Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Poco's Udon World
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Northlander
 Posts: 901 |
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I haven't gotten to the second episode yet, but the first episode struck me as a particularly bizarre Truman Show moment; the SECOND the male lead set his foot back in the old town, one person after the other just popped out of the woodwork to hint about how awesome it would be if he took over his father's udon shop, be that sarcastic old grannies to even random tourists who were there to specifically look up that udon restaurant.
I'm (somewhat mirthfully) trying to imagine an episode where he tries to leave the town, but all these bizarre coincidences would keep happening and preventing him from doing so. |
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Parsifal24
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Episode two was stronger because it didn't go for the easy solutions of "conveniently" getting Souta spoiler[back together with the girl he had a crush on in High School] and overall I just love that yes they have a guy who is 30 in an Anime. While oddly one of my favorite parts is not the main Anime but the ending segment for the weird in universe children's show that exists.
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AksaraKishou
Posts: 1410 Location: End of the World |
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A lot of people say that spoilers ruing the whole experience, but it was this review that made me want to check both eps out xD
Guess this is the 2nd anime i'm watching this season, |
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Hameyadea
 Posts: 3679 |
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In a second consecutive Season, Nakamura Yūichi is playing the single father(-figure, in this case) raising a single child with food being a major theme.
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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And including the drama CD for the manga "Papa to Oyaji no Uchi-gohan" released earlier this year, it's his third role of playing a single father raising a young child, with food being a major theme. I'm sensing a pattern here... (There's also Clannad where he played, eventually, a single father raising a young child, not much emphasis on food, though.) |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11340 |
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The opening strains of the OP remind me of another series, but I can't quite put my finger on it yet. The character designs make me feel like I'm watching Handa-kun: After Story. I'm astonished there's virtually no overlap in staff between this and Handa-kun or Barakamon.
It looks like they're going for the trickster aspect of tanuki mythology, at least in an oblique way, where the trickster changes the lives of people who are actively resisting change. Souta all but says this at the end of the episode. To tell you the truth, I was as suprised as Souta was that Poco was a boy. I was convinced from the first episode he was a girl, until the reviews and comments said otherwise, and I was wondering how they knew. Anyway, this looks like it's going to be fairly by-the-numbers, but charming to sit with nonetheless. |
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Kendra Kirai
Posts: 187 |
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I'm gonna copy/paste what I said in the series discussion, since this thread is likely to get more traffic and I think it's somewhat important for review talk.
The Gaogao stuff seems to have *some* connection to the rest of the show, in addition to being an in-universe children's show. Whether or not it's just tangential, or actually meaningful remains to be seen. I don't think it detracts from the show itself, at any rate. The slightly shorter run time makes the show feel a bit more...laid back somehow. It doesn't overstay it's story segment, if you get what I mean. There's a lot of other shows that try to fill their whole runtime, and just end up either crowding out ideas by packing them in too tightly, making them feel bloated, busy, or rushes, or stretching points unnecessarily, leading to whole filler scenes that have absolutely nothing to do with anything. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11340 |
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Yeah, definitely shades of Antique Bakery's OP. Why is the ending theme a love song to Darwin? 
Episode 4 That was cute. I was wondering if they were going to get around to addressing what tanuki are famous for, and I've never seen a statue of a female tanuki before. Can't really say I like Rin much. A grown woman ought not to be that quick with her fists. But Poco's been doing a stellar job of keeping his tail tucked even when sleeping or terrified. |
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chaccide
Posts: 295 |
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Tanuki penis in your face! That was interesting...
Aside from that this episode hit me in the gut, since my dad died this year and he wanted grandchildren so much and I, the only one who could, decided not to have kids. I might know my decision is right for me, but it doesn't help the guilt and second guessing and wondering if there's something wrong with you that pops up now and again. And like these two, my siblings and I talk now like we never have in the past. Maybe it's a universal thing that happens, but I don't think I've seen all this expressed in anime before. Poco was especially cute. Even though he's a tanuki he seems far more like a real child to me than the girl in Sweetness and Lightning. I wonder how long he stays a child or of it's a decision of his to bring the family together to find some happiness. |
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Merida
 Posts: 1945 |
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Amy wrote:
I don't think Nakaji just "gave in", didn't his father say that he wanted to become a doctor after Souta got injured? I sense another backstory here. As much as i'm enjoying this show, i'm starting to wonder if we'll ever get to see any actual udon... |
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RestLessone
 Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
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^
I was honestly expecting Souta to jump into udon-making by the second episode! That's how these series usually work. Granted, I think I prefer it this way--it's more realistic that Souta isn't immediately quitting the Tokyo life and still contends that he'll leave after his vacation ends. Maybe next episode will catalyze his decision. |
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zrnzle500
 Posts: 3767 |
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At this point, there has been more udon making in Touken Ranbu than this show. Which was done in the manner of a musical, for some reason. |
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gabuhaha
 Posts: 136 |
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I was getting ready to comment on the same thing. Nakajima's father did comment to Souta that Nakajima didn't become interested in becoming a doctor until Souta got hurt. That suggests to me that not only were they pretty close friends but that Nakajima might have been there when Souta got injured. I think Nakajima's bitterness is mostly because Souta left and had no real intention of coming back. I'm a bit surprised too that there has been no udon, in a good way though. I thought in the first episode that they were going to force him down that path. Instead we get a good commentary on the problems of people in their late 20's/early 30's. |
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Merida
Posts: 1945 |
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Don't remind me...i could somehow deal with the soul-crushing boredom this show provided up until now, but the random singing finally gave me the final push to drop it. 
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Kendra Kirai
Posts: 187 |
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Episode 6
I'm so glad that Poco's little affliction wasn't anything deeper than 'travel and a big, nervous day'. So many shows would draw the pathos out by having his life or powers be linked to the town or something. Instead it's just 'Poco isn't feeling well and Souta is freaking out and has to make a decision'. Also, is it just me, or was anyone else getting a vague gay vibe from Hiroshi? Maybe it was just hero worship but he seemed VERY jealous. Granted, extreme exhaustion WAS involved...people don't think or act right when they're sleep deprived and stressed. |
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