Aquatope of White Sand (02)

Episode Synopsis:

Fuuka is accepted as a new employee at Gama Gama Aquarium by Kukuru, who is the director for the summer in place of her grandfather.  He plans to retire and close the aquarium at the end of the summer due to aging equipment, rising costs, and limited staff, but Kukuru wants to save the aquarium with a successful summer.  After a disastrous first day of work, Fuuka is discouraged but eventually finds motivation in supporting Kukuru’s dream.

Episode Review:

I’m really enjoying Aquatope so far.  It feels almost like a ‘90s summer movie, with the kids struggling to save the rec center before it’s bought up by the greedy developer.

If they can just work hard enough…

…get enough community engagement…

…and somehow come up with the shockingly large amount of money needed…

…they can save the rec center, and just might find out that the real rec center… was the friends they made along the way.

To fully complete the trope, there’s also a whiff of possible summer romance in the air.

So that all looks like great fun, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the summer goes.  It doesn’t hurt that the show looks great.

Despite everything I’ve said up until now, however, the show is able to make things serious.  Fuuka screwing up her first day feeding the penguins is funny to watch:

But Kukuru is swift to explain to her that the life in the aquarium is something that has to be cared for carefully, and mishaps like this can kill the delicate creatures living there.

Between that and Fuuka explaining how she lost her job as an idol, is lying to her parents about her location, and is feeling pretty down about her lifelong dream having ended, there are some strong, and believable, dramatic moments here.  I’ve got nothing but good feelings about how this show will go.

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