Amagi Brilliant Park – 04
Sylphy just does her own thing…
Man, I’ve been lazy this week with this post. Ok, time to get it done!
Feelings of Inferiority
She wanted to plan and investigate, he just gets it done
Having given up her Acting General Manager position to Seiya, Isuzu is pretty much now the executive officer of the park. But it’s kind of a position that doesn’t seem to be needed with Seiya being so hands on. He doesn’t need her help with the schedule, he doesn’t need her help making decisions, he doesn’t need her help figuring things out. And not only doesn’t he need her help, he’s better at doing all those things than she is. Where she would make a plan and get working on it, he just gets it done. And his effectiveness at everything is not lost on her.
This management style leaves much to be desired
And nor is the comparison to her own ineffectiveness. We knew that Isuzu was the Acting Manager for a year, and that that year didn’t go well. But the park hasn’t been doing well for at least 5 years, since the last 4 they haven’t met their half-a-million visitors mark. But Seiya doesn’t know how bad her management was until the four fairies of Elementario convince him to go take a look at her dealings with The Three Stooges or Moffle, Macaron, and Tiramie. Not playing it smooth, not compromising, just bullying them at the point of a gun.
She’s Really Not Bad
Isuzu at her wits end
I really loved the way they defocused in this scene, just for a second a few times
And yet, they made Isuzu out to be extremely sympathetic, even as Seiya confronts her about her lack of style. Isuzu’s rebuttals are desperate: she’s seen Seiya ignore those three and get away with it. She’s seen him get his way by being stubborn and dictatorial. Why is it different when she does it? But she knows that it’s different, and she knows that it’s not the right way to do it. She just doesn’t understand how to do better. And she knows that she failed, and seeing Seiya succeed doesn’t help. But she does get the opportunity to shine, when the park is flooded by a rainstorm as the drainage equipment fails. That fits her management style, and gets things done without major damage to the park. I thought that it was a little out of character for Seiya to lock up with indecision at that moment, but just a little.
In her wheelhouse
Isuzu’s recovery of the situation and subsequent confession of her past – the daughter of a Maple Land Elite Guard family, a soldier, and ordered to turn the park around despite not having the background for that – really makes her inability to deal with her failure hit home, even though she knew she really had no chance to succeed. She wanted to succeed, but just didn’t know how, but mostly she wanted to succeed because that’s what was expected of her, not for the park. You still don’t know if she wants the park to succeed because she cares about it, or because it’s just what she should want because of her orders. But that doesn’t really matter, because she still wants the park to succeed. And when she can shine, she’s still effective, as evidenced by the warm reception she gets after her leadership during the storm.
Latifa can be so comforting
We’ve seen Isuzu being a little put off by Kanie since the last episode, and it reaches its head here. It’s interesting to me that they don’t really put it all down to jealousy, or to resentment, or to even not understanding. It’s all of those things and more. Isuzu sees how Seiya manages. It’s what she wanted him there to do. But even so, it’s still something that seems a bit hard for her to take, especially as she gets ignored or talked down to and feels double useless. I thought that Seiya’s fear of heights felt a little bit invented for convenience: Something that was serious enough to make him worry, but ultimately not really of any consequence, but it’s a ‘problem’ that he can confess to Isuzu. However, his problem did lead to a nice scene with Latifa, who exhibits a peculiar dualism. She appears younger than Seiya, although it’s hard to tell if she was any younger in his flashback / memory. But she also has quite the mothering qualities, in the way she comforts Seiya. I know that Moffle said she wasn’t old enough (when she said that she kissed him), but I wonder how old Latifa really is.
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
Latifa could be that type of Eternal LOLi; bring the up and downs of both sides to the equation. But, I will say girls her age do, on occasion, show a maternal side.
And for Fiddy. With her lack of management skills, and her capacity to thing of her weapon as her only tool, no wonder she made so many different types of ammo. How many of the employee’s “forget” things in the past?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
It was less the maternal instinct than the technique that makes me wonder.
I doubt Isuzu went that far. She ruled with an iron fist, not by making people forget.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
She would be broke if she just made employee’s forget stuff. It’s cheaper to make people feel and excruciating pain.