Wash It All Away

Episode 11

This episode comes across as a bag of the most mixed, divided of sorts: a second half that is as “what you see is what you get” as it comes, and a first half that's just...there. Two episodes could have probably been made from this if the anime's staff had decided to take a few creative liberties and stretch things out a bit. But alas, a cour limits us to twelve episodes, and we only have one more episode to wrap everything up in a pretty bow.

The first half of this episode isn't exactly dull, but it's not riveting either. There's a part of me that feels that it could have been removed altogether. Ryusho hasn't been through a lot with Kinme, and he hasn't gone through any emotional wringer yet. But he's been with Kinme enough times that now we see him start to develop feelings for her. Maybe she's become like a big sister to him? Maybe a forbidden longing despite her several years apart? I'm not sure, since all of the memories Ryusho chooses to focus on are Kinme being her usual, klutzy, generic anime girlish self. Which is admittedly all she really is, but still?

Since Ryusho has randomly appeared in front of Kinme's shop on a few occasions, the anime decides that it's Kinme's turn to do the same when Ryusho visits the shrine where his dead grandfather is buried. It's the most random appearance I've seen out of anything in a mighty long time—it's not revealed how or why she's there to begin with, nor is there any good reason for her to be there. No random laundry deliveries are mentioned, although your guess as to why Kinme would have to deliver laundry to a shrine would be as good as mine. I suppose Ryusho, thinking about Kinme, just willed her into the frame for a moment. I can at least buy why Ryusho might have randomly popped up at Kinme's shop a few times—maybe it was on the way to wherever he was going. This shrine feels so off the beaten path for Kinme that it becomes such a wild pull of a coincidence. She also gives a wildly inappropriate reaction when Ryu reveals that he's there to clean his grandfather's grave. I get being a cheery anime girl, but to smile in the face of somebody talking about their dead grandfather? It feels off.

As for the last half? Well, for something with a teeny bit more substance in there, I don't have much to say. Nairo comes into the shop to pal around with Kinme for a bit. They're cute together as Naori helps with the washing, and Kinme goes lecturing about stain removal for the umpteenth time. It all ends up being typical stuff. The social media plotline makes a slight return when Naori decides to upload more photos and videos of Kinme. It doesn't really go anywhere, although hooray for consistency, I guess.

For a brief moment, the soundtrack takes a nice little detour from its usual slow piano plinks to play an accordion-and-xylophone-centric track when Naori finds a trapdoor inside Kinme's shop. It's a jumpy, upbeat number meant to inject a sense of frilly playfulness into its accompanying scene, and definitely the type of track you've seen and heard other slice-of-life titles utilize a million times before. It's still a pleasant surprise, if not an effective one, to hear Wash It All Away's usual piano dynamic decide to erupt into more of a forte this time around.

Given the clunky, lackluster first half, I feel like I might be overrating this episode a bit. But the end goal is in sight, and the curtain has to start falling right now. I get the feeling I'd probably overlook these flaws had I watched this episode in the midst of a binge. It'd all wash over me, just as most everything else in this laundry show has.

Rating:

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Wash It All Away is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.