Sara Talks Anime

This episode, to me, was a mix of “awww :(” and “what is the narrative purpose of this. no, literally, what is the narrative purpose of this?” throughout its run time, though the “awww :(” feeling was a lot more prevalent. So, what even happened in this episode to have me feel this way? Well…

The Kyu Focused Segment

That’s right, Kyu gets a moment in the limelight! We get to see him at school, where he and his male friend both seem to be not fully there, though there’s the potential this is for different reasons between the two of them. Kyu seems to do well at school, even if he’s nodding off now. Anyway, when the school day is done, Kyu opts to visit his grandfather. When we got to the scene where he bought flowers, my mind went “okay, he’s either in the hospital or dead”, and well…I’m not surprised that one of those was right.

During his time there, he runs into Kinme, who seems to be there for work reasons. They talk, but during the conversation, wind blows Kinme’s skirt up. Which leads me to the feeling I had: what is the narrative purpose of this? Like, if I could think of a narrative purpose that’d be likely to be explored during the next episode, I’d excuse it. But with how this episode ends, I don’t think we’re going to get a conclusion on this plot thread in the next episode unless the pacing is rushed. At least Kyu runs away out of embarrassment.

To end this segment on a more positive note, however, we got to see Kinme give Kyu his school bag in a flashback! I had a feeling they were going to do that, and I’m glad they did! Even if it was likely you’d be able to figure that out with context clues, being able to see this was nice! I think in the end, my annoyance at that one part of this segment was just a minor annoyance that doesn’t seem to occur in Wash It All Away outside of this (at least compared to what I’ve already seen). Then comes the part I’m excited about:

Helping the Little Guy Out

Nairo’s visiting Kinme’s store to get more photos and videos for the social media account. During her time there, she finds something in the floor that looks like it could open (with Nairo imagining that it’s something more impressive than it actually was), to reveal that it’s under floor storage. There’s a lot of old cleaning supplies…as well as an item that was left for the previous cleaner that has since become dirty again.

Kinme tries reaching out to the number for the order, but she can’t make it through. She decides that she’s going to clean it (with Nairo recording the cleaning process because videos get more attention than photos), though Kinme requests Nairo not to post the video yet. When Kinme goes to visit the address, she finds it to be an empty lot now.

She decides to take care of the plushie, while making a post (or, well, more likely Nairo and her friends making a post for her) on the Kinme Cleaning social media page looking for the owner. I think this is such a sweet arc to end the series on, and it really feels like the next episode will wrap up the search for the plushie’s owner. I hope that doesn’t just get delegated to “oh yeah, briefly bring it up in the next episode so that people get their closure”, because honestly, that would suck. A story of trying to find the owner of a plushie seems like it would be emotional and entertaining.

Next week is the final episode of this series…or season, if we get a season 2 at some point in the future. Genuinely hope that the ending of the next episode is one that I find satisfying, because I’d hate to have this be a show that starts strong but ends weak.

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