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!