone the new dance craze
The search for Uroko continues, but the answers they get from him may not be what Hikari wants to hear.
So Much for Improvement
Sayu and Tsumugu don’t really want to hear what Kaname is saying
We hear that the snow is falling more often, harder, and now farther inland than it has before, with the colder temperatures also moving farther inland. For whatever reason, this means that the university recalls the professor and Tsumugu from their field research, but Tsumugu is delaying as much as he can, because he wants to find out how Chisaki feels. Not that he’s going to do anything so bold as to ask her. So we end up with more posturing between Kaname and Tsumugu, and Kaname hinting (well, more than hinting) that he should confess to Chisaki again. And of course, Sayu overhears him and gets depressed again, but it’s not like she’s actually told him how she feels.
She’s definitely different, but how much?
But the real problem, if you can call it that, is Manaka. The more Hikari tries to reminisce with her, the more he (and she) finds that there are things she doesn’t remember, and most of them seem to be related to meaningful encounters with Hikari and Tsumugu. Finally, Hikari gets fed up and stalks off, with Miuna who isn’t giving up on him, and they finally encounter the guy they’ve been looking for. Yes, Uroko-sama is up on land, and they finally get some answers from him (and as expected, he did pick up the ecchi mag that Manaka left for him).
Something Gained, Something Lost
Hikari can’t handle the truth
Uroko does reiterate the story of the sea god and the ojoshi, and relates it to Manaka. Interestingly, the sea god was corporeal before, but eventually died and is now diffuse throughout the sea, but sometimes his emotions can become coherent and reach the surface. That’s what happened at the ofunehiki, when the sea god made Manaka the sacrifice. And happy with Manaka, things started to improve… until Hikari took her back to the surface. It’s no coincidence that the weather’s gotten colder and snowier since then. But that’s not the only consequence, nor is Manaka’s lost ena.
Uroko is still not above terrorizing little girls
In a move that I find completely in keeping with a spurned god, Manaka has also lost the ability to love. I think this is something interesting and actually reasonable. She had become the bride of the sea god, and it’s hard to imagine contradicting that without serious consequences. Am I glad it happened? No, but I think she’s better off losing that than something worse, or even her life (and that’s still no even if I ship Miuna x Hikari). Manaka is still a happy energetic girl, and even if she’s lost the ability to fall in love, she hasn’t lost the ability to care about people. But it’s certainly a rough blow for Hikari to take, and one that I think will be troublesome for him through the rest of the series.
Just a few episodes left now (ANN says 26 for the series), and I think we’ve got everyone in place and the major reveals done. Now the question for Hikari is can he get over losing Manaka? Will he try to stay in love with a girl that can never love him back? And will he react as poorly to this news as he does to just about everything else? My answer to that is ‘yes’, because I can’t see him doing anything besides raging about this for pretty much the entire next episode. Whether Akari and Miuna can calm him down is a question, and is there any way they can get the sea god to start caring again? Or is the cold just going to keep getting worse?
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
That Kaname…
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Maybe we should start calling him Kihote. 😉
(Yes I know that’s spelled differently)
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Uh…yeah. Sure (skylion pretends to get reference)
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Ah, I thought you were referring to Kaname repeatedly tilting at the unconquerable windmill of Chisaki.
It’s a quixotic effort, I think.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
It’s like I never even read Cervantes! Well, that was my daily dose of dummy pills…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
That’s a pretty cruel thing to do to a kid who is still growing up. Had Manaka already been an adult, cutting off her emotions probably wouldn’t feel so soul crushing. Hearing that after everything that’s been done to save her, it’s only natural that Hikari’s or anyone’s blood would boil.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Is it? Or would it have been worse for, say, Akari. Manaka had crushes, but hadn’t really been in ‘love’. She had other people who had crushes on her, but I don’t think what Hikari or Tsumugu had was ‘love’ yet. What if, instead, Akari had lost the love she was in with Itaru, a man that she loved enough to willingly give up her heritage, and face ostracization from the village. Manaka will never know what she’s missed, and she even had the critical line when saving Akari: “Akari has people waiting for her. Please don’t take her away.”
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Off-topic:
http://glasslip.jp/
Teaser site for the next PAW anime, Glasslip. The tagline reads “On the other side of the glass, you can see tomorrow.” The heroine is Tōko Fukami, a 17-year-old born in Fukui Prefecture. Her dream is to become a glass artisan.
An anime abt making glass? That something new alright.