Subculture Anime Blog

Let’s save the dolphins!!!

Summary:

On a certain morning at the agency, Sora helps Gouta cook breakfast everyone. The group finds that Gouta’s fish is delicious at the table, even wondering if he would prepare it again. Kouji has not returned to school when everyone else reaches the institute later. A little into the day’s lecture, Morishita rushes in with a message for Kawada. Kawada soon announces that the students would be helping marine rescuers with magic. This has the usual students traveling to the ocean, and while having a conversation in the train, everyone’s dreams are brought up. The dreams include wanting to open an agency, simply using magic, and Gouta’s wanting to surf throughout the world’s oceans.

After a taxi ride to their destination, the students receive a manual from one of the emergency personnel. To save the dolphins they have come to help, the students would need to form a bubble around them and return the creatures to see. Honomi initially has trouble with this, but when she receives advice from a familiar voice, she is quickly able to get used to the magic. To her happiness, Honomi learns that Kouji had come to help after watching the news. With just a bit of encouragement from Sora, Hiyori is actually able to transport quite a few dolphins. Gouta is constantly unsuccessful when he tries his magic, but even after retiring for a short time, he continues to try with various forms of encouragement.

As the rain starts to pour, Gouta almost gives up hope. Sora urges him to go on, however, even offering to help him with some of her magic. With this, Gouta is able to save several dolphin lives with his magic. Kouji approaches Gouta in the aftermath, thanking him for visiting him earlier. Offering Gouta a bottle of water, he simply states that they are mages. When Kouji rides back home on the train with the rest of the students, Honomi gives him a welcome back. Seiichirou and Saori congratulate Sora and Gouta after dinner that night, as Sora describes how amazing Gouta’s magic was. She also brings up how she remembered Seiichirou’s helping her with magic. This was the same technique she used earlier. After Gouta falls asleep from exhaustion, Seiichirou and Saori discuss the similarity Gouta seems to have with an 18 year old boy named Haruka.

Preview: First Love.

Impression:

Haha, I didn’t see that coming at all. This episode definitely had a different pace to it, but that certainly doesn’t mean it was bad by any means. As soon as I saw that the class was going to participate in a major group event, I knew something big had to happen. Almost expectedly, Gouta’s magic turns out to be quite powerful during his first major use of it. This could be credited to Sora’s assistance, as she is clearly one of the more powerful mages in the cast, but this was also an amazing turn of events. Kouji’s not showing up initially made for some nice storytelling too, and I loved how relieved Honomi seemed when she saw him appear. Those two are clearly getting closer to each other, and with the next episode being titled “Hatsu koi” or “First Love”, I’m sure there could be development between them. The other possibility would be with Gouta and Sora, and I wouldn’t even be surprised if the episode focused on both pairings.

Production wise, I noticed a few things in this episode. Although I am not one who criticizes this anime for this, I could easily see how little of this episode was actually animated. It has been common for the series to use stills throughout all the time it’s been airing, but with only conversations and not much action, moving lips were most of all I saw this time around. Sound wise, I loved the segment in the train while Gouta was speaking. Distance from voice typically isn’t presented in anime this way, and I thought that was really interesting. The way scenes are “shot” are so lifelike, and I still can’t get over how much I am attached to this series for that. And of course, we’re winding down on the number of episodes left. It’s definitely starting to feel that way, and I’m not sure if I’m ready to let go.