Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru – 10
Alright, where’s the porn at?
I feel like eating sweets after every episode of Sakurako-san. As much as it tries to be all dark and focused on bones and dead bodies, it does a much better job selling me on pudding and pies. Hmm, maybe that’s why I’ve been baking so much these past weeks…
We’re entering the final stretch where all the mysteries are starting to tie together and this mysterious butterfly man is coming into the light. I thought this would be more exciting, but this whole episode seemed a little bland – like we were just going through the motions. I think what made it feel like such a routine mystery was the way Sakurako just went from house to house, searching rooms in minutes before running off to nab her next big clue. It was too easy. I especially found it strange that Minami’s mother, who was suspicious of Sakurako at the start, would let her search her daughter’s room without a warrant. Keep in mind she is not a cop nor in any position of authority that Minami’s mom would take note of (just saying “I’m real good at mysteries” doesn’t work).
Due to how smooth everything ran, the first part of this mystery felt like it was blazing by. I think we’re supposed to learn more about Isozaki in the process, but it’s honestly nothing we don’t already know. It was easy enough to infer from the festival that Isozaki had lost someone close to him and that it had eaten away at him. Learning the truth behind it and that his coping mechanism is hoarding succulents doesn’t add much to that. In fact, it takes away from it for me, because a teacher caring so much about one out of their many students is maladaptive. I’m sure a more of his students committed suicide or disappeared, but it just happened after they graduated. How convenient for him to not care about those ones.
As someone who has been a teacher and had a student pass away, it seems like an odd thing to hold onto so strongly and try to take responsibility for when he had no part in it. I’m sure to the three sisters he was just one of their many, annoying teachers. His overwhelmingly empathy for people who probably don’t even care about his existence outside of what grades he gave them comes across to me as a sad attempt to add a dramatic motive to Isozaki and give him a ~tragic past~. He’s already interesting enough as a dorky biology nerd. I wish side characters like Yuriko and Isozaki didn’t have such emotional fragility that makes me think they could probably cry over a toilet paper commercial. It’s like characters can only be cool and cut-and-dry like Sakurako or bundles of raw nerves that jump at any provocation.
PLEASE TELL ME THE DOG LIVES
However, I will admit Isozaki is an important person for this case because he has a personal motive to solve it. That contrasts heavily with Sakurako’s desire to flex her detective skills and maybe get some bones out of it. Again, I’m not sure why Shoutarou reacts to everything she says and does by screeching at her when her personality should be established at this point. When interrogating families she doesn’t like, she’s going to be a complete bitch. When mysteries are involved, she’s usually in it for herself. Deal with it. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t care about other people at all, it just means she has different priorities. She wouldn’t be mad at a family for mistreating their daughter in the first place if she didn’t care about people at all. I thought Shoutarou was moving towards accepting Sakurako for who she is, but he just seems to be repeating the same mistakes again. Even worse, he gets all hot and bothered at the sight of the most weaksauce fanservice shots ever. An ass in jeans slightly bending over…geez, must be nice to be young and innocent. I hope his one-sided crush is, well, crushed. Don’t forget she’s engaged to someone!
stank eye game too strong
I’m not sure if it’s good or bad that Sakurako is racing through things. It’s bad because it makes everything seem too convenient. However, it’s good because I’m really not feeling this mystery. Hanabusa is an odd character, and his malevolent nature that inspires him to carve wings into girls seems far too macabre for this show. Last week they were eating pudding and talking about cute grandmas. Now girls are getting seduced and mutilated. It’s so sudden that it seems more comical than creepy. I couldn’t hold back a smile at how thirsty the girls were for this nondescript fedora guy asking them to be his “butterfly.” Do the writers think that sort of pick-up line really works? That girls like being called bugs? BUGS ARE THE WORST, WHY WOULD YOU WANT SOMEONE TO CALL YOU A BUG?!?
My guess is that they wanted a darker, edgier finale to go out with a gritty bang. Unfortunately, we’re just jumping right into mediocrity and unintentional hilarity. I like the ominous mention of how Shoutarou plays into a mystery somehow, but the thing with the 3 girls doesn’t induce more than yawns from me. The finale isn’t looking too great, but on the bright side, I might get to see more of Sakurako being sassier than ever with people she hates. It’s like her patience grows thinner every week. I love it!
“…this isn’t what they taught me in art school.”
About Overcooled
A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
It’s happening!!!! Grab your notebook and feel free to scream at the top of your lungs, OC!!!!
Anime news: Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma Anime Gets 2nd Season
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Yayy! Definitely gonna watch although I doubt I’ll blog it since I know what happens now :B
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I liked this episode, and like the way Sakurako is able to bulldoze people into getting her way by being eccentric and not listening.
I thought Isozaki’s response to Futaba’s disappearance was not really too much. He’s not a long-time teacher, given that he wasn’t at the school when Sakurako was there. So it was probably the first time that one of his students had disappeared like that, and there really haven’t been more since, since it hasn’t been that long.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
She’s by far my favourite part of the show. It may not make people like her, but it sure gets the job done!
True, newbie teachers might be more easily affected. I think I’d believe it more if he had some sort of special bond with the girls. It seems like he just watched them so they didn’t really become close (as most teachers do) so it’s surprising to me he became this traumatized.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
With that angle, she’s providing it. All that’s needed is imagination to push it further.
I’m going to stick Isozaki with a “Pot calling the kettle black” tag after what he explained to Sakurako and Shoutarou. He reprimanded Yuriko for getting overly emotional over something she didn’t understand and here, he’s not much better.
I’d say, just like ending shows, Sakurako’s growing impatient because she’s getting closer to whatever she’s after. At the rate it’s gone lately, it’s one step shy of a full blown obsession.
Finally some screen time on the mysterious butterfly man who’s been causing a ruckus. He seems the calm, collected type but he’s more deranged than I thought. Carving something into a person’s back (or perhaps influencing an intended target to do so), let alone a butterfly, is not a thing someone of sound mind would do. Since watching anime, I’ve learned to make myself wary of any character that professes themselves an “artist”.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Isozaki must have really been messed up from seeing his student disappear. I think that’s why he had such a hypocritical backlash against Yuriko at the festival. I don’t think he even realizes how deep he’s in it, because he seemed genuinely surprised when Sakurako pointed out that he bought a ton of plants after she disappeared.
Artists are never normal in anime, are they? :/
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
I wonder if Isozaki taking his student’s disappearance so hard is because he was drawn to her. I’m not saying there was a romantic relationship because I don’t think there was. But might he have had romantic feelings towards her? Feelings he didn’t act upon, but ones that made him take her disappearance so hard? After all, you want to protect the person you have feelings for and might he feel some guilt that he wasn’t able to protect her?
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Yeah, as I said in my reply to Highway, I think I would believe his level of distress more if he had some special bond with the girls (or at least one of them). A friendship, mental connection, or even some one-sided romantic feelings. So far we haven’t seen any of that, but we’ll see what next week holds!