We are officially in June, which means it is the final month of the Spring 2024 anime season…if I’m doing my math correctly. For shows that are known to run into the Summer 2024 anime season, this means nothing, but for shows that either have their final cour this season OR are single cour shows, the conclusions of those are coming closer. With this show, if all the reports of the episode count that I’m seeing are to be believed, that means there’s two weeks after this week for episodes. The fact that this series is going to be finishing its first cour soon is just astonishing. The shortest series that I’ve watched as a simulcast so far. That’s enough of me doing what kids today would call “yapping”. Let’s actually get into the review!
The episode begins with Grandpa and Grandma watching a horror movie that is by someone that’s popular with Mino’s generation…and Grandma gets (arguably) too paranoid, reciting what I can only assume to be either Shinto or Buddhist chants (likely the latter but I just want to make sure my bases are covered), and acting as if there’s an actual spirit in the house. That night, Grandpa and Grandma go to bed…but Grandma stays up for a bit, looking at the ceiling, almost as if expecting the ghost to come out of the ceiling. She does end up going to sleep by laying down closer to Grandpa and laying her head down on his arm…which Grandpa feels the next morning. This was a nice segment to open the episode, and I like how it shows the dynamic between Grandpa and Grandma!
We then see Mino visiting her grandparents, where we find out that Satoshi’s grandparents gave Grandpa and Grandma a sapling for an apple tree, but they think it’d be a waste to raise it. Mino then asks if she could have it to dabble in farming, as she wants to have her own dream to follow, and she doesn’t want Shouta to be the only one between the two of them to have a dream. One sneeze from Shouta later, and Mino calls him and sets up time with him the next day to plant the sapling, where they begin discussing the future. When Shouta asks if he could come here when he’s an adult (shortly after Mino remembers that Grandpa and Grandma planted an apple tree to commemorate their marriage), she says she’ll wait for him…and then begins thinking as to whether that was a confession or not. These two segments that amount to one whole story were silly in nature, and it was fun to see the relationship between Shouta and Mino develop!
A few years before the events of the series, Grandpa and Grandma were cleaning the grounds of a nearby temple, when Grandma asks if Grandpa could find out if there would be a yomiya (or for simplicity’s sake in this review, festival), and Grandpa said he’d ask about it, with the two hoping to have a lively festival. Back in the present day, Mino is trying on a yukata to head to a festival that night, When asked if she was going to wear a yukata, Grandma replies by saying that she’d be fine in her regular clothes. Mino isn’t satisfied, however, and calls her mother, which ends up getting Grandma a yukata to wear, leaving Grandpa staring at Grandma. This was a nice little segment before the festival itself, and I sure hope that nothing happens to make me worried!
*ahem* Many apologies about that uncharacteristic sentence there. Anyway, at the festival, Grandpa is hanging out with the neighbors, but ends up pulling out early to be able to spend time with Grandma, with Grandma promising herself to show restraint when Grandpa comes back…which she fails at. Later, the two are wandering the festival, when Grandma sees a couple having a candied strawberry. Grandpa repeatedly asks her about it, and Grandma steadily refuses until she catches the hint that Grandpa was insisting that she should have one, to which she relents. Of course, in return, she offers him more takoyaki…and says that she’ll eat the leftovers. They then find a stall where you shoot prizes down from the wall, with Grandma trying and failing. When her and Grandpa work together, however, she wins a Haramaki bear that she was wanting because it reminded her of Grandpa. Aww! This was a cute part of the festival, and it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside! But of course, this isn’t all of the festival…
…as after a monologue of sorts regarding how one partner in a loving relationship will die before the other, causing the remaining member to carry the burden of loneliness, we find out that Grandma doesn’t have much time left. The two talk, where we learn that Grandpa has more time left than Grandma, and the two were about to change their entire livelihood just to spend as much time together as possible. Of course, the god of this area ends up summoning them, and as thanks for helping to keep the area clean, agrees to Grandpa’s request of lengthening Grandma’s life…at the cost of shortening his own life. They get sent back and Grandma knows that sand was entering her hourglass, but Grandpa kept the fact that he was extending her life by sacrificing some of his own a secret, and even get to watch the fireworks! Yes, you get hit with all of this after getting all those warm fuzzies. I can’t tell whether this is pure evil or pure genius, but regardless, this was…nice. I guess. I just…I don’t know what to say.
ANYWAY! With Shiori and Satoshi, they’re also at the festival…but Satoshi appears to be more interested in learning more about the whole “elderly turning young again” thing than actually spending time celebrating at the festival. Shiori walks off, thinking it’s just a boring history lesson, with Satoshi buying Shiori a chocolate banana, which at first glance she seems to reject…but she later takes it. This was a nice little addition to the story, and it helps to develop the relationship between Shiori and Satoshi!
The final segment is literally the one you should’ve expected the most after reading all of this…Grandma wakes up after her initial announcement of when she would die, only to find out she’s still alive. While expected, it was nice to get one more wholesome moment with Grandpa and Grandma before the episode’s conclusion.
Due to this being a festival episode, I went in with lowered expectations (due to me not being an expert on Japanese culture, and thus not wanting to critique something and find out that’s actually how it’s done), but this episode was still fun! It provided nice moments for all the main characters, and it helps to develop them a lot more as characters! Can’t wait to see where the show ends up going next week…
…maybe I shouldn’t say that. After all, that just means the show is getting closer to being over, and that means I’d need to get into the mindset to say goodbye to this show. I normally wait to say this until all the currently announced episodes have aired, but I genuinely wish this gets a season 2…or, since I can add it at this point, a satisfying ending during the last episode.
Additional posts about Grandpa and Grandma Turn Young Again:
Sara Talks Anime 
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