Well, while some predictions of last week came true after all, other predictions were completely off the mark.
As I expected, the movie shooting was a scam. At first, I thought that the movie might really happen because of the various scenes Ohana and the others do, until I realized that too many details were off. And when the director later tells them that they’re going to shoot for real next time I knew this couldn’t be real.
In that regard I have to say that Enishi is an unbelievably incompetent fool. He was in the movie club of all things so he should at least have a broad grasp about how movies are being produced. Having a test shoot before the financing is even cleared? Having a test shoot while the script isn’t even finished? Sure, this might happen sometimes, but it’s enough to at least raise an eyebrow.
Other than that and the telephone call my predictions were really off the mark. Okay, in hindsight I must say that my prediction of Enishi doing the movie production was epic bullshit because that would’ve completely changed the focus of the series since you can’t do a movie production in half an episode. And while it at first seems that Okami wants to have her son realize his own dreams, it turned out to be a test to see whether or not Enishi is qualified to handle something on his own and consequently is qualified enough to handle a crisis.
In both aspects he failed miserably. Moreover this week made crystal clear that Enishi is a sad existence who’s only goal seems to be to get a little bit recognition and attention. One important scene that fleshes that out is almost at the end when he’s in the pool as a child. While his sister is swimming, he’s floating around helplessly in a life preserver. And when his sister leaves the pool, everything he could do was to scream and idiotically smile at his mommy. It’s also revealed that he once wanted to take piano lessons to get chicks but didn’t follow it to the end. In other words: he must have entered the movie club for similar reasons.
Man, I could go on forever. When Takako is pissed off for what happened, the only thing he can say in a pivotal moment is that he wants her to show how cool she is, like he saw her all the time. Shortly after that we see the most important and symbolic scene of this episode. Enishi is about to fall into the pool because he tripped over when he chased after Takako. Takako comes to the rescue, is barely holding him and asks him a simple question: should I hold you or let you fall? But even in that simple scenario Enishi can’t make a decision and consequently falls into the pool. Heck, he doesn’t even try to get out of this himself.
After this week it’s quite clear to me that a dark future lies ahead of Kissuiso if Enishi takes over. It must be devastating for Okami, especially after he failed her test so splendidly and I guess that she starts to resign. This becomes somewhat clear when she talks to her daughter and asks her again if she wants to take over but then back out herself and says this idea is foolish. Or when Okami praises her son, if only for how he grew up enough to defend others.
But there’s still hope: Ohana. Sure, she is too young at the moment and in my eyes too passionate without any actual knowledge to back that up, but she works hard and loves that place. And she’s at least able to sniff out idiotic ideas for most of the time. The end somehow hints at this because all three of them – Ohana’s mom, Enishi and Ohana – look up at the sky. Since Enishi is out of the picture this leaves Ohana’s mom and Ohana and my guess is that the symbolic connection between them is taking over the Kissuiso. The idiotic writer confirms this a little bit because he doesn’t run to Enishi or Okami with his script but to Ohana.
Other than that I have to admit, though, that this movie arc was a little bit of a letdown, so don’t let the length of this post fool you. Although the movie production helped to flesh out the uselessness of Enishi I think the creators could’ve used a better approach. The movie production felt way out of place and came out of nowhere. Moreover, the resulting drama lacked any gravitas or drama. How many characters shrugged that off as if it were nothing was striking. It was almost like “Well, shit happens…Okay, let’s continue to clean the pool!” “Yay!”.
Let’s just hope the next arc will reach the usual Hanasaku quality again.
