Rolling Review – Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho (07)

Episode Synopsis:

The girls have arrived in Fremantle, and rejoined the Penguin Manju Go. As they situate themselves and help with final preparations, they begin to sense that the mission may not be entirely as it seems…

Review:

As slow as this show has been, this still felt like a pretty slow episode. Time now for petty nonsense with Brendan:

I heard you say “sora” in your title drop here, Shirase. Well, think it. Or whatever. You were the one who said “uchuu” in the first episode, too – that wasn’t part of a title drop, but I thought it was implied.

…I officially have no idea what’s going on with those kanji.

I can’t shake the feeling that Nobue’s boyfriend convinced her to go to Antarctica so he could perform a super-long-distance break-up. And that seemed likely even before this incredibly ominous choice of voice-over:

Is she too clingy? Is he cheating on her? This would be a dick move in any scenario, and, in an alternate universe, I could see this going very poorly for him. Sora Yori, though (or YoriMoi, or however we’re supposed to abbreviate it), seems like the kind of show that’d handle such a situation by taking the high road, which would probably involve Nobue re-forging herself in the [inaptly frigid] wilderness into a strong, independent woman who don’t need no man.

In the space of “soon”, the girls record one of their segments, go on a supply run, trail some crew-members going out for… pre-game drinks(?), apparently go to bed –

– and there’s still enough time for Shirase to have a moment with Gin before that welcome party actually happens.

And don’t get me wrong – Shirase talking with Gin and introducing herself at the party are legitimately emotional scenes –

– but the emotional climax was undercut for me personally just a little bit by the song playing over it. I mean, it’s a good song – it’s just the same one that I listened to several times while reviewing the emotional climax of the last episode that I wrote up >_<

For real, though – this is still the show of the season. Tell your friends ~

Summary:

This one’s a bit on the slow side, and the foreshadowing seems to be laid on a little thick – we might not know what Gin and Kanae’s secret plan is exactly, but I feel like we’ve gotten to know them well enough that we have an idea of where their ballpark is. However: the show is not slacking on drama, the banter and the visuals continue to be top notch, and we’ve got – if not Engrish per se – some delightfully questionable uses of our native language:

Antarctica hooooo

 

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