Ruri Rocks

Episode 10

Science is the search for answers, but answers don't always come easily. This goes extra for disciplines like mineralogy, which, as Ruri Rocks so regularly reminds us, are intertwined with human history. Humans can be odd, illogical creatures, and their decisions intersect with events and zig-zag around them—even when they're literally on rails. It's why historical documentation is so important, so that enterprising researchers like Imari can have a window into what might've happened as she strives to find her own answers.

Nagi takes the day off in this episode of Ruri Rocks, leaving Imari on babysitting duty with Ruri and Shoko on a trip to hunt for manganese ore. Among all the other lessons about historical hunts and human interaction with mineral movement, the much more personal point reiterated in this episode is that Imari is not Nagi. Shoko might still have plenty of faith in her, but it seems Imari really might be…less reliable than Ruri has accused her of. Imari isn't as attentive to the surrounding environment, she's not as up on her Cool Rock Facts™ as Nagi can easily dispense, and she's not as attuned to taking setbacks in stride the way her senior is.

It's a neat effect, and a good one for the narrative, character-driven side of Ruri Rocks. Simply removing Nagi from the equation and forcing Imari to take point changes the whole vibe of the expedition, and shows that these characters aren't just interchangeable mouthpieces for dispensing mineralogy trivia. Imari still has lessons to teach to the young Ruri and Shoko, but they're in situational lessons about searching for answers even when you've got less context and certainty about your situation.

More directly, Imari's off-and-on efforts can teach the kids and the audience about failure in incidental ways. After so many episodes of simply stumbling upon huge, sparkling deposits of the gems they were looking for, here the group is bluntly blocked off from the mine they were hoping to explore. There simply isn't anything regular people like this can do when confronted by the environmental ravages of time and conditions no one bothered to update maps to reflect. Sometimes you have no choice but to settle for scouring the train tracks for whatever traces you can find in place of a proper deposit. "I guess this is just how it goes sometimes," Imari has to admit to herself.

Alongside the potent lesson of that admission, this plot also points out the value in having to admit "I don't know." All the way up through the end of the exploration, Imari can't conceive of how the rhodochrosite wound up in the ballast of the train tracks they're combing. It's a humbling demonstration of why a junior student like her is a good focus for this story, since it highlights how she's still got a lot to learn in her ongoing education. Admitting that you don't have all the answers simply clears the way to the ultimate understanding that there's more to be discovered. That's also something important for Ruri and Shoko to see as they accompany this kind of research. Of course, Imari does wind up stumbling across a potential answer to this historical mystery by the very end, conveniently located in one of her beloved books. Is that a little hackneyed in the face of that previous lesson about not having all the answers? Perhaps a bit, but I do also appreciate how it highlights the extraordinary answers that can be lurking in the odd choices of human history. Truth is often stranger than fiction and all that.

Again, some odd swerves for a story pointedly predicated on rail travel, but also again, it's good as a way to differentiate episodes of Ruri Rocks from one another. That said, it's also differentiated in the amount of production love from week to week. After the previous episode's near non-stop gorgeous vistas and scenery, this episode is more humble. It's distinguished by frequent deployments of chibi cutaways for explanations. This is cute in a way that reminds me of the science lessons from Gunbuster, but there's no denying the way it feels like Ruri Rocks taking a break after Studio Bind went so hard last week. Maybe that's the point: stepping back the same way Nagi does for this adventure, and humbling themselves in a story about being humbled by hitting stumbling blocks. That said, they do engage in some nice, stylized segments, like the sepia-soaked spot of Imari imagining the train. It honestly looks better than the actual historical flashbacks, which start looking like a cheap crutch by the episode's end.

I generally liked this episode, uneven as it was, as I can recognize the necessity. Ruri's gotten close to the disappointment and frustration of failure before, but she's never seen a mentor hit a wall like this until now. Maybe she and Shoko will hear the answers from Imari the next time they meet with her, but the important part is that they learned about the less revelatory parts of the scientific process. Plus, they still had fun cracking open chunks of manganese ore, regardless. This episode was like that part of the process: not the most glittering or glamorous, but interesting and important as a step, nonetheless.

Rating:

Ruri Rocks is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Chris doesn't know much about cool rocks, but he could talk your ear off about cool anime and cool Transformers. Catch him doing so over on his BlueSky, or see previous posts over on his blog.

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Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.