Wash It All Away

Episode 4

I think I can finally feel Wash It All Away start to grow on me. There's a bit more going on here than in the last three episodes, and unlike last week, there's no needlessly dramatic bang starting this one up. A new character is introduced, some others are reintroduced, and now Kinme's about to become a little bit more involved in the town's upcoming festival. It ends on a cliffhanger involving moldy laundry to keep you interested in the next episode. Everything here goes without a hitch plot-wise, and for me, it makes the relaxing nature of the anime flow more easily.

Kinme is still a bit of a stock cute anime girl, but her personality works within the context of this show, and I have to admit that I'm starting to like her more. She's cheerful, hardworking, and remains so devoted to her job that she's willing to stay up all night to clean up laundry. I have to give her props for remaining committed to a job well done, all while keeping a smile on her face. It's something that not a lot of us can do (especially on a Monday!).

Her amnesia is casually referenced in the middle of a conversation, and it makes me genuinely curious to see how this plotline develops and resolves itself, especially when it hasn't been as big a focus as it could be thus far. It also helps that the girl at the end of the last episode didn't make an appearance this time around. I'm not sure yet if there will be any revelation surrounding this girl, but I still like how her absence in this episode adds some potential mystery into the mix. Here's hoping the amnesia doesn't become another dime-a-dozen usage of an age-old trope.

The episode's start has Kinme meeting with a new girl, Wakasagi, who douses herself with spray-on deodorant, causing a button to fly off. Wash It All Away hasn't been without its fan service, although this scene provides the anime an excuse to crank up the gain. The fan service here seems inevitable, but to the show's credit, it's not really enough to distract the audience from the plot. We're introduced to Wakasagi's brother, and then reintroduced to the young man from the first episode, the high schooler Kyuushou. The little girl Nairo also makes a reappearance here, this time to practice taiko drumming for the town's upcoming festival. She's adorable the way she strikes her taiko; admittedly, Nairo is just as stock a character as Kinme is, but like Kinme, she fulfills the requirements necessary to be a charming enough cute girl caught in a slice of life anime. So long as their antics are nonconfrontational and cozy enough to maintain my interest, it's fine.

Things are picking up, although I'd obviously be lying if I said that Wash It All Away is starting to wow me. The chill tone of the anime doesn't allow for any fancy direction, Kinme's lectures on how to do laundry properly sometimes feel too ASMR-y for their own good, and a few of this show's gags made me roll my eyes. The soundtrack remains great, and the show's final few moments help make the purposely unexciting slightly more exciting. I won't say what it is specifically, although I'm sure we can count on Kinme to pull through here.

Rating:

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Wash It All Away is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.