Turkey!-Time to Strike-

Episode 7

Now that everyone else has had at least one moment to shine, it's only natural that this week we were finally going to be treated to a more Nanase-centric episode. And in a series that loves a good rug pull as much as Turkey!, by the end, things were always going to be darker than you'd expect for the otherwise lovable goofball that is Nanase.

Still, before we learn more about Nanase, we first get to meet the sister we've heard so much about. Charmed and left following a traveling performer, who our squad learned this week, truly is from the future, as evidenced by, of all the possible items, a ballpoint pen. Side note: I know I've already called our main girls an off-duty sentai squad, but it wasn't until Natsume, who's somehow even more purple than Nanase, appeared this week that I realized how that applies to our Sengoku characters as well. I wonder if that's going to be relevant to the story, or if it's just a fun aesthetic thing? Guess all we can do is wait and see.

In any case, the main thing we take away from this week's episode is that Nanase's father left her and her mother to pursue his dreams, and Nanase has complicated feelings about it—neither fully angry, nor happy, for her father, but a little bit of both. And she's had a lot of difficulty dealing with and reconciling those feelings—especially the joy she feels for him—because of how trapped it's left her and her mother.

If this episode is a testament to anything, it's that this is an anime where you should never take things at face value. In particular, I say this about Nanase, who, up until now, has been second only to Mai in terms of how un-seriously she's taking what the others have since come to learn is a deeply serious situation they're in. Sure, it's worth worrying about the unintended consequences their actions could have on the future. However, there's another factor worth considering: their safety and lives. While Nanase's life isn't put in jeopardy the way Nozomi and Sayuri's have been, we do still learn that behind her goofy exterior is someone who's had a rough upbringing.

A big part of what I think makes Nanase's backstory hit so hard is that it's not over-the-top the way dead anime parents are—it feels very grounded. While I don't want to say it never gets mentioned, parents walking out on families (whether divorce is involved or not) isn't something you see get portrayed in anime very much, unless it's followed by something along the lines of, “and now they're back X years later, fighting on the opposite side of the protagonist over some kind of demon or supernatural something or other.” So to have a character like Nanase who's currently struggling with this is a pretty big deal.

Overall, this was an all right episode. Less eventful than others, and certainly less dramatic than what we've had lately, but still a good emotional core that reminds us that even someone as silly as Nanase has stuff going on, and is still human underneath it all. But at this point, Mai's both overdue for an episode focused on her, and a reality check. And given what we've seen this anime is capable of, more than anything, this episode has left me feeling hopeful and excited that next week we could finally be in for a more Mai-centric episode where she's finally put face-to-face with the reality of her situation. Will she still be able to be cheerful in the face of peril, or is she finally going to break? Those are the questions this series has me thinking about the most right now.

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Turkey!-Time to Strike- is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.