Arum Journal

Anyways, Glowing Dawn is celebrating its two-year anniversary. I’m actually surprised that the group has only been around for two years. Though, it makes sense since Kyo and Reina wore the same clothes as they did in a flashback that took place two years ago, which indicates that it wasn’t that long since they formed a group together. But since Maki had also met Kyo in a flashback where he was wearing his default outfit, that would imply he left the Five Stars at 20 years old and then started GD in the same year.

Some of Kyo’s past was revealed in that he used to have friends during his time as a Five Stars but they died. They were the reason why he has that gold-colored bracelet on him; it’s a memento of them. It makes me wonder if Nirinsou was created in memory of them. Also, I was wondering about Kyo’s childhood and it does seem that he had been an orphan. I’m not sure exactly when his parents died, but since he was two years old when the Kano Island incident happened and eleven when he joined the Five Stars, it might have been sometime after the incident but before he became a Cleaner. The orphanage seems to be run by Dr. Tenma. While he looks like a friendly guy, I honestly do not trust him. Why is this man, a former scientist involved with the Kano Island incident, running an orphanage? Maybe it’s atonement, maybe it’s just a front for something nefarious…

For the darker aspects of the episode, I was wondering where Kishiwada had been since he was MIA towards the end of the previous episode… it turns out that he was the true brains of GIFT in a way. He was even able to create a White Core that seemed to have formed from Mephismon reacting to Tomoro’s e-pulse. Given that core is what Genjo and Dr. Wong is searching for, this indicates that Kishiwada is not on their side; maybe he could be the true final boss of the story? Anyways, he’s also able to set a man jailed five years ago free. I wonder what the importance of that core is since Dr. Wong needs it for the Shangri-la Project alongside Asuka’s e-pulse, meaning both of the Tenma brother’s e-pulse is special.

Also, poor Rose. Digimon Beatbreak has bee doing decently with how the franchise notoriously mistreats their female characters, but it seems that they have been going back to their old, bad habits these days, like how Reina got a rushed focus episode to get her partner to Ultimate and now Rose is supposedly dead despite being a Five Star, aka one of the Top 5 strongest Cleaners in the world. I get that her opponent is a man with abnormal e-pulse that can control as many Utlimates as he wants, but come on… why doe Rose have to be offed like that? She didn’t even do anything in the GIFT arc despite being hyped up as a potential threat.

A new character makes his debut! Souji Kuroshio was the former Water Star and possibly the most dangerous Cleaner by far. He doesn’t have a main partner as his e-pulse has a tendency to brainwash Digimon and control them—he can even take a Digimon from their owner like how he did with Lilamon. He’s obsessed with Kyo, making him the 1314341th man obsessed with Mr. Sawashiro—it’s hilarious how all the people interested in him are men and no women are into him. By the way, the Shio in Kuroshio translates to either ‘tide’ or ‘salt’, befitting his water element. The ‘Kishi’ in Kishiwada can also be read as ‘tide’, so the two are tide together…(that was funnier in my head).

Souji is voiced by Shinichiro Miki who makes his Digimon debut. Some of his roles in anime include Roy Mustang in Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, James in Pokemon and Revolte in Frieren. Splashmon is voiced by Masaya Takatsuka who voiced Toya Kuga in Digimon Time Stranger, and various mons in Ghost Game. While Marinedevimon isn’t credited, his VA is listed as Yasunori Matsutani in the official website; Matsutani is the voice actor for Etemon in Adventure.

I’m honestly worried about Nirinsou. Souji does seem like the type who’d kill the babies to feed to his Ultimates. I am NOT looking forward to this; on top of that Kishiwada framed Kyo for killing Rose. What’s going to happen in this arc? Well, to end on a lighthearted note, whenever I type Souji, his name keeps getting autocorrected to soup. Let me know your thoughts!

I’m honestly surprised with how intelligent the translator boy Shira is. He stated in this episode that he still doesn’t know how to read or write well, yet he’s the one concocting all these plans to move up in the world with Sitara wanting in on it too. However, it’s unknown if he can be trusted as Sitara only sees him as a necessity and not as an ally; she did say everyone is her enemy, after all. It does make me wonder if she’ll team up with Toregene who doesn’t seem to like her husband, the third princes Ogedei, that much. It’d be a team-up of the century if that’s the case.

Anyways, we also get to see the Mongolian princes aside from Tolui. The way they all act about the damages they caused in the war is scarily composed, especially since Tolui just boasted about how he got his wife book he ransacked from Fatima’s house. The way his carefree attitude about how the book is in a foreign language yet he has no idea if it actually is the book shows how cruel war and the people who cause it can be. Tolui is just basically boasting how he killed people for a random book that might even be the book he’s searching for. It’s honestly crazy; I can see why his older brothers look perplexed. He’s definitely a hatable character with his only one redeeming trait is being a wife guy.

By the way, if you listen to Sitara’s dialogue, she tends to speak in a stilted manner around the Mongolians. This is because she’s still not fluent in the language, so she’s basically speaking a bit childishly like how every person learning a new language does. Remember that she only knows some basic Mongolian at this point because Shira, who’s more fluent, taught her. I honestly like that detail and I commend the subtitles for catching onto that.

The episode also introduces Uyghurs, who are a Turkish ethnic group and Master Changchun, who’s actually a real-life historical figure, Qiu Chuji. The purpose of this scene is to showcase how powerful wisdom and knowledge are. It’s also to showcase that immortality isn’t something to be sought after. Maybe it could be some foreshadowing in a way?

Anyways, the voice cast is also high budget alongside the animation. Now that Tolui’s words are able to be understood, his regular voice actor is Ryota Suzuki who voiced characters like Kurosawa in Cherry Magic, Trey Clover in Twisted Wonderland and Hiiragi in Wind Breaker. The first prince Jochi is voiced by Kenji Nojima who voiced Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon Crystal and Eiji Okumura in Banana Fish The second prince Chagatai is voiced by Daisuke Namikawa who voiced Yu Narukami in Persona 4 and Kazehaya in Kimi ni Todoke. The third prince Ogedei is voiced by Hiro Shimono who voiced Zenitsu in Demon Slayer, Dabi in My Hero Academia and Hakuto in My New Boss is Goofy. His wife Toregene is voiced by Ami Koshimizu who voiced Yukiko Amagi in Persona 4, the spider mother in Demon Slayer and Sailor Jupiter in Sailor Moon Crystal. 

I just hope nothing bad happens now that Sitara met Tolui’s wife Sorghaghtani. She has to be smart to move up in the world, so I’m sure she’s not going to demand the book back. Instead, I am more curious on what she’s going to do. It’s going to be hard waiting a week. Also, I just hope I can spell all these names correctly going forth… Let me know your thoughts on the episode!

I honestly love the interaction between Yuru and Ken. Yuru is older than Ken, yet he’s very naive and perplexed of the ways of the modern world while Ken is younger but has more common sense. Since Hana and Dera don’t really give level-headed vibes as well, Ken is basically a case where the youngest in the family has to raise everyone. In the Danno family, child raise you.

Anyways, if you were curious if animals could become daemon masters, this episode gives you your answer. The aliens were surprised that a dog became their master, yet they love him a lot. Honestly, the dog hit the jackpot. He gets two servants, meaning double the belly rubs and treats. Though, I do wonder how they earn money for the dog’s needs. I find it hilarious that Ken is the only one believing they were aliens as Yuru, Left and Right have no idea what those are, even the “aliens” themselves. It’s hilariously ironic that Men in Black’s premise is fighting aliens, yet they’re aliens in suits accompanied by a pug.

Well, it turns out that my theory of Danji being a daemon as well as his other half being the fake Asa was correct! I also got it right that their master isn’t Yamaha but Kyoka because Danji didn’t come to rescue Yamaha when she was in danger. Danji’s true form is that of the Zashiki-Warashi where he’s a small sprite-like creature. Yuru’s crash out is very valid, though. In a way, Danji was basically being a paid actor to act as Yuru’s friend. It makes Yuru’s life for the past ten years a lie. If I was him, I’d be super paranoid afterwards.

I also liked the part where Hana decides to tell Dera about the message that was left on Yama’s corpse. She was originally going to keep her mouth shut, but learning about Yuru’s earnest feelings about wanting to eat hotpot together as a family probably tugged a heartstring. Even if she doesn’t like kids, maybe Yuru and Ken will be an exception. This message also prompts Dera to go to the hostess bar that Jin gave him the business card for. Maybe Dera will confront Ivan or something?

Anyways, regarding the voice cast for the new characters, the male alien is voiced by Yuji Ueda, who voiced Jean Havoc in Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and Kimblee in the 2003 version; this means that we had two versions of Kimblee back to back. The female alien is voiced by Fumie Mizusawa who voiced Juliet in the Romeo x Juliet anime and Cure Marine in Heartcatch Precure. Danji’s true form is voiced by Momoka Terakawa who voiced Gakuto Yuzuki in The Yuzuki Family’s Four Sons and Tsumugi in Kusunoki’s Garden of Gods. The granddaughter of Oshira-sama’s master is voiced by Ayaka Nanase who voiced Cure Butterfly in Hirogaru Sky Precure; fun fact: today is July 11 (where I live) and it’s her birthday!

Now I’m going to wonder what’s going to happen now. I know Yuru is not going to go down a dark path since he doesn’t seem like the type. Will he confront Ivan later on? If so, when? He didn’t get the message. Let me know your thoughts on this episode!

Sparks of Tomorrow is about how 20th century Japan is slowly revolutionizing, but they’re still relying on gas. Electricity is still a niche and novel concept, but Seiroku Sakamoto is  intrigued by it so he takes his little brother Kihachi to a busy street with his two friends to showcase the marvel of electricity. Four years later, Seiroku gets drafted into war and is never seen again while Kihachi has become obsessed with electiricy, but has a bit of disdain towards his brother due to his disappearance and that he took the Electric Catalog with him, so he’s just stuck tinkering with electricity on his own without his brother’s notes. However, it seems that the book was in the Momokawa household all this time and there’s another person who has set his sights on it.

Just a heads up, this is an alternate reality version of Meiji era Japan. Honestly, this was a good first episode in that I don’t think I’ve ever seen a steampunk story set in Japan. It feels a little odd seeing Japanese attire and mechanical steampunk machinery, but that’s just me who’s more used to Western steampunk stories. It does make me wonder how electricity will factor in a story where the steam engine is still king.

I don’t know if it’s a KyoAni thing, but I do feel like their camerawork has improved a lot! I honestly loved the part where Inako was walking through the furniture to get to where Kihachi was. The color scheme feels a lot vibrant too! It’s definitely a feast for the eyes.

The characters are interesting. Kihachi and Inako are absolutely hilarious with how both are yappers when it comes to a specific trigger; for Kihachi, it’s machinery and for Inako, it’s anything that she takes in face value. The way Kihachi’s mouth elongates as he yaps is super funny and the way Inako calls him a weird person when she’s weirder is also funny. I feel like I’m going to like this duo; I just hope Inako won’t turn into a moe blob character that’s only there to look cute.

However, the standout character is definitely Yosuke who is flamboyant and also very creepy. Look at the man’s face when he was approaching Noriko. That’s a psychopath if I ever seen one. However, I do wonder if Yosuke is the same person as Seiroku’s friend with the long bangs in the prologue. They have the same eye color and voice, but not the same hair color. He also addressed Kengo when he saw him at the Momokawa estate as Kengo was there in the prologue—he was the guy pedaling the bike. On top of that, we don’t know what happened to the long-bang friend after he fell back from slipping on a banana peel. My theory is that Yosuke is either his brother or a villainous transformation after Seiroku disappeared; in any case, that man definitely does not give off stable vibes.

Seiroku is also a big mystery because he went off to war, but the story frames it as he disappeared. So, did he disappear while enlisted or did the war finish and then he disappeared? I wonder what sort of relationship he has with the Momokawas that they had his book…

The voice cast is great! Yuma Uchida stars as Kihachi and Sora Amamiya stars as Inako. There’s also Koki Uchiyama as Yosuke, Daisuke Ono as Seiroku, etc. If you’re familiar with KyoAni anime and also know names of voice actors, a lot of them have been in past KyoAni works, so it’s like a gathering of all stars in a way. I think the casting that surprised me the most was Ayahi Takagaki as Tome, the granny maid. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her voice a grandmother before and she’s too young to start voicing grandma roles—she’s only in her 40’s. Still, I didn’t know it was her until I saw the credits, so credits to her for the range!

The dub cast is great too! Hunter McCoy stars as Kihachi; he voiced Ace in Twisted Wonderland and Fox McCloud in the new Star Fox game for Switch 2. I’m not too familiar with Audrey Hsieh, but she was in Medalist as Suzu Kamoto. Jonathon Ha voices Kengo. Yosuke is voiced by Paul Castro Jr who is also the new voice of Yosuke Hanamura in Persona 4; I find that super funny.

Anyways, I feel like I’ll be enjoying this due to the amount of theories I can make from the characters. I just hope it stays consistent from beginning to end. However, I do want to mention that this is a light novel series written by Hiro Yuki and the author did express his disappointment that KyoAni was changing a lot of elements from his story for the anime; he later deleted it, so I don’t know how much of it is truly credible. It does make me feel a little sad as an author myself… Anyways, let me know your thoughts on the episode!

The story is about Lara, born as the sixth princess of the royal merfolk family and the chronicles of her life. She was a nonchalant baby at first but slowly grew an interest in humans despite her father and sisters telling her to stay away from them due to their vile nature. When she finds a human prince drowning at sea one day, her curiosity for them only grew bigger to the point that her father had to lock her up in a dungeon due to breaching of customs. However, a secret meeting with her estranged aunt Grace has her going to the human world and falling in love with the prince. However, when her true form got revealed, it turns out that the prince doesn’t feel the same kind of true love as she does with him, hence the choice of her choosing to die, but managed to be revived due to her father giving a bit of his power into him. When she returned to the merfolk kingdom, it’s all in ruin due to her actions. Her family aren’t dead yet completely. Grace gives her a chance to be able to bring them back if she’s able to go through another trial, which will be to return to the human world once again, but this time, she’s in 2026 and meets Mari Otsu whom she was about to crash land onto but she stops her by…punching her.

Because this is an original story, each week will only be filled with anticipation and worry. I’m mostly worried because I don’t have the best track record of original anime. Some I’ve watched are great, but some were either mediocre or outright terrible. I hope Goodbye Lara is on the scale of as great as Buddy Daddies and not godawful like Marginal Service or Moonrise.

I honestly love the coloring of the episode! They all look like watercolor; is it because they’re underwater? Anyways, the artstyle does give off that retro 90’s shoujo vibe but mixed with modern art techniques. The scenery looks so much like a storybook! I honestly enjoy it so much!

Regarding the characters, I really like Lara as a protagonist. She’s morally gray in a morally white way, if that makes sense. What I mean is that she doesn’t view the world as black or white like her fellow merfolk but sees the good in the world above and its inhabitants, even if the prince did turn his back on her. Instead of faulting him, she blames herself for being vile. I see a lot of potential from her in a way. I think the standout character in this episode is Grace. She’s not outright evil, but is also Lara’s biggest motivator in a way. I feel like she could be the story’s biggest dark horse.

The voice cast is actually pretty good in both English and Japanese. Lara is voiced by Hana Hishikawa who voiced Cure Precious in Delicious Party Precure in Japanese and Brianna Knickerbocker in English. Hishikawa does a great job despite not having a lot of lead roles after her Precure stint; I feel like this could be her biggest non-Precure break. Brianna Knickerbocker is actually a great voice actress! I really liked her role as Yahna in Unicorn Overlord and she’s announced to be Yukiko in Persona 4 Revival! Grace is voiced by Rica Fukami who is a prolific veteran voice actress. She voiced Jessica in Banana Fish, Sailor Venus in the 90’s Sailor Moon anime and also Fran in Final Fantasy XII. Lara’s family also got a lot of good voice actors in Japanese. Rowan the father is voiced by Masaki Terasoma who voiced Shiguma Arakawa in Akane-banashi and Hidan in Naruto Shippuden. The sisters are voiced by a lot of known voice actresses but the issue is that aside from Luna and Lisa, I don’t know who is who for the other three sisters. Luna is voiced by Honoka Inoue and Lisa is voiced by Minami Tsuda.

Anyways, I can’t wait to see what sort of shenanigans Lara will get into now that she’s a 249-year-old girl trying to blend in the modern society. However, I’m most curious about why the heck Lisa is also in Japan. I guess it’ll be answered as the story progresses… Let me know your thoughts on this episode and the premiere!