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I want to make one thing perfectly clear: I really enjoyed this episode…but there’s two things that I couldn’t help but find funny.
First off, there’s Hitomi practicing magic with Pocky sticks. I know they’re technically called Popocky in this show due to copyright but come on, we know what they’re meant to be. I guess they are sticks (mostly) colored brown so it counts but I just can’t help but find the whole thing a little silly. Imagine seeing that in Harry Potter. Forget phoenix feather cores or Ollivanders, just buy a box of Pocky and you’re good to go! I suppose it fits with the down to earth vibe of this show. Magic is just a thing that some people can do and a lot of magical items appear to be trinkets sold in specialty shops. You might as well tie snacks to it in some way.
Joking aside, it is nice to see Hitomi learn magic from her ancestors. No doubt, she’s taking Yuito’s encouragement to heart. The bit where she ponders if her great-grandmother is using Pocky to “condition” her is particularly on point. It’s funny but I think the snack does act as a bit of positive reinforcement for her, associating her training with something that she enjoys and even getting to eat the Pocky stick as a reward for making progress. A shame she couldn’t get that mug to levitate but progress is still progress.
After that scene, you see Hitomi participate in the club festival at school which brings me to my next point. You have no idea how many times I thought to myself, “Hitomi, now might be a good time to mention you can’t see colors”.
Goodness, fate is cruel to this girl. I already thought having the Photography Arts Club invite her to join was awkward but this episode upped the anxiety. Yuito asks her to paint some bunnies. Kurumi forces her to model for a photography event and tasks her to use a very specifically colored vial of star sand. You just know Hitomi is setting herself up for embarrassment (although that painting doesn’t look half-bad). Part of me really wants Hitomi to just cough up and tell everyone that she can’t see colors. It would save herself so much trouble and of all the secrets she needs to keep, I think this ought to play second fiddle to, oh I don’t know, the fact that she’s from the future. But then again, I get where she’s coming from. When you have something you’re embarrassed or ashamed about, it does feel rather frightening to admit it out loud.
It seems rather fitting that Yuito is the first to find out about this secret. Considering his background as an artist, he would be more inclined to notice Hitomi’s aversion to anything color coded and imagine what not being able to see colors must be like. I really like the solution he comes up with too — revealing that Shou specializes in monochromatic photography. Not only is that accessible for Hitomi, it’ll also give her a place in the club. A little bit telling though that it’s Shou who works in that kind of niche. Between that and the ending of last episode, I have to wonder if I need to set up a relationship chart for this anime.
I am slowly beginning to warm up to the other characters. They do have an odd tendency to force Hitomi into uncomfortable situations (i.e. using magic in school, model for an event, etc.) but hopefully that’ll come to an end now that she’s officially a member. I am just glad that Hitomi joins now as this anime could’ve easily prolonged the awkwardness between her and the others after the club event went south for a whole other episode. I don’t know about individual personalities but the chemistry overall is entertaining, especially Kurumi and Chigusa constantly pushing each other’s buttons (that’s a shipping if I ever seen one).
That said, what is really getting me excited about the cast is the arrival of Kohaku. The end of the episode teases she’ll formally appear in the next one and with how much Iroduku has teased about her character, I’m just dying to know what she’s like in person.
Thanks for reading!
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