Wash It All Away

Episode 10

This show is becoming more and more Sound! Euphonium-coded by the minute. I mentioned earlier that we have a character (Uka) whose nervous tics, hairstyle, and pinkish-red eyes resemble Mizore's. What I didn't mention was how, when paired up with Uka, Kinme's got those Nozomi vibes down pat. She's someone whose greater confidence and sociality make her a perfect foil for Uka/Mizore. Kinme even has her hair tied into a ponytail like Nozomi, and yes, we do see that sway around the back of her head like it does Liz & The Blue Bird. Not to mention, in the last episode, Kinme briefly looked like Asuka when she had her hair down and wore those glasses. Now, with all of that said, am I overthinking things? Absolutely. Does it make me enjoy the Kinme and Uka segments more? One hundred percent.

And so Uka comes back for this episode's second half. She invites Kinme to her house, they play with Uka's two big, fluffy dogs, they eat together, and they share snappy montages just like they did a few episodes ago. It's exactly as wholesome as you expect it to be, and it just delivers. Further proving my crackpot theory on how Eupho-coded this show is: Uka admits that she became more social thanks to Kinme, just like how Nozomi helped Mizore come out of her shell. This anime hasn't really taken much time to develop its supporting cast, and it might be a little too cliché that Uka's arc would go about this way, but I'll take what I can get. I am letting my Eupho bias get in the way here, because to be honest, there's nothing too amazing or elegant about these scenes. But the fact of the matter is that they are fun, and considering how I was hoping Uka would come back, I'm more than thankful my prayers were answered.

The first half of the episode, though? Eh. The nice thing I can say is that it's not out of character. Kinme does laundry, gives lectures about stain removal, and her one friend, Asami, and the adorable Nairo swing by to make chit chat. Cue the twinkly soundtrack to make everything more chill. It all runs like clockwork. But it has the characters just standing around without much else to do. If you're feeling generous, you'll say this first half is a nice build-up that leads to a great payoff by the second. By itself, though, it doesn't add much.

Still, the latter half of the episode is great. With two episodes left, I'm hoping that Uka makes at least one more appearance before it all ends. I can't count on this show to deliver on that, but as Wash It All Away will tell you, you can count on Kinme to deliver on something. And I will.

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Wash It All Away is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.