This show is a nice slice of the wholesome pie, and it’s fun to be able to watch this show every Sunday. And as usual, when it comes to this show every Sunday, I’m writing up a review of the latest episode! Now, let’s jump into it!
The episode begins in the library, with a boy looking for something. Shiori runs up to him and hands him a card, which is his library card. And then, Shiori notices a book that the boy is holding. The two end up sitting at a table, where we get our formal introduction to Satoshi! Shiori decides to question him about the book, and Satoshi opens up about the fact that he’s doing research on it. Shiori then explains to Satoshi why she’s pursuing the medical sciences, and Satoshi asks if she had told her grandparents that reasoning. Shiori said she hadn’t…but Grandpa had overheard it. That leads to Shiori being hugged by Grandma when she returns to them. This was a nice way to introduce Satoshi to the story, especially considering how important he and/or his family are in this episode…put a pin in that statement, I’ll get back to it later.
We then see Yoshiaki getting concerned about Mino returning home later than she usually does (because she’s with Shouta, but he doesn’t know that), thinking that she’s gone delinquent…or joined a cult weird religious group, whichever is worse. After Yoshiaki freaks out about the internet and shadow accounts (which Grandpa and Grandma don’t understand), Grandma reminds Yoshiaki of how he acted when he was younger. We also got to learn how Yoshiaki and Kaede met, which was super sweet! Now, I’m not a parent…but if I were, I’d probably be reacting like Yoshiaki.
We then see two boys walking on their usual route to/from school, and talking to the (young) Grandpa and Grandma, asking where the elderly couple (aka Grandpa and Grandma in their age-accurate forms) are. Grandpa and Grandma make up a lie on the spot of the couple being too sick to work. Later, Grandpa and Grandma flip the hourglass and work out in the farm, making the two boys happy. This was a wholesome segment, and it was nice to see it in action.
After that, Mino leaves Grandpa and Grandma’s house to head to school, excited to have a bento from Grandma. Grandma walks into the kitchen/dining room area…and realizes that Mino forgot the bento. So what does she do? Ride a bicycle and chase after the train to get Mino her bento, of course! This segment was on the sillier side, and it was nice to help round out the episode’s feelings a bit more.
Remember when I said to put a pin in the fact that Satoshi exists due to how important he and/or his family are in this episode? Yeah, you can remove the pin now. While studying with Shiori, Satoshi decides to open up about an oddity that occurred in his family…his grandparents had turned young again! The story is the same as how Grandpa and Grandma turned young again…oh, and Shiori decided to visit Satoshi’s grandparents, just to see it for herself. After hearing about why Satoshi’s been pursuing medical sciences, Shiori decides to introduce the newly young again grandparents to her young again grandparents.
Now, before I proceed forward with the review, there’s one…I guess “ick” would be the proper word, even though it doesn’t bother me all that much, that I’d like to point out regarding the “turn young again” scenario.
This image highlights the exact “ick” that I have. While both of these two turned young again, Grandpa and Grandma retained their silver hair (even though we’ve seen flashbacks during the age their bodies went back to where they didn’t have that hair color), while Satoshi’s grandparents regained their original hair color…which, mind you, we saw Grandma with her natural hair color in the present day in Episode 5…and she WASN’T acting like she did in the present. I understand that Grandpa and Grandma are the main characters, and as such need something to stand out…but is that worth sacrificing consistency for?
Anyway, the two sets of grandparents talk over what I can only assume is an alcoholic beverage, while Shiori and Satoshi talk to each other, with Shiori wondering if they would become a couple like Grandma and Grandpa. Satoshi notices Shiori’s choice of words, and Shiori gets flustered. That one minor ick aside, this section was nice and wholesome.
We then see the two grandmas talking, with Satoshi’s grandma talking about how she met her husband. Unfortunately, this ends up leading to the two arguing as to whose husband is better…and as such, a best-of-three competition starts, getting a referee to boot! The first round is like a modified version of tug-o-war, and while it appears that Grandma won…she and Grandpa end up getting disqualified because Grandma stepped outside of the circle. The second round is a blind taste test, and Grandpa ends up figuring out that both dishes were made by Grandma, because he was never asked to pick only one.
The grandmas then begin arguing as to what should be done for the final round…until the referee snaps, and asks what the purpose of the competition was. When it’s revealed, the referee gives a speech that his wife overhears…and the competition ends without a winner. This was a fun segment, and I think it really helped with building up Satoshi’s grandparents more.
Final segment…Shiori asks Grandma to teach her how to cook, rejecting the dishes that were initially being offered to learn until she just tells Grandma what she wants to learn. Of course, Grandma found the food choice odd, since Shiori doesn’t like fried food…and we find out that she was cooking it for Satoshi! This was super cute, and seems to be building up the relationship that the two will have in the series!
Now, I normally wouldn’t comment upon the ending…but since there was a change, I’ll point it out. In this episode’s ending, all instances of Yoshiaki have been replaced by Satoshi. Now, I don’t exactly mind this change, especially since the other characters are paired with their respective romantic partners, and Shiori being paired with Yoshiaki was odd. They probably wanted to keep his presence a secret, and OH WAIT! Satoshi’s been shown in the opening! So it seems like there was no reason to NOT include him in the ending until now!
…okay, I probably shouldn’t even have this ick, since the ending doesn’t even add stuff on to the story, but…I dunno, it just feels weird to me.
Besides the stuff that I pointed out that I didn’t like, did I still find the episode enjoyable? Yes! Will I let the icks I have get in the way of my enjoyment? Heck no! After all, my icks just appear to be things that can be chalked up to “anime logic”…or whatever the equivalent would be. I’m not going to be expecting anything huge next week, due to it being a festival episode, but I can’t wait to see what happens next in this silly little show!
Additional posts about Grandpa and Grandma Turn Young Again:
Sara Talks Anime 
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