This episode begins with school’s holiday starting and we watch Sawako pass her day by feeding the birds, going for a jog, picking up trash, and so forth. But, today is a special day because Ayane and Chizu are stopping by to hangout, so Sawako works on a homemade cake.
When the doorbell rings, Sawako’s father answers the door and is a little put off by Chizu’s size and casual nature. He thinks Ayane is OK but she wears too much makeup, and has quite a few ear piercings. A few seconds later, Sawako gives Ayane and Chizu a proper introduction to her parents. After the introductions, Ayane gives Sawako’s parents some cake they brought with them and they head up to Sawako’s room.
In Sawako’s room they share cake and coffee, and look over the pictures Ayane took at the party including some of Sawako’s and Kazehaya’s staircase moment. Ayane, not being one to beat around the bush tells Sawako to just confess her love to Kazehaya. Sawako is caught off guard and says she’s happy with things the way they are. But, Ayane tells Sawako that if she does that then they can go out as a couple. Sawako is still not convinced, and Chizu says another girl might step in and steal Kazehaya from Sawako. Eventually, the girls end up watching some horror flicks that Sawako rented.
We switch scenes and see Kazehaya walking Maru when he runs into Ryuu near the river. As Maru and Ryuu are bonding, Kazehaya mentions all the messages Pin has been leaving on his phone. Kazehaya finally answers his phone and Pin says he needs to see Kazehaya and Sawako right now. It seems that Pin ran into Sawako at the video store, and Sawako warned Pin to take care of himself but he just ignored the advice and spent the night drinking and watching porno, and now he’s in bad shape. I think he wants Sawako to lift a curse that might have been placed on him. Ryuu tells Kazehaya that Chizu and Ayane are visiting Sawako, and doesn’t he want to see Sawako anyways.
Back at Sawako’s place, Chizu comes downstairs and cleans up the plates and cups while talking with Sawako’s mom. She makes the observation about how Sawako inherited her features from both of her parents, and Sawako’s mom is now convinced that Ayane and Chizu are nice girls.
Back in Sawako’s room, Ayane gets a phone call from Kazehaya about Pin, and Ayane hands the phone to Sawako. Well, everyone agrees to pay Pin a visit and see what’s up. Once they arrive at Pin’s apartment they find Pin looking like shit, and his apartment looking even worse.
Well, Pin thinks that Sawako is going to use spiritual powers on him, but he’s just coming down with a bad cold. As Sawako begins to nurse Pin, Kazehaya gets jealous and nurses Pin. After Ayane puts Pin to sleep with a bedtime horror story, the kids clean up the Pin’s garbage dump apartment. While all this is going on Sawako admits to herself that she’s good at this and she likes to clean (hell, I wish my GF liked to clean my condo). As darkness falls, Pin wakes up feeling a lot better and sends the kids off. Before Sawako walks off, Pin pulls her aside and tells her that he knows Kazehaya’s and Ryuu’s weak spots, and he also whispers something into Sawako’s ear about Kazehaya.
Once they reach the point where Sawako has to split off Chizu tells Kazehaya it’s dangerous so he should walk Sawako home even though Sawako’s says she won’t scare anyone. As Kazehaya, Maru, and Sawako walk quietly down the road, Sawako wants to thank him but can’t find the words. So, Sawako does what Pin told her to do, she grabs Kazehaya’s arm stopping him and she stands there with her eyes closed. Kazehaya slowly decides to take this as an invitation and moves in for a kiss, and just as he has her lips in range Sawako opens her eyes and jumps back. When Kazehaya finds out that Pin set this up, he gets angry and tells Sawako that if she does that again, he doesn’t know what will happen.
As Sawako and Kazehaya continue their walk in silence, Sawako thinks to herself that she wants to be by his side, and Kazehaya asks Sawako to not look at him for awhile. The episode closes with Sawako thinking that that someday the day will come when she’ll want to tell Kazehaya her feelings. Well, that’s all folks.
Well, basically we have another hanging with the friends’ episode with the only difference being that the girls hung out at Sawako’s house. At least we learned a few things about Sawako’s parents, number one being that Sawako’s father is much more traditional about how he expects girls to behave, and the second being that Sawako’s mom is more easy going and doesn’t judge on appearances.
It was very funny watching Chizu unravel the secret of Sawako’s looks; it’s all about the genes, baby. I think the most interesting development of the whole episode is how everyone is working hard towards hooking up/advancing Sawako’s and Kazehaya’s budding relationship. Ayane tells Sawako to confess so they can start dating, Chizu tells Sawako to confess or maybe lose to another girl, Ryuu knows that Kazehaya wants to see Sawako, and even Pin in his own silly way almost got Kazehaya a taste of that sweet fruit.
My only frustration with the progression thus far is Sawako’s inability to communicate her feelings to Kazehaya. Sawako’s come to the internal understanding that she loves Kazehaya, and wants to be near him, but she’s unable to even reach over and take his hand. I can understand Kazehaya frustration towards the end of the episode; he’s asked her out and basically confessed to her, and her response has been vague at best. Hell that young man needed to taste those lips or he’ll end up at Pin’s apartment with the two of them drowning their frustrations in booze and tissue paper.
This episode begins with Filicia running the squad through a combat simulation using tanks simulation mode. After destroying a simulated target, Claus shows up bringing the squad some letters and communications from higher. Kanata gets a letter from her mother, and Noel gets a letter from her professor.
A bit later, Rio gives Kureha a key and tells her to get Claus a gift; Kureha seems very happy at the prospect. When Kureha gives Major Claus a bottle of wine we can see that she’s quite taken with Claus. Filicia walks up and shows Claus some paperwork from HQ, and Claus wishes Private Kureha good luck.
Filicia assembles the squad and tells them they’re taking a field trip, Kanata’s overjoyed. Filicia tells them that three observation stations on the south side of Seize, near the border with no man’s land, need to be inspected on the trip. Kureha says this is a mission, but Filicia says it’s a field trip. Noel says they can’t repair them if their broken because they’re black boxes.
Rio tells Noel, Kanata, and Kureha that just walking isn’t good enough, so they have to carry rucksacks. Well, those packs are very heavy and none of the three girls can manage to even get the packs off the ground until Rio gives them a demo, and it kicks her ass too.
After the girls are up and loaded, Filicia tells them that she and Rio will be waiting at their last stop. As the girls head off, we see that Rio will be following them (with a much lighter pack) while Filicia heads to the objective.
Well, as they march along, Kureha keeps complaining about how heavy the packs are and asks Noel how much further (are we there yet). After a bit of marching, a butterfly catches Kanata’s attention and when she looks over she spots the first observation post. When Kanata runs over and touches the station some Japanese style writing flashes in the air and Noel says it’s operating correctly.
The girls ask Noel where the next station is, so she pulls out the map and compass and points towards a mountain. Kureha isn’t very overjoyed about humping up a mountain, and she lets everyone know it. As they’re humping up the mountain, Kureha keeps bitching about the packs, and how Filicia and Rio must hate her, and even Kanata is at a loss for words. Then Kanata rushes ahead saying she hears it; Noel wonders if she’s broken until they discover Kanata as located a mountain stream.
Kureha takes off her boots and socks and jumps in the stream, and she’s soon joined by Kanata and Noel. While they splash and play, and Kureha keeps bitching about Filicia, we see Rio observing them from above. Once the girls go back to their unsecured packs they discover some “animal” has ransacked the packs, and their food and compass is missing.
Well, the girls decide to leave the packs hidden saying the most important thing is to finish the mission. Noel leads the way using terrain association to guide them since the compass is missing. When hunger strikes the group, Kanata uses her foraging skills and locates a Bayberry tree, but Kureha doesn’t want to stop saying that Major Claus once traveled three days across a desert without food to attack an enemy fortress. Kureha informs Kanata that Major Claus was once called the Desert Wolf, so she pushes the group on.
After locating the second device, the girls head towards the third and final device. Noel continues to use terrain association to guide the group, and Kanata even climbs a tree as they try to locate the third and final device. Just as the sun is setting, Kureha starts to go off on Noel for not having the compass and not being certain they are heading in the right direction. Then she starts yelling at Kanata for not being serious, but Kanata spots the last device in the distance. As the girls are rushing off towards the last device we see that Rio has their compass, and she decides they’ll be alright, so Rio heads towards a Bayberry tree where she runs into a wild boar.
When the girls reach the last device, Noel tells Kanata and Kureha to look towards the direction of the setting sun; no man’s land, the end of the inhabited world. Filicia walks out from behind the device and tells the girls that they wanted them to see this, and all the maidens of the fortress make this trip at least once and leave their signatures on the device, so they can say they saw the end of the world.
Kanata asks if this is history. Yes, and Filicia tells them they left them something else. Filicia leads them through a tunnel to a hidden hot spring. Once the girls are all inside the cave they find Rio waiting for them looking the worse for wear telling them they’re late. We see that Rio brought a load of Bayberries for the girls.
As everyone is relaxing in the warm waters, Filicia asks Rio if she won. Don’t ask. As the other girls are enjoying the spring, Rio asks Filicia if it was worth the effort, and she gets no reply, but we see that the girls have added their names to the device. Well, that’s all for this episode.
As I watch more episodes of Sora no Woto the more I find myself falling under the gentle web that the series is weaving around me. The first thread of Sora no Woto’s web I find myself being caught in is how the series mixes technology from the “lost world” with the much lower tech of the current world, and I also love how the current world’s culture is a mix of European and Asian culture. The second thread of Sora no Woto that’s wrapping itself around me is of course the military life the girls find themselves experiencing.
Lost tech and mixed cultures.
I continue to find myself enjoying how Sora no Woto mixes the tech from the “lost world” with the much simpler tech of the everyday. It’s a jarring contrast to see all the futuristic goodies popping out of the tank like its holographic combat displays then we see that the current world has to communicate via landline rotary dial phones and bugle calls. The current humans of Sora no Woto’s world know what they’ve lost, but they also know that if man once made it that knowledge maybe someday be reclaimed.
While this anime continues to show us viewers a world of mixed Japanese and European cultures, make no mistake, this series is Japanese through and through. This has been made clear at several points throughout series so far; Kanata comes from a village that celebrates O-bon, Kanata signs for her mother’s letter using a Hanko (Japanese signature stamp) thus confirming her adulthood (only adults in Japan can use a Hanko for official business). Oh, one scene in this episode really caught my attention further confirming the Japanese-ness of the story, when the three girls headed out on their fieldtrip they passed under a series of torii normally signifying a transition from the normal profane world to the sacred world of a shrine or temple. While the girls’ passage wasn’t one of a religious nature it did symbolize that the girls weren’t in Kansas anymore, or as Kanata asks Filicia “this is history”, Yes.
Here’s some additional information about the girls ages I found while looking through a 2Chan thread.
Filicia-age 19, Rio-age 18, Noel-age 16, Kanata-age 15, and Kureha-age 14; adulthood sure comes early in Sora no Woto.
Tropes and troops.
Like I mentioned in previous posts I find Sora no Woto satisfying because being a former long time member of the military (23 years) I feel the series hits the right tone in how it portrays military life in a non-combat outpost type of setting. While at first glance, Kanata, Kureha, Noel, Rio, and Filicia might seem to be tropes, but I can tell you for a fact that I’ve meet many a soldier that I could just change their names to any of the girl’s names and it would be almost a perfect personality match.
I think that every former member of the military can relate to the little “field trip” the girls experienced. Almost every squad I’ve ever been in has had a “Private Kureha” who’s always bitching and complaining about how heavy the packs are, or saying the Sergeant hates us, or is always asking “how far is it”, or keeps asking “are we lost”, and the beat goes on. I’ve had many experiences with the always chipper and enthusiastic “Kanata” types, and the quiet and not very outgoing “Noel” types.
But, I can really relate to both Filicia’s and Rio’s leadership styles. I’ve always felt that training should be serious but fun, and make no mistake about it, the “field trip” Filicia sent the girls on was real training. During the conduct of the mission, the girls operated as a small team lead by a junior leader (Cpl Noel), and it involved physical training (humping a rucksack), land navigation (compass method and terrain association), and above all, team building and small group leadership. While the girls didn’t fully succeed with their mission they did learn some lessons from their failures like, they need to be in better shape, and they need to secure their equipment better or a slickly boy (Rio) might just steal your stuff.
While the girls were going about their business they were never in any real danger because they were under the watchful eye of Sergeant Rio who would have stepped in if something really bad was going to happen. Sergeant Rio was doing her job nicely by making the training tough but safe, and if you noticed Rio never complains in front of the junior troops, only to her superior officer; bitches go up hill, and shit rolls down hill.
At the end of the world I find beauty.
While I’ve seen many people express the notion that Sara no Woto is invested with a feeling of Mono no Aware or loss that’s our, the viewers’ reaction to the world that Kanata and the others inhabit, not their subjective life experiences. We view their world though the prism of our experience of the joys of our modern world; don’t those girls know how backwards and behind their world has fallen, or man it must suck living in that country coming out of a terrible war experience.
“Bees are not as busy as we think they are. They just can’t buzz any slower” –Kim Hubbard
What I mean by this little quote is that we all live our lives through our subjective experiences in the world around us, and the observations of outsiders don’t affect our subjective reality. So, when I look at the world of Sora no Woto, I see a world beginning to recover from a great ecological disaster and a terrible war, but I also find beauty.
I find beauty in the fact the while the world might have decayed, the peoples’ spirits haven’t decayed. Kanata works hard at following her dream of learning music, and she takes joy in the natural world around her. Noel takes great pride in her job as a tank mechanic, and is a craftsman in her own way. I see beauty in watching Kureha trying to get the attention of the object of her affections in her inexperienced way. I see beauty in how Filicia and Rio take pride and satisfaction in their roles of being surrogate mothers and fathers to their motley crew. While the world might have decayed, the human spirit is still strong and life is beautiful, they just can’t buzz any slower.
