With final exams taken care of, Shinon proposes for the Food Culture Research Club to embark on another trip. Mako has already committed to visiting her family in her hometown of Ine, Kyoto but not wanting to ruin things for her friends, she invites them to stay at her grandmother’s house. Since she and Mako are both returning home, Shinon suggests reuniting with the other members of their childhood circle, Hiyori (Ikumi Hasegawa) and Yuna (Rika Nagae). I’ve completely forgotten to mention those two throughout my coverage of this show but to be fair, they’ve rarely done much in the plot other than appear in flashbacks. This episode is probably the most prominent they’ve ever been.
My first big laugh with this episode is seeing Kurea exhausted from all the driving she has to do for the club. Apparently, Ine is pretty darn far from the university, so much so that everyone had to leave at 4 in the morning. The exaggerated bloodshot eyes on Kurea’s face and her sounding dead inside is simply hilarious. Equally funny is her completely passing out by the time everyone introduces themselves to Mako’s family.
The club then heads over to Mako’s grandmother’s house, which is a very traditional building that’s been with Mako’s family for generations. Definitely one of the more unique locations presented in the show. Mako and Shinon head out to meet up with Hiyori and Yuna, leaving Nana and Tsutsuji to cook lunch while Kurea to catch some Zs. Since the house is equipped with an irori, Nana and Tsutsuji take it upon themselves to learn how to use it for their lunch. To be honest, I kind of was expecting these two to almost set the house on fire, leaving a cranky Kurea to put it out and give the two an earful. That said, I love how the episode spends a couple of minutes effectively walking both the characters and the viewer through a tutorial on how to use an irori, only to then reveal that all this effort is simply for heating instant noodles. It’s so anticlimactic, that it makes for a great punchline.
Having not seen Hiyori and Yuna in years, Mako is understandably a bit nervous about meeting the two again. The fear quickly dissipates however once Hiyori and Yuna arrive. What especially helps is Mako and Shinon embarrassing one another, with Mako blurting out all of Shinon’s blunders the past couple of episodes and Shinon telling Hiyori and Yuna that Mako is still the same old foodie they remember her as.
To be frank, this reunion doesn’t do a whole lot in fleshing out Hiyori and Yuna as characters. Before this episode, all I knew about them is that they’re Mako and Shinon’s friends and after this episode, that’s still about the only thing I know about them. That being said, these characters’ appearance in the present day helps expand on Mako’s character. Earlier in the show, Mako mentions not having any strong memories about middle school and high school so often, her motivation to do certain things is a desire to have memorable experiences with the club. By reuniting with her childhood friends, Mako is once again reminded of her sentimentality. Even though she hasn’t seen Hiyori and Yuna in years, she’s able to reconnect with them because she really values the time she spent with them. That in turn makes her want to value her time with the club even more.
After the hangout, Mako and Shinon return to the former’s grandmother’s house, just in time for her and Kurea to prepare some hot pot for dinner. I really love the joke of Mako grabbing a torch to light the fire in the irori. That once again conveys how excessively Nana and Tsutsuji went earlier in the episode. Before heading to bed, Mako convinces the club to take a group photo with her, so that she has something to look back on in the future. I had a funny thought when Mako ponders if she and the others will one day reminisce on the club. If this show is anything like Non Non Biyori, it’s going to be a stuck in a floating timeline. In all seriousness, this scene is a nice way into Mako and Shinon’s reunion with Hiyori and Yuna and, more importantly, Mako’s sentimentality.
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