Sweetness & Lightning

Episode 11

A far cry from last week's lengthy kitchen procedural, this week's Sweetness & Lightning tells a fully formed (albeit very sitcom-esque) story. Although the past couple of episodes were unable to maintain a good balance between the characters' personal lives and their culinary endeavors, this latest installment represents the show at its best. Not only does the featured dish play an important role in the overarching story, Tsumugi also has a misadventure outside of the cooking lesson.

This week's episode finds both Tsumugi and Kotori in precarious positions with their respective peers. In her preschool's upcoming play (which appears to be based on Magi-Girl, Sweetness & Lightning's show-within-a-show), Tsumugi wants to portray Mr. Galigali, Yoshiko/Magi-Girl's fluffy pig familiar. This draws the ire of her bestie Hana, who wanted to portray Yoshiko/Magi-Girl with Tsumugi and their mutual friend. (Apparently multiple children can take on the same role in this production.) Meanwhile, with the high school's cultural festival fast approaching, Kotori's classmates have entrusted her with revamping their crepe stand. Since Tsumugi's never had crepes before and Kotori needs to practice making them, the group decides to make sweet potato crepes their next project. With some help from the ever-reliable Shinobu and Yagi, the crepes come out perfectly, and the festival stand is a hit. Plus, after seeing how well Kohei's Galigali costume came out, Hana changes her tune and accepts Tsumugi's decision to separate herself from the pack.

Being understood by others is the theme this time around. Interestingly, Tsumugi and Kotori's positions are practically reversed. More often than not, energetic and open Tsumugi is embraced by her peers, while introverted and solitary Kotori is isolated from hers. In the end, both learn valuable life lessons, as Tsumugi accepts that people can sometimes be unreasonable for reasons known only to them, and Kotori realizes that stepping outside of her comfort zone doesn't spell certain doom. Although both girls are maturing at a fairly steady pace, this is particularly evident for Kotori. Not too long ago, the idea of sharing the Inuzukas with anyone else made her noticeably upset. This week, however, she takes it upon herself to bring Shinobu and Yagi into the fold and openly admits that cooking with more people is fun.

Once again, I've got to give this show points for its accurate portrayal of small children. Tsumugi has a believably roundabout approach to venting, at first insisting nothing is wrong and then randomly (and repeatedly) instructing her father to start talking about “girls” instead of food. (Fortunately, when Yagi sets her straight, telling her not to take out her issues on other people, she's receptive, apologetic, and characteristically adorable.) Furthermore, Hana taking issue with Tsumugi's choice of role legitimately seems like something a preschooler would get upset over.

This week's episode does a more commendable job of balancing the cooking segment with the events outside of the kitchen than last week, and there's tangible character growth to boot. Still, since success once again comes easily in the kitchen and the group does little to make the featured dish their own, the food prep portion of the episode is a bit underwhelming. Luckily, I was too invested in Tsumugi and Kotori's predicaments to care very much.

Rating: A-

Sweetness & Lightning is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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