#panome

This wasn’t as action-packed with moments of great tensions like the previous gambit of episodes were in this series but it was a fun pause for air despite the inherent tragedy of the undertones which is an excellence of this show.

The first part of the episode is all about the new character of Gugu whom we saw briefly at the end of the last episode who came off as just an odd child with an unknown identity. But it begins with quite a good sequence of a small window into his life and it’s all very cosy and welcoming. Him and his brother are fruit traders who are just trying to get money to live which is nice, simple and relatable. I really like their designs as well and they do really stand out in the universe so far despite their simplicity. The character of Gugu is transfixed with this posh-looking girl who he sees in the market.

That’s all fine but I must address the elephant in the room which is how he has his accident that causes him to wear the weird hawk helmet in the first place. He’s just wondering around on the hill and thinking about edgy faux-philosophical stuff like pre-pubescent boys do when confronted with feelings of attraction to someone else when a lumber carriage comes by on rails. He openly wonders about what would happen if he jumped in front of it but decides against it and then a log falls off and just misses him by inches. It’s stuck on a branch so the man runs to get help and tells Gugu to watch it. It eventually falls and there’s a woman down at the end of the hill and we get the classic theatrical cliché we’ve seen a thousand times. Gugu is shouting at her to get out of the way but she is obviously oblivious to all her senses and he jumps out to save her.

This is a bit of a kerfuffle visually because it comes off like he falls off the side of the edge and the log trips up on some small rocks and then lands squarely on his face. I can’t deny that this was sloppily executed and the actual logistics of the nature of his injury is something that can be called into question as well as he only suffers facial injuries that don’t impair his speech or his brain activity. He’s just laying there with this heavy object that a grown, heavy set man couldn’t budge but is somehow saved by an old drunk who runs a brewery/bottle shop. I don’t want to be that guy who cries that a fantasy product is unrealistic and impossible but I can only suspend my disbelief so far. I’ll tell you what I’ll do though. For this arc, I will give this the benefit of the doubt as I don’t know what lies ahead for Gugu and if there will be any more consequences.

Moving on, the halfway point resumes where the previous episode left off as Fushi and the old lady who I can’t remember the name of strolled through the door. Gugu and Fushi quickly become good pals and it’s implicit that Gugu is replacing the brother figure in his life but treats Fushi as a younger brother which is a bit of a different prescribed relationship dynamic than March acting as a mother figure for Fu. I enjoyed a lot of the shenanigans here and everything was fun and warm.

There is quite a touching scene but also a disgusting scene in which Gugu attempts to bathe Fushi but all of his clothes are stuck to his body and the visuals for this are wonderfully foul as usual. The sound design is great at exemplifiying the gross stickiness. Then though, Fushi attempts to remove his helmet and Gugu is ashamed of his appearance but he doesn’t have any concept of what appearances are. Fushi is mainly interested in the weird helmet. I like scenes like this in this animé because they’re very explorative of the possibilities of the concept and I get frustrated when there’s a great premise that becomes squandered.

The conflict is set up near to the end of this episode as the girl that Gugu fancied in the market turns up at the brewery but it isn’t at all interested in him but is more into Fushi which, fair enough, he is a handsome boy. It’s all very wacky and delightful and I’m especially fond of the visual emotives on Gugu’s helmet. They really had fun with the concept of the helmet in the animation here from treating the little circles on his helmet like eyes and playing with the shutter as though it were a mouth. You can tell that the animation direction was charged with playfully imaginative ideas so it’s a lot of fun to watch.

Gugu then proceeds to cockblock Fushi by telling the girl - Rean - that Fushi can't do anything for himself but she doesn't really care and would actually see that as the challenge. Yes - Rean is a "I could change him" girl. It's worth mentioning that Gugu found Rean's lost dog earlier and she rewarded him with a cheap ring that she didn't have any use for which Gugu didn't bring up at all which is what is interesting isn't it. Gugu won't be willing to prove it by taking off his helmet and it's questionable if he would even be recognized.

Then the old man recommends he start drinking or do something about his sadness because, Gugu being a young teenager, he’s in a sour mood. To which he responds by deciding to begin working out to try and get something over Fushi. It’s all very silly and light-hearted and I just know that this animé as something horribly depressing coming around the corner because that’s what To Your Eternity is all about.

This was a short post but I have to say that there wasn’t a great deal to analyze or go over. It was a fine old episode in the end but it’s all in the name of getting us acquainted with all the new characters in a new setting which it did do as well. I hope they turn around the contrived log incident as a plot device because that sticks out of this episode like a sore thumb unfortunately. I’d like to excuse it somehow but I don’t want to effect a soppy bias into my writing about this animé because I love it too much.