Aquatope of White Sand (22)

Episode Synopsis:

Fuuka cheers Kukuru up, and Kukuru returns to work at the aquarium. Her boss asks her to work on updates to the wedding venue proposal, and surprises her by saying he’ll transfer her to an attendant job afterwards. Kukuru throws herself into the work, and after a successful pitch to the wedding planner, finds that she’s more excited about marketing than she’d expected. Meanwhile, Fuuka learns about the various man-made threats to the survival of the sea turtle.

Episode Review:

I seem to get these a lot, but this is another episode that mostly exists to set up future plot developments. From Fuuka’s newfound interest in pollution, to the newly open attendant poschition that could go to either Karin or Kukuru, to Choko arriving at the aquarium soon, and to Kai having to take some time off, there’s a lot of scattered pieces here that are probably setting up the final arc of the show.

As such, there’s not a lot to say about this episode itself. It’s nice to see Kukuru regain her spark and share her passion for sea life with the wedding planner, and it’s even nicer to see her succeed in her pitch.

My feelings on it are mixed, because the show seems to be heavily hinting that Kukuru will not take the attendant job, letting Karin get it so that Kukuru stays in marketing. It’s certainly part of her ongoing arc of learning more about how an aquarium is run, but it’s still a little sad that she’ll likely spend more time away from the animals she loves.

It’s interesting to see Fuuka take an interest in pollution and its effects on sea life.

Are we perhaps getting some hints that she might move into conservation work, or do it outside of work? It would be a good change for her as well, to do something not because she was following and supporting Kukuru, but because she took an interest in it herself.

Before I leave you, though, your moment of Zen: