Dagashi Kashi

Episode 8

Dagashi Kashi remained its low-key, generally endearing self this week, though its second half unfortunately demonstrated exactly why that's the show it ought to be. If you're expecting Dagashi Kashi to surprise you at this point, I'm not really sure why you're watching; the show has repeatedly proven it's more warm slice of life than uproarious comedy, and more interested in having these characters get closer than making them riff off each other. It's a safe and reliable mix of character and atmosphere, a summer breeze to get home to at the end of the week.

The episode's first half was a fine demonstration of the solid chemistry exhibited by the whole cast. A summer typhoon offered the chance for the four kids to hang out in the dark, with To telling scary stories lifted from dagashi gum wrappers. The only real joke here were Saya's panicked reactions to the various underwhelming ghost stories; aside from that, this was mostly about letting the four characters make their various kinds of comfortable small talk together. In contrast to Saya totally buying into the horror, Kokonotsu was clearly unimpressed. His reactions to the stories mainly stuck to picking at their improbability, or how the narratives didn't really add up to a point, or why a given narrator would even be telling this story in the first place.

As often happens, Hotaru turned out to be on a surprisingly similar wavelength to Kokonotsu, and the two rambled back and forth about bad horror storytelling while Saya got increasingly more traumatized by their examples. The sequence was nicely grounded compared to many of Hotaru's segments - she wasn't a device to prompt gags here, she was a kid having an affectionate, pointless conversation with a friend. In spite of barely containing one actual joke, the sequence let all four leads demonstrate both what sets them each apart and what makes them such natural friends.

The episode's second half was a lot less successful, likely because the second half actually tried to be funny. That half was mainly dedicated to Kokonotsu and To hanging out, as To tried out a sequence of dagashi all in hopes of becoming more popular. There were certainly some cute or simply character-true moments here, from the fantasy of To as a high school girl running into Hotaru as a dashing boy (a fantasy that was funnier for not receiving any explanation) to the expected but still-nice moment when Saya revealed she was awesome at one more dagashi game. And the fundamental dynamic between To and Kokonotsu makes a lot of sense - the consistent scenes between Kokonotsu and Hotaru have revealed Kokonotsu is very prone to getting pulled into one of his friend's rhythms, so it was appropriate that his scenes with To had him immediately jumping on board with To's plans to become popular or understand girls.

But that basic or sometimes understated stuff aside, when Dagashi Kashi actually tries to set up jokes, they tend to be either obvious or only half-composed. The show apparently thought the idea of To wasting his money on dagashi was funny enough to require a handful of callbacks, and ending the episode on “maybe we'll see a girl's panties” isn't exactly the freshest of gags. Dagashi Kashi is actually a lot better when it doesn't try to be funny - it doesn't have the creativity necessary to construct strong conceptual humor (that one race to the cafe sequence aside), and its world is too grounded and characters too pleasant and soft-spoken to come off as particularly witty. It can be surprisingly thoughtful in the way it textures the lives and relationships of its characters, but sequences that outright try to make the viewer laugh tend to only bring it down.

Overall: B

Dagashi Kashi is currently streaming on Funimation.

Nick writes about anime, storytelling, and the meaning of life at Wrong Every Time.