Upon arriving in Higashi-Agano Station, the gang runs into the locals, all of whom have mushrooms growing on their heads. I figured that 7G did more than just that and sure enough, it’s revealed that the mushrooms makes locals extremely passive and it causes them to die within a year or two. They also try to spread this infection to everyone else.
At first, it’s incredibly baffling that none of the girls find these locals the least bit suspicious. The only one who has her doubts is Akira. As the episode progresses however, you start to realize that Shizuru, Nadeshiko, and Reimi don’t bat an eye because they themselves have been infected. This episode does a great job keying you in on this before mushrooms actually star to grow on everyone’s heads by playing increasingly eerie conversations over the characters’ seemingly normal dialogue. You do find out at the end of the episode that Akira has also been infected (and in an incredibly awkward place to boot) though she seems largely unaffected by her mushroom. I don’t know, maybe Akira is so paranoid that she can’t be overwritten by the mushroom’s pacifying effect.
As for the solution, it’s the power of friendship that saves the day. Admittedly, Shizuru remembering Yoka and turning things around is hampered by the fact that all you actually need to do to bring someone back to normal is rip the mushroom(s) off of their head. Still, this is a solid excuse to expand on Shizuru and Yoka’s past and it’s pretty cool and touching how Shizuru rips the mushroom off herself because of her memories of Yoka. I must say, this episode throws in a couple of false starts here. You have Akira contacting Zenjiro for help and that ends up being completely unproductive as Zenjiro wastes five minutes giving Akira mushroom trivia that doesn’t help her in saving her friends. I don’t know how the morse code still works since part of the railway got destroy last episode but these interactions are fun so I’ll look the other way. There’s also Shizuru trolling Akira after she recovers from the infection. These poor girls are in trouble and yet, Shizuru can’t help herself but kid around. Honestly, that’s pretty stinking funny.
I figured this episode would end with the girls liberating all of the locals but that is surprisingly not the case. Aside from the infection possibly taking too much root, the locals don’t want to be saved at all. They’ve all given up on life so they’re resigned to the mushrooms killing them in due time. Knowing this, I’m appalled that the locals tried to infect the girls, as if they think they’re doing them a favor. Kids do need guidance but how these girls live their lives in this very strange world is up to them. It’s really gross then that these so-called grown-ups are trying to decide for them and they berate them for thinking any differently. There’s also the fact that these locals are complete strangers to the gang and they also tried to kill them so overall, you kind of hope those mushrooms will kill them off soon. If not that, you certainly pity them for living such rotten and pessimistic lives.
These extras send an interesting message for our protagonists. Not everyone shares the hope that the girls have for their journey and some of them will no doubt challenge that hope. Also, if this first group is that unsympathetic, I wonder what other kinds of people the girls run into in future episodes.
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