#where they compared kazukis dad to chikai

[vulpiximisa]

incomprehensible

[houkagokappa]

Sarazanmai dish 11 thoughts

I suppose it’s time for me to talk about Sarazanmai dish 11. For the last time, let me watch the episode again and give you my thoughts on it.

This got absurdly long so I’ll put it under a read more for once.

The episode starts with Tooi having followed the Chikai-otter into Dark Keppi to go outside of the circle, to the place where there’s no beginning, no ending and no connecting. The Chikai-otter tells Tooi to cut of all his connections by shooting at his past self. His gun gets a coating of Dark Keppi to make this possible.

Kazuki, Enta and Keppi rush after Tooi and enter the same world inside of Dark Keppi. Tooi has been visiting scenes from their past together, erasing himself from them. Kazuki figures out that they need to go all the way to the beginning, when Tooi gave Kazuki the miçanga four years ago because that’s when they all first connected. Kazuki finally remembered! That’s nice and oh how convenient for the plot...

Suddenly the otter appears and fills the space with liquid. Luckily Keppi farts out air bubbles and “saves” Kazuki and Enta. I think I would’ve rather drowned. I don’t know if anyone finds this funny because I don’t. At least it fits in with all the other butt stuff compared to say, Keppi blowing bubbles with his mouth, so I gotta give them that.

Keppi sends Kazuki and Enta off to save Tooi and stays behind to fight the otter. Dark Keppi was born when Keppi threw away his desire (and split his shirikodama into two in typical ikuni fashion). Now he needs to connect with him again to get rid of him. The otter wants to see Keppi engulfed by despair, although I’m not entirely sure why (simply because they’re on opposing teams?).

I already mentioned this in my PV post, but I really appreciate the Osamu Dezaki styled painted freeze frame we get of Keppi and the otter. It reminds me of how I began watching Oniisama e... this spring before I had to abandon it in favor of Sarazanmai’s second half. Now with Sarazanmai ending I can finally get back to my tragic lesbians. Ikuhara has named Dezaki as one of his inspirations and it’s fun to see such blatant references, especially when Ikuhara’s been shady about what’s inspired him before (what do you mean Utena took inspiration from The Rose of Versailles?) 

Tooi has reached Azuma Bridge four years ago. All he needs to do now is shoot his child self and then he’ll be outside the circle. As he’s walking towards his past self he’s talking about the dream he used to have of becoming a soccer player. Too bad Chikai is there to dump the cold harsh reality on him. His life turned around when their parents died and he shot a man. All Tooi had left was his brother, but he only used him. Well that’s what the Chikai-otter tells him. I want to believe that the real Chikai truly cared for Tooi. I think their moments have been some of the sweetest in the entire show, although I do realise that Chikai is a bad guy and that Tooi’s life would’ve been better without his involvement... That’s how some relationships are, especially familiar ones. 

Tooi claims that he knew about Chikai’s “use” of him and that he was okay with it. Tooi went along with everything because he believed that’s what had to be done for their survival. Then he shoots Chikai stating that this was a connection he chose for himself, meaning he can chose to end it too with his own hands. When Chikai falls to his death (again) bills blow up all around him (AGAIN). Money is what his life was about and what he died for. I think this is a really nice scene. Tooi gets to say goodbye to his brother and move on. Granted he’s about to move on outside the circle, but I still think it’s important that he got this moment because it’ll help him later on.

Kazuki and Enta make a sudden appearance and stop Tooi from shooting his past self. However the bullet scratches the miçanga and it breaks. Then Dark Keppi shows up. He was in the gun that he now uses to shoot past-Tooi which destroys the miçanga. The subs threw me off a bit here. Enta calls him an “imposter” which to me sounds like Keppi betrayed them, when he’s in fact referring to how Dark Keppi was disguised.

Kazuki’s showcasing his strong will when he refuses to let go of their connection. Him tying that miçanga again speaks to Tooi who wavers.

Next thing we know of the boys are falling down in the white space we see after a zombie has been defeated (with the rings that say “butt”). The image of the three boys falling down head first matches the one in the third teaser PV! I’ve been wondering how that fits in. It’s a lot of fun to look back at the old promotional material now when we know what happens and can spot the references. It also makes me incredibly nostalgic. The Sarazanmai twitter account posted the Tsunagaru PV’s again as a countdown for the last episode and seeing them again brought me to tears.

Back to the episode, the taiko drum of no beginnings, no endings and no connections appears in front of them and they get thrown into the circle that appears on it.

This next part is super cool when they all reflect on what they were like at the beginning of the series and how they’ve grown. They have new connections and hopes and dreams! The scene screams “last episode”. The highlight is Tooi admitting he’s grown fond of Kazuki and Enta, he even starts calling them by their first names!! (Shout-out to the anon who sent me an ask about a possible name switch over a month ago, I always think of you when this topic comes up).

The three boys connect through Sarazanmai one last time. Keppi appears looking like a superhero (with a cape and everything) and there are a bunch of ア signs in the background - just like when he first appeared!! Our last shirikodama extraction sequence consists of a simple black screen stating the action, then the three boys get spit out of Keppi at the same time. Thank you black screen for protecting us from the horrors of those shirikodama extraction visuals. They’re now back in the grey world four years ago and go to Azuma Bridge, the stage for the zombie fights.

It’s time for one last Sarazanmai no Uta. I love the insert songs so much, whenever they don’t play in an episode I end up missing them and I have to seek them out elsewhere. This version is extra cool because they all sing together. I’m so incredibly hyped! The fight is more intense and there are more random moments than usual with the otter appearing and singing about being an abstract concept (thanks for that ikuni). Keppi’s successful in capturing his desire and fusing with Dark Keppi.

THEN KEPPI’S SHELL OPEN AND REO AND MABU’S CONNECTED RINGS COME OUT AND I START SCREAMING AAAAAA!!!! ReoMabu get turned back into humans clad in their military uniforms. It’s such a sweet moment!! This is exactly the kind of content I want from a final episode. I also love the background song here, it’s a violin version of Kawausoiya and I’m sad that it’s not included in the OST album. I hope I can get it, along with this new version of Sarazanmai no Uta from somewhere.

There are some callbacks to Ikuhara’s previous anime. The gates that open up remind me of the duelling arena in Utena and the stairs look like the ones in the Crystal World in Penguindrum. It’s very cool and again, just what I want to see in the finale.

Next up the trio is successful in giving the miçanga to Kazuki from four years ago and thus they’re able to secure their connection and defeat the otter.

Keppi gets an upgrade. He’s now a humanoid character. I think he looks exactly like some of the creatures in Moomin (my home country’s pride and joy). He says to pass over the river of desire, which is another phrase that appeared in the third teaser PV (I want to make a post looking through all those PV’s again, someday).

There’s one final leak which shows the boys their future. It’s another really satisfying scene, because the boys namedrop all the episode titles when they’re talking about their wants and fears. The future isn’t all happy. Kazuki seems to get injured (like Haruka did) which hinders him from playing soccer, Tooi’s has to do time for his crimes and Enta has to see Kazuki quit soccer and leave him again. They’re still dealing with similar issues as before, not being able to communicate properly, feeling lonely etc. But while they see themselves argue in the future, a future together is something they’re aiming for nevertheless.

Sara warns us that life comes with pain (things with form will break and be lost someday). Reo and Mabu joins in and tells us that what the boys saw was a possible future for them. The CR subs are subbing their own thing here, Reo says "what they boys saw was themselves someday” and Mabu adds “that was a future someday” and “just one possibility”. While the leak obviously ties in with what happened in the past, they didn’t see anything of themselves from the past? With all sorts of crazy things going on in this episode, more accurate subs would help a lot to make more sense of everything...

Anyway, Keppi joins in as well with the same line of thought saying that the future won’t necessarily be bright. He has learned his lesson that both hope and despair is part of life and that you shouldn’t throw away either.

While all this talking is taking place Sara’s broken sara (ha!) gets turned into two crowns for Keppi and herself. Reo and Mabu put the crowns on them as the good vassals/dads they are :) I was not prepared for Sara to turn into a Moomin-creature like Keppi. She looks quite frightening to be honest. Haruka’s there, which I suppose is nice. The subs aren’t the best during this part either. I haven’t seen anyone else complain about them so I don’t know if this is just me needing to work on my comprehension skills, but I’m much happier listening to the Japanese lines or checking out Asenshi’s subs instead. 

The final message is to connect with others for a better future and to share both sadness and joy.

Stand By Me starts playing and I’m not ready. I’m not ready at all. At least the song and credits are playing over some final shots and not the regular ED. Tooi’s cutting all his hair off and my first reaction is to shout out that it’s a crime, but then it turns out it’s because he’s going to pay for his actual crimes at a juvenile detention center. Forget my love for long hair, this is amazing! Completely unexpected, but so good for him!

I find it amusing how it’s almost like Tooi’s the main character now, with how much focus there’s been on him this whole episode. He got all the best moments in it.

Tooi spends three years at juvie, which means he’s now 17 and aaah this is cool to see! He’s grown up, not only mentally but physically as well! Once he’s out he goes to checks on his family’s soba shop, but doesn’t enter it. Instead he walks around Asakusa and repeats Kazuki’s lines from the first episode (and the PV’s!). The CR subs are different which is annoying, but everyone should still be able to recognize the lines, they’re iconic. 

The Asakusa Kero TV cracks me up. Now we have an actual frog as our new mascot and not whatever Keppi and Sara were.

Although Tooi was told his life start here, he claims that it’s already over. Which tbh you can’t blame him for feeling that way. He jumps down into the Sumida River. Outwards it might look like a suicide attempt, but he’s actually at a good place in life. He’s come to terms with having lost everything and having to start again thanks to the support from Kazuki and Enta.

The ア signs appear and pierce him like they pierced Kazuki in the first episode, except the other way around (since he’s falling down and Kazuki was standing up). I’m not sure what to make of them. The ア signs represent connections (among other things). One idea I have is that these scenes represents times when their futures get changed thanks to their connections. Tooi could’ve jumped to his death, but thanks to Kazuki and Enta he chooses to stay with them in Asakusa and will live a happier life. In the first episode Kazuki’s connection to Haruka is what set everything in motion. The fact that Tooi turns around (as he’s falling) could also represent that their lives and their future changes into a better one (compared to how Kazuki’s life got worse). I’m looking forward to read what everyone else thinks or what the staff has to say about this. Multiple rewatches are also in order.

Tooi’s sinking down all gloomy when Kazuki and Enta jump in as well. They have also grown up and it feels so rewarding to see them like this. I love seeing characters through the ages. They’ve been waiting for Tooi! Once they all surface Tooi gives them the biggest smile ever and it’s perfect. Absolutely perfect. They sing Sarazanmai no Uta again, there’s a clipshow with them playing soccer and the other characters appearing looking very content with their lives.

The final episode title is “I want to connect so Sarazanmai”. How incredibly fitting.

Then the opening plays. Ikuhara, I love the opening, but you know you could’ve used this minute and a half to show us what happens to Reo, Mabu, Sara and Keppi instead. I’m very happy with their quick appearances, but I still have heaps of questions about them!! 

It’s a lot of fun to watch the OP again being able to pick up on all the references. There’s also one slight change, the final scene (with Ikuhara’s credit) is now blue instead of yellow. The three shadows are back together. Reminds me that we’ve been seeing the seagulls that also represent the three boys throughout the episode, AT the start there was just one to represent how Tooi was alone, but they’re also back together again by the end.

The final scene, because Sarazanmai just keeps hitting us with more and more scenes is of one of the river boats passing under Azuma Bridge. The three boys are sitting on it in kappa form, heading towards the future.

I think this was an amazing last episode. It was a proper last episode with tension running high, countless of amazing moments that felt very rewarding and tied up the episodes, such as the part where they name dropped them or seeing how the ending mirrors the beginning of the first episode. My only complaint is that there are still lots of questions left unanswered, but for the most part Sarazanmai has been a fairly straightforward story that’s been easy to follow along.

I hope that the last chapter of the second novel will explain what Tooi went through at the end some more and I really hope there’ll be a short chapter telling us what happens to Reo, Mabu, Sara and Keppi. It’s also unfortunate that we never found out how the Reo to Mabu manga ties in with the anime. Let’s hope the novel answers that as well.

This post has been incredibly difficult for me to write, I hope you enjoyed reading it and I congratulate you for getting through to the end. From here on out I’ll continue blogging about Sarazanmai as long as I still have things to say about it.