Poco's Udon World

Episode 7

Now that Souta and Poco have returned to Kagawa, the unconventional father/son duo wastes no time in settling back in. Although Souta has yet to commit to staying in his hometown indefinitely, he's made it clear that he intends to remain a Kagawa resident for the foreseeable future. (So it's odd that he's still hesitant to reveal Poco's true nature to Nakajima or Rinko.) With Souta now confident in his recent life choices, the focus of this week's installment is the young man's underdeveloped parenting skills.

Shortly after returning home, Souta finds himself babysitting Nozomi (the daughter of his former crush, who he ran into in episode 2) for an afternoon, taking her and Poco to a GaoGao-chan stage show. Since he's run into problems establishing boundaries with Poco, Souta is eager to learn more about parenting from Nozomi's mother, who's very good at making her daughter fall in line. Spending the afternoon with Poco and Nozomi prompts Souta to reflect on how quickly children grow up, as well as the struggles his father went through in the wake of his wife's death. In the end, Souta chooses to find creative solutions to Poco's mild misbehavior instead of adopting the firm approach taken by Nozomi's mother.

Realistically, Souta was bound to deal with the issue of discipline sooner or later—particularly if he plans to keep Poco in his life for the long haul. However, since Poco is largely unfamiliar with human rules of conduct and never actually means to misbehave, Souta being unclear on how to address his behavioral problems is understandable. Souta himself often seems to forget that he doesn't have a child—he has an animal-child. Seeing Souta get creative instead of scolding Poco for unintentional misdeeds is a satisfactory resolution that represents a solid middle ground between his father's quiet passiveness and the outward firmness of Nozomi's mother.

For my money, this was the outright funniest episode the show has given us. The revelation that the overly-serious monk from the first episode (who is also Sae's brother) takes on an alternate persona while acting as a DJ is particularly amusing, as is the slightly disturbing fish-feeding sequence. Plus, this week's Gaogao-chan, which loosely mirrors Souta's parenting struggles, features a hilarious setup and ends on a great Looney Tunes-esque cliff gag. In light of how heavy the past few installments have been, an episode that's mostly built around laughs is a welcome change of pace.

As he (strangely) becomes more comfortable with his role as a housekeeper and parent to a young child, Souta seems closer to finding his place in the world. For now, he's found a safe space in Kagawa—ostensibly to take care of Poco, but there may be more meaning to the move than Souta himself currently understands. Still, something is bound to upset this calm, especially considering how nonchalant Souta is about his long-term employment prospects.

Rating: A-

Poco's Udon World is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Amy is a YA fantasy author who has loved anime for over two decades.