I wish I could say that the show bounced back strong after last week’s disappointing affair, but this episode was pretty limp as well. It was certainly more entertaining than last week’s, but not by much. To the show’s credit though, the ending twist to the second half was so unexpected and funny that it might have made up for the entire episode.

It feels as though the show has been packing more mini clips around the now standard half-episode segments, and the cold open to this episode was probably the most significant one yet. And it was actually really funny. I liked how it started off with Shizuka just finishing reading The Gift of the Magi, a classic and touching short story about a very poor husband and wife having to come up with Christmas gifts for each other (if you haven’t read it yet, you should do it. It’s only like 5 pages). The couple that comes into Shizuka’s shop in the cold open clearly don’t have such a loving relationship, though they do seem to have a lot of money. Watching Shizuka calmly and blatantly exploit them for financial gain was a riot.

Then came the first half episode, which was all too uneventful. It drove home one of my main problems with the so-called “slice of life” genre, which is that “slice of life” shows, in order to be successful, rarely show us just another slice of the characters’ lives; they have to show us something special, unusual, or interesting in some way. I guess Toshiko’s table tennis game against Harue sort of counts. At least the reference to Harue’s special training (via drums) from the previous episode was a nice touch.

Somehow, the shaggy black hair makes Futaba look even cooler, if that is possible. Too bad she didn't actually appear this episode.

The most enjoyable part was seeing the middle school versions/caricatures of Toshiko, Harue, and (especially) Futaba. It seems that the people at their middle school really took table tennis seriously. Hotori’s insertion into – and disbelief at – the scared townspeople flashback was quite funny. I did find it odd that Toshiko was shown to be a lefty in table tennis, even though she’s a righty when playing the violin. Since dexterity and precision are required for both activities, it would be highly unusual for someone to use opposite hands for them. I wonder if it was purposeful.

And then for the second half, featuring Shizuka doing some detective work of her own, all in order to track down a cookie with no source. Really, what made this segment was that completely unexpected ending. Yet the Town Keeps Going has been wacky, off the wall, and crazy at times, but it has never broken continuity or its own internal logic as far as I can recall, so I have no choice but to take this at face value and accept that, yes, there really are time travelers in this show which has suddenly gone down the route of science fiction.

I liked this depiction of a dream hallway. Very accurate, I thought.

Of course, chances are good that this is just a one time thing in order to facilitate this one gag, but already in this one episode, there’s more to this little side story. Specifically, the fact that the couple from the cold open were both from the future – the green haired wife being one of the people at the conference and the husband being the time traveler. Does this mean anything, or were the guys at Shaft just having fun using the same characters? What about the allusions to ancient artifacts and the effects of time on precious objects during the opening narration of the previous two episodes? And was Hotori right when she thought that a warp zone had been responsible for her falling off to the side in the first half of this episode? Is there some sort of time travel twist yet to be revealed in this show? Could this show be far more similar to Shaft’s other “seaside” cafe show, Natsu no Arashi! than anyone had previously thought!?

Probably not. It’s more likely to be a running joke, similar to the aliens in Pani Poni Dash! instead of being an actual plot point. Or maybe it won’t be a running joke at all, but just something to spice up this one episode that badly needed it. At least this show is keeping me guessing. But I’m hoping that the show quickly returns to the situational comedy that it had so excelled at instead of continuing with the gags and gimmicks that made these past 2 episodes so dull in comparison.

I mention Haruhi Suzumiya, and the show follows up with a culture festival concert, then time traveling. What's next, an island murder mystery? That would be right up Hotori's alley.

I probably should’ve seen this coming given the title of the show, but with this episode, Yet the Town Keeps Going pretty much defined “slice of life.” I’m not a fan of that label or “genre” (not the contents – I enjoy shows such as Hidamari Sketch that fall into the category, but I find the name of the category not to be descriptive and rather a convenient label that you can slap onto anything), but really, I can’t think of a better way to describe this show. Of course, it did provide some new material, but mainly, this was Another Couple of Days in the Life of Hotori Arashiyama. Fortunately for us, Hotori leads a pretty hilarious life.

The most notable thing in the first segment was the nonchalant introduction of Shizuka, a woman who gets a quick flash in the OP and who appears to be very aware of and exploitative of Hotori’s idiocy. As has been the tradition for this show, she didn’t get too much screen time or development in her first appearance – this has been the case with every major side character so far, including Sanada, Tatsuno, Kon, and Moriaki-sensei. And they’ve all returned to humorous effect the second time around, so we’ll have to wait and see what Shizuka will do in coming episodes. That she’s a named character and is played by an established voice actor in Satsuki Yukino – known for playing Mutsumi in Love Hina, Milly in Trigun and more recently the Sonozaki twins in the Higurashi series – means she’s likely to have plenty more appearances before all is said and done.

This was sort of a coming out episode for Kon Futaba, playing major roles in both segments and showing herself to be fully integrated with our main cast of characters. The bit about her birthday in the first segment went well with the theme of that segment. That is, the knowledge of her birthday was an obvious metaphor for Pandora’s Box, and Hotori ended up making everyone suffer the consequences when she opened it. I loved the image of Hotori dazedly trying to put the confetti back in the popper and to celebrate Kon’s birthday – another obvious nod to the segment’s title.

More reflections, in typical Shaft fashion. And while they look nice, I've noticed the art - particularly of the faces - suffering in some shots. SHAFT!

Kon is shaping up to be quite the cool character. Living alone, with a wall full of CDs, supposedly plays the bass, and knowledgeable about how to pick locks. Combine that with the way she handled Hotori in her introductory segment in episode 3, and we have someone who’s just plain… chill. To be honest, though that makes her very likable, it also makes her a bit too perfect, which can make for a boring character. And a little out of place in our regular cast of misfits. Though her fever-induced antics in the second segment showed her fallibility as well.

That second segment also played with the show’s romance angle, which is always welcome in my book. There was the artist in the red bandanna whom Hotori bribed with photos of Tatsuno, extending the 4-person long love chain by one link. Though that he wasn’t even given a name bodes ill for his return in future episodes. Then there was Hotori’s and Tatsuno’s impromptu visit to Sanada, which, despite playing out terribly predictably, managed to be funny thanks to both the dialogue and the physical comedy. If only Sanada had known about TrueCrypt, he would not have had to go through such pain! I liked both Hotori’s overreaction and that she was still walking home with him from school the next day. After all, no matter what wacky antics get between our characters, Yet the Town Keeps Going.

If nothing else, Yet the Town Keeps Going will be remembered fondly for the million faces of Hotori.

And that’s really the takeaway from this episode. This is a show that’s true to its title. I don’t expect it to reveal some grand narrative at this point, or even a minor one. We’re halfway in now, and I get the feeling the show is getting into its groove, showing us more and more of Hotori and the town that surrounds her as the characters keep going about their daily life. I’m still looking forward to learning more about the buck-toothed Harue, who should play a major role, given that she’s in the ED (even if only as the drummer) and has an established rivalry with Kon.

I’m sometimes amazed how disrupting a vacation can be to one’s life but that’s not the reason for this post (though it does help explain where I’ve been for the last 3 weeks) nor is it an excuse to post pictures from my vacation (though I will post some)  but because I had a thought about slice-of-life anime while I was on vacation and I took the above pic to remind myself of this thought so I could share later.

Since the summer vacation of 2008 where I tried out vacationing without a purpose except to relax and the small fall vacation from Fall 2008, I’ve really gotten into the whole renting a house for a week+ somewhere and doing nothing type vacations (see 2009 and now this year). So there I was sitting on the beach, listening to the lapping waves of water, watching the sun set and eating mint chocolate chip ice cream – immensely enjoying myself, far beyond what I should be allowed to feel and it hits me; I’m practically doing a live action slice-of-life anime by myself. Practically because I don’t happen to be a high school girl in a band who likes tea or a high school boy that can see ghosts  and has a fortune cat as a sidekick or a gondolier on a terraformed Mars but it’s still close enough to make me realize that the reason I like slice-of-life anime so much is because I love those small normal goings-on that are the center of these shows. Going to the beach? Awesome, I love the beach. Picking tomatoes, creating a feast and inviting all your friends over? Sweet, wish I doing that right now. Going to a coffee shop run by a android that drinks more coffee then she sells? Bring on the apocalypse, that’s my idea of the perfect day trip. I just wish it was easier to make these shows sound interesting to other people.

Sorry if that wasn’t such a deep philosophical point but it is slice-of-life anime we’re talking about.  Now here’s some other pictures from my vacation and the other reason why I’ve been slow with the posting is that I’m teaching my one younger sister how to drive (this’ll be the fourth sister I’ve taught to drive) and we’re trying to do it in only a month and a half which means I’m going out everyday  for at least an hour and it’s really sapping my strength.  And it’s not like she’s a bad driver but I’m exhausted nonetheless. This would be episodes 8-9 of my life as a slice-of-life anime but sadly, not many Japanese learn to drive (using anime as a judge) and thus this would feel out-of-place in an anime. The only example I could think of was Sunohara from Clannad.

Same sunset as the first picture

Same sunset as the first picture

Same sunset as the first picture

The beach house we rented had a lovely lookout.

The owners overstated their beach access but I wanted to get a picture of this cliff from the beach below and after a climb down the near vertical ravine and across the rickety 2 ft. wide bridge without anything to hold onto to keep balance on, I got this picture.

Time-lapse pic of the nearby road from the 2nd story deck, the stars were pretty as well from here but we only got a couple nights clear enough to go star-gazing.

This butterfly let me run into the house, grab a camera, and come back outside without moving so I could get this picture.

Another sunset pic but from another night

Filed under: anime, meta/office keeping, other wallpapers and pictures

…which is made more regrettable given what this show compares them to.

Though I usually don’t make a point of watching anime focusing on 6th grade girls, I might make an exception for this show after a pretty good first episode.  To be honest, this show didn’t show up on my radar at all over the past few weeks as its description seemed rather bland and gave the impression that it might just be an endless parade of panty shots. Fortunately, this episode was able to keep those to a minimum while providing one of the funnier episodes from any series I’ve seen in a while.  What made it even better was that the show didn’t rely too much on fan service, but instead used the naiveté of sixth graders as its source of laughs.

This episode revolves around the plight of Satoshi Yabe, a new teacher put in charge of class 6-3. His first day starts out normally enough as he meets the rest of the school’s faculty, including a conveniently clumsy and full figured school nurse. Unfortunately for Yabe, three of his students are the Marui triplets, who are reputedly the worst triplets the world has ever known. The dark music and imagery used to introduce Futaba (far left of the first picture) highlighted the danger of these girls.

But I can't!

From what I could gather from the character introductions and the relatively small sample size of the show thus far is that Futaba is a perverted moron, which only makes her strength more dangerous. As much as I disliked Futaba, I found Mitsuba’s character to be even less interesting. Though there is still time for her character to be fleshed out, the only appeal she seems to have is that she is more mature than her sisters and a bit too sadistic.

The sad truth is that this is why some people become teachers.

In my opinion, the shows only interesting character thus far is Hitoha. By the end of the episode I felt that whenever she was in a scene a laugh was sure to follow, which is something I couldn’t say for the other two sisters. In addition to the Nipples scene, it was her deductive reasoning that started the girls’ quest to deprive Yabe of his manhood. While her comedic timing was certainly top notch, she also seems to have the most potential, plot wise, for the rest of the series. The most poignant moment of the show, though it wasn’t really funny, was when she asked for her friends to stand up and no one did. If I was a betting man (which I am), I would bet that she will make some sort of friend by the end of the series. Also, does anyone have any idea what is up with that book of hers?

I could give you three guesses as to where she is aiming, but you only need one.

Since I believe this is a show (or at least this episode) worth watching, I should warn you that the first segment of the show wasn’t really that funny. Class 6-3 basically plays a variant of musical chairs as a way to introduce the sisters and their personalities, and it accomplishes that goal, but little else. However, the action really picks up in the last two-thirds of the episode. First, the girls do their best to hook up their teacher with the school nurse, Aiko Kuriyama, but go about it in the worst way possible.

His head says no, but his hands say yes.

The last part of the episode focused on the new class pet, Nipples the hamster. Though this is obviously an immature name that predictably elicits fairly crass jokes, it all seems to work perfectly because of the situation. I don’t know if any of you remember your sixth grade selves, but sixth graders really would give a hamster a name like Nipples. What made things even funnier was that some class members seemingly didn’t even grasp the meaning of what they were saying.

The hidden danger of orgies.

If I had to find a fault in this otherwise enjoyable opener, I couldn’t get over how all the characters looked like Alvin and the chipmunks with their teeth, but I’m not really a fan of anime teeth to begin with. Mind you, I did enjoy the animation as a whole since it underscored the character’s youth and the setting even though it is a bit different. Going forward, this show is probably not going to offer much in the way of a plot, but will likely be in the same vein as Azumanga Daioh, but only a little less tasteful. It also seems that there will be a wide variety of side characters given the amount of detail some of them received throughout the episode and in the ending. This is probably a good thing given my lack of interest towards most of the main characters. As I haven’t read the manga, I don’t know if the show can stay at this comedic level over the long run without wearing too thin or relying on too much fan service, but I’d give this show a shot for the time being.

A month after the preview episode’s airing, it’s finally time for the second episode Working!!. Despite the gap, no time has passed in the world of the series and in the opening voiceover, we realise that Sota is still extremely good at sticking his foot in his mouth. He calls sensitive-about-her-age Kyoko “middle-aged” and questions her judgement about putting Inami (who is afraid of men and reflexively punches them) on a shift with him.

Inami, use Androphobic Right Hook!

We are then thrown straight into the jokes – without an OP to break things up yet – when Inami vehemently defends herself after Sota questions her ability to deal with the male chefs and customers. To prove herself, she goes up to one of the chefs and try and talk herself into thinking he’s a woman. She’s successful at delivering the ramen to a male customer, but can’t put it down because all her energy is going into not hitting him. She then explains to Sota that she truly does want to get over her fear and, of course, he tells her that she’s way scarier than any man. Cue an off-screen punch and Inami telling Kyoko that she’ll be fine to work a shift with Sota because “he really pisses her off”. And onto the sickly sweet but very nice looking OP (which ends with a group “Yay!”).

This is just like that one time in that fighting anime...

We now move into a bizarre montage of food being delivered and then Sota being punched by Inami. The girl soon tries her hardest to work things out with him but only gets a cold reaction from Sota, prompting her to ask Poplar for help. She explains that the reason he acts so sweetly towards her (and not Inami) is his love for all things small, which they decide can’t really be helped. Inami is later forced to face her fear when she’s asked to clean up a male customer’s table. She asks if it’s alright to hit him and is dragged away by Sota before he has the opportunity to respond. Sota then gives her some sort of strange pep talk and she resolves to punch him whenever she feels like hitting somebody else. Finally, at the end of the episode, Poplar asks Sota to try and be warmer towards Inami. He compliments her and she’s truly happy… until he explains he’s only complimenting her hairpin and she hits him. We soon find out, though, that Inami is actually overjoyed at the comment and only hit him out of surprise.

Call me by the wrong name again and I'mma cut you.

A lot of the humour in this show is either physical comedy or comes from contrast. I have found the latter to be fantastic, with some golden examples being Inami punching Sota and then politely bowing and asking him to work well with her; Inami calling Sota “Katanashi” instead of “Takanashi” (resulting in him pointing three butter knives at her and telling her getting people’s names wrong is the height of rudeness), and then Poplar walking in and calling him the same but with him smiling sweetly and helping her; and Yachiyo putting up a sign to let the employees know that they should watch their behaviour around customers as it may be misinterpreted… while having a sword tucked into her apron. The humour, in general, is very over-the-top so it won’t be to everyone’s taste, and the show’s zaniness can work against it, as it will sometimes push too hard in the physical comedy department.

What is it about parfaits and lesbian crushes?

While it was by no means brilliant, I enjoyed this episode and found it to be extremely funny at times. The voice acting was also very strong (probably better than the first episode’s) and the animation quality remains smooth and consistent (despite A-1 Pictures clearly devoting more of their resources to Night Raid). Thanks for the meal, Working!!.

To start off, let me introduce myself. My name is Raphael and I’m one of the new bloggers here at Borderline Hikikomori. Pleased to meet you!

Welcome to Wagnaria!

Working!! is one of the shows slated for the upcoming season, and one that I’ll be blogging. Set in a family restaurant called Wagnaria, it’s a slice-of-life comedy that revolves around the lives of the men and women who work there. In this first (preview) episode, we meet Poplar Taneshima, a wide-eyed and ditzy waitress who is tasked with finding a new part-timer for the restaurant. She begins her search by asking her schoolmates but after no luck with this method, she sets out to recruit strangers. She literally runs into high school student Sota Takanashi, who mistakes her for a lost child. After she clears the air with him and inadvertently reveals that they go to the same school – and that she is, in fact, older than him – he happily takes the job. He’s brought back to the restaurant and introduced to lazy assistant manager Shirafuji Kyoko, as well as Jun Sato and Hiroomi Soma, both chefs, and Yachiyo Todoroki, the sword-carrying “crew chief”.

I've never heard an insect described as "moe" before...

Following this is a somewhat bizarre turn of events where Sota compares Poplar to an insect behind her back, calls twenty-eight year old Kyoko “pretty old” (and gets crazy shifts as a result), and later watches as she fights some customers who are teasing Poplar… and then orders some friends to rob them. Towards the end of the episode, the new recruit meets another member of staff, the man-phobic Inami Mahiru, who greets him with a wild punch to the nose. Suffice to say, Sota has realised that working at Wagnaria is going to be interesting… to say the least.

Math is clearly his strong point.

I quite enjoyed this episode. The art is done in typical A-1 Pictures style (see Sora no Woto), with smooth animation. The cast, especially the male members, give strong performances and the character designs are sweet but nothing special. The atmosphere of the show was fun and lively, with a strangely calming effect despite the occasionally frenetic pace of the jokes. Since this is a slice-of-life series, the fate of the show is really going to depend on the strength of the characters. I’m not entirely won over by them as of yet, but I feel confident that I’ll grow to be very fond of them within the space of a few more installments.

"It's a man! Check if he's armed!"

The full run of Working!! will begin on April 4.

Last week on Sora no Woto, we had a look into the areas surrounding the town of Seize.  The lush plains made a stark contrast with the destructive landscape of No Man’s Land.  This week pleasantly surprised me in its plot devices and development, and I would say that thus far it is the best episode.

Cute as a flippin' button.

The episode starts with a very sudden payday for Kanata, who ventures to town to buy souvenirs.  The rest of the girls have some breathing room to get to work.  The secret’s out folks, this fort has an alcohol distillery.  This is not standard operating procedure and they would face a court-martial if discovered.  However, the military’s sporadic and late shipments mean that the girls need money for supplies.  The benefits outweigh the threat to their lives.  Klaus, the officer from the previous episode, is probably in on the operation.  Filicia wants to prevent Kanata from becoming involved in their activities.

With that much liquor, you must "forget" daily...

Of course, the black market attracts unsavory types, and the mafia is trying to get a foothold in the town.  We fast-forward to a liquor deal.  The men don’t appreciate the terms of the deal, and threaten to kill our heroes.  Rio comes in to save the day, and the girls fill them with bullets.  But wait, that isn’t the mafia!  They were putting on a show to scare off the criminals.  A rockslide concludes the spectacle by destroying the mafia’s car.  Naomi takes a box filled with goods from the car.  However, no one there had planned that little addition, which means we have a plot hole to investigate.

No problem, I enjoy getting shot by rubber bullets!

After the break, the perspective shifts to the church, where Yumina is dressing the children for the day.  Mishio, the orphan from the first episode, runs off when the church girl attempts to fix her hair.  The show now observes the day’s events from Kanata’s perspective.    She went to the glass shop, and her presence caused Naomi to notice the mafia.  She also inadvertently came up with the plan to run those men out of town.  Kanata stumbles upon Mishio at the flea market.  She causes the orphan to flee, and after talking to Yumina, heads off after her.

Yeah... I just made her run away crying. Is that bad?

Mishio walks along a roof, when suddenly we hear gunshots and she stumbles.  The gutter she grabs breaks, causing a rock slide, but Kanata grabs her at the last-minute.  The two go down to assess the damage, when the orphan notices the box she has searched for among Naomi’s goods.  Mishio returns to have a tearful reunion with Yumina, who she has now accepted as her big sister.  The priest there briefly tells Kanata about the little one’s tragic past.  Her father died in the war and her mother succumbed to a mysterious illness.  We have a short scene where Kanata and Rio discuss fate, and then cut to the credits.

Reunited and it feels so good.

Episode 06 is a master class example of the cause and effect chain, but it doesn’t stop there.  It further illustrates how two independent forces act on each other without ever realizing it.  If the garrison or Kanata didn’t coexist, the chain of events would break.  For example, if Kanata hadn’t appeared at the glass shop, no one may have noticed the mafia members.  Dividing the episode into two sides further drove the point home.  With only Filicia’s side of the story, you end up with plot holes.  Where did they get the idea for the mock fight, and how did those rocks fall?  Adding Kanata’s side allows you to see the entire picture, and you get that “Aha!” moment when all the pieces fall into place.  Beyond all that, we got a further look into the workings of the town and the military’s influence of development.  Additionally, I appreciated how the studio tied the events into revealing a little bit more about Rio and Mishio.  I loved the concepts this episode brought to the table, and at the end of the series, I might even hold this up as my favorite episode.  The next episode involves the river.  Perhaps this will lead to another glimpse of that mysterious carcass from the first episode.

If only you knew, Kanata...

Editor’s note: This episode canonized the spellings Filicia and Noël.  Previous posts will reflect the change.

Last week on Sora no Woto, we got acquainted with Noël a bit better.  In addition, the town and it’s people received a bit of expansion.  We saw that not everyone is happy that the military is in town, and that war has affected the community greatly.  Today our trio of younglings gets sent on a “field trip” to visit the security outposts erected many years ago.

Magenta Alert! Simulated target approaching!

The episode starts with a training exercise in the tank.  Klaus, the man from the first episode, shows up with mail and new orders.  The two senior officers are definitely keeping something from the children.  Kureha seems to really like Klaus, whether it’s a crush on him or simply admiration remains to be seen.  Filicia sets up a field trip for the three girls, which really feels like a training exercise in disguise.

Do we do that before or after collapsing?

While exploring the area, they need to check up on three surveillance outposts.  They can’t fix them, but it’s still good to know if they’re in working condition.  When Kanata touches the first one, some symbols pop out of it; this really is some advanced technology.  They find a small stream to take a break at and have a little fun, but unfortunately, when they return to their packs they’ve been ravaged and the compass has gone missing.

Nay, clearly a wizard did it!

The girls must rely on their own sense of direction to find the remaining two outposts.  They work well together as a team but their personalities do grate on each other a bit.  In the end, they reach their destination and finally see Nomansland.  It’s as wonderful a place as the name implies.  Every girl stationed at the outpost has made this trip and seen the true outcome of war.  We exit the episode with a short scene as the girls relax from a trying day.

Obligatory hot springs scene, check.

The next episode’s title hints that it will continue to expand the town.  I really wanted to learn more about the town’s legend, however, the keeping the war in mind is equally important.  If you had any doubt this series intended to preach an anti-war message, rid yourself of it now.  Nomansland, even from brief shots, is a terrible place ravaged by war and a stark contrast to the field surrounding it.  The skeletons of buildings and armaments remain, strewn about an artificially created desert plain.  What makes it even more chilling is that we’ve done this ourselves in the real world on countless occasions, most prevalent when unleashing Agent Orange during Vietnam.  I’m glad that this series is real about the cost of war and avoids romanticizing the military.  I have to wonder about when these girls will have to make the choice to fight for themselves.

This is the seed war sows. Never forget.

Last week on Sora no Woto, Kanata fell ill with malaria, resulting in an experience that strengthened the relationship she has with Rio.  We were introduced to the church, which Rio distrusts.  The episode also confirmed that the mentor for the two girls was the same person.  This week, the anime focuses a bit on fleshing out Noël, who has been in desperate need of the treatment since the start.

Noel is adorable in that tank.

The episode starts with Noël once again failing to boot up the sniping system on the tank.  Filicia sends her and Kanata into town for supplies and a new lens.  On the way, Noël displays an incredible level of knowledge about the town.  The glass shop is their first stop, and Kanata once again affirms her perfect pitch ability by identifying the tone the glass makes.  This will prove important in a few minutes.

It's like she's never seen a dolphin before. Oh... wait...

We get a short montage of supply collection around the town, and finally the two girls are loading the last of the crates into their jeep.  Suddenly, a young boy runs into Noël, followed by Yumina.  The boy yells at them before running off, and Yumina explains he lost his parents in the war.  This drives home that the military isn’t all fun and games, and not all the townspeople may appreciate the outpost.

But... you're also human.

Finally, we get to the glass maker, Carl, who makes the lenses that Noël has tested in the tank.  The lenses use a material combination that he finds difficult to reproduce.  While he works, Noël talks about her misgivings about the military.  After she passes out, Kanata talks to Carl and has an epiphany of how to play the trumpet.  Her playing wakes Noël up, who remembers her perfect pitch ability.  She can use it to compare the new lenses to the original by the sound they make.

It's gonna do a backflip. Just you wait and see!

I think this episode was exactly what we needed out of the series.  It expanded the town a little more, and gave Noël’s character a good shot in the arm.  It seems she doesn’t like being around people in general, and I’m curious what made her that way.  In addition, I think it’s good that Kanata can move on a bit after learning how to play better.  The next episode title implies an exploration mission, which I think will reveal a little more of the town’s legend.

Mission Accomplished.