We’re back to the slow pacing again, as we get to watch Rentarou live life without his assistants. After a few scenes of Sara and Souju eating Rentarou’s pastry, Sara taking Polaroid shots all over town, and Souju playing a Daisy Fitzgerald song on the guitar, the two mysteriously disappear for a week. It seems the twins have a tendency to vanish for a day or two every so often, and the last time Rentarou asked about it, Sara got mad at him. They don’t want to feel like they can only live at his whim, because that would mean he doesn’t really care about them. This leaves Rentarou to continue doing his job in a kinda depressed mopey state.
Rentarou finally does get a job searching for a weirdo looking Maltese puppy that is dear to pet shop owners Ui and Koi. He works really hard at it, but his investigation goes nowhere. Finally, on the 3rd day of searching (9th day since the twins disappeared), Sara and Souju suddenly show up. They show off their combo poster pasting skills and act like nothing happened. Together the three search around, but aren’t able to find the dog. Rentarou later goes to see Zenji and asks if he’s ever gone on a trip with his wife. Zenji tells Rentarou of how after they had had a family for 10 years, they finally took their first trip to an onsen and that his wife really enjoyed herself. This leads to Rentarou suggesting the idea to Sara/Souju. Later on the puppy returns on its own to Ui and Koi and we see Lala/Lulu running in front of the pet store. Before the episode finishes, we zoom in on Sara’s picture of the sky, which is a commemorative photo of the first time they were happy. Then, Souju asks if Rentarou will search for them the next time they go missing, and we pan to a badly drawn map and phone number, and the 23rd circled on the calendar with the words “Don’t forget” scrawled underneath.
This slow episode was very mysterious, as we finally are seeing a little more about the strange relationship Rentarou has with his assistants. Beneath all the hyperactivity and harmonic speaking, there seems to be a sensitive and painful underbelly just waiting to be exposed. This of course didn’t stop there from being some bizarre sights this episode, such as the dressed up rats (wtf?) and the wacky pr0n in a vending machine (wtf???). The Maltese puppy seemed to be a metaphor, and was really odd looking, and Ui and Koi got stiffed in the story department. Could there be onsen in the next episode?!
This post was written by...
Kabitzin – who has written 1970 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hai hai, Onssen in the next episode indeed. However, in a totally different way than most onssen episodes are done in the anime world…
Futakoi Alternative has clearly become the most-expected anime series each week for me. When was the last time that I was downcast that l33t-raws are one day late putting out their FA selection? *siiiigh*
I wonder how they do this, but FA sure manages to “project a mood” so exceptionally well. Especially now that the series is about to take a decidedly dark and angsty turn…
Mentar, I think the subtle and understated music helps a lot to create the mood of this show as well as the obliqueness of dialogue.
Yeah, the mood-setting was quite good in this episode, and it’s good to see that there is more than just cuteness and hyperactivity to this series. Lulu and Lala are almost starting to become a running joke or something, as they keep appearing at random moments in every episode!
well ep4 was disappointing, but this episode has restored my faith in the series
bring on more !