Sora no Method – 07

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Welcome back to Saucer City. I have to admit, I almost wished that this episode came much earlier in the program. It does clear up quite a few things. Almost wished. As it stands, I’m quite satisfied in how this show has paced itself, as I feel the characters as presented, were fairly accurate. And without the miles we’ve already traveled, I don’t think this trip would have had the impact it did.

What I lost

Another striking, yet lonely moment…

The importance of this trip certainly cannot be overstated, as are the reasons why Nonoka needed to do it with her two good friends. While it’s certain, that her father has taken this trip before, it’s also certain that this is really her first time doing it, at least the first time in such a deliberate, conscious manner. With support, she is able to take the next step needed for the rest of her journey. Which is a complete reconciliation with the past.

Yuzuki never changes her tempo, just the tune

I’ve often pondered, but never committed to word, how much Nonoka seems to exist in a fugue state. Or at the very least, veered rather uncomfortably there at times. While it could be that she is capable of being very lost in her very private thoughts, she does have a tendency to disassociate. At times, during past episodes, it felt like she was working under a new identity, one that accepted punishment, felt deserving of it from Yuzuki and from Shione. I’ll admit that this is a something of a stretch. But dealing with a passed parent is a difficult thing. Even more difficult, I think, is pulling the Dead Parent Trope off. It’s an easy way to set up sympathy for a character, but you have to pay the price in a narrative sense later. I think they are finally putting the deposit down this episode.

Kaiju-san

“Noel, did you just literally break a metaphor?”

This was a fun bit of subterfuge exposition. Kaijus-san, or Kirigon has been seen in the background here and there. Once upon a time, before the saucer came, he was something of the town mascot. I guess he’s a cross between a lake dwelling kappa and Gojira? But he was something of a feature selling item at Koharu’s family store. Then they started selling saucer souvenirs. So, it’s a interesting link to the past these kids share. I love how it was a group effort between Koharu and the twins, as I always assumed it was something the store just ordered or had an adult make.

Nice job breaking it, hero!

So what is going on here? If Noel is, as she has claimed, the saucer, she is literally breaking a link to the past, in the most metaphorical way possible. And helping in it being rebuilt. Got to hand it to both Koharu and Souta for handling Noel’s antics, as they should have been more than a little angry at the accident. But in not being that way, have they reconciled a part of their own past? I’ve often seen Noel as a facilitator in the narrative. She has been on both Yuzuki’s and Shione’s supportive end. In this case, she is with Souta, a fellow that is getting used to the idea of making a break with his friends and going to school out of town. So perhaps she has given him time to think on this future.

The snow, like stars

…and another lovely moment…

I’m glad to see they are going to be moving in positive direction with Shione, at least that is what the end of the episode seems to suggest. Stars make for a good metaphor again, as we look at them we are very much observing a past that cannot help but inspire us in the present. It does make me hope that the observatory will play a bigger role as we move along, as that is where much of the plot got started both with Nonoka originally leaving, and with Noel making her entrance. Even with reconciliation, there are still some mysteries the show has yet to fully tackle. One that they might even stretch out is why Shione was at the graveyard to begin with, and what member of her family she was paying respects to.

Yay, meteor show party Go!

Abstract art, monsters, and LOLi

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This has probably been the show most of the audience has been waiting for, and I think it should do a great job of settling some of the disputes folk had with the story so far. Now, while I feel the show has down adequately, I do realize some of the unrest, and understand how it has come about the past six or so weeks. So, what will we have in store? If they keep with the pace, we may not be seeing a very easy change in Shione. She feels to me like someone that is looking to prove her point, and everything she see’s will reinforce it no matter what. So the future meeting for the meteor show might be an Act II version of the fireworks a few episodes ago. Time will tell…So with that I leave you with, what I hope to do better than Woody Allen, a quote from William Faulkner, “The past isn’t dead, it’s not even past”

About skylion

All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion